Analysis of David Kertzer's Claims

The author shows that David Kertzer, the author of The Pope at War and The Popes Against the Jews, lied repeatedly in both books.

Kertzer lied in The Pope at War in three crucial ways. First, by failing to admit that Pius XII did not vehemently condemn the Holocaust because he feared that if he did, Hitler would retaliate by murdering huge numbers of Catholics. Second, by failing to admit that Pius XII had good reasons to fear that Hitler would retaliate in that way. And third, by failing to admit that there is no realistic scenario in which a vehement denunciation of the Holocaust by Pius XII would have saved more than a small number of Jews.

Kertzer lied in The Popes Against the Jews by falsely claiming that the Catholic Church was crucial in the rise of antisemitism in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In truth, the tide of antisemitism rose drastically in that era for reasons that had nothing to do with anything the Catholic Church did.