Archive

the theologian Lorena König will write her dissertation at the Cluster of Excellence on Romania’s special position, analyzing the processes that protected numerous Jews who converted to the Catholic faith from being deported to an extermination camp. The three-year position is funded by the Cluster of Excellence Religion and Politics at the University of Münster.

At a launch event on January 23, 2023, at the Catholic Academy in Munich, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hubert Wolf and his team from the University of Münster will present their research project "Asking the Pope for Help". In addition to answering initial overarching questions arising from the edition, Hubert Wolf will also discuss the project with prominent guests.

On the occasion of the commemoration day of the Reichspogromnacht Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hubert Wolf will speak about the hitherto unknown petitions from Jewish Holocaust victims in the Vatican archives on November 9 as part of the hour of remembrance in the Münster Synagogue.
 

Two new publications have appeared as part of the "Asking the Pope for Help" project: " Verschlossen, verwechselt, verlegt, verbrannt. Das Schicksal der Weihnachtsansprache Pius' XII. von 1942" is the title of the latest essay by Prof. Dr. Hubert Wolf - published in "Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte" - which sheds new light on the statements of the Pope. Together with Dr. Sascha Hinkel, Dr. Elisabeth Richter, Dr. Judith Schepers and Dr. Barbara Schüler he also presents the entire project in the Japanese-language journal "Praxis" of Hiroshima University.
 

Yesterday, June 23, 2022, presumably the Vatican’s most explosive collection of sources was published online: the “Ebrei” series containing thousands of petitions addressed to Pope Pius XII by persecuted Jewish people was put online by the Historical Archives of the Secretariat of State, one of the most important archives of the Catholic Church – a sensation. In an interview, Hubert Wolf explains what this means for him and his team’s project “Asking the Pope for Help”, and why thus some of the most unbending principles of the Vatican’s archival policy were abandoned.
 

During the National Socialist regime, approximately 15,000 Jewish men and women wrote letters asking for assistance from Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church. A team of researchers led by Church historian Hubert Wolf is systematically editing thousands of petitions preserved in the Vatican archives, which will ultimately be made accessible to the public in a digital edition. The project is being funded by the EVZ Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office and Bayer AG.