Holy Father, save us!

Around 15,000 Jewish people from all over Europe asked Pope Pius XII and the Vatican for help during the Nazi era.
In the research project "Asking the Pope for Help", church historian Prof. Dr Hubert Wolf and his team from the University of Münster are recording these letters of petition from the Vatican archives and preparing them in a digital edition. The Academy event is the start of this project, which, after start-up funding by the Krupp Foundation, is being significantly supported by the Foundation EVZ (Remembrance, Responsibility and Future) together with the Federal Foreign Office, the Bayer Foundation and SAP. The team introduces the project and answers initial overarching questions arising from the edition. Individual petition letters will be read out before Dr. Josef Schuster (President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany), the Auxiliary Bishop of Trier Jörg Michael Peters (representative of the German Bishops' Conference), Dr. h.c. Annette Schavan (Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation EVZ) and Prof. Dr Hubert Wolf will discuss and answer questions from the audience.