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Rescue Of Jews By Catholics During The Holocaust
During the Holocaust, the Catholic Church played a role in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews from being murdered by the Nazis. Members of the Church, through lobbying of Axis officials, provision of false documents, and the hiding of people in monasteries, convents, schools, among families and the institutions of the Vatican itself, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews. The Israeli diplomat and historian Pinchas Lapide estimated the figure at between 700,000 and 860,000, although the figure is contested. The Catholic Church itself faced persecution in Hitler's Germany, and institutional German Catholic resistance to Nazism centered largely on defending the Church's own rights and institutions. Broader resistance tended to be fragmented and led by individual effort in Germany, but in every country under German occupation, priests played a major part in rescuing Jews. Aiding Jews met with severe penalty and many rescuers and would-be rescuers were killed including St Maximili ...
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The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through labor in concentration camps; and in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibór, and Treblinka in occupied Poland. Germany implemented the persecution in stages. Following Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor on 30 January 1933, the regime built a network of concentration camps in Germany for political opponents and those deemed "undesirable", starting with Dachau on 22 March 1933. After the passing of the Enabling Act on 24 March, which gave Hitler dictatorial plenary powers, the government began isolating Je ...
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Euthanasia In Nazi Germany
(German, ) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killings. The name T4 is an abbreviation of 4, a street address of the Chancellery department set up in early 1940, in the Berlin borough of Tiergarten, which recruited and paid personnel associated with Aktion T4. Certain German physicians were authorised to select patients "deemed incurably sick, after most critical medical examination" and then administer to them a "mercy death" (). In October 1939, Adolf Hitler signed a "euthanasia note", backdated to 1 September 1939, which authorised his physician Karl Brandt and ''Reichsleiter'' Philipp Bouhler to begin the killing. The killings took place from September 1939 until the end of the war in 1945; from 275,000 to 300,000 people were killed in psychiatric hospitals in Germany and Austria, occupied Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now t ...
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Jules-Géraud Saliège
Jules-Géraud Saliège (24 February 1870 – 5 November 1956) was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Toulouse from 1928 until his death, and was a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism in France. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. For his efforts to protect Jews during the Nazi Holocaust he was recognised as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem. Biography Born in Saint-Flour, Jules-Géraud Saliège studied at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris before being ordained to the priesthood on 21 September 1895. He then taught at the minor seminary in Pleaux until 1903, and at the seminary in Saint-Flour from 1903 to 1907, when he was named its rector. He was made an honorary canon of the cathedral chapter of Saint-Flour on 14 September 1905, before becoming an honorary vicar general on 31 March 1918. During World War I, he served as a military chaplain. On 29 October 1925, Saliège was appoint ...
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Jozef-Ernest Van Roey
Jozef-Ernest van Roey (13 January 1874 – 6 August 1961) was a Belgian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Mechelen from 1926 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1927. He was significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism in Belgium. Biography Jozef-Ernest van Roey was born in Vorselaar, as the first of the five children of Stanislas and Anna-Maria (née Bartholomeus) van Roey. His siblings were named Bernadette, Louis, Véronique, and Stephanie (who became a nun). He was baptized the same day of his birth in the parish church of Vorselaar. Van Roey studied under the Jesuits in Vorselaar before entering Saint-Joseph School in Herentals in 1885. He graduated in 1892, whence he entered the minor seminary in Mechelen. From 1894 to 1897, he studied theology at the Major Seminary of Mechelen. He was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Pierre-Lambert Goossens on 18 September 1897. Van Roey then furthered his studies at ...
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Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and Gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need; and researching the phenomenon of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general, with the aim of avoiding such events in the future. Established in 1953, Yad Vashem is located on the western slope of Mount Herzl, also known as the Mount of Remembrance, a height in western Jerusalem, above sea level and adjacent to the Jerusalem Forest. The memorial consists of a complex containing two types of facilities: some dedicated to the scientific study of the Holocaust and genocide in general, and memorials and museums catering to the needs of the larger public. Among the former there are a research institute with archives, a library, a publishing house, and an educational ...
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Andrea Cassulo
Andrea Cassulo (30 November 1869 – 9 January 1952) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a representative of the Holy See in Egypt, Canada, Romania and Turkey from 1921 to 1952. Biography He was born in Castelletto d'Orba in 1869 and ordained a priest in 1893 in Florence. In 1914, he was appointed bishop of Fabriano e Matelica. In 1921, he became the titular archbishop of Leontopolis in Augustamnica. He was the apostolic delegate to Egypt from 1921 to 1927. He was the apostolic delegate to Canada from 1927 to 1936. Nuncio to Romania Cassulo served as Papal nuncio in Romania during the period of World War II. While the country was never occupied by Nazi Germany, the regime of Marshall Ion Antonescu aligned itself with Hitler, and assisted the Nazi Holocaust. Efforts of behalf of Jews In 1944, the Chief Rabbi of Bucharest praised the work of Cassulo on behalf of Romania's Jews: "the generous assistance of the Holy See… was decisive and salutary. It is not easy for ...
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Angelo Rotta
Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. Early years Rotta was born in Milan, Italy, on 9 August 1872. He was ordained a priest on 10 February 1895. On 16 October 1922, Pope Pius XI named him titular archbishop of Thebes and Apostolic Internuncio to Central America, which then covered Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. He received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, the Vatican Secretary of State, on 1 November 1922. He was named Apostolic Internuncio to Panama as well on 21 September 1923 even as his responsibilities toward other countries in Central America continued. On 9 May 1925, Pope Pius appointed him Apostolic Delegate to Turkey. During his diplomatic service in Bulgaria, he sav ...
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Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 1963. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was one of thirteen children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy. He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after 11 ballots. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council ...
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Filippo Bernardini
Filippo Bernardini (11 November 1884 – 26 August 1954) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He spent almost his entire career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and was given the rank of archbishop in 1933. He was Apostolic Delegate to Australia for two years before taking up the position of Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland where he served from 1935 to 1953. During World War II, he was active in the Catholic resistance to Nazism and provided assistance to Jews during the Nazi Holocaust. He served briefly as Secretary of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith just before his death. Before entering the diplomatic service he spent 19 years as a teacher and administrator at the Catholic University of America. He was the nephew of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri (1852-1934), one of the leading Church figures of his era. Biography Bernardini was born in Ussita, Pieve di Ussita, in the province of Macerata, Italy, on 11 November 1884. He was ordained ...
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Giuseppe Burzio
Giuseppe Burzio (1901-1966), born Cambiano, Italy, was a Vatican diplomat and Roman Catholic Archbishop. Ordained in 1924, he enrolled in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy Class of 1926 and was commissioned into the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1929 when he was sent to Peru as a Secretary 2nd class. Later he served in Czechoslovakia (1935–38, as auditor) and Lithuania (1938–40, as Chargé d'affaires) before being posted to Slovakia in 1940 as Chargé d'affaires before the Slovak regime of Josef Tiso. Pope Pius XII appointed the 39-year-old Burzio to bring pressure to bear on the Slovak government. Burzio advised Rome of the deteriorating situation for Jews in the Nazi puppet state, sparking Vatican protests on behalf of Jews. Burzio also lobbied the Slovak government directly. In 1942 Burzio and others reported to Tiso that the Germans were murdering Slovakia's deported Jews. Tiso hesitated and then refused to deport Slovakia's 24,000 remaining Jews. When the tran ...
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Konrad Von Preysing
Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as Bishop of Berlin from 1935 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. Early life and ordination Preysing was born at the castle of Kronwinkel, near Landshut, to the nobles Kaspar von Preysing and his wife, Hedwig von Walterskirchen. His brothers, Albert and Joseph, also became priests. Konrad von Preysing attended a Landshut '' gymnasium'' before entering the University of Munich in 1898. After studying at the University of Würzburg from 1901 to 1902, he forfeited a diplomatic career for an ecclesiastical one. He then obtained his doctorate in theology in 1913 from the Theological Faculty of Innsbruck, which he had entered in 1908. Preysing was ordained to the priesthood on 29 July 1912. Secretary ...
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Margarete Sommer
Margarete (Grete) Sommer (July 21, 1893 – June 30, 1965) was a German Catholic social worker and lay Dominican. During the Holocaust, she helped persecuted Jewish citizens, keeping many of them from deportation to death camps.Margarete Sommer
German Resistance Memorial Centre, Index of Persons; retrieved at 4 September 2013


Biography

Margarete Sommer was born in Berlin’s Schöneweide neighborhood in 1893. Her father was a railroad administrator. At the age of 19, she passed the exam as a primary school teacher and studied economics with a focus on social policy at the University of Berlin. Her studies also included philosophy, history and law in Heidelberg and Berlin. At the outbreak of the First World War, she worked as an auxiliary nurse in Maria-Viktoria Hospital of the Dominican Sisters. S ...
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