'Holocaust Museum gains access to Vatican archive'

WikiLeaks documents delegation's access to Vatican archive in order to survey pre-war records, possible record cataloging collaboration.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Vatican archives (photo credit: REUTERS)
Vatican archives
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A report was released by WikiLeaks last week about the possibility of collaboration between the Vatican Archive Library and the Holocaust Museum in March 2003. 
A delegation from the museum had met with director Jorge Maria Mejia in order to gain access to the Vatican secret archive in order to survey pre-war records. The delegation also proposed in the same visit cooperation between the two establishments in order to catalogue and microfiche other records from the wartime that were not yet published to the public.
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Mejia approved of the idea and asked the Holocaust Museum delegation to put the proposal in writing as soon as possible so that he could pass it on to the Vatican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mejia's enthusiasm for working with the delegation is a result of "the intense international interest in scholarship of the Vatican's role during the Holocaust," according to the report.
The declassification and release of documents is very important for the Vatican, but is often not able to be completed quickly due to "limitations," Mejia told the delegation.


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