Opportunities and Significance of the Pius XII Archives for Historical Research on Eastern Europe

Cortile del Belvedere in the Vatican City with the entrance to the Apostolic Archive (left)  and the Apostolic library (right). Picture: Der Jahresbericht des Collegium Carolinum (2024).

“The Pope who remained silent”, “Saint or Hitler’s Pope?” and “Pope Pius did not remain silent”. These are just three of a large number of newspaper articles and TV-productions that have dealt with the question of Pius XII’s role in the Second World War and his attitude to the Holocaust since March 2020, when the Vatican released the archives on his pontificate for historical and theological research. 

There is no such thing as the “Vatican Archive” – rather, the newly opened file collections are spread across the Vatican State and the whole of Rome in a multitude of separate locations. The “Apostolic Archives”, which were also known to the wider public as the “Papal Secret Archives” before being renamed in 2019, are particularly relevant for historical research. 

Along the official documents giving insights into internal discussions, the Apostolic Archive also contains letters from individuals behind the Iron Curtain, pleading for aid and recounting their life stories, often detailing the difficult conditions they faced under new regimes. Already during the war, the Pope and Church dignitaries received a high number of appeals from victims of war and persecution. Their writing informed the Church humanitarian efforts and contributed to gathering information on the situation of populations in occupied territories, as when for example pictures of ruins of Warsaw after the fallen uprising of 1944, ended up on the Pope’s desk.

In order to understand historical research on the Holy See, it is also important to note that the “opening” of the Vatican archives does not mean that nothing on the period and topic was accessible before 2020 – on the one hand, efforts had already been made some years after Pius’ death to summarize important documents, for example on the Second World War, in source editions; on the other hand, some files relating in particular to Eastern Europe have been accessible for some years, for example the Casaroli Funds. 

Not all of the “new” files are yet accessible. The ongoing research on the papacy of Pius XII remains in its early stages, which is a fact that contrasts somewhat with the prevailing public discourse around the opening of the archives.

In addition, the national and ecclesial archives of the individual states with which the Holy See maintained contacts naturally contain documents that have been actively received and used in previous research literature on the relationship between church and state in Eastern- and Southeastern Europe during and after the Second World War. The findings in the Vatican archives make it possible to contrast this primarily national view with that of the centrally controlled Curia. 

In an ironic twist, the newly accessible documents in the center of Rome, provide significant insights into the diverse and pluralistic nature of the Catholic faith in the 20th century. The position of the Nuncio, who, as the sources show, was often more than a mere instrument of the pope, is especially pronounced in this regard but only one example. This was especially apparent in Postwar Eastern and Southeastern Europe, where the question on how disciples of the universal church should treat with the now all too powerful followers of historical materialism would quickly become a point of contention when more and more priests thought one could subscribe to the bible as well as the communist manifesto. 

For historians of Eastern and Southeastern Europe the question also arises of what significance the Curia attributed the Eastern European area compared to other regions of the world, what political options for action remained for the central church organs in Rome in the context of the threat of Bolshevization and how the nuncios put the general ecclesiastical anti-communism into practice with individual measures. The sources also show how the representatives of the Holy See thought about questions of minority protection, nationalism, human rights, peacekeeping and a just post-war order into their political practices. In addition, numerous holdings allow us to work on and redefine topics that go beyond the history of diplomacy, such as the history of mentality, religion and everyday life. The Order’s archives in Rome, for example, contain a large number of reports from Eastern Europe that illustrate the worries, hardships and attitudes of individual friars after the war. The VAA as well hold documents preserving voices of individuals seeking help of the Holy See and at the same time shedding light on their stories and worldviews.

The preserved documentation reveals an organized effort to assist victims of Nazism and refugees from communism during their stay in refugee camps in Europe and in resettlement, which did include also assistance to a number of Nazi collaborators and war criminals.

Finally, the sources provide insights into the Church’s efforts to steer its relations with other denominations in its favor. T his is visible also in sources on refugees and Displaced Persons, as the Vatican Mission reached out to victims of war of various religious faiths stranded in postwar Germany and Austria. 

The reports in the collection of the Migration Office (VAA) show how the papal charity extended to those beyond the reach of international organizations, such as for example Orthodox Rumanian refugees.

The Vatican archives provide insight into the origins of the Cold War by revealing how the Holy See observed and responded to emerging geopolitical tensions between the Soviet bloc and the West. T he archives also detail the Vatican’s diplomatic efforts and internal discussions, highlighting its role in navigating the complex political landscape of the early Cold War era. The “new” sources are not only of value to church historians, but also to historians who deal with Eastern and South eastern Europe and state socialism in the post-war period in general. They can help to fundamentally broaden our understanding and our view of the Cold War in this region.