The Vatican and the Custody of Jewish Child Survivors after the Holocaust

This article focuses on the interaction between Jewish leaders and the Vatican on a highly emotional issue: the post-Holocaust custody of Jewish children rescued by Catholic families or institutions—particularly those cases in which the children had been baptized during the war. The recent discovery of several new documents has occasioned intense controversy and polemics on the subject. Drawing upon hitherto unexamined Jewish sources, the author enters the debate from an entirely new angle: the vantage point of three high-ranking Jewish officials who intervened with the Vatican on this vital matter.