The Cardinal then quoted a comment made by Rabbi Daniel Polish in his contribution to a volume of essays that first appeared in Germany in 1990, Never Forget: Christian and Jewish Perspectives on Edith Stein (1998). In his essay Rabbi Polish wrote: “While we cannot embrace the notion that Edith Stein will serve as a bridge [between Jews and Catholics], we can see the occasion of her canonization as opening a door to significant discourse.” [...]
In 1993, John Paul II established diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel. In 1994, he sponsored at the Vatican a concert commemorating the Shoah. Earlier on, in 1986, he made a historic decision—he paid a visit to the great synagogue of Rome, the first pope ever to go there. On that occasion, he clearly condemned anti-Semitism and addressed the Jews as “our elder brothers.” He also recalled the deportations of the Jews of Rome during the Holocaust. These actions and statements of John Paul II have been welcomed in Jewish circles. They stand in sharp contrast to the policies of the Vatican during the rise of National Socialism.
On July 20, 1933, the Vatican concluded a concordat—a kind of mutual non-interference agreement—with the Hitler Government. It was signed by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, then the Holy See’s Secretary of State and later Pope Pius XII. I remember clearly that the news of the signing of this concordat had a devastating impact on Germany’s anti-Nazis and especially upon Jews. At that time, the Vatican could have taken a stand against Nazi ideology and against Hitler’s program of bigotry and belligerence without any risk at all. In fact, as the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholics in Germany, Pius XII could have persuaded a large segment of the German population to recognize the incompatibility of National Socialist programs and policies with the moral principles of the church. Instead, the pact boosted the prestige of this disreputable new German chancellor in the eyes of the world. [...]
In her own family, Edith was only one of four siblings who fell victim to the Nazis. Moreover, to speak of Edith Stein’s going to her death “for her people” poses a problem for Jews. Christians consider the death of Jesus to have been redemptive. By his sacrifice, he atoned for the sins of the people. In contrast, my Aunt Edith was killed alongside millions of Jews. Her suffering and death could not save the others. It was a death she did not choose, could not choose and could not have avoided. It was a death that did not stop the killing of others and did not give a religious meaning to the slaughter. It was a fact that Edith Stein died in solidarity with “her people.” Even though she had left the Jewish fold, she was finally, in an ironic twist, reunited with them in death. She was resigned to that fate, but she had no control over it. It was rather due to the Nazis’ definition of who is a Jew. It was because she was born Jewish, of Jewish parentage, that she became a “Martyr in Auschwitz.”
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