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From Professor Robert W. Istrich Sir: In 'Pius the hero' (20 July), John Laughland uncritically repeats Father Gumpel's claim that members of the Catholic-Jewish historical commission which studied the wartime record of Pius XII 'did not even bother to read all of the 8,000 pages of documents that were put at their disposal'. As one of the six historians appointed by the Vatican to this commission, I can assure Mr Laughland that I spent two years going over every single document published by the Vatican on Pius XII. and many other sources as well. Thus Father Gumpel's assertion is both groundless and impertinent.
I resigned from the commission last October because of the Holy See's refusal to provide our commission with the unpublished documentation which we requested in order to clarify a number of controversial issues. A further reason was the outrageous attack by Father Gumpel last July on the Jewish historians, which falsely accused them of waging a campaign of defamation against the Church. This intemperate outburst, with its deplorable attempt to drive a wedge between the Jewish and Catholic members of the commission, was widely condemned at the time by many enlightened Catholics as well as by much of the international media.
Robert W. Istrich
London NW 11
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