In conversation with Dennis Prager

I am a bit late in posting this latest entry.  There was a technical hitch as I attempted to post on 30 June.  After that I had to leave things until I returned from a short vacation.  I've also got to work my way through a very full in-tray of emails on various Pius related news topics, including the miracle attributed to the pope.

Let me start with the topic from late last month.

At 0220 Australian Eastern Standard Time, on Thursday 30 June, I was the guest of Dennis Prager during his broadcast from Los Angeles.  I had been approached by a member of his team and asked if I would agree to an interview.  It was a great experience.  Dennis is a consummate gentleman and professional.  He asked me questions and allowed me to answer them without interruption.  In the world of live-to-air broadcast that is a mark of very gracious host.

Dennis made some very positive remarks about my book, describing it as balanced and in search of the truth, not an agenda. 

The major drawback with doing any form of interview is the lack of time to develop a point or points beyond introductory remarks. Nonetheless, Dennis' well-thought questions took us across some of the major issues to do with Pius XII and what he did or did not do during the war.  I will leave it to the reader to listen to the podcast available on the Prager website.

dp_rs_20110629-1_Wed_4e5913d0-f029-4dd0-b243-5f476466f469_radio-show_Hi.mp3

At the end of the interview, Dennis asked me to sum up what I believe is the case about Pius XII:  he was a fundamentally good man, who made some terrible mistakes. 

It is the work of the historian to keep looking at the evidence we have, to search for what we don't have, and to wait for what we will have - when the last archives are made available.  And the work of the historian is helped with the assistance of good journalism that seeks to understand the truth.  Thanks Dennis.

Dennis Prager

A Cross Too Heavy: Pius XII and the Jews of Europe

It is not without some sense of pride and joy that I opened up a box that had been delivered by UPS yesterday.  The US edition of the book has arrived.  Palgrave Macmillan have done a sterling job.  When I get over the "Wow" moment, I will start writing the thank you letters to so many people who have made this moment possible.

The substance of the 2011 edition is in accord with the 2008 Australian publication.  I added some more archival references and re-wrote the introduction with a more critical appraisal of the neo-conservatives who continue to use polemic to push their agenda with Pius XII.

I want to thank, on this blog, the help and support of Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, New York.  Abe asked to meet this unknown writer from "Down Under" and asked straight out "what's your gut feeling on Pius?".  It has been in no small part due to Abe's "go get 'em" work ethic that this project saw the light of day.

Rabbi Eric Greenberg, Deborah Dwork, Amy-Jill Levine, the archivists at the Vatican Secret Archives, Thomas Brechenmacher, Hubert Wolf, Susan Zuccotti, Michael Phayer, Colin Tatz, Yehuda Bauer, John Pawlikowski and Victoria Barnett, have, all in their own wonderful ways, been guides and gurus.  I owe each one a huge measure of gratitude.

And to my agent, Lynne Rabinoff - thank you, thank you, thank you.

http://us.macmillan.com/acrosstooheavy

A Cross Too Heavy - Palgrave edition to be published

In the middle of 2010 I signed a contract with Palgrave-Macmillan for the publication of a revised edition of "A Cross Too Heavy".   Publication is expected around March-April.

The Australian edition was published by the Sydney publishing house, Rosenburg in 2008.

Since then there have been a number of significant events related to Pius XII that warranted a revised edition.  The general thrust of the book has not changed, but I included more comment on the Vatican's reluctance to view critical material on Pius and its equal reluctance to face up to some of the serious questions historians have been, and continue to ask, about Pacelli.  I have also included comments on the neo-conservative groups (Catholics and Jews) who are hell-bent on seeing Pius XII canonised with no concern for historical process.

The volume of documentary material, both primary and secondary, continues to grow, as does the war against myth, rumour and untruths.  To date there has not been one piece of evidence, read within its appropriate context/s, that has called for a drastic revision of what mainstream historians hold; points that I set out in the first post on this blog in May 2010.

When the 1939-1958 archives are opened in 2013 or 2014, I hope that I can look at another edition that will take me through to the end of the war years.

For the meantime I continue to work on my reading and translation of Actes et Documents.  It is a slow task.  So far I have re-read my way through 8 of the 11 volumes.  At present I am half way through Volume 11 - the "general" war from January 1944 to May 1945.

Ironically, if Pius XII's more vocal defenders had bothered to read the entire collection, they would be forced to blunt some of their more strident claims.  But I don't see a change until Rome adopts a more mature attitude towards history and historians.

Pius XII

by Catherine Harry 2010

Used for the cover of the new edition.