Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Pierre Péteul: Family Heritage and Education
2 Pierre Péteul and the First World War
3 The Years between the Wars, 1919-1939
4 First Steps toward Jewish Rescue: Marseille, May 1940 to August 1942
5 With Joseph Bass in Marseille, August 1942 to June 1943
6 With Angelo Donati in Nice, November 1942 to June 1943
7 Père Marie-Benoît and the Donati Plan, June to September 1943
8 Early Rescue in Rome, September and October 1943
9 With Stefan Schwamm in Rome: Securing Documents for Jewish Rescue
10 With Stefan Schwamm in Rome: Securing Funds for Jewish Rescue
11 After the Liberation of Rome
12 The Final Decades
Epilogue

Promotional Information

Narrates the life and work of Pere Marie-Benoit, a courageous French Capuchin priest who risked everything to hide and save Jews in France and Italy during the Holocaust

About the Author

Susan Zuccotti is author of The Italians and the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue, and Survival; The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews; Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy; and Holocaust Odysseys: The Jews of Saint-Martin-Vésubie and Their Flight through France and Italy. She has taught Holocaust history at Barnard College in New York and Trinity College in Hartford.

Reviews

"Provides a close-up look at how rescue during the Holocaust worked... To reveal in detail what happened over half a century ago constitutes an astonishing piece of sleuthing." Michael Phayer, author of The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965 (IUP, 2001 ) "Uncovers the story of one remarkable religious and priest during humanity's darkest time... The work is extremely compelling, engaging the reader's full attention, and challenging to put down." Kevin P. Spicer, author of Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust (IUP, 2007) "On May 10, 1940, the German Army attacked Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. On May 14, the Germans broke through the French lines at Sedan and the battle for France began. This started a new, tragic chapter in the history of European Jewry [...] Two hundred years ago, Rabbi Judah Alkalai coined a phrase: "Exile is a crime." How right he was. Jews on the run lost everything they had. They needed false documents, ration cards, food and a roof over their heads. They needed friends to emigrate, to cross the Swiss or Spanish borders. Pierre Peteul - known as Pere Marie-Benoit, or Padre Maria Benedetto in the underground - became such a friend. Holocaust survivors remember how this Catholic Capuchin French priest, together with Jewish friends, saved thousands from deportation." - Alexander Zvielli, Jerusalem Post "Pere Marie-Benoit, a French Capuchin priest, known in Italy, where he was also involved in rescue work, as Padre Maria Benedetto, was undoubtedly a hero. He hid his Jewish 'proteges', supplied them with false papers and, together with Jewish friends, helped thousands of French Jews to escape to Spain and Switzerland." - The Tablet