1. Concevoir le secours. Pie XII, la Secrétairerie d’État du Vatican et l’assistance aux Juifs (1938-1947)

Résumé 0

The material assistance the Holy See provided to persecuted Jews has long been debated historiographically, based on limited sources. The 2020 Vatican Archives opening for Pius XII’s papacy finally enabled access to the papers of the Secretariat of State. Particularly, the “Ebrei” (Jews) and “Razza” (Race) files contain new and intriguing—yet fragmented—documents. This study will map these and related Vatican Archives files on the topic. Doing so will reveal the “Vatican rescue machine’s” evolution from its 1938 inception following Italy’s Racial Laws. The files detail the Vatican’s approach to intervention : the requests and demands of persecuted Jews, Vatican criteria for aid provision, areas of involvement, division of duties between the Ordinary and Extraordinary Affairs sections within the Secretariat of State, and Mgr. Giovanni Battista Montini’s critical role as a top aide to Pius XII and the head of the Pontifical Relief Commission. The documents reveal the bureaucratic nature of the “Vatican rescue machine” as it expanded operations until progressively halting around 1947, demonstrating that it was far from an unfettered charitable provider.