Acclaimed Jewish scholar to shed light on Church action during Holocaust at April 20 lecture

Catholic-Jewish relations have always had a unique dynamic.  Despite many years of tension, the last century has seen great improvements.  Perhaps the greatest Catholic hero to promote peace between the two religions was Pope John XXIII, who has recently been canonized.  The Rover had the privilege of conducting an interview with renowned scholar David Dalin, an ordained rabbi, on this fascinating topic.

Dalin, a widely published scholar of American Jewish history and Jewish-Catholic relations, is currently a Professor of History and Politics at Ave Maria University in southwest Florida.  He has been a visiting professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, an adjunct scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, and the Taube Research Fellow in American History at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.  During the 2002-2003 academic year, he was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.  Dalin received his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Brandeis University.  He also received his Rabbinic Ordination, and a second M.A., from the Jewish Theological Seminary.  He has authored, co-authored, or edited 11 books.

Irish Rover: You are giving a talk April 20 at the Eck Visitor’s Center.  Can you give us a brief overview of your lecture?

In the 51 years since his death in June 1963, and especially on the occasion of his canonization in April, 2014, Pope John XXIII has been recognized and revered, together with Pope John Paul II, as one of the 20th century’s greatest papal friends and supporters of the Jewish people.  In my talk, I will examine the extraordinary relationship between John XXIII and the Jews, from the pivotal role that he had in saving the lives of tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe while serving as the Vatican’s papal representative in Turkey during World War II, through his historic role in convening the Second Vatican Council and in encouraging and inspiring the formulation of the Council’s historic Declaration on Jews and Judaism known as Nostra Aetate.

As the papal representative in Turkey during WWII how did Pope John XXIII save thousands of Jewish lives?

Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, who had been appointed the Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece by Pope Pius XI, served as the preeminent Vatican diplomat in Turkey and Greece throughout World War II, and played an historic role in saving the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian, Romanian, Turkish, Bulgarian, and Slovakian Jews.  Based in Istanbul, Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli played a decisive role together with Monsignor Angelo Rotta, the papal nuncio in Budapest, Hungary, in saving the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from deportation to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.  By sending tens of thousands of immigration certificates, including Palestinian immigration papers that he had obtained from the British, to the papal nuncio in Budapest, many Hungarian Jews were able to escape to Palestine.  In addition, Roncalli saved thousands of Slovakian Jews who were detained in Hungary or Bulgaria by signing their transit visas to Palestine.  Through diplomatic protests, Angelo Roncalli and Pope Pius XII were able to save the lives of thousands of Slovakian Jews from deportation and eventual extermination in Nazi death camps.

How did Pope John XXIII (Cardinal Roncalli) work together so effectively with Jewish authorities at the time?

As I shall discuss in my talk, much recent scholarship has documented the fact that Roncalli worked closely with Jewish leaders such as Rabbi Isaac Herzog, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, during World War II (and after 1948, the Chief Rabbi of the new State of Israel) and Chaim Barlas (the Jewish Agency for Palestine’s representative in Istanbul), to save the lives of thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust.  In 1944, Roncalli and Rabbi Herzog met twice to discuss the fate of the 55 thousand Jews of Transnistria, a Romanian-administered province, who faced deportation to Nazi death camps.  Roncalli brought the Jews’ plight to the attention of Pope Pius XII, who interceded with the Romanian government on their behalf.  Rabbi Herzog subsequently wrote Roncalli from Jerusalem to express his gratitude for his efforts to save the lives of thousands of Romanian Jews.  “Cardinal Roncalli,” Rabbi Herzog would later say, “is a man who really loves the People of the Book, and through him thousands of Jews were saved.”  And Chaim Barlas, who directed the Jewish Agency’s rescue committee in Turkey, added, “Much blood and ink have been spilled on the Jewish tragedy of those years, but to the few heroic deeds which were performed to rescue Jews belong the activities of the apostolic delegate, Angelo Roncalli, who worked indefatigably on their behalf.”

Why was Nostra Aetate such a significant accomplishment of the Second Vatican Council?

In 1965, the Second Vatican Council that Pope John XXIII had convened in October, 1962, made historic changes to church policies and theology.  Especially prominent among them was Nostra Aetate, Latin for “In Our Time,” which I shall be discussing in my talk, an historic document that denounced anti-Semitism and repudiated the centuries-old charge of deicide against the Jews and, in so doing, revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relationship to Jews and to Judaism.  Pope John XXIII, who died on June 3, 1963, did not live to personally witness the Second Vatican Council’s vote on, and passage of, Nostra Aetate, on October 28, 1965, that Pope John had done much to promote, encourage, and inspire.  For grateful Jewish leaders in Europe, the United States  and Israel, the Second Vatican Council’s historic declaration on Jews and Judaism known as Nostra Aetate was considered to be one of the greatest and most enduring legacies of John XXIII’s all-too-brief pontificate, and one of the greatest milestones in the history of Catholic-Jewish relations.

Michael Singleton is a freshman majoring in finance and ACMS and residing in Alumni Hall.  He is excited to be writing for the Rover for the first time!  Contact him at msingle1@nd.edu.