ADSS and references to Jews and elements of "The Final Solution"

One of the re-occurring problems in the study of Pius XII and what he and the Vatican knew or did not know during the war lies in the simple fact that the Acts and Documents of the Holy See during the Second World War are so often overlooked. 

The collection of over 5000 documents is an unavoidable source for any student or scholar who wants to grasp the complex realities surrounding Vatican responses to the murder of European Jewry.  What ADSS reveals is, quite simply, a high degree of awareness of events occurring across German Occupied Europe.  When compared with the growing awareness of the Holocaust in Britain and the USA as demonstrated by scholars such as Richard Breitman.  Breitman's books, Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned; What the British and Americans Knew  and US Intelligence and the Nazis, the student discovers great similarities.

Table 1: "The Conventional War"

Vol         Title                                                      Docs       Jews


1     War Mar 1939–August 1940                         379            4

2     Letters of Pius XII to the German bishops       124            4

3.1  Poland and Baltic Sates Feb 1939–Dec 1941 344           10

3.2  Poland and Baltic States Jan 1942–May 1946 261            6

4     War: Jun 1940 –Jun 1941                               433             8

5     War: Jul 1941–Oct 1942                                511            11

7     War: Nov 1942–Dec 1943                             505              7

11   War: Jan 1944–May 1945                              552              6

Table 2: The Victims of War
 
Vol           Title                              Docs               Jews


6     Mar 1939–Dec 1940              419             154 (36%)

8     Jan 1941–Dec 1942                581            195 (33.5%)

9    Jan 1943–Dec 1943                 492            205 (41.6%)

10  Jan 1944–Jul 1945                   488            180 (36.8%)

Of the 5,089 documents in ADSS, 734 (14.5%) relate directly to persecution and murder of Jews.  When placed in context and the Vatican's global concerns, the number of documents related to the dispossession and murder of the Jews is significant.