Many may find fault with the pope's decision to "keep silent" and not single out by name the Nazis or their crimes; however, Thomas is convincing in his revelations about the pope's secret work and relays how complex and sensitive these issues were for everyone involved at the time. Any World War II history buff or Holocaust researcher will find this book an important balance to existing historical scholarship.” —Library Journal on The Pope's Jews
“The reputation of Pius XII, pope from 1939 to 1958, has been subjected to criticism for the pontiff's alleged silence about the Holocaust. The best-known Pius-bashing title is Hitler's Pope, by John Cornwell (1999). In this rebuttal to Cornwell and other critics, Thomas recounts the period of maximum danger for the Vatican during WWII, from September 1943 to June 1944, when German forces occupied Rome, and Hitler sought to kidnap the pope. He also tried to capture the city's Jewish population, an operation that largely fizzled from the Nazi point of view, with most Jews eluding the dragnet (although about 1,200 did not). How the rest were saved is Thomas's main case for Pius, which he makes by narrating activities of local Jewish leaders, Vatican prelates, and German officers. When the SS sprang its trap, thousands of Jews had received shelter in Rome's churches, convents, and the Vatican itself. Suggesting that Pius was responsible for this, Thomas presents an earnest defense while sketching Rome's menacing atmosphere during the Nazi occupation. Pair this title with Ralph McInerney's Defamation of Pius XII (2001).” —Booklist on The Pope's Jews
“Gordon Thomas's new book The Pope's Jews: The Vatican's secret Plan to Save the Jews from the Nazis, is one of the few books that accurately reflects the truth of the terrible years of the War II based on primary source documented evidence rather than unsupported accusations. He logically assembles the jig saw puzzle of evidence and analyzes it with his personal lifelong wisdom, into an easy to read page turner. Mr. Thomas will be further sustained with the opening of the Vatican Secret Archives. I think this book should one day make a very exciting film.” —Gary Krupp on The Pope's Jews
“[Thomas's] book will ignite a contentious debate about the interpretation of his evidence and Pius's role during the Holocaust.” —Publishers Weekly on The Pope's Jews
“An episodic, fast-paced narrative.” —Kirkus Reviews on The Pope's Jews
“With knowledge cultivated by the serious study of espionage, Gordon Thomas sees through disinformation that has obscured the view of others. With the determination of a great investigator, he provides accounts that were previously unknown, and with the writing skills of a bestselling author, he breathes life into the story of Pope Pius XII and the Jews of World War II. The Pope's Jews is a riveting account of an immensely important but often misunderstood slice of history.” —Ronald J. Rychlak, author of Hitler, the War, and the Pope and Righteous Gentiles on The Pope's Jews
“A highly readable, and often riveting, book that gives a very good sense not only of the difficulties faced by the Catholics in saving their fellow Jewish Italian citizens but in surviving the daily obstacles of finding food for themselves.” —Dr. Eugene Fisher, a leading Catholic scholar, The Catholic News Service on The Pope's Jews
“In The Pope's Jews Thomas explores the controversy in depth, revealing dramatic new details. Thomas is no ordinary writer: he is one of the most prominent political and investigative journalist of our time. What gives the Pope's Jews such power is its immediacy. The heroes were many – even though now long forgotten – but Thomas' book brilliantly brings them back to life, paying them homage and providing some long-overdue recognition. All Jews and Catholics – and not only them – should read this vitally important book.” —William Doino, contributing editor Inside the Vatican on The Pope's Jews
“Thomas is convincing about the Pope's secret work.” —Social Science on The Pope's Jews
“The Pope during World War II supposedly did little as Europe's Jews were exterminated wholesale. Gordon Thomas sets out to debunk that notion. The Pope's Jews show how Pius oversaw a covert network of priests, nuns and Roman citizens who forged documents and smuggled Jewish refugees to Switzerland, the United States and Palestine while Vatican infirmaries became hiding places. The Pope was considered such a threat that Nazi officials hatched a plot to kidnap him. All the while he had to keep the Germans from finding out about the secret operations that saved hundreds of lives.” —The Washington Post on The Pope's Jews
“The Pope's Jews offers an extraordinary well-researched account as well as a magnificent portrait of the refugees, the residents of Rome's ghetto and Rome's Catholic community. In doing so Thomas has provided a most welcome addition to the fight to preserve Pius' good name. This book follows the timeline of events as they actually occur: headline making events as the Ardeatine massacre , Hitler's demand for gold, the bombing of Rome by Allied planes and the battle for Rome. To his credit the author lists his sources. In Thomas' The Pope's Jews there is little reason to expect the opening of the archives will alter the end results that the Catholic Church under Pope Pius' leadership, rescued more Jews than any other institution or government.” —Bill Loughlin, The National Catholic Register on The Pope's Jews
“Thomas' riveting narrative relates the wartime decision in regard to the Jews made by Pope Pius XII. He cites the Pope's orders to open convent and monastery doors to harbour Jews, issuing Vatican passports that allowed thousands of German Jews to leave Nazi Germany. As Thomas notes "the wartime files will fully end the controversy about ‘Hitler's Pope' and silence the argument that he is not worthy to become a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.” —Jack Fischel, The Jewish Book Council of America on The Pope's Jews
“Literally impossible to put down.” —The New York Times on Gideon's Spies
“Tells it like it was—and like it is.” —Meir Amit, former Director General of Mossad on Gideon's Spies
“A compelling read, with any number of disturbing revelations.” —FHM on Gideon's Spies
“Authoritative history of Britain's spy services by a veteran who has been writing about "the Great Game" for fifty years [and a] well-written page-turner that demystifies the notoriously foggy "wilderness of mirrors.” —Kirkus Reviews on Secret Wars
“A fine depiction of the multifaceted context of this cause célèbre.” —Kirkus Reviews on Operation Exodus
The Vatican's "strategy of silence" during World War II has been debated for over half a century. Did Pope Pius XII do enough to assist Europe's Jews during the Holocaust? Thomas (Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad) offers evidence, based on primary sources (albeit with no endnotes) that the pope did work to protect the Jews, but did so with his clergy in secret, ultimately saving well over 700,000 Jews. Although he was venerated by Jewish leaders, e.g., Golda Meir and those on the Jewish World Council, in the postwar era, Pope Pius XII's legacy has since suffered from accusations that he remained neutral out of fear of German and Italian retribution, and to protect Catholics, thus sacrificing Jews in the process (see, for example, John Cornwell's Hitler's Pope). Using archival materials and survivor interviews, Thomas develops a fuller portrait of the pope, Rome's Jews, and other personages involved in this drama. VERDICT Many may find fault with the pope's decision to "keep silent" and not single out by name the Nazis or their crimes; however, Thomas is convincing in his revelations about the pope's secret work and relays how complex and sensitive these issues were for everyone involved at the time. Any World War II history buff or Holocaust researcher will find this book an important balance to existing historical scholarship.—Maria C. Bagshaw, Elgin Comm. Coll. Lib., IL
A defense of the pope who got a bad rap for his public silence on Jewish persecution in Rome during World War II. While reading prolific English writer Thomas' (Operation Exodus: From the Nazi Death Camps to the Promised Land, 2010, etc.) dramatized account of Pius XII's backroom dealing to help the Jews, readers come away with the impression that the new pope was endowed with a mission by the moribund Pius XI on his deathbed to campaign against anti-Semitism and subsequently pursued little else during the duration of the war. Yet Pius XII deliberately resolved that "there must be no public denunciation by the church" of Nazi persecution, supposedly to work more effectively behind the scenes for Jews to escape and also to sustain the tenuous Vatican neutrality. In his episodic, fast-paced narrative, Thomas cuts among scenes involving an array of international characters who were agitating against the Nazis during the war years, such as the leaders of Rome's ancient Jewish ghetto, British and American diplomats, members of the anti-fascist resistance, spies and helpful Vatican priests. Events move at a breakneck pace, from Mussolini's embrace of Nazi Germany, bombing by the Americans, the Abwehr director Wilhelm Canaris' courting of the pope for a secret assassination plot of Hitler, and Hitler's own crazy plot to abduct the pope. The plot culminated in the extortion of gold from the Jewish community and the horrific Gestapo roundup of thousands of Jews in October 1943. And still the pope remained silent. Thomas offers secondhand accounts such as by Pius' devoted Bavarian housekeeper Sister Pascalina Lehnert, and though many illustrious voices have defended the pope's record, it is not all entirely convincing. A valiant but not fully successful attempt to rehabilitate the reputation of "Hitler's pope."
