Fallout in India
McGowan, Jo
idence is currently in short supply supporting a direct connection between Pius and these rescue efforts. And some historians such as Susan Zuccotti argue that many of these rescue efforts were...
...To complicate matters still more, Pakistan has a strong military and political ally in China while India's relationship with the Chinese has been hostile, especially since their 1962 war...
...Given the present level of tension between the two countries, it is not so unlikely a scenario...
...President Bill Clinton's scolding notwithstanding, India seems bent on pursuing its own course, and one can only pray that the instinct for self-preservation, if nothing else, will kick in before it's too late...
...At the same time, China was outpacing them on every front...
...Until recently, the political establishment, more aware of the negative fallout internationally, resisted...
...Even opposition leaders had to keep their negative views quiet, for fear of sounding antinational...
...He could have stopped their work if he had wished...
...When Pakistan conducted its test some days later, however, I was suddenly terrified...
...While we cannot change what Pius did, we can examine and, if need be, alter the church's course today...
...Commonweal | 0 July 17, 1998...
...She is the founder of Karuna Vihar, a school for children with special needs...
...While that may not be a moral jewel in his crown, it does indicate some positive attitude towards saving Jews...
...At the time, Pakistan was still recovering from the 1971 war and posed no conceivable threat to India's security...
...We must get beyond the hype associated with the publication of the recent volume by George Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky (The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI, Harcout Brace and Company, 1997...
...Even total pacifists, while acknowledging the insanity of pursuing the arms race, bristle at the temerity of the United States--the only nation to have used nuclear weapons--telling India what to do...
...There are defenders of Pius XII's record who note that there was little if any criticism of him from Jewish organizations during the war itself...
...The peace movement here is small and not widely covered by the press...
...One afternoon my husband and I were discussing the situation in our front room...
...Accustomed to the political grandstanding of India's ruling party (the Hindu nationalist BJP), I was more exasperated than alarmed...
...When I came out a few minutes later, he was eager to add his two cents...
...In closing, let me emphasize that I am not trying to mute a more critical assessment of what we have learned thus far about Pius XII's record...
...Thus, the thinking of India's military strategists has increasingly shifted: India is too enormous to be dependent on outside help and ought to go nuclear...
...while the new generation is largely focused on development issues...
...They believe in war...
...The next two decades saw enormous technological developments by both countries...
...They were in a state of panic about the danger we might be in...
...There will be a war now," he said emphatically...
...The windows were open and our neighbor was outside washing his car...
...They are all fanatics in Pakistan...
...They branded the BJP immature, said it was responsible for igniting a new arms race in the region, and argued that India should be "committed to economic and social development" rather than to nuclear weapons...
...Kashmir, the so-called "jewel of India," has for many years been the scene of hostilities as both countries have fought for what they claim is theirs...
...The encyclical was probably not issued because of the pope's general policy of not publicly confronting the Nazis...
...The most recent sermons exhorting India to comply with a test-ban treaty, which is clearly biased in favor of the nuclear "haves," are not taken seriously here...
...But when the BJP party took control earlier this year--forming a weak, unstable government that could topple at a moment's notice--it sought to consolidate its power by nuclear testing...
...The Polish criticism became so intense that the Vatican commissioned the Jesuits to prepare a defense of the pope...
...He has been a presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council since 1980, and is the author of numerous books on Christian-Jewish relations...
...As for the economic sanctions imposed on India following the tests, economists here believe that while the loss of foreign investments (totaling approximately 10 percent of the Indian GNP) may create serious dislocations in the pace of development, they will not last...
...Nonetheless, by June 23, the Indian rupee had fallen to a record low against the dollar...
...Many, if not most, required his tacit support...
...Are we any different here...
...Finally, there is the so-called "hidden encyclical" on racism and anti-Semitism authored by John LaFarge, S.J., and others, which was presented as a provisional text to Pius XI shortly before his death and never released by Pius XII...
...Pakistan has given covert aid to rebel forces in the border state of Punjab, who hope to form an independent state of "Khalistan...
...Here is where further access to the Vatican archives is critical...
...For one thing, it is difficult to imagine (even under wartime conditions) that papal nuncios such as Angelo Roncalli in IstanbuI and Angelo Rotta in Budapest acted without some indication of Pius's approval...
...And some historians such as Susan Zuccotti argue that many of these rescue efforts were independent of the Vatican...
...If the United States and Japan continue in their strong stand, so the thinking goes here, there are many European countries who will be happy to step in...
...But they were far from pleased at his general posture toward the Jewish situation...
...Also noteworthy was the vocal criticism of Pius by Poles and by certain members of the Polish government-inexile in London...
...Ultimately this may prove to be the most important outcome of our research on Pius's papacy during humanity's dark night...
...The older generation of Gandhians have mostly faded away (although some are prominent supporters of the bomb...
...Nor, as historian Michael Marrus has argued, does it really prove any "conspiracy" on the part of Pius and his inner circle...
...Gujral in '97) turned them down...
...it is seen as a fringe group...
...Riegner, a leading official of the World Jewish Congress in Geneva, relates that for several reasons (including Vatican isolation in a fascist state), Jewish leaders were reluctant to pressure Pius publicly...
...Gandhi's decision was aimed at consolidating her electoral votes...
...According to the Economic Times (May 13), U.S...
...They emphasize the absurdity of an arms race in the region where the basic needs of so many millions remain unmet...
...There was, of course, 1974, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi--in a bid to divert attention from her domestic problems-approved India's first nuclear test...
...Furthermore, the collapse of the Soviet Union brought an end to its substantial support for India...
...When China conducted tests in 1995, India's nuclear establishment pushed for a "fitting" response...
...India is now one of the five largest markets in the world and no major economic power can afford to stay out...
...By Indian reckoning, Chinese nuclear capability translates into Pakistani nuclear capability...
...The materials released to date seem free of it...
...As we now know from the wartime memoirs of Gerhart Riegner, this view is too simple...
...Why, people ask, does the United States refuse to destroy its own stockpile of weapons or even to make an international commitment not to use them...
...The common people, at least in the cities, are tense and worried, as nuclear war now seems, for the first time, a distinct possibility...
...Grandstanding or not, I realized things could spiral out of control in a matter of minutes and our home in Dehra Doon--situated right between Delhi and Pakistan--could be obliterated...
...But he did not...
...three prime ministers (Narasimha Rao in 1995, Deve Gowda in '96, and I.K...
...I asked, a bit nervously, for my neighbor is an ardent BJP supporter...
...In the rural areas, however, where my husband travels extensively, it is difficult to get people interested in a sustained discussion of the issue...
...But some credit must be accorded him for these positive efforts...
...Certainly it remains an important area for further research, but the book in fact does not tell us all that much that is new...
...John Pawlikowski, O.S.M., is professor of social ethics at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago...
...Still, I am not satisfied that we know all we might regarding this subject...
...But with the Pakistani explosions, the opposition rediscovered its voice...
...Jo McGowan FALLOUT IN INDIA A report from Dehra Doon ~ hen India conducted its nuclear tests in May, my parents and my sister both called immediately from the United States...
...But it is simply too early in the investigation to halt the search...
...The late Robert Graham, S.J., in releasing the available materials, said they were selective...
...Privacy being an unknown concept in India, he turned off the hose to hear our conversation...
...But Pakistan has the backing of the Arab world," he continued...
...No Pakistani government could last, however, without following suit, and immediately Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto told the country's top scientists to develop Pakistan's own bomb...
...Questions such as whether he should have been more public in criticizing the Nazis, whether he should have acted earlier, whether he should have spoken out simply to maintain the church's moral integrity whatever the practical consequences--all these questions are valid and should be pursued in a nonpolemical fashion, as my own mentor in this area, the late historian Edward Gargan, always argued...
...My neighbor's view is a common one, especially in BJP strongholds like the city in which we live...
...Since the 1971 war between India and Pakistan (in which East Pakistan became Bangladesh), there has been a clear desire on the part of some Pakistani army officials to "dismember" India...
...We may certainly question whether Pius's apparent policy of relying on subordinates to challenge the Nazis publicly on the Jewish question was sufficient...
...And when it did, the immediate reaction at home was all that the BJP could have wished: euphoria and dancing in the streets...
...Drinking water and firewood concern most villagers far more than vague threats of a nuclear holocaust...
...And don't forget China...
...Jo McGowan and her family live in Dehra Doon, India...
...companies intend to invest $11.49 billion in India this year, and most European nations, while condemning the tests, have refused to impose sanctions...
...Commonweal 9 July 17, 1998 To anyone with historical perspective on the relationship between India and Pakistan, their nuclear testing was predictable...
...Another remaining research task is to continue to see if there is any evidence in Pius's personal writings of overt anti-Semitism...
...They remain important not only for a full understanding of Pius XII's papacy, but for what they might tell us about the Catholic church's posture in the midst of contemporary situations of possible genocide...
...India's sense of insecurity in the region is real...
...They argue that the Jewish critique of the pope began in earnest only after the production of Rolf Hochhuth's t963 play, The Deputy...
...The bloody riots that accompanied partition fifty years ago set the tone for the distrust and hostility that persist today, even among the otherwise enlightened sectors of both societies...
...We had no choice but to test our bombs...
Vol. 125 • July 1998 • No. 13
