Rome: Jesuit archives on the Holocaust to be digitalized

By Fr. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik

On 27 February, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Fondazione Polanco - Archives of the Society of Jesus ARSI (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu) signed a cooperation agreement to share and digitize archival materials related to the Holocaust from the Jesuit archives dating from the period before, during and after World War II.

“Following Pope Francis’ instructions of 2019 to give broad access to archival materials related to the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII, the Museum launched an initiative to image and make accessible documents in Church-related archives throughout Rome,” said Zachary Levine, Director of Archival and Curatorial Affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at the signing ceremony, which took place at the General Curia of the Society of Jesus in Rome. He stressed that materials in the Roman Archive of the Society of Jesus “are critical to this project.”

Levine underlined that this agreement “marks a historical moment in the documentation of the Holocaust and the dimension of the Roman Catholic world, its institutions, and its leaders at that time.” He pointed out that this project will enable the Archives of the Society of Jesus to digitize hundreds of thousands of documents related to the Holocaust. Furthermore, they will be available for research in the reading room of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum along with documents from the Vatican Apostolic Archive as well as from the Pontifical Institute Santa Maria d’Anima.

Fr. Antoine Kerhuel SJ, Secretary of the Society of Jesus, said that this agreement is “an important milestone” in the history of the Archives of the Society of Jesus. He stressed that collaboration with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum aligns perfectly with the order's mission in three significant ways: “The first aspect is preservation. By granting researchers access to digital versions of documents, we ensure better preservation of the original paper copies. Secondly, it encourages and facilitates the utilization of our resources. And lastly, it promotes research based on these documents, fostering a culture of historical studies”.

Joseph Donnelly, the US Ambassador to the Holy See, thanked the Society of Jesus for opening the archives because, in this way, “we can learn more.” He also underlined that Pope Francis said there is no reason to hide anything. Ambassador Donnelly expressed his appreciation for the work of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, for their scholarship, and “for the education of the entire world” on the Holocaust.

Speaking with Vatican Radio-Vatican news, Zachary Levine said that, following the openness of Pope Francis, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum would be very interested in digitizing other documents related to the Holocaust in other Church archives in Rome, especially in the various convents where many Jewish people were saved.