Pave the Way Foundation (PTWF) has announced that it has obtained the nomination guidelines from the office of the Righteous Among Nations Department of the Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The organization will be opening the case for Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, to be honored with the title Righteous Among Nations.
In the furtherance our mission Gary Krupp, president said “PTWF has devoted years to gathering original documentation and video testimony on this controversial papacy and believe we have uncovered enough pertinent material to now begin to seek the notarized written testimonies to officially begin this judicial procedure at Yad Vashem. These original documents and videos can all be viewed on our website www.ptwf.org
Mr. Krupp Added “In most cases of those who have been honored as Righteous Among Nations, the honoree has directly acted to save individual lives all while risking his or her own life to do so. The actions of Eugenio Pacelli do not fit this general description. However, we can establish the direct intercession of the Pope to act resulting in saving hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives. But obviously because of the nature of the high office he held, Pacelli would almost never have been in direct contact with those he saved. One known exception to this was in the case of interceding on behalf of his best friend Dr. Guido Mendes, an Orthodox Jewish boyhood friend, where Pacelli personally intervened to send the Mendes Family to Palestine in 1938.”
“We can also establish that the life-saving actions of Pacelli where carried out under the threat of death. In an emergency meeting called by Pope Pius XII with the Cardinals on September 6, 1943, he informed the Cardinals that he signed a letter of resignation placed in his desk and that he expected to be kidnapped at any time. The Cardinals were to be packed and ready to immediately leave the Vatican for a neutral government where they were to elect a new Pope. This emergency meeting was a month before the Jews of Rome were rounded up and where the Pope interceded immediately to save them. This actual document is not yet available, but we know it exists. We recently obtained from Germany the affidavit from General Karl Wolff, Deputy to Himmler and Commandant in Italy, that he was ordered by Hitler to plan the seizure of the Vatican and to kidnap the Pope.”
Krupp has been in close contact with internationally respected historian, Sir Martin Gilbert, who is an authority on World War II, Sir Martin has been encouraging the initiation of this application and told Mr. Krupp that once this file is opened Yad Vashem will begin its investigation, which is an internationally respected judicial process and will help to bring the historical truth to light.
In the case of Eugenio Pacelli, Mr Krupp stated, “We will be seeking notarized original testimonies of individuals who, in many cases, were never aware that it was Pacelli who acted to save their lives. An example of this is the acceptance and transport of Jews into the Dominican Republic. We have the video testimony of 97-year-old Msgr. Giovanni Ferrofino, secretary to the Nuncio in Port Au Prince, Haiti during the War who, together with the Nuncio, personally acted on the direct orders of Pius XII twice a year to obtain visas for Jews arriving from Portugal to the DR. Msgr Ferrofino traveled with the Nuncio Msgr Silvani, to get 800 visas per boat load twice a year from 1939-1945 and appealed directly to General Rafael Trujillo in the name of Pius XII. This action saved over 10,000 Jews who were then routed into America with the help of Msgr Ferrofino through Cuba, Mexico and Canada.”
Krupp added “We are hopeful that under these special circumstances that Yad Vashem will act to verify the information we will be sending. The job is now locating many of these survivors or their relatives to get signed notarized statements. The most revealing statement we can make is that, with the help of many friends we have located thousands of documents and could not locate one negative document in our search”
In accordance to our mission Pave the Way Foundation has initiated this private investigative project with the hope to break the 46 year old “academic log jam” and hope to eliminate this obstacle which impacts over one billion people.
About Pave the Way Foundation
Pave the Way Foundation is dedicated to eliminating the non-theological obstacles between religions and initiating historic 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
