August 19, 2005
The leader of Cologne's Jewish community has urged Pope Benedict to open up the Vatican archives for the World War Two period. Abraham Lehrer made the request to the Pope during a speech welcoming the pontiff to Cologne's synagogue, which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938 and rebuilt after the war. "For us, a complete opening of the Vatican archives covering the period of World War Two, sixty years after the end of the Shoah, would be a further sign of historical conscience and would also satisfy critics," he told the Pope. Jewish groups, including the World Jewish Congress, have repeatedly demanded a complete opening of the archives, saying this could help shed more light on the position of wartime Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to 1958. The Vatican archives have only been partially opened so far.