A Presentation of
the Santa Fe Distinguished Lecture Series and
the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival.

Just months before the eve of WW II and with Kristallnacht still a fresh memory, Eugenio Pacelli was elected as the new Pope, assuming the name Pius XII. But where was he at this pivotal moment in history? Did he denounce anti-Semitism? Did he provide moral guidance to the 30% of Germany’s population who were Catholic? Did he protect Rome’s Jews from deportation? Or was he silent.

Jews, the Vatican and the Holocaust: When does Silence become Complicity? takes a look at these and other questions in a special three-part program. Following on the heels of the long-awaited opening of the Vatican’s World War II Archives earlier this year, Jews, the Vatican and the Holocaust explores the Holocaust experience, the role of the Church, and takes us on an inside look at the Vatican’s War Archives with one of the handful of researchers who was allowed to view them. “This year is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and this three-part program is in recognition of that event,” commented Distinguished Lecture Series co-founder Ron Duncan Hart.

At 7 PM MST on November 18, ever popular speaker Jeremy Dauber will present a webinar on Italian writer Primo Levi.

From 4 PM MST December 2 until 4 PM MST December 4, the new documentary Holy Silence will be available for streaming.

At 2 PM on December 9, Pulitzer Prize winning author and Brown University professor Steven Kertzer will be in conversation with Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D. discussing, among other things, “The Vatican, Forced Baptism, and the Jews“ .