Newsgroup: it.cultura.storia
Titolo: Eichmann's Diary/Diario di Eichmann

I found the following article posted at:
http://www.newsranger.com/drn-bin/wwwnews?alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic/33280
Domenico Rosa
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EICHMANN'S DIARY REVEALS CHURCH'S ASSISTANCE TO JEWS
Pius XII Opposed Deportations Imposed in Occupied Rome
JERUSALEM, MAR 1 (ZENIT).- After guarding Adolph Eichmann's diaries for
almost 40 years, yesterday the Israeli government made them public.
Eichmann, a Nazi SS lieutenant colonel, was executed in 1962 in Israel
for "crimes against the Jewish people and against humanity."
Eichmann wrote these diaries during the months following his death
sentence. They are especially chilling in their description of the way
the Nazi regime came to the "Final Solution" against the Jews, and the
way the extermination was implemented.
The pages are also very interesting in studying the Vatican's position
on the persecution of Jews. Some people accuse the Church of having done
nothing in October, 1943, when the Nazis began to deport Jews from their
"ghetto" in Rome. However, Eichmann wrote that the Vatican "vigorously
protested the arrest of Jews, requesting the interruption of such
action; to the contrary, the Pope would denounce it publicly."
This is a confirmation of the thesis of those historians who have
collected documents on the action undertaking by the Vatican to defend
Jews during those dark years. It must be kept in mind that Rome was
occupied, and that the Church was the only institution that had the
courage to denounce the Nazi action.
In a chapter dedicated to Italy, Eichmann explains that "on October 6,
1943, ambassador Moelhausen sent a telegraphic message to Foreign
Minister Ribbentrop in which he said that general Keppler, SS commander
in Rome, had received a special order from Berlin: he had to arrest
8,000 Jews who were living in Rome to deport them to northern Italy,
where they would be exterminated. General Stahel, commander of the
German forces in Rome, explained to ambassador Moelhausen that, from his
point of view, it would be better to use the Jews for fortification
works. On October 9, however, Ribbentrop answered that the 8,000 Jews of
Rome had to be deported to the Mathausen concentration camp. He
emphasized that, in giving evidence under oath in the military prison of
Gaeta on June 27, 1961, Kappler said that it was with that order that
for the first time he heard the term 'Final Solution.' "
"At that time, my office received the copy of a letter, that I
immediately gave to my direct superiors, sent by the Catholic Church in
Rome, in the person of Bishop Hudal, to the commander of the German
forces in Rome, general Stahel. The Church was vigorously protesting the
arrest of Jews of Italian citizenship, requesting that such actions be
interrupted immediately throughout Rome and its surroundings. To the
contrary, the Pope would denounce it publicly. The Curia was especially
angry because these incidents were taking place practically under
Vatican windows. But, precisely at that time, without paying any
attention to the Church's position, the Italian fascist government
passed a law ordering the deportation of all Italian Jews to
concentration camps," Eichamnn wrote in his diary.
"The objections given and the excessive delay in the steps necessary to
complete the implementation of the operation, resulted in a great part
of Italian Jews being able to hide and escape capture," Eichmann wrote.
A good number of them hid in convents or were helped by men and women of
the Church.
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