Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale
Encyclopedia
Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale (French
for Acts and Documents of the Holy See related to the Second World War), often abbreviated Actes or ADSS, is an eleven-volume collection of documents from the Vatican
historical archives, related to the papacy of Pope Pius XII
during World War II
.
The collection was compiled by four Jesuit
priest-historians—Pierre Blet (France), Angelo Martini (Italy), Burkhart Schneider (Germany), and Robert A. Graham
(United States)—authorized by Pope Paul VI
in 1964, and published between 1965 and 1981.
The remainder of the documents from Pius XII's papacy may not be released for years; Bishop Sergio Pagano
, the prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives
announced in June 2009 that five or six years additional of preparation would be necessary to organize the papers, after which the decision to make further documents available to researchers will be the pope's. The completed catalog would include approximately 16 million documents from Pius XII's papacy (1939-1958), divided into approximately 700 boxes related to the Cardinal Secretary of State
and the various nunciatures.
, by Rolf Hochhuth
. The collection was intended to answer critics of Pius XII, such as Hochhuth, who alleged that the Pope had turned a blind eye to Nazi atrocities against Jews. In particular, the editors presented a variety of documents which they claimed demonstrated the Pius XII had "protested" the various roundups of Jews; Phayer calls this the "spin" of the editors and bluntly states "there was no protest".
According to Phayer, "when the editors of the Vatican's World War II documents did their work in the 1960s, the Holocaust was known to be a historical event, of course, but at that time, no body of knowledge about it existed. The editors, in a word, did not understand".
, in chronological order. Four volumes deal with the humanitarian activities of the Holy See
during the war, also in chronological order. One covers Pope Pius XII
's letters to German bishops before and during the war. The last encompasses documents pertaining to Poland
and Baltic
countries.
None of the documents—mostly in Italian
—were translated from their original language. The introductions to the volumes and the brief descriptions preceding the documents are in French
. Only one volume has been translated into English
. Because the third volume contains two books, the ADSS are sometimes incorrectly referred to as a twelve-volume collection.
Notable missing documents include most of the letters from Bishop Konrad von Preysing
of Berlin to Pope Pius XII in 1943 and 1944, the papers of Austrian bishop Alois Hudal
, and virtually everything appertaining to Eastern Europe
save Poland and the Baltic. For example, von Preysing was known to have sent many letters to Pius XII describing the unfolding situation in Germany and urging the pope to take a stronger and public stand; Pius XII's first response begins by noting his possession of "eight letters of 1943 and five letters of 1944", the first of which was sent in March 1943.
According to the count of Australian historian Paul O'Shea, the ADSS contains 107 references to Jews prior to December 1942, and substantially more thereafter; a variety of other studies have extensively listed the data revieved by the Vatican on the nature and extent of the atrocities throughout Europe, as can be confirmed by the ADSS.
The omissions also extend to Pius XII's correspondence with Ustaše
leader Ante Pavelić
and the involved Croatian clergy
, including Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac
, convicted of collaboration with the regime. Reports from 1939, 1941, and 1942 detailing the progression of the deteriorating situation of Jews in Germany and the extent of the Holocaust have also not been included—documents that could confirm Pius XII's depth of knowledge about the atrocities suggested by his extant correspondence outside the ADSS. The ADSS is also silent on the economic history of the papacy during the war, including whatever remains of the records of Bernardino Nogara
. The beginnings of the Holy See's emigration work (which began well before the war ended), including the Vatican's involvement in the "ratlines"
for former Nazis, fascists, and war criminals is impossible to determine from the ADSS.
Phayer has argued that the selection of the documents was intentionally misleading with respect to Poland: "singling out the letters of bishops Sapieha
and Radonski, the editors sought in the introduction to volume three of Actes et Documents to build a drama around Pope Pius in which he would emerge from disrespect to respect".
Phayer further argues that more recently declassified documents have cast doubt on the representativeness of the ADSS, stating that "the face of Pope Pius that we see in these documents is not the same face we see in the eleven volumes the Vatican published of World War II documents, a collection which, though valuable, is nonetheless critically flawed because of its many omissions". According to him, "historians—as opposed to writers whose sole objective is to defend Pius XII—are not in agreement with the editors of Actes et Documents".
In his article for the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano (April 29, 1998), Father Pierre Blet, the last surviving editor of the series, defended the integrity of the collection. "In the first place, it is not clear exactly how the omission of certain documents would help to exonerate Pius XII from the omissions alleged against him," Blet wrote. "On the other hand, to say in peremptory tones that our publication is incomplete is tantamount to asserting what cannot be proved: to this end it would be necessary to compare our publication with the archives and show which documents in the archives are missing from our publication." Blet added that he and three other Jesuits "did not deliberately overlook any significant document, because we would have considered it harmful to the Pope's image and the Holy See's reputation."
, an Italian-language Jesuit journal.
's research did not stop with the publication of the ADSS; he continued to seek out primary sources within and without the Vatican and interview contemporaries almost until his death. He retired to California, taking his considerable body of records with him; this collection was made open to the public (although rarely actually used) until his death, at which point the Vatican had all the papers returned to Rome and sealed.
Graham's work has not always been popular with historians. For example, Phayer states that "in his zeal to prop up Pope Pius, Graham completely overlooked the historical context".
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for Acts and Documents of the Holy See related to the Second World War), often abbreviated Actes or ADSS, is an eleven-volume collection of documents from the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
historical archives, related to the papacy of Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The collection was compiled by four Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
priest-historians—Pierre Blet (France), Angelo Martini (Italy), Burkhart Schneider (Germany), and Robert A. Graham
Robert A. Graham
Father Robert Andrew Graham, SJ was an American Jesuit priest and World War II historian of the Catholic Church...
(United States)—authorized by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
in 1964, and published between 1965 and 1981.
The remainder of the documents from Pius XII's papacy may not be released for years; Bishop Sergio Pagano
Sergio Pagano
Sergio Pagano B is a Roman Catholic bishop and the Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives.Pagano became a member of the Congregation of the Barnabites in 1966...
, the prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives
Vatican Secret Archives
The Vatican Secret Archives , located in Vatican City, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having primal incumbency until death, owns the archives until the next appointed Papal successor...
announced in June 2009 that five or six years additional of preparation would be necessary to organize the papers, after which the decision to make further documents available to researchers will be the pope's. The completed catalog would include approximately 16 million documents from Pius XII's papacy (1939-1958), divided into approximately 700 boxes related to the Cardinal Secretary of State
Cardinal Secretary of State
The Cardinal Secretary of State—officially Secretary of State of His Holiness The Pope—presides over the Holy See, usually known as the "Vatican", Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia...
and the various nunciatures.
Origins
The collection is a rare exception to the Vatican's de facto seventy-five year rule for opening its archives, published in the aftermath of the controversial play, The DeputyThe Deputy
The Deputy, a Christian tragedy , also known as The Representative, is a controversial 1963 play by Rolf Hochhuth which indicts Pope Pius XII for his failure to take action or speak out against The Holocaust. It has been translated into more than twenty languages...
, by Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth is a German author and playwright. He is best known for his 1963 drama The Deputy and remains a controversial figure for his plays and other public comments, such as his insinuation of Pope Pius XII's sympathies for Hitler's extermination of the Jews in the 1963 play The Deputy and...
. The collection was intended to answer critics of Pius XII, such as Hochhuth, who alleged that the Pope had turned a blind eye to Nazi atrocities against Jews. In particular, the editors presented a variety of documents which they claimed demonstrated the Pius XII had "protested" the various roundups of Jews; Phayer calls this the "spin" of the editors and bluntly states "there was no protest".
According to Phayer, "when the editors of the Vatican's World War II documents did their work in the 1960s, the Holocaust was known to be a historical event, of course, but at that time, no body of knowledge about it existed. The editors, in a word, did not understand".
Organization
Five of the eleven volumes deal with World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in chronological order. Four volumes deal with the humanitarian activities of the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
during the war, also in chronological order. One covers Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
's letters to German bishops before and during the war. The last encompasses documents pertaining to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Baltic
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
countries.
None of the documents—mostly in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
—were translated from their original language. The introductions to the volumes and the brief descriptions preceding the documents are in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Only one volume has been translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Because the third volume contains two books, the ADSS are sometimes incorrectly referred to as a twelve-volume collection.
Inclusions and omissions
The editors describe the selected documents as a representative sample of Vatican activity during World War II; the four Jesuits claimed that only size constraints prevented them from publishing the full set of documents and that no new important revelations would accompany the eventual complete publication.Notable missing documents include most of the letters from Bishop Konrad von Preysing
Konrad von Preysing
Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church...
of Berlin to Pope Pius XII in 1943 and 1944, the papers of Austrian bishop Alois Hudal
Alois Hudal
Alois Hudal was a Rome-based bishop of Austrian descent. He was for thirty years head of the small Austrian-German congregation of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome and until 1937, an influential representative of the Austrian Church...
, and virtually everything appertaining to Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
save Poland and the Baltic. For example, von Preysing was known to have sent many letters to Pius XII describing the unfolding situation in Germany and urging the pope to take a stronger and public stand; Pius XII's first response begins by noting his possession of "eight letters of 1943 and five letters of 1944", the first of which was sent in March 1943.
According to the count of Australian historian Paul O'Shea, the ADSS contains 107 references to Jews prior to December 1942, and substantially more thereafter; a variety of other studies have extensively listed the data revieved by the Vatican on the nature and extent of the atrocities throughout Europe, as can be confirmed by the ADSS.
The omissions also extend to Pius XII's correspondence with Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
leader Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
and the involved Croatian clergy
Involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustaša regime
Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše covers the role of the Croatian Catholic Church in the Independent State of Croatia , a Nazi puppet state created on the territory of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia in 1941...
, including Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac
Aloysius Stepinac
Aloysius Viktor Stepinac , also known as Blessed Aloysius Stepinac, was a Croatian Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960. In 1998 he was declared a martyr and beatified by Pope John Paul II....
, convicted of collaboration with the regime. Reports from 1939, 1941, and 1942 detailing the progression of the deteriorating situation of Jews in Germany and the extent of the Holocaust have also not been included—documents that could confirm Pius XII's depth of knowledge about the atrocities suggested by his extant correspondence outside the ADSS. The ADSS is also silent on the economic history of the papacy during the war, including whatever remains of the records of Bernardino Nogara
Bernardino Nogara
Bernardino Nogara was the financial advisor to the Vatican between 1929 and 1954, appointed by Pope Pius XI and retained by Pope Pius XII as the first Director of the Special Administration of the Holy See. According to historian John F...
. The beginnings of the Holy See's emigration work (which began well before the war ended), including the Vatican's involvement in the "ratlines"
Ratlines (history)
Ratlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. Other destinations included the United States and perhaps...
for former Nazis, fascists, and war criminals is impossible to determine from the ADSS.
Phayer has argued that the selection of the documents was intentionally misleading with respect to Poland: "singling out the letters of bishops Sapieha
Adam Stefan Sapieha
Prince Adam Stefan Stanisław Bonifacy Józef Sapieha was a Polish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Kraków. Between 1922–1923 he was a senator of the Second Rzeczpospolita. In 1946, Pope Pius XII created him Cardinal....
and Radonski, the editors sought in the introduction to volume three of Actes et Documents to build a drama around Pope Pius in which he would emerge from disrespect to respect".
Phayer further argues that more recently declassified documents have cast doubt on the representativeness of the ADSS, stating that "the face of Pope Pius that we see in these documents is not the same face we see in the eleven volumes the Vatican published of World War II documents, a collection which, though valuable, is nonetheless critically flawed because of its many omissions". According to him, "historians—as opposed to writers whose sole objective is to defend Pius XII—are not in agreement with the editors of Actes et Documents".
In his article for the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano (April 29, 1998), Father Pierre Blet, the last surviving editor of the series, defended the integrity of the collection. "In the first place, it is not clear exactly how the omission of certain documents would help to exonerate Pius XII from the omissions alleged against him," Blet wrote. "On the other hand, to say in peremptory tones that our publication is incomplete is tantamount to asserting what cannot be proved: to this end it would be necessary to compare our publication with the archives and show which documents in the archives are missing from our publication." Blet added that he and three other Jesuits "did not deliberately overlook any significant document, because we would have considered it harmful to the Pope's image and the Holy See's reputation."
The editors
The four Jesuit editors also wrote many articles derived from these primary sources, most of which were published in La Civiltà CattolicaLa Civiltà Cattolica
La Civiltà Cattolica is a Rome based Italian biweekly magazine printed by the Jesuits. The bimonthly journal was founded in 1850 with papal funding by order of the Pope and readers have recognised it as representing contemporary Vatican opinion. It has been praised and highly regarded by readers...
, an Italian-language Jesuit journal.
Blet
Blet's Pius XII and the Second World War : According to the Archives of the Vatican (1999) represents his interpretation of what essential conclusions can be drawn from the eleven volume collection.Graham
Robert A. GrahamRobert A. Graham
Father Robert Andrew Graham, SJ was an American Jesuit priest and World War II historian of the Catholic Church...
's research did not stop with the publication of the ADSS; he continued to seek out primary sources within and without the Vatican and interview contemporaries almost until his death. He retired to California, taking his considerable body of records with him; this collection was made open to the public (although rarely actually used) until his death, at which point the Vatican had all the papers returned to Rome and sealed.
Graham's work has not always been popular with historians. For example, Phayer states that "in his zeal to prop up Pope Pius, Graham completely overlooked the historical context".