The Popes Against the Jews Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Popes Against the Jews Book

The Vatican's 1998 report "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah" purportedly exonerated the Church of complicity in the Holocaust. In The Popes Against the Jews, David I. Kertzer argues that the report is "not the product of a Church that wants to confront its history." Kertzer's book refutes the Church's thesis that the Holocaust grew out of "an anti-Judaism that was essentially more sociological and political than religious." In fact, Kertzer asserts, those dimensions of European anti-Semitism developed "in no small part due to the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church itself." The racial laws of fascist Italy and the Nuremberg Laws of 1930s Germany, for example, were directly modeled on the Church's own rules governing treatment of Jews: until the collapse of the Papal States in the late 19th century, Jews living in these territories were forced to wear yellow badges and live in ghettos. Kertzer's arguments make for compelling reading because they're presented in story form, based on the actions of the popes themselves. Access to long-sealed Church archives allowed Kertzer to reconstruct some of the most shocking, secret conversations that occurred in the Vatican in the decades leading up to World War II. --Michael Joseph GrossRead More

from£29.57 | RRP: £22.99
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £11.19
  • Product Description

    A groundbreaking historical study based on documents previously locked in the Vaticanâ??s secret archives: The Popes Against the Jews graphically shows how the Catholic Church helped make the Holocaust possible.

    Pope John Paul II, as part of his effort to improve Catholic-Jewish relations, has himself called for a clear-eyed historical investigation into any possible link be-tween the Church and the Holocaust. An important sign of his commitment was the recent decision to allow the distinguished historian David I. Kertzer, a specialist in Italian history, to be one of the first scholars given access to long-sealed Vatican archives.

    The result is a book filled with shocking revelations. It traces the Vaticanâ??s role in the development of modern anti-Semitism from the nineteenth century up to the outbreak of the Second World War. Kertzer shows why all the recent attention given to Pope Pius XIIâ??s failure to publicly protest the slaughter of Europeâ??s Jews in the war misses a far more important point. What made the Holocaust possible was groundwork laid over a period of decades. In this campaign of demonization of the Jewsâ??identifying them as traitors to their countries, enemies of all that was good, relentlessly pursuing world dominationâ??the Vatican itself played a key role, as is shown here for the first time.

    Despite its focus, this is not an anti-Catholic book. It seeks a balanced judgment and an understanding of the historical forces that led the Church along the path it took.

    Inevitably controversial, written with devastating clarity and dispassionate authority, The Popes Against
    the Jews     is a book of the greatest importance.

  • 0375406239
  • 9780375406232
  • David I. Kertzer
  • 8 November 2001
  • Alfred A Knopf
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 355
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click through any of the links below and make a purchase we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Click here to learn more.

Would you like your name to appear with the review?

We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.

All form fields are required.