Religion: Behind the Silence

Ever since Rolf Hochhuth's bitter drama The Deputy first appeared on the stage in 1963, there has been a nonstop debate over the explosive question raised by the German playwright: Could Pope Pius XII have done more to save six million European Jews from extermination during World War II? Six books have explored the thesis that by remaining silent he became an accomplice to genocide. The issue was even aired for almost two years in a Rome civil court, when American Author Robert Katz was accused of defaming the Pontiffs memory in Massacre in Rome, a 1973 film that alleged Vatican...

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