By Father Alexander Lucie-Smith
I have just been looking once more at an interesting book published by Oxford University Press back in 2008, which, I think, needs to be more widely known. It is entitled Hidden Children of the Holocaust, and its author is Suzanne Vromen, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Bard College.
Professor Vromen is herself the child of European Jews, which must
have made the writing of the book a very special task for her. The
book’s subtitle is “Belgian Nuns and their Daring Rescue of Young Jews
from the Nazis”. It is based on oral testimonies of survivors, both
children and nuns, as well as those who acted as escorts and
go-betweens. It is an important book, not least because several of the
people interviewed in the course of research have since died; thus we
have the sensation of reading a story that might easily have been lost
to us. In addition, this account fills a gap in our knowledge. It is
often asserted (not just by Catholics) that the Catholic Church did much
to protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe; Professor Vromen’s research
tells us who did what and why they did it in one particular corner of
the continent. In the arguments about the role of the Church at the time
of the Holocaust this book provides us with hard evidence and answers,
something which is sadly lacking in much of the discussion.
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