Introduction to the Holocaust: Britain and the Catholic Church

Vocabulary flashcards covering the British response to Jewish refugees, the history of anti-Judaism in the Catholic Church, and the role of Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust.

Kindertransport

The most dramatic act to save Jewish children throughout the war, where youngsters came to England without parents and required a financial guarantee from the Jewish community.

Board of Deputies

The organization that looks after the Jewish community in England and provided the financial guarantee for children entering via the Kindertransport to ensure they did not become wards of the state.

Fifth column

A group of people within a society who are operating against its interests, such as potential spies for an enemy.

White Papers

Policy documents from thirty six and thirty nine followed by the British government regarding the issue of Palestine during the war.

Enigma machine

A German military coding device broken by early computers, allowing the British at Bletchley Park to decode messages.

Bletchley Park

A research center outside of Cambridge where the British worked to decode the Enigma machine to listen into German communications.

Winston Churchill

The British Prime Minister during the war years whose political career was funded in some ways by Rothschild money and who supported Zionism before the war.

General Benjamin

The Jewish general in the British Army who became the leading officer of the Jewish army unit formed in $1943$.

Grace

A Christian theological concept meaning something being done for an individual that they do not deserve, distinct from justice.

Mitzvoth

The Hebrew term for keeping the biblical commandments or rules.

Christianity's Original Sin

The doctrine that all humans are corrupt in nature and deeply tainted by the sin of Adam and Eve.

Adversus Judaism

A tradition dating to the second and third centuries, meaning "against the Jews," commonly found in the patristic writings of the church fathers.

Constantine

The Roman emperor who converted the empire from pagan to Catholic in the fourth century after seeing a cross in the sky.

Crusades

Military campaigns at the end of the eleventh century that marked the vigor and earthly power of Christianity.

Black Death

A plague in $1348$ and $'49$ that killed half of Europe's population and was falsely blamed on Jews poisoning wells.

Blood Libel

A myth and traditional libel, such as the case of William of Norwich, falsely accusing Jews of killing Christian children for ritual blood.

Augustine

A fourth-century saint who argued that Jews should not be harmed because they are the "witness of unbelief" necessary for the second coming of Jesus.

John Chrysostom

A church father who articulated a hostile anti-Jewish message, describing the synagogue as a "whorehouse" and "meeting place of satanic forces."

Concordat

The $1934$ agreement between the Vatican and the Third Reich to isolate the church from the violence of the period while protecting Catholic schools and seminaries.

The Mass

A central Catholic ritual in which a priest offers the Eucharist, representing the physical presence of Jesus Christ.

Eucharist

The ritual practice, established at the Last Supper, involving the spiritual incarnation of Jesus in bread and wine.

Vatican City

A political and religious entity with its own ruler, stamps, postage, and soldiery, established as a separate status for the church in the $1860s$.

Pope Pius XII

The Pope who served as the Vatican representative in Berlin in the $1920s$ and led the church during World War II.

Vatican Secret Archive

A collection of $80,000,000$ documents belonging to the Pope that was ordered to be opened by Pope Francis to study World War II history.