The Guilt of the Innocent by Shenandoah Films

Shenandoah Films specializes in producing international documentaries with particular experience in historical films.

The Guilt of the Innocent

Angelo Roncalli / Pope John XXIII and the Jews
It is a paradox of the Holocaust that the innocent feel guilty and the guilty innocent.

Nowhere is this observation better illustrated than in the service of Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, who’s story is one of the most inspiring – yet little known – heroic episodes of the twentieth century. As the actively engaged in the rescue of Jews, and later as Pope John XXIII, transformed Roman Catholic teaching toward the Jews to ensure that the foundations of Christian antisemitism were shattered. It is a humanitarian story worthy of world-wide recognition, especially during today’s troubled times, when intolerance and violence of some groups toward others is fueled by religious or nationalist zealotry.

Building on research and filming already completed, “Roncalli” will focus and expand on two themes:

The deeds of the young Apostolic Delegate in Istanbul during the Holocaust. Roncalli as the Apostolic Delegate in Istanbul in neutral Turkey throughout World War II, was actively engaged in the rescue of Jews, during the most tragic moments in Jewish history, the Holocaust.
The revolution he initiated as Pope in Roman Catholic teachings toward the Jews. As Pope John XXIII, he would transform Roman Catholic teaching toward the Jews to insure that the foundations of Christian anti-Semitism were shattered, a transformation that was expanded upon by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Jerusalem.

During the early years of World War II in Turkey, Monsignor Roncalli worked with delegates of the Yishuv (the name given to the pre-state Jews living in then Palestine). Strategically located at the intersection of Europe and Asia and in close proximity to the Eastern European countries occupied by the Germans, Turkey became host to Allied and Axis spies, traders, defectors and diplomats, assassins and journalists and seemingly everyone in-between – an indispensable listening post to the war in the East. And for the Jews, it became a base of operations near the heart of the inferno.

Roncalli and the Yishuv ascertained information regarding the fate of the Jews under German-occupation and traded such information for assistance from the British who controlled Palestine. Roncalli was an ally when the Jews had few, and was one who would work directly with them and offer them assistance - asking nothing in return. According to those who knew him, he was motivated by his love for all humanity and by his belief that all human beings were created in the Divine image. He wrote the following from Istanbul:

‘Before us is one of the greatest mysteries in the history of humanity. Poor children of Israel. Every day I hear their moans all around me. I sympathize with them and I do my best to help them. They are the relatives and the fellow countrymen of Jesus. May the Divine Savior come to their aid.’

Alarmed by what he had learned about the Jewish plight in German-occupied Europe, he asked of the Vatican three things –

To encourage countries to give temporary havens to Jewish refugees who would be supported by Jewish organizations.
To broadcast by radio that the Church was against the persecution of Jews – which in some countries played an important role in the persecutions and killings.
To beseech Joseph Tiso, the ruler of Slovakia under the Germans and a Roman Catholic priest, to let 5,000 Jews go on the condition that transit visas could be found for them.

Roncalli pleaded with King Boris of Bulgaria, in whose country he had served for a decade, not to deport his Jews. And while Bulgaria cooperated in the deportation of the Jews of Thrace and Macedonia - countries it occupied - it did not give its consent to the Germans to deport its native Jews. Chaim Barlas, the chief Yishuv delegate, describes in his book how Roncalli cried when he told him the information and when he asked him to do what he did. He said "I am going to fast and to pray for the people and our people." Teddy Kollek, who for three decades was Mayor of Jerusalem recalled: “He commiserated together with us. He wasn’t able to do very much. But what he could, he did.”

Roncalli may not have left a paper trail -- what precisely he did is not yet fully known or documented. However, he was involved with Church officials in Hungary who issued papers to Jews, stating that this person was under the protection of the Holy See. Yad Vashem, Israel’s Memorial to the Holocaust, is still examining whether Roncalli himself issued documentation such as baptismal certificates where Jews were listed as having been baptized -- of course falsely -- thereby saving their lives. We do know that he did pass on Certificates to Palestine and quasi-official documents indicating that the bearer was a relative and fellow countryman of Jesus, his way of truthfully providing the limited protection he could without making a false statement.

Moreover, Archbishop Roncalli asked nothing in return. He provided these documents as a life-saving passport to freedom without any religious coercion, such as requiring conversion.Yehuda Bauer, Israel’s most distinguished Holocaust historian, describes the contribution of Archbishop Roncalli as follows: “There is no doubt that he exerted every influence he had to rescue Jews in Greece, in Bulgaria or other places. We don’t have documentation. We have personal reports of individuals who met with him; we have testimonials of survivors who know that he intervened in their favor”.

In 1944, the United States belatedly dedicated itself to rescue efforts. Ira Hirschmann, the representative of the War Refugee Board was dispatched to Turkey with special instructions. Working with Roncalli and the Yishuv envoys, Hirschmann pressed the Romanians to dismantle camps in Transnistria and to send some 3,000 children toward Constansa and from there to Palestine via Turkey. There are other accounts of Roncalli’s rescue attempts with children – which we will explore further in our film.

Decades later, Monsignor Roncalli becomes Pope John XXIII. Motivated by his war experiences, he convened Vatican Council II and initiated the process that led to the issuing of Nostra Aetate. This important document transformed Church teaching on the Jews, absolving them of the charge of murdering Christ, and changed the Scriptural Readings and standard liturgy for Good Friday worship in order to minimize the potential for Christian anti-Semitism. He stopped at a Roman synagogue on a Friday evening to greet the Rabbi and his parishioners, a move unprecedented by the Bishop of Rome and one enlarged by Pope John Paul II - who went to that very synagogue to pray.

This story is briefly told as part of a recent documentary film about the Holocaust and Turkey, “Desperate Hours”, produced and directed by Victoria Barrett. Michael Berenbaum was the writer and historian. Inspired by Roncalli’s actions yet realizing that many unanswered questions remain, Barrett and Berenbaum are now producing this film The Guilt of the Innocent, devoted solely to the noble accomplishments of this influential religious leader. Victoria Barrett recently interviewed and filmed international scholars on Pope John XXIII at a conference held in Bologna, Italy. Research continues on this project.