PERE MARIE BENOIT AND JEWISH RESCUE

Susan Zuccotti narrates the life and work of Père Marie-Benoît, a courageous French Capuchin priest who risked everything to hide Jews in France and Italy during the Holocaust.

Who was this extraordinary priest and how did he become adept at hiding Jews, providing them with false papers, and helping them to elude their persecutors? First from a monastery in Marseille and later in Rome, Père Benoît worked with Jewish co-conspirators to build remarkably effective Jewish-Christian rescue networks. Despite a cold reception from Pope Pius XII, who declined to assist in their efforts, they persisted in their clandestine activities until the Allies liberated Rome. To tell this remarkable tale, in addition to her research in French and Vatican archives, Zuccotti personally interviewed Père Benoît, his family, Jewish rescuers with whom he worked, and survivors who owed their lives to his network. Susan Zuccotti is an American historian specializing in the Holocaust. She has won numerous awards for her work and has taught at Barnard and Trinity College.