New York June 24, 2009- Pave the Way Foundation (PTWF), a non-sectarian organization founded to remove obstacles between religions, foster cooperation and to end the misuse of religion for private agendas, has revealed new documentary evidence of Pope Pius XII’s actions during WWII, specifically his active opposition to Hitler and to Hitler’s National Socialism.
Pope Pius XII has been at the center of controversy since the 1963 release of a play entitled “The Deputy” portrayed him as being pro-Hitler. Called “Hitler’s Pope” in a popular book, he has been accused of failing to speak out against Hitler’s regime of oppression, especially against the Jews. Pave the Way Foundation identified this controversy as a continued source of discord between Jews and Catholics and initiated a thorough investigation to uncover documentary evidence and record eye witness testimony.
“In the furtherance of our mission we are continuously working hard to locate and post as many documents possible of the war years in order to clarify the papacy of Pope Pius XII,” stated Gary Krupp, President of Pave the Way Foundation. “During a recent mission to Germany, along with our PTWF representative in Germany, Michael Hesemann, we discovered and posted many new unseen original documents on our website that may change the face of this entire controversy.”
The evidence seems to confirm that Pope Pius XII was an active enemy of Adolph Hitler. The pope was named as a co-conspirator in the assassination attempt on Hitler’s life of July 20, 1944. The image of the Kaltenbrunner Report to Adolf Hitler dated Nov. 29, 1944 on the background of the plot is posted on our website. The report specifically names Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, as being a party in the attempt.
In addition we have posted the actual affidavit of Heinrich Himmler’s deputy and German commander in Italy, General Karl Wolff. Wolff testifies that he was ordered by Hitler to plan an invasion of the Vatican to kidnap the Pope Pius XII and seize the Vatican. This kidnapping plan has been discounted by many historians because of a lack of documented proof.
Another controversial event is deportation over 1000 Jews who were taken from Rome and killed in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. We have posted the original cable from German command in Berlin to SS headquarters in Rome, ordering the arrest of 8000 Roman Jews to be taken, not to Auschwitz, but to the labor camp of Mauthausen. Only a little over 1000 were arrested after a successful papal intervention. We have confirmed the personal and direct action of Pope Pius XII to stop the arrests of the Jews in Rome October 16, 1943. No evidence has yet turned up about why those arrested were taken to the death camp of Auschwitz rather than the labor camp.
One can speculate that because of the successful papal intervention to stop arrests, the order to Mauthausen was countermanded by persons unknown and over 1000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz to their death in retribution. When the arrests ended, Pope Pius XII sent a representative to the holding area to plea for the release of the 1000 Jews that were arrested, but he was refused admittance. With the revelation of this cable, there remains the real unconfirmed possibility that the Church believed they could rescue these 1000 victims and negotiate their release believing they were being taken to Mauthausen as hostages.
Pope Pius XII ordered that Jews of Rome were to be given sanctuary in Church properties and Catholic homes, suspending cloister rules so that men could be admitted to Convents and women to Monasteries throughout Europe. He literally hid over 7000 Jews in one day.
We encourage all to visit our website to view the documents directly to learn the truth of the actions of the Holy See during the war.
About Pave the Way Foundation
Pave the Way Foundation is dedicated to bridging the non-theological gap between religions through cultural, technological, and intellectual gestures. The Foundation has a simple yet monumental vision: To enable all the world’s religions to mutually realize that extremism, politics and personal agendas must not be allowed to poison the true benevolent message common to all faiths. Bigotry and hatred must be abolished by the true faithful embracing their similarities and savoring their differences. More information on the Foundation can be found at www.ptwf.org.
Contact: David Hauser
+212 6290046
+516 6725930 (cell)
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