ADSS 8.492 Notes from the Italian Embassy

In late September 1942, the Italian embassy to the Holy See passed on a report that it had received from the Italian embassy in Bratislava, Slovakia.  The report set out news on the deportation of the Slovakian Jews, but in particular focused on the anger in Catholic clerical circles towards priest-president Tiso's use of religious celebrations to make speeches on the anti-Jewish laws.  The Italian report summed up the reaction as - Tiso's speeches create confusion; who do Catholics believe - their pastors or the president?  That such as question was asked at all suggests that the answer may well have been that many Catholics were listening to Tiso.  


The report also refers to the Calvinist pastor of Nitra, László Sedivy, who had been arrested for continuing to baptise Jews despite formal warnings to stop the practice.  Tiso had said publicly that he did not believe in the sincerity of Jewish conversions or baptisms citing his experience as parish priest of Banovce (1924-1945) where he had not baptised one Jew, although he had the pleasure of receiving 18 Protestants into the Catholic Church.


Francesco Babuscio Rizzo, counsellor of the Italian embassy to the Holy See in Rome, passed on the report to the Secretariat of State.  At the end of the report is a note from Domenico Tardini with the words "See by the Holy Father".

ADSS 8.492 Notes of the Italian Embassy

Reference: No number, (AES 7165/42)

Location and date: Rome, 26.09.1942

Summary statement: Information on persecution of Jews in Slovakia, antisemitic speech of Tiso, provoked opposition among Catholic clergy.

Language: Italian

Text:

During the summer months the forced exodus of Slovakian Jews was held as planned by the Government and occurred without giving rise to unrest. (1)  From 25 March to mid-August about 70,000 people were deported.  Between 16,000 to 20,000 Jews remain in the country.  The number is comprised in large part of Jews exempted from the Law of 15 May of this year, namely that those baptised before 14 March 1939; who were married to a person belonging to the Aryan race before September 1941; and who are (temporarily) indispensable because of their occupations, have been granted exemption from deportation by the President of the Republic. […] (2)

Ecclesiastical circles have not welcomed the presidential statements.  They find it incomprehensible that Monsignor Tiso (3) could say that love itself is a divine commandment.  We are quite used to hearing praise of love of neighbour from the mouths of Catholic priests.  They criticise the President’s use of religious celebrations where people in large numbers are gathered to make political speeches and declarations of the kind, which they create confusion in the souls of the listeners, who do not know to give greater credence to their pastors or statements of the President.  Monsignor Tiso does not believe in the sincerity of the conversions of the Jews.  From his time as a parish priest in Banovce at the beginning of the antisemitic agitation, that is a period of eighteen years, there has not been one Jew who asked to be baptised, while he had the satisfaction of converting eighteen Protestants to Catholicism. Today there are many Jews from Banovce who ask for Baptism (4).  In recent times there have been mass conversions of Jews to Calvinism in Nitra.  Pastor [László] Sedivy was warned to stop the baptisms which he administered without subjecting the newcomers to any religious training and only for reasons of profit.  In the face of his refusal (717 baptism had been administered), he was expelled and taken into custody.

Since he was asked what would qualify a person to pursue the objective by the Jews with the transition to Christianity since that this was not enough to discriminate against them, he answered that it was made out of pure speculation, that is, in the hope that the quality of baptism could be an element in the contribution towards a Presidential exemption.  […] (5)

Note of Domenico Tardini:

29.09.1942. From Commendatore [Francesco] Babuscio. (Counsellor of Italian Embassy to the Holy See)

Seen by the Holy Father.

Cross references: 

(1) See ADSS 8.298, 334, 343, 360, 382.

(2) Passages on Slovakian antisemitic propaganda and the 15.08.1942 speech of Tiso defending the racial laws has been omitted.

(3) Concerning the use of the title “Monsignor” and Tiso, see ADSS 5.123.

(4) Tiso was parish priest of Banovce from 1924 to 1945.

(5) Passages on “discrimination” omitted.

 

ADSS 8.368 Notes from the Italian Embassy on Slovakia

As the deportation of the Slovak Jews continued to create unpleasant reactions for the government, Prime Minister, Alexander Mach, called a press conference in late March to explain the government's decision.  The secretary of the Italian embassy to the Holy See, Francesco Babuscio Rizzo recorded notes from the meeting and forwarded them to the Vatican Secretariat of State.  There was some confusion over the dating of the memo.  Babuscio Rizzo dated his notes "7 May 1942" which was the day he wrote the version that was sent to the Vatican.  Babuscio Rizzo had received news of the meeting some time around 16 April, and the press conference itself was convened on or around 27 March.  Whatever the correct day, the content of Mach's "justification" for the race laws is an exercise in self-delusion.  We know that the nunciatures in Switzerland and Hungary had reports that Slovakian Jews were suffering terrible privation and were expected to die shortly after their deportation from Slovakia.

The notes made by Domenico Tardini and, later, the editors of ADSS, show very clearly that Mach's words were not taken seriously and in no manner reflected the truth that was becoming clearer and supported by reports from other parts of German-occupied Europe and Russia.

ADSS 8.368


Reference: No number. (AES 3657/42 original)
Location and date: Rome 07.05.1942 (1)

Summary statement: Declaration of the Slovak government on the race laws.

Language: Italian

Text:

At 12 o’clock this morning (2) journalists of allied countries and members of the press were summoned to a meeting by Prime Minister Mach to be briefed on the Jewish question in Slovakia (3) particularly in relation to protests made among the people.

“The Jewish question in Slovakia – began the Minister – must be resolved in a total way and must lead to the exclusion of all the Jews from the life of Slovakia …” (4)

The final decision for the total resolution of the Jewish problem was taken in the Council of State, also I wish to say, against the wishes of some of the Council members who raised objections. I gave assurances that the Jews expelled from Slovakia and sent to preselected places, would be treated humanely. Families will be reunited. I strongly deny the rumours that Jewish women are being sent to “sexual” destinations, as well as inhuman processes that the Jews will be submitted to. They will find in the towns to which they are sent the means to work and live.

I repeat that the women with children left behind, will be reunited as soon as possible.

I have given assurances, to the objections made to me, that the Jews who leave Slovakia, and that will be all of them, will never return. An international agreement guarantees this. The constitutional law permits us to remove citizenship from Jews who will be deported. Those who attempt to escape the action underway, trying to hide, will be liable to arrest. We do not keep any account of all the baptisms performed by certain clerics in recent times. Baptised or not, all the Jews must go … (5)

References:

1. Babuscio Rizzo corrected the date at the time of recording his notes. It should read 16.04.1942. Tardini notes: “Babuscio Rizzo was correct in saying that the information was forwarded to the Italian government on 16 April.”


2. Tardini note: “Which day? 27.03?”


3. Cf ADSS 8.334, 343, 360.


4. The minister explained the reason for the racial legislation and gave false assurances: “… the Jews in Slovakia, up until 14 March, influenced the economic, cultural, political and social life of the country and radical action against them could not be taken without causing damage and serious imbalance …”


5. Frivolous accusations against the Slovak Jews omitted.

Note of Monsignor Tardini: 08.05.1942. From Francesco Babuscio.