Asking the Pope for Help

News from the project
© SMNKG - Matthias Daufratshofer

To the edited petitions
© Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Abt. Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg F 215 Bü 69, fol. 004

The Team's Work in the newspaper DIE ZEIT
© DIE ZEIT Nr. 15 vom 5. April 2023

Fox running — © SMNKG - Matthias Daufratshofer

About the project

During World War II, thousands of Jewish people wrote letters to the Catholic Church and to the then Pope, Pius XII, mostly asking for financial support in order to flee from Germany. Over the next five years, Prof. Dr. Hubert Wolf and his team will systematize these estimated 15,000 petitions, which are kept in the Vatican archives, and make them accessible to the public in a digital edition.

In a video, the researchers introduce the project, read selected petitions and explain their work in the archives. The film was produced in the studio stage of the University of Münster.