Building on his success with the emmy-nominated 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus, Steven Pressman delivers another intriguing Holocaust documentary. Holy Silence is a harrowing exploration of the Vatican’s reaction to the Nazi takeover of Italy and the deportation of thousands of Jews from Rome.
The documentary underscores the dissonance within the papacy between the desires to maintain diplomatic relations with Germany and to speak up for the Jewish people as a voice of morality. Pius XI is pope when Adolf Hitler comes to power in 1933. Despite the pope’s disdain for Nazism, his secretary of state, Eugenio Pacelli, negotiates a treaty between Vatican City and Germany. Pius XI and Pacelli are shown to be continually clashing in the ways they desire to address encroaching violence and anti-Semitism in Rome.
The pope seeks the help of an American priest to challenge dictators Hitler and Benito Mussolini, but his vision of sending out an encyclical doing just that never comes to pass. When Pius XI dies in 1938 at the height of Hitler’s regime, none other than Pacelli takes his place as Pope Pius XII. Despite increasing deportations and attacks on Jews, the pope’s greatest concern is repeatedly shown to be sustaining good relations with Nazi Germany. The point of the documentary is forcefully impressed upon viewers several times: Not once did Pius XII directly address the suffering of Jews.
There is not much reflection of what this silence in church history means for us today. However, the end of the documentary clearly asks its audience to consider how Jewish families are still asking the question, “Why did the Catholic church fail to extend love and mercy?”
The film lightly touches on several other fascinating aspects of history: the conflicted responses from members of the Catholic church to the pope’s silence, the United States' strained relationship with the Vatican and America’s own brand of anti-Semitism, and the general friction displayed between communist and fascist leaders.
While the documentary ultimately says little for the time it was allotted, what is unveiled about this piece of Holocaust history piques one’s interest and emotional response. This would be an educational showing for a high school or college history class. Recommended for anyone interested in the glossed-over parts of World War II history. Optional. Aud: H, C, P.