! ! UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER English Catholics and the Holocaust Susan Elizabeth O’Brien ORCID Number 0000-0003-4791-710X Doctor of Philosophy March 2016 This thesis has been completed as a requirement for a postgraduate research degree of the University of Winchester The Word Count is 86,569 DECLARATIONS, ! ! ! ! No!portion!of!the!work!referred!to!in!the!Thesis!has!been!submitted!in!support!of!an! application!for!another!degree!of!qualification!of!this!or!any!other!university!or!other! institute!of!learning.! ! ! ! ! ! I!confirm!that!this!Thesis!is!entirely!my!own!work.! ! ! ! , ! 1! ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ! I!am!exceptionally!grateful!to!the!patient!trio!who!have!supervised!me!over!this!regrettably! long!period!–!Professor!Colin!Haydon!and!Professor!Elizabeth!Stuart!from!the!University!of! Winchester!and!Professor!Tom!Lawson!at!the!University!of!Northumbria.!!In!their!different! ways!they!have!taught!me!an!enormous!amount!during!what!has!been!a!transformative! experience.! ! I! am! so! lucky! that! Professor! Stuart! so! kindly! took! me! on! after! Professor! Hayden!retired!and!Professor!Lawson!had!moved!to!University!of!Northumbria.!!!That!Tom! was!prepared!to!continue!to!supervise!me!after!his!move!was!exceptional!and!I!thank!him! very!much!indeed!for!all!he!has!done!to!help!me.!!Thanks!must!also!go!to!my!very!old!friend! and!mentor!Dr.!Pauline!Allen!at!the!London!School!of!Hygiene!&!Tropical!Medicine!whose! encouragement!has!been!critical.! ! Various! institutions! have! extended! hospitality! to! me! and! I! am! indebted! to! them! for! allowing!me!to!use!their!archives:!!thank!you!to!the!librarians!of!Heythrop!College,!London,! to!Fr.!Stephen!Dingley!at!St.!John’s!Seminary!at!Wonersh!and!Fr.!Philip!at!Worth!Abbey.!!! ! To!get!to!this!stage!of!a!PhD!without!support!at!home!would,!for!me,!have!been!impossible.!! My!husband!knows!what!a!profound!contribution!he!has!made!to!this!piece!of!work,!as!he! does!to!all!that!I!do.! ! Finally,!during!my!research,!I!lost!my!much!loved!parents,!my!dear!Cousin!Cerise!and!my! great!friend!Bee!Eppel.!!!!This!document!is!dedicated!to!their!memory.! ! ! March!2016! ! 2! ! UNIVERSITY*OF*WINCHESTER* * Abstract* * ENGLISH*CATHOLICS*AND*THE*HOLOCAUST* Susan!Elizabeth!O’Brien! ORCID!No.!0000<0003<4791<710X! Doctor!of!Philosophy! March!2016! * ! This!thesis!examines!the!responses!of!English!Catholics!to!the!persecution!of!Europe’s!Jews! by!the!Nazis.!!Through!the!prism!of!the!publications!they!read,!!it!explores!attitudes!among! the!numerically!smaller,!but!culturally!significant!group!of!upper!class!and!middle!class! recusant!and!convert!Catholics!who!were!English,!rather!than!the!larger!group!of!British! Catholics!dominated!by!the!Irish!diaspora.!!This!Catholic!elite!moved!in!the!same!milieu!as! the!rest!of!the!British!establishment!and!sometimes!adopted!a!similar!perspective!on! certain!issues!to!other!British!elites.!!However!as!international!affairs!became!of!paramount! importance!between!the!wars!they!increasingly!articulated!a!definitively!and!distinctively! Catholic!voice.!!The!research!has!centred!on!the!Catholic!press!that!expressed!this!voice,! namely!The$Tablet,$Blackfriars$and!The$Month.$ $ This!study!adds!to!the!contested!historiography!of!bystanders!to!the!Holocaust,!standing!at! the!nexus!of!research!which!examines!the!response!of!the!Catholic!Church!to!the!Shoah! and!that!which!looks!at!Britain’s!attitudes!to!and!understanding!of!the!Jewish!catastrophe.!! At!present!much!of!the!work!which!has!been!done!on!the!Church!has!centred!on!the! disputed!role!of!Pope!Pius!XII,!but!this!is!a!more!social!history!looking!at!adherents!to!the! religion!from!one,!bystander,!country.!!!! It!therefore!has!relevance!for!those!who!wish!to!look!more!carefully!at!the!Catholic!Church! from!the!standpoint!of!their!people!rather!than!the!institution,!and!also!for!those!who!wish! to!further!explore!British!responses.!!! $ The!central!contention!of!this!thesis!is!that!English!Catholics!did!not!really!understand!the! particular!murderous!nature!of!the!Nazi!campaign!or!the!disastrous!plight!of!Europe’s!Jews! because!their!concern!was!the!position!of!Europe’s!Catholics.!!This!concern!predicated!their! attitudes!to!the!different!political!regimes!of!Europe,!which!meant!that!Soviet!Communism! rather!than!Fascism!or!even!Nazism!was!regarded!as!the!greatest!threat!to!‘Christian! civilization’,!and!their!concern!for!fellow!Catholics!meant!that!any!sympathy!expressed!for! Jewish!people!was!framed!as!subsidiary!to!the!perceived!‘real’!victims!–!Europe’s!Catholics.!! Their!focus!on!the!sufferings!of!their!fellow!Catholics,!priests!and!laity,!during!the!period! between!the!wars!continued!even!during!and!after!the!war!and!shaped!their!view!of!Nazi! crimes!against!humanity.!!The!advent!of!the!Cold!War!confirmed!and!strengthened!this! focus!on!their!own!tribe,!to!the!exclusion!of!any!other.!! ! ! ! ! 3! ! Bystander!histories!remain!an!increasing!area!of!study!for!historians!of!the!Holocaust.!!! This!research!contributes!to!this!historiography,!as!a!social,!rather!than!an!institutional! study.!!It!demonstrates!that!in!this!instance!(as!in!others)!the!murder!of!European!Jews!did! little!to!disrupt!extant!ways!of!seeing!and!believing!amongst!this!particular!bystander! community.! ! ! 4! ! ! LIST%OF%CONTENTS% % % % % % % % % % % % %%%%%%%%Page%No.% % Declarations% % % % % % % % % 1% % Acknowledgements% % % % % % % % 2%% % Abstract% % % % % % % % % 3% % List%of%Contents%% % % % % % % % 5% % Introduction% % % % % % % % % 7% ! #!Bystanders:!!an!overview% % % % % % 10% % % #!Bystanders:!Britain!and!America! ! ! ! ! 13! % ! #!Bystanders:!!the!debate!around!the!role!of!the!Church! ! ! 20! ! #!Bystanders:!!the!English!Catholic!Response?! ! ! ! 27! ! #!European!Catholic!Context! ! ! ! ! ! 28! ! #!Who!were!the!English!Catholics?! ! ! ! ! 31! ! #!Objectives!of!the!Study! ! ! ! ! ! 42! ! #!Primary!Sources! ! ! ! ! ! ! 44! ! #!Reflection!on!Source!Material!and!Methodology! ! ! 47! % Chapter%1:%%English%Catholics%and%Relationships%with%Europe% % % 54% The%Appeal%of%the%Right% - Introduction! ! ! ! ! ! ! 54! - 1.1!Attitudes!towards!Soviet!Russia! ! ! ! ! 57! - 1.2!Attitudes!towards!Fascist!Italy! ! ! ! ! 64! - 1.3!English!Catholics!and!the!Spanish!Civil!War! ! ! 69! - 1.4!Attitudes!to!Nazi!Germany! ! ! ! ! 87! - Conclusions!! ! ! ! ! ! ! 96! % Chapter%2:%%English%Catholics%and%their%attitudes%towards%the%Jews%the%1930s% 100% - Introduction! ! ! ! ! ! ! 100! - Christian!Anti#Judaism!and!the!English!Catholics! ! ! 104! ! - The!Jews!as!a!‘Race’!! ! ! ! ! ! 111! - Antisemitism!between!the!wars! ! ! ! ! 115! - English!Catholic!‘constructions!of!“the!Jew”’!! ! ! 117! - Universalisation!of!Jewish!suffering! ! ! ! ! 123! - English!attitudes,!Catholic!attitudes:!!common!threads! ! 126! - Conclusion! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 128! % Chapter%3:%%English%Catholics%and%the%Second%World%War% % % 132% - Introduction! ! ! ! ! ! ! 132! - The!Quest!for!Peace! ! ! ! ! ! 133! - The!Sword!of!the!Spirit! ! ! ! ! ! 137! - Christian!Civilization!(1)!A!New!World!Order!! ! ! 140! - Christian!Civilization!(2)!Beyond!the!New!World!Order! ! 148! - Divided!Loyalties?! ! ! ! ! ! ! 150! - Conclusion! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 154! ! 5! ! % % Chapter%4:%%English%Catholics%and%the%Holocaust:% % % % 157% How%did%English%Catholics%understand%the%plight%of%the%Jews%during%the%war?% - Introduction! ! ! ! ! ! ! 157! - Contextual!background!–!during!the!1930s! ! ! ! 159! - The!Anschluss!and!Austria! ! ! ! ! ! 165! - Invasion!of!Poland!–!contemporary!understanding! ! ! 167! - What!was!known!and!when!! ! ! ! ! 168! - The!Allied!Declaration! ! ! ! ! ! 170! - Christmas!1942! ! ! ! ! ! ! 172! - The!unnamed!victims! ! ! ! ! ! 176! - ‘Competitive!Martyrdom?’!–!during!the!war!! ! ! 178! % Chapter%5:%%English%Catholics%and%the%Holocaust:% % % % 180% How%did%English%Catholics%understand%the%plight%of%the%Jews%after%the%war% and%the%liberation%of%the%camps?% - Introduction! ! ! ! ! ! ! 180! - Contextual!background!to!the!Concentration!camps!! ! 181! - Catholic!coverage!of!the!Concentration!camps! ! ! 185! - Christian!Universalisation!after!the!War! ! ! ! 187! - Poland!and!perspectives!after!the!War! ! ! ! 189! - Competitive!Martyrdom!after!the!War! ! ! ! 191! - The!Guardian!at!the!Gates:!!the!Church!against!Communism!! 195! - The!Nuremberg!Trials! ! ! ! ! ! 196! - Conclusion! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 199! % Conclusions:% % % % % % % % % 200% % % % Bibliography:%%% % % % % % % % % 214% 6! ! English(Catholics(and(the(Holocaust( ( Introduction( ! This!thesis!examines!the!responses!of!three!Catholic!publications!to!the!Nazi!persecution!of! the!Jews!of!Europe!in!the!1930s!and!the!subsequent!deportations,!forced!labour!and! extermination!of!European!Jews!during!the!Second!World!War.!!These!publications,!The$ Tablet,$The$Month$and!Blackfriars,!(especially!The$Tablet)!provided!a!distinctively!English! Catholic!voice!for!a!discrete!group!of!Roman!Catholics!in!England.!!They!were!upper!and! upper!middle!class!recusants!and!converts!who,!whilst!numerically!smaller!were!a!culturally! significant!elite.!They!moved!among!the!upper!class!English!social!milieux,!worshipped! alongside!the!Irish!diaspora,!and!formed!their!worldview!from!the!society!they!were!part!of! and!the!Church!to!which!they!belonged.! ! In!particular,!by!examining!$The$Tablet$and!the!other!publications!this!study!seeks!to! understand!how!the!fate!of!the!Jews!as!revealed!after!the!liberation!of!the!concentration! camps!and!the!trials!of!war!criminals!at!Nuremberg!was!framed!for!this!group!of!English! Catholics.!!It!also!seeks!to!understand!this!perspective!and!set!it!in!its!contemporary!