Fatal silence by Robert Katz

Fatal silence by Robert Katz was an interesting book, which I would recommend, but which I awarded only 3 stars. Its subtitle is “the Pope, the Resistance and the German occupation of Rome” and the book was mainly about the resistance. Considering that it starts with the Pope and it has his picture on the cover, I imagined that the Pope will feature prominently in the book, it doesn’t. Katz is a bit of the Pope’s apologist despite Catholics saying that he tarnished the Pope’s image.

Rome was occupied by the Germans in mid-1943 for an year. In that time the Pope protested about looting, wanted to remain “neutral”, so a pact with Hitler could be made against the “atheist ussr”. We need to think at the perspective and consider what was known at that time, so this is where documents are important, of which Katz accepts with no real analysis. He gives lots and lots of quotes, a few too many as they could have been paraphrased in a sentence or two and the whole book is way to descriptive, but never questions the issues with using ego-documents.

He is obviously pro-resistance, which is natural. But he is also quite pro-Pope. For example, at page 324 he writes on the moment of liberation: “no one in liberated Rome had been more unburdened that day than Pope Pius XII.” Really? No one?! How can he quantify that?

After the killing of 335 Italians at the Ardeatine Caves, the papal newspaper wrote (page 260):
“In the face of such deed every honest heart is left profoundly grieved in the name of humanity and Christian sentiment. 32 victims on the one hand; and on the other, 320 sacrificed for the guilty parties who escaped arrest. Yesterday we addressed a sorrowful appeal for serenity and calm; today we repeat the same request, with more ardent affection, with more fervid insistence.
Above and beyond the strife, moved only by Christian charity…we call upon the irresponsible elements to respect human life, which they have no right whatsoever to sacrifice, to respect the innocence of those who as a consequence are fatally victimized; from the responsible elements we ask for an awareness of their responsibility, toward themselves, toward the lives they wish to safeguard, toward history and civilization.”

Yes, the Pope and his entourage asked the resistance to stop killing Nazis, the 32 “victims” the newspaper refers to, because they are to blame for the Nazis killing hundreds of Italians. It takes a lot of mental gymnastic to came up with the unburdening comment from page 324. He is not alone, of course, as Vatican has historians who must be constantly ignoring the important stuff in the archives (crusades, kiddy fiddlers, helping the Nazis) to say stuff like, page 245:
“The attack in Via Rasella was a serious blow to the strategy employed by Pius XII to save Rome from ruin and chaos. Throughout the months of the occupation he had pressed the German authorities to exercise moderation while seeking to calm the impatience of the Romans.”

Katz makes a snark comment on the Vatican’s historian remarks, but that is it. There is no real explanation on why that happened and why the Vatican was protecting the previous Pope like that. So, keep that in mind if you read the book, consider how he treats the sources. I didn’t know much about the subject and I’m glad I’ve read the book. I am just annoyed that this could have been so much better with a stronger approach.

Fatal silence by Robert Katz

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My rating: 3/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Weidenfeld Military
Year it was published: 2003
Format: Hardcover
Genre(s): History – Italy
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About the author: Robert Katz (1933 – 2010) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and non-fiction author. Katz was involved in a criminal-libel lawsuit in Italy over the contents of his book Death in Rome, in which he was charged with “defaming the memory of the Pope” Pius XII regarding the Ardeatine Massacre (where 335 Italians, including 70 Jews, were killed at the Ardeatine Caves in 1944).
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