I'm certain you know your history well enough to realize that Nazis' systematic persecutions of Jews -- as Jews and for no other reason -- had been going on since 1933, with each new step ratcheting up the horrors.
Outright murders of Jews began with the invasion of Poland in 1939.
It is precisely this systematic persecution of Jews, as Jews, about which all churches remained publicly silent.
Indeed, the Pope did not even speak openly about the murder of thousands of Catholic clergy, much less about Einsatzgruppen shootings of hundreds of thousands of east European Jews.
Did the Pope know?
How could he not know, since every German military unit had chaplains at some level?
fso301: "How many people even know about the Greek famine?"
Greek famine: 300,000 estimated total deaths.
I didn't remember it, so pretty good bet most others also don't.
The starvation of 300,000 Greeks represented about 4% of Greece's 7.4 million total population.
"Because of the efforts of the Greek Diaspora in the United States and Great Britain, the situation of the starving civilian population in Greece soon became a public issue in the Allied countries.
The increasing public pressure finally led to the lifting of the naval blockade in February 1942.[12]"The plan carried under the auspices of the International Red Cross, while Sweden offered for the transportation of 15,000 tons of Canadian wheat.[19]
Wheat shipments soon began and together with the rising temperatures of springtime, resulted in the reduction of the mortality rates.[12]"At the end of 1942 with the steady supply of sufficient quantities to the country's greatest ports, the mortality rate fell,[16] however the food situation remained grim until the end of the occupation (1944)"
Demographic statistics show that during this period, the death rate nearly doubled, while live births fell by nearly half, resulting in an overall reduction of Greek population of about 100,000 people.
By contrast, the Nazis' systematic murders of Jews destroyed about 80% of the 7.8 million (compare to 7.4 million Greeks) Jewish population under Nazi control.
fso301: "As far as churches go, the decentralized Protestants really didn't have a mechanism of getting the word out whereas the Catholics did."
Nor did Jews themselves know or report the full extent of Nazi persecutions.
Indeed, you have to wonder if the real problem wasn't they all truly "didn't know", or if our guys in the West just didn't want to learn about it?
Today it's impossible to imagine that such information would not somehow leak out, but there you have it.
fso301: "What are you getting at?"
I'll say it again: let's not pretend that churches routinely reported or decried Nazi atrocities against Jews, when in fact, they almost never did.
Indeed, they barely mentioned publicly Nazi atrocities against their own clergy.
As did outright murder of many other classes of people which created a general noise level making it difficult to concentrate on the cries of any single group. Furthermore, we speak now of post-Christian Europe but in the 1920's Germany had already reached that point.
It is precisely this systematic persecution of Jews, as Jews, about which all churches remained publicly silent.
For starters, what about the Papal encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge read aloud in every German Catholic church on Palm Sunday 1937?
Indeed, the Pope did not even speak openly about the murder of thousands of Catholic clergy, much less about Einsatzgruppen shootings of hundreds of thousands of east European Jews.
At this point in 1941, I see little chance for word of what was happening in the East to make it back to the Vatican. About the only soldiers returning from the eastern front were bandaged up and missing various appendages.
Did the Pope know? How could he not know, since every German military unit had chaplains at some level?
The eastern front was a gigantic meat grinder. Men went off to the east never to be seen again. The cries of individual groups in the east were muffled by the noise of that gigantic meat grinder.
Yes, the Pope would have reports of what was happening in the East but he was also dealing a general persecution of the church across Europe. Then there was the matter of Asian Catholics suffering at the hands of the Japanese not to mention the Chinese communists. All this coming on the heels of the great suffering of the church at the hands of the Bolsheviks. Furthermore, when surrounded by your oppressor as the Vatican was, you walk a tightrope.
Greek famine: 300,000 estimated total deaths. I didn't remember it, so pretty good bet most others also don't. The starvation of 300,000 Greeks represented about 4% of Greece's 7.4 million total population.
Almost all of the Greek starvation occurred during the winter of 1941-1942. Had the allied blockade not been lifted and you extrapolate the numbers forward to the end of occupation in 1944. Millions of Greeks would have perished. My original comment about Greeks arguably suffering worse than Jews at this point in time (Dec 1941) was based on my personal belief that death by a bullet which is largely how the Einsatzgruppen were carrying out their murders in the east was preferable to a slow death by starvation which was happening in Greece.
Indeed, you have to wonder if the real problem wasn't they all truly "didn't know", or if our guys in the West just didn't want to learn about it? Today it's impossible to imagine that such information would not somehow leak out, but there you have it.
Consider the slaughter in Cambodia. There were plenty of reports about what was happening at the hands of the Communists but the leftist media chose to ignore them.
I'll say it again: let's not pretend that churches routinely reported or decried Nazi atrocities against Jews, when in fact, they almost never did. Indeed, they barely mentioned publicly Nazi atrocities against their own clergy.
Or is it a matter of like the slaughter in Cambodia (and anywhere Communists took over), western media who are enamored with socialism received reports but deemed them non-newsworthy?