Merkel's Profile in Courage

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright February 5, 2009
All Rights Reserved.                    

          When Pope Benedict XVI decided to end the excommunication of British-born Bishop Richard Williamson Jan. 27, worldwide outrage, especially in the Jewish community, prompted the Pope to respond.  Williamson claimed that Nazis did not use gas chambers and killed no more than 300,000 Jews.  Meticulous German records kept by the Nazis and retained as public records in Germany indicate that 6 million Jews perished in Nazi death camps.  While the Pontiff expressed “full and indisputable solidarity” with Jews, he didn’t clarify the Vatican’s position on the Holocaust.  Williamson questioned whether 6 million Jews were gassed in Nazi death camps.  Taken at face value, Williamson in technically correct, since many Jews perished in ovens, forced labor camps, frequently dying of dehydration, starvation and disease.  Williamson is a known Holocaust denier, a crime in Germany.

            German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the Pope to make a “very clear” rejection of Holocaust denials.  She knows that Pope Benedict XVI, formerly a German-born citizen named Joseph Ratzinger, carries special burden because of his German roots.  Supporting any priest, let alone Bishop, as a known Holocaust denier mushroomed into a public relations nightmare.  Expressing “solidarity” with the Jews didn’t go far enough prompting his Holiness to clarify his position on Bishop Williamson. Merkel went out on a limb facing scorn from German lawmakers for her demand to the Pope.  One week later, the Vatican responded:   “Bishop Williamson, in order to be admitted to the Episcopal functions of the Church, must in an absolutely unequivocal and public way distance himself from his positions regarding the Shoah,” read a Vatican statement, responding to Merkel’s request.

            Germany’s Roman Catholic leaders thought Merkel’s request was out of line.  “I do not believe that sufficient clarification has been made,” said Merkel, pressuring the Vatican to clarify its position.  Since the end of WWII, Germany has done everything possible to accept responsibility for the Holocaust, including making all records available and paying victims reparations.  Berlin’s Holocaust museum clearly stands a monument to horrors of Nazi Germany and Germany’s effort to accept history and make amends.  Only anti-Semites like Bishop Williamson, and others like him, and lunatic leaders like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, like to spout nonsense about the Holocaust.   Ahmadinejad and Williamson should go to Berlin and tour the death camps to get the real facts about the Holocaust from the German government.  Benedict’s timely response indicates the Vatican wants to make amends.

            Bishop Williamson was consecrated by the late conservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre June 30, 1988.   He was promptly excommunicated July 1, 1988 by Pope John Paul II, stating that Lefebvre had no authority to perform the consecration, calling it a “schismatic” act.  Ending the excommunication made no reference to Williamson’s personal views, nor did his views speak for the Holy See.  Merkel’s demand on the Pontiff reflected Germany’s law against Holocaust denial and her attempt to set the record straight.  Ratzinger, of all people, wished to make his views clear, having served briefly in the Hitler Youth.  Ironically, Willamson’s public remarks on Swedish TV that historical evidence “is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler” is technically correct, since a total of 6 million perished in the Holocaust.

             More Jews died deliberately on Hitler’s orders in ovens, firing squads, medical experiments and forced labor camps of dehydration, starvation and exhaustion.  In response to Merkel’s request, His Holiness offered his best clarification.  Williamson’s positions on the Holocaust were “absolutely unacceptable and firmly rejected by the Holy Father,” the Vatican’s statement read.  “He doesn’t need me to defend him, but it does annoy me that so many unreasonable and ill-informed people are attacking him,” said the Pope’s brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, 85, former conductor of the cathedral’s choir in Benedict’s hometown of Regensburg.  Ratzinger should thank Merkel for pushing his brother into setting the record straight.  No German Pope wants to leave any doubts about the Vatican’s view of the Holocaust:  Telling Holocaust deniers that they’re not welcomed in the Church.

Mrekel showed historic courage asking the Pope to speak out on Holocaust denial.  Merkel’s heroic words and Germany’s official stand of welcoming back Jews opens the door toward true reconciliation.  “When the German Chancellor admonishes a German-born Pope it is an extraordinary message,” said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the New York-based American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendents.  Germany has come light-years from its Nazi past.  Merkel personifies Germany’s commitment to reconciling its past with today’s investment in individual freedom, equal opportunity and human rights.  “Together with expressions of outrage emanating from German and Austrian bishops, these developments have ironically strengthened relations between Germany and the world Jewish community,” said Steinberg, finding a silver lining to recent events.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2012 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.