Many movies have been made about the Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities of World War II. But, only a few films have been made about the heroes of the pogrom. Yet, there were many thousands of non-combatants, civilians and religious, who hid Jews and helped them escape. Many also helped escaped POWs and downed Allied flyers. Poland was especially brutalized by the Nazis. Yet, it alone had more than 4,000 heroes of the Holocaust who have been named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem.
Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty may be the best known among Catholic clergy for his efforts – no doubt in some part due to Gregory Peck playing him in this 1983 movie for TV. The film is loaded with talented actors. O'Flaherty operated out of his office in the Vatican. He organized a network that helped 6,500 Jews and Allied escapees flee the Nazis. His nemesis, played by Christopher Plummer in this film, was SS Col. Herbert Kappler. Other leading roles were John Gielgud as Pope Pius XII and Raf Vallone as Father Vittorio.
This movie is an excellent account of that true story. Only one aspect of the film isn't superb – the musical score. In some dramatic or suspenseful scenes, the music is terrible. Even with that, though, this is an excellent movie. The story is based on a 1983 book by J.P. Gallagher, "The Vatican Pimpernel." A new novel about Fr. O'Flaherty and his WW II rescue network just came out in 2012. "Hide & Seek: The Irish Priest in the Vatican who Defied the Nazi Command" was written by Stephen Walker.
A few other excellent films tell the WW II stories of some clergy who were true heroes. A 1985 movie, "The Assisi Underground," is about a Franciscan Padre, Rufino Niccacci, who organized a massive network to hide Jews and help them escape. Many priests, nuns and lay people helped in this effort. Padre Rufino and Bishop Nicolini were named Righteous Among the Nations after the war by Yad Vashem.
"Au Revoir Les Enfants' is a French movie made in 1987. It tells the story of Father Jacques de Jesus, a Carmelite headmaster of a boy's boarding school in Avon, France. Fr. Jacques hid Jewish boys among the students and put noted Jewish botanist Lucien Weil on the faculty. In 1985, Yad Vashem, honored the priest as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations." This film was made two years later by French filmmaker Louis Malle who had been a student under Fr. Jacques.
In August of 2014, a movie was made about St. Maximillian Kolbe. He was a Polish priest who was sent to Auschwitz. Kolbe asked the commandant to take him in the place of a Jewish man who was to be killed. Kolbe died Aug. 14, 1941. Pope John Paul II canonized him a saint on Oct. 10, 1982, and the Jewish man whose life he saved was at Kolbe's canonization in Rome.
There were many other clergy and religious heroes of WW II. Archbishop Giovanni Ferrofino was an Italian diplomat who helped save 10,000 Jews flee Nazi Europe. Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough was an English nun who hid 60 Jews in her cloister in Italy. But many stories may never be known, because so many Catholic Priests were killed by the Germans. In Dachau Concentration Camp, 2,600 Catholic priests from 24 different countries were killed. And, between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis killed an estimated 3,000 priests in Poland. Of those, 1,992 died in concentration camps.
An interesting aspect of "The Scarlet and the Black" is the portrayal of Pope Pius XII as cautious about the church making overt steps to save Jews. That may be a fair and accurate depiction. The Pope wouldn't want to give the Nazis cause to invade the Vatican and imprison more clergy. In recent years, some critics have said Pius didn't help the Jews, or do enough to help them. But, post-war books and statements by escapees and Jewish leaders praised Pius for his discreet aid to Jews. When Pius died in 1958, the chief Rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, said "Jews will always remember what the Catholic Church did for them by order of the Pope during the Second World War."
Indeed, in the early years of the war, Pope Pius was one of the few world leaders who took on Hitler and the Nazis. The New York Times, on Christmas Day 1941, carried an editorial that praised his efforts. "The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas." The following year, Christmas of 1942, The Times again praised Pius in an editorial: "This Christmas more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent."
Since then, The Times has admitted to criticism that it hid news coverage or played down reports about the Holocaust during the war. Between 1939 and 1945, the paper ran 23,000 front-page stories. Of those, 11,500 were about the war. Only 26 were about the Holocaust. Most mentions of death camps, Nazi atrocities or persecution of the Jews were buried inside the paper. In 1996, The Times said that criticism of its reporting of the holocaust is valid. An irony in this is that during World War II, the owner and publisher of The New York Times was Arthur Hays Sulzberger, a Jew.
Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty may be the best known among Catholic clergy for his efforts – no doubt in some part due to Gregory Peck playing him in this 1983 movie for TV. The film is loaded with talented actors. O'Flaherty operated out of his office in the Vatican. He organized a network that helped 6,500 Jews and Allied escapees flee the Nazis. His nemesis, played by Christopher Plummer in this film, was SS Col. Herbert Kappler. Other leading roles were John Gielgud as Pope Pius XII and Raf Vallone as Father Vittorio.
This movie is an excellent account of that true story. Only one aspect of the film isn't superb – the musical score. In some dramatic or suspenseful scenes, the music is terrible. Even with that, though, this is an excellent movie. The story is based on a 1983 book by J.P. Gallagher, "The Vatican Pimpernel." A new novel about Fr. O'Flaherty and his WW II rescue network just came out in 2012. "Hide & Seek: The Irish Priest in the Vatican who Defied the Nazi Command" was written by Stephen Walker.
A few other excellent films tell the WW II stories of some clergy who were true heroes. A 1985 movie, "The Assisi Underground," is about a Franciscan Padre, Rufino Niccacci, who organized a massive network to hide Jews and help them escape. Many priests, nuns and lay people helped in this effort. Padre Rufino and Bishop Nicolini were named Righteous Among the Nations after the war by Yad Vashem.
"Au Revoir Les Enfants' is a French movie made in 1987. It tells the story of Father Jacques de Jesus, a Carmelite headmaster of a boy's boarding school in Avon, France. Fr. Jacques hid Jewish boys among the students and put noted Jewish botanist Lucien Weil on the faculty. In 1985, Yad Vashem, honored the priest as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations." This film was made two years later by French filmmaker Louis Malle who had been a student under Fr. Jacques.
In August of 2014, a movie was made about St. Maximillian Kolbe. He was a Polish priest who was sent to Auschwitz. Kolbe asked the commandant to take him in the place of a Jewish man who was to be killed. Kolbe died Aug. 14, 1941. Pope John Paul II canonized him a saint on Oct. 10, 1982, and the Jewish man whose life he saved was at Kolbe's canonization in Rome.
There were many other clergy and religious heroes of WW II. Archbishop Giovanni Ferrofino was an Italian diplomat who helped save 10,000 Jews flee Nazi Europe. Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough was an English nun who hid 60 Jews in her cloister in Italy. But many stories may never be known, because so many Catholic Priests were killed by the Germans. In Dachau Concentration Camp, 2,600 Catholic priests from 24 different countries were killed. And, between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis killed an estimated 3,000 priests in Poland. Of those, 1,992 died in concentration camps.
An interesting aspect of "The Scarlet and the Black" is the portrayal of Pope Pius XII as cautious about the church making overt steps to save Jews. That may be a fair and accurate depiction. The Pope wouldn't want to give the Nazis cause to invade the Vatican and imprison more clergy. In recent years, some critics have said Pius didn't help the Jews, or do enough to help them. But, post-war books and statements by escapees and Jewish leaders praised Pius for his discreet aid to Jews. When Pius died in 1958, the chief Rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, said "Jews will always remember what the Catholic Church did for them by order of the Pope during the Second World War."
Indeed, in the early years of the war, Pope Pius was one of the few world leaders who took on Hitler and the Nazis. The New York Times, on Christmas Day 1941, carried an editorial that praised his efforts. "The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas." The following year, Christmas of 1942, The Times again praised Pius in an editorial: "This Christmas more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent."
Since then, The Times has admitted to criticism that it hid news coverage or played down reports about the Holocaust during the war. Between 1939 and 1945, the paper ran 23,000 front-page stories. Of those, 11,500 were about the war. Only 26 were about the Holocaust. Most mentions of death camps, Nazi atrocities or persecution of the Jews were buried inside the paper. In 1996, The Times said that criticism of its reporting of the holocaust is valid. An irony in this is that during World War II, the owner and publisher of The New York Times was Arthur Hays Sulzberger, a Jew.