After the Holocaust, many different revisionists, who are historians labeled as so after they criticised the Pope. People who support the Pope are saying that these so-called revisionists are out of their realm. The claims that started this battle are all about the controversy of the Pope’s role in saving Jews in World War II. These two groups have been going at it for over 75 years. However, there have been many estimates that the Pope actually saved many more people than even Schindler. However, the estimates vary greatly. These revisionists are inspired by the play “The Vicar” by Rolf Hochhuth. The play makes many accusations towards the Pope, and many historians say that these are untrue and unneeded. They also say that his play has no historical value and yet decimated Pope Pius XII’s reputation. Two groups of historians are still clashing over the Pope’s role in the saving of Italian Jews.
Lapide was the Pope’s right hand man in Israel. His official title is the consul general of Israel. He was stationed in Milan as the ambassador to the Pope. After the Holocaust, he met with numerous Italian Jews to talk about their terrible experiences. However, he met with Jews who had been saved by the Pope and his staff. Through these interviews with survivors, he found that the Pope had assisted in at least 700,000 Jews. He had worked to protect them from the Nazis, disproving what the revisionists had previously said. In another estimate of the span of the Pope’s work, he helped more than 860,000 Jews escape the Reich.
His work can also be proved through the various acknowledgements he was given. He was recognized by Albert Einstein, who won a Nobel Prize. He was also commemorated by two Jewish Prime Ministers, Golda Meir and Moshe Sharett. Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog of Israel and Raffa...
