Madam, – The Irish Timesis to be commended on its openness in printing C.D.C. Armstrong's letter (March 9th) which, quoting from the Jewish Chronicle of February 26th, throws an unequivocally positive light on the wartime record of Pope Pius XII in saving Jewish lives.
Since the infamously anti-papal 1963 play The Deputy, by Rolf Hochhuth, portraying Pius as an avaricious, anti-Semitic Nazi collaborator and supporter of Hitler, a vilification campaign has developed.
The Myth Of Hitler's Pope(2005), by the distinguished Jewish professor Rabbi David Dalin, is a powerfully written defence of Pius XII, which was praised by Prof P. George of Princeton University in the following words: "Rabbi Dalin buries this slanderous tale under an avalanche of facts. Far from being condemned as an enemy of the Jewish people, Pius should be honoured [by Yad Vashem] the rabbi forcefully argues, as a righteous gentile". Hasten the day! – Yours, etc,