11 Million Holocaust Victims

Left: St. Edith Stein.

We know that there were 6 Million Jews butchered by the Nazis during World War II but they were not alone.  Of the 6 Million Polish citizens killed, three million were Jews and 3 Million were Polish Christians and Catholics. Heinrich Himmler said, “All Poles will disappear from the world… It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles.”

When they refused to sign documents of loyalty to Nazi ideology Jehovah Witnesses were forced to wear purple armbands.  Thousands were imprisoned as dangerous traitors because they refused to take a pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich.  But other Christians did not quite do as well.  Hitler sought to create a new religion and had no time for those whose faith was strong enough to resist the Nazi ideology.  Catholic Priests and Christian pastors as well as those who were influential community leaders were arrested and imprisoned in a special barracks for clergy set up at Dachau, near Munich, Germany.  Those who were not executed were allowed to die slowly of starvation and disease.

Contrary to common belief, under Pope Pius XI as Nuncio to Germany Eugenio Pacelli, the later Pope Pius XII spoke out strongly against Hitler and his murderous regime.  After assuming the Chair of Peter in 1939 he was Europe’s strongest moral voice against Nazism and he worked constantly to save the lives of millions.

1929 Pacelli was appointed Papal Secretary of State. In 1930 Cardinal Pacelli assumes new duties. L'Osservatore Romano, which speaks the mind of the Holy Father and Church, runs a series of articles from the office of Cardinal Secretary of State severely criticizing Nazism. The October 11, 1930 article declares: "Belonging to the National Socialist Party of Hitler is irreconcilable with the Catholic Conscience." These pieces are reprinted in diocesan newspapers around the world, especially in Germany, where bishops and priests emphasize that the teaching is official Church teaching.



Indeed, Catholics and Protestants joined the Jews in their march to death at the hands of the Nazis, despite the efforts of Pius XII and a host of senior clergy in occupied Europe who condemned anti-Semitism and resisted Nazi oppression.