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The Unholy War: The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-semitism (Hardcover)

by David I. Kertzer (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Macmillan; Second Impression edition (25 Jan 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0333780426
  • ISBN-13: 978-0333780428
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,046,003 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

David Kertzer is an American historian who has taken advantage of the Vatican's new open-door policy. In 1998 the Archives of the Roman Catholic Church were opened for historians to ascertain the truth about the alleged involvement of Pope Pius XII in the holocaust. The historians have still not shown that Pius XII was guilty of anything more than an angst-ridden silence, but Kertzer effectively shows how anti-Semitism was deeply rooted in every aspect of European culture including the opinions and policies of the popes and inquisitors of the Catholic Church.

As one would expect from a professional historian of Kertzer's status, his book is objective, balanced and fair. If anti-semitism was deeply rooted in the culture of Catholic Europe, it is also true that there were constant voices within the Catholic Church challenging the anti-Semitic assumptions and calling for change. Kertzer's main point, that the anti-Semitism ingrained in European Catholic culture prepared the way for the holocaust, is strong and presented well. He writes with a clear, readable style and his research and documentation are impeccable. While it is true that Catholics cannot take the blame for the holocaust, Kertzer has still presented a case for Catholics to answer. Hopefully, in Pope John Paul II's millennium mea culpa and his rapprochement with the nation of Israel, we have seen the first steps towards long term reconciliation and co-operation. --Dwight Longenecker



Review

In 1998 the Vatican announced the findings of its 11-year investigation to determine what responsibility, if any, the Roman Catholic Church had for the Holocaust. Some nice distinctions were drawn between the sacred and the secular. In particular, the report concludes that anti-Jewish feeling in Europe in the years leading up to the attempted genocide was 'more sociological and political than religious', and that the church per se had little or no responsibility to bear. Kertzer stresses that he does not doubt the present Pope's sincerity or his sense of mission, and applauds his call for the Catholic world to 'confront its past with clear eyes'. But that past is not a happy one. Kertzer tracks the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe through the all-too-familiar stereotypes of Jews bent on ritual murder, greed, treason and world domination. In the early 19th century Cardinal Consalvi attempted to bring about more enlightened relationships between the Church and the Jewish people, but Pope Pius VII found himself unable to implement Consalvi's ideas because of his own view of 'the Pope's duty to treat the Jews as... perpetually condemned for the killing of Christ' (a position which the church only renounced officially with Vatican II in the early 1960s). Anti-Semitism is identified as not solely a German crime, but a pan-European problem. Finally, we are reminded of the uncomfortable facts about Pope Pius XII, who was pontiff during much of the Holocaust and a man who could not bring himself publicly even to speak the word 'Jew'. Kertzer's motives for writing this book naturally derive from his own Jewish background, and many in his position could not have been blamed, given the facts, for taking a much harder line on the Vatican's actions than Kertzer does. However, he remains assiduously dispassionate and detached throughout, letting us learn the important lessons that the book has to teach from the facts as presented and from his closely reasoned analysis of them. Essential reading. (Kirkus UK)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly relevant for our time, 20 Jan 2008
By Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Unholy War: The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-semitism (Paperback)
This meticulously researched work is not a malicious attack on the church but a much needed examination of historical facts. In papal history there were those popes who protected the Jewish people. For example, Alexander VI is known for welcoming those who sought refuge in Rome after the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and also allowed the immigration of those expelled from Portugal in 1497 and Provence in 1498. Others were Gregory IX, Innocent IV, Clement IV and Clement IX. In this book, the author never criticizes Christian theology and takes care to discuss the extenuating circumstances that contributed to the attitudes and behavior of the church in the period following the French Revolution.

The first part examines the treatment of Jewish residents of the Papal States from 1814 when Pius VII returned after Napoleon's defeat. He revoked their rights and re-imposed all the previous discriminatory laws as regards place of residence, travel, occupation and clothing. Only in 1870 were they released from the ghetto when Italy finally incorporated Rome as its capital. There were also ugly instances of the kidnapping of children and other forms of cruelty. Kertzer places this oppressive climate in the historical context of the church's abhorrence of everything associated with the French revolution and ideas of the Enlightenment.

Part Two covers the latter part of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, focusing on church attitudes as expressed through publications like L'osservatore Romano, La Croix and the Jesuit organ Civilta Cattolica. The work of authors like Edouard Drumont and Ernest Jouin (who championed the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion) is also investigated here. It is clear that the Vatican encouraged Antisemitic writings and supported anti-Jewish political movements in Austria, Poland and France. The familiar old smears of a conspiracy, of evil intentions towards Christians, of control over the banks and the press, lack of patriotism and blood libel were indulged in. Kertzer even provides evidence of racism in this literature.

The years between the wars are explored in Part Three, with the emphasis on Achille Ratti who became Pope Pius XI, as well as church relations with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The conclusion is depressing but inescapable: the church did contribute to creating a climate of Antisemitism in the decades that led up to the holocaust. Of course it was not the only institution, as Dennis Prager illustrates so well in his book Why the Jews? Antisemitism has been present throughout history - in the ancient world, from early Christianity onwards, in Lutheranism, in Islam, the Enlightenment and around the political spectrum of Europe in the 20th century.

Its latest manifestation comes in the disguise of anti-Zionism, mainly on the Left but also on the Traditionalist Right (Paleocons), on university campuses, in the mass media and in the Arab World. Examples of the aforementioned are documented by Bernard Harrison in The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism: Jews, Israel, and Liberal Opinion, Abraham Foxman in The Deadliest Lies where he investigates the antics of Jimmy Carter and Walt & Mearsheimer, Nick Cohen in his book What's Left? where he examines the phenomenon in the UK, and Peace: The Arabian Caricature of Anti-Semitic Imagery by Arieh Stav.

In his compelling book, Kertzer provides an interesting history of Italy in the 1800s, illumines a previously obscure aspect of the history of Antisemitism and also disputes the 1998 Vatican report which conceded that the church had a history of anti-Judaism but claimed it was not responsible for the hatred that culminated in the Holocaust. He does not deal with the important role of Martin Luther in the development of German Antisemitism but he does prove that for about 150 years the Catholic Church condoned or encouraged the full spectrum of prejudices characteristic of this old hatred, including the irrational notion that Jews were simultaneously responsible for capitalism and communism.

This book ought to serve as an urgent warning about what is transpiring today. The Christian Left is scapegoating Israel ever more harshly, especially organizations like the World Council of Churches and certain mainstream Protestant denominations with their attempts at divestment. As regards the Catholic Church after the second world war, in his book Contrary to Popular Opinion Alan Dershowitz chronicles manifestations of the continent's enduring plague during and after the fall of communism in the chapter titled European Antisemitism, with the emphasis on the church in Poland. And there is Michel Sabbah, Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, an implacable foe of the Jewish State.

The best book on the subject of Christian anti(Zion-)Semitism is Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel by Paul Charles Merkley. Finally, there is a thought-provoking book drawing on the wisdom of the Bible that explains how to deal with this ancient hatred, The Dawn: Political Teachings of the Book of Esther by Yoram Hazony. Unholy War includes an appendix of Popes and their Secretaries of State, voluminous notes arranged by chapter, a section of references cited and an index.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Hidden history, 1 Sep 2009
By J. L. Finch (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Unholy War: The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-semitism (Paperback)
I found the unholy war an interesting book about an area of history covering the last two centuries. I grew up during Second World War and I can remember the anti semitic feelings that were in England around that time.

The book discusses in detail much of the correspondence in the church and shows that the anti semitic feeling was so ingrained in the culture that Jews were treated like animals for a long time. The book also draws strong connections between the Jews and freemasonry which I doubt are accurate.

On the down side the book, at times, spent too much time on detail. This detail would be of great interest to a student, but is not so fascinating for the casual reader.


However, I found the 350 pages well worth reading.
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