EW PEOPLE DID MORE than Pope Pius XII to protect innocent people from the Nazis. Israel Anton Zoller (d. 1956) was Rome’s chief Jewish rabbi from 1940 to 1945. He was so impressed by the bravery shown by Pius XII protecting Jews, he converted to Catholicism and took the name “Eugenio” in honor of the pope (whose name before accepting the papacy was Eugenio Pacelli). Zolli’s godfather was Augustin Cardinal Bea, the confessor of Pope Pius XII.
Rare Photograph • At least 1,773 priests from Poland were sent to the concentration camp in Dachau. Close to 1,000 of those priests were murdered by the Nazis. The others were subjected to exhausting labor and pseudo-medical “experiments.” The following photograph from 1942—assuming its caption is accurate—shows Mass at the Dachau concentration camp:
* PDF Download • PHOTOGRAPH (1942)
—Catholic Mass at the Dachau concentration camp in 1942.
Trivia • In 1948, Zolli—formerly the chief rabbi of Rome—published a book in which he tries to prove that everything Jesus said during his public life was actually sung using “cantillation.” That book was translated into English by a Jesuit priest in St. Mary’s, Kansas, and can be downloaded as a PDF file. Cf. pages 42-60.
