Act I, Scene 3

1969. Stage dark. Light up. Joseph Corso, Silvano Orsini and Claudia Fontana Davi are standing next to the table. Orsini motions for them all to sit down, and turns on the tape recorder.

ORSINI

For the tape recorder, Signora Davi, would you please tell us who you are?

DAVI

Claudia Fontini Davi.

ORSINI

And where, if I may ask, were you born?

DAVI

Here in Rome. I have lived here all my life.

ORSINI

And please, Signora, would you tell us of what faith you are?

DAVI

I am a Jew. My father’s family has lived here since the fifteenth century. My mother’s family came here two hundred years ago.

ORSINI

We’re grateful to you for agreeing to talk with us, Signora. We know it will be painful for you to recall the fascist era.

DAVI

Yes, but I am willing to do so. (To Corso.) You see, Father Corso, Father Orsini and I have known each other for a long time. Ever since those bitter days. (Corso nods, waiting to see where they are going.)

ORSINI

Please tell us what was the situation of Rome’s Jews up to the outbreak of the war.

DAVI

Before Mussolini took power in 1922? We were occupied with the same things as all Italians. We were very assimilated in our Italianità. But that changed during the Fascist era. The news from Germany frightened us. Still, Italy was not Germany. But that too changed, starting in 1936. Mussolini signed a pact with Hitler. The anti-Semites here became more vile, and suddenly, in 1938, Italy announced antiSemitic laws. They were like Germany’s racial laws. Jews were officially designated “unpatriotic.” We were excluded from all government employment. And we were forbidden to marry “Aryans.” All of this was a great shock! It was alien to the Italian mentality – at least in the twentieth century. (To Corso.) You must understand that, Father Corso.

CORSO

(nods) Please tell me, Signora Davi, how many Jews were there in Rome and in Italy?

DAVI

Not many. In Rome, seven to eight thousand. And in all Italy, about thirty-five or forty thousand.

ORSINI

Signora, if you would, what occurred after 1938?

DAVI

We became more and more afraid. Especially after war broke out in 1939. Many of us felt that Italy would never do what the Germans were doing: mass arrests and transportation and murder. My father was one of this group. But others said we were in mortal danger, all of us Jews. They tried to persuade us to get out of Italy, if possible. Or go into hiding. In the end we stayed and tried to go on with our lives. You see, Italy hadn’t participated in the Holocaust, despite the pressures from Hitler and some Italian Fascists. Even outside Italy – in Albania, Yugoslavia, Greece, the south of France – the Italian Army had refused orders to arrest or transport a single Jew to the Nazi death camps. Not a single one. So we were heartened by this, and by 1943, we felt that we might in fact survive the war. Strange to say it, but the horror started when Mussolini was thrown out and Italy went on the side of the Allies. The German Army took over Italy, and Rome itself. Now we were terrified worse than before. But our hope was that we were in Rome. That hope didn’t last long. Two weeks later, the Germans told us that it was not their intention to kill us – provided! They made us hostages. The Germans told us we – all the Jews of Rome – would not be killed provided we pay a ransom, in gold. We were given only thirty-six hours to pay! Fifty kilograms of gold! Fifty kilograms! How much is that in American weight, Father Corso?

CORSO

About 110 pounds.

DAVI

I remember thinking at the time that we had to match my own weight in gold! In only thirty-six hours!

ORSINI

Forgive me for interrupting, Signora Davi, what did Pope Pius do at this time?

DAVI

The Vatican offered to help pay the ransom. It offered a loan, interest free, and no specific date for repayment. Fifteen kilos of gold.

CORSO

Only fifteen?

DAVI

Yes.

CORSO

When the Germans demanded fifty? Did you take this loan, Signora?

DAVI

No, it wasn’t necessary. We raised all fifty kilograms of gold ourselves, with the help of some Catholics who gave us gold – jewelry and coins mostly. Little good it did us! Less than a month after we paid the ransom, the Germans came after us. They started with the Jewish section. It had been the old ghetto, across the Tiber from the Vatican – right under the eyes of the Pope! I’ll never forget it! Although I lived outside the ghetto, I was staying in a home there that night because I was to attend a meeting there the next morning By this time, I was seventeen years old and was helping my father in his efforts for the Jewish community. The SS came in the middle of the night. October 16th – no warning! They had machine guns. They arrested everyone – whole families. There were about 1,300 of us. We were taken to the Collegio Militare. It was an old army barracks, not far from the Vatican. There was no food there. Nothing! The old people and the babies and sick people began to suffer immediately. Soon we were all in bad condition. (Davi begins to cry, and Orsini pours a glass of mineral water for her. She takes it and drinks some.)

ORSINI

Would you like to stop now, Signora? (Davi shakes her head.)

DAVI

My father and his friends were able to smuggle a message to us in the barracks. They had contacted Pope Pius, on the very night we were arrested, and asked for his help!

ORSINI

What did the Pope do?

DAVI

He issued an instruction to all Catholic churches, monasteries and convents to help Jews in all ways possible.

ORSINI

Did Pope Pius give this instruction in all Italy, or only in Rome?

DAVI

In all of Italy. Many priests and nuns and ordinary people were very brave in helping Jews. So, outside of Rome, most Jews there were saved. And most in Rome too – my father was taken in by a Catholic family, and so were my aunts, uncles ... cousins. With the help of Catholic friends, my father and his colleagues began to get false baptismal certificates and marriage certificates for those of us at the barracks. You see, many priests now issued these false certificates for Jews to convince the Germans we were Catholic converts, or married to Catholics. It was very slow, matching the false certificates to real people. The commander of the SS in Rome was named Hauptstrumfuhrer Theodor Dannecker. He was no fool, so he inspected each case, and threw most of them out. In the end he honored only 252 of them. My father had gotten a certificate of baptism for me. The SS questioned me, and I was terrified! But I knew a lot about Catholic belief, so I suppose I was convincing in my claim to be a convert. I was one of the fortunate ones.

CORSO

Pardon me, Signora, but why did the Germans honor any such claims? They didn’t elsewhere in Europe. Converted Jews were taken with the others, and so were Jews married to Christians.

DAVI

I don’t know.

CORSO

Do you think it was because they didn’t want to confront the Pope.

DAVI

(sighs) I don’t know. But I do know that Pius opened the Vatican to us. About five thousand of us made it to here, and convents and monasteries in Rome. We had refuge here for nine months, until the Allies captured Rome. So you see, that is when I first met Father Orsini. He was very kind to us – as were all the people here. I am forever grateful to all of them.

CORSO

How did you – so many of you – make it to the Vatican?

DAVI

With the help of Catholics.

CORSO

Forgive me, Signora Davi, I meant, how is it you were not stopped at the gates by the Germans?

DAVI

The Germans did not interfere. They stayed away from the Vatican’s gates. But they were not so restrained outside. They searched for Jews in the rest of the city, and found another thousand. They were all murdered, most at Auschwitz – more than two thousand Roman Jews in all. But most of us survived. And, as I said, most throughout Italy survived. (To Corso.) Thanks to Pope Pius. I hope, Father Corso, you will take that into account. As I said before, I know something of Catholicism, so I am familiar with the role of Devil’s Advocate.

CORSO

I will, Signora Davi. I’ve been most moved by what you’ve told us. You’re a courageous and honest woman. And your father, a very brave man. What happened to him?

DAVI

He died three years ago. If he were still alive, he would express the same gratitude to Pius as me. He did so many times while he lived.

CORSO

I see. If I may, Signora, just one more question. Then no more, I promise. May I? (Davi nods.) Signora, in all this time – during the outrage of the ransom, during the arrest of the Jews in the old quarter ... during your imprisonment at the army barracks ... during the arrests of Jews elsewhere in Italy ... during the transportations of Italian Jews to Auschwitz ... during the murder of Italian Jews there – during all this time, did Pope Pius ever once make a public statement of protest about any of this?

DAVI

(upset and somewhat defensive) He did what was possible for him to do ... he ... he saved us ... (Corso sighs. Pause.)

ORSINI

Thank you, Signora.

(Davi gets up. Both men also get up. Davi and Orsini hug. She shakes hands with Corso, who thanks her again. Orsini escorts her to the door, and thanks her again. After she leaves, Orsini comes back to the table, where Corso is still standing. During the remainder of this scene, both men continue to stand. They argue vehemently.)

CORSO

(shaking his head) During all that, Pius remained totally silent!

ORSINI

You have no idea what it was like here! With all due respect for your experience in the Pacific, we were in Hitler’s hand here. The Germans were brutal toward civilians after Italy changed sides. Savage! Hitler at one point even considered taking the Vatican and kidnapping His Holiness!

CORSO

Yeah, in one of his rages. But he soon thought better of it! Because he feared the effect on thirty million Catholics in Germany, and five hundred million elsewhere. Half a billion Catholics! By 1943, Pius must have known Hitler was not going to stir up such a hornets’ nest. For Christ’s sake, even the Germans kept reassuring him they’d never touch the Vatican! And – as Signora Davi reminded us – they never did.

ORSINI

And was Pius to rely on the benevolence of the Nazis? Would you have? What would Hitler have done to the Italians if Pius had opposed him?

CORSO

Driven them more into the arms of the Communists, is that it? The same old story! This was the time when Pius feared the Italian Communists were taking over Italy, remember? Not to mention still dreaming his insane dreams of the Allies and Germany making peace and launching a crusade against Stalin.

ORSINI

Pius had to protect all Italians, and all Catholics everywhere under German rule.

CORSO

... And the Vatican! The Pope wouldn’t make waves against the Nazis, and they’d keep their jackboots out of the Vatican, right?

ORSINI

The Allies weren’t helping much! Roosevelt was broadcasting propaganda that the Allies were fighting in Italy to save Rome ... to rescue the Pope and liberate the Vatican. It was nonsense! It was Pius who accomplished this! Through his skillful, quiet policies, before the Allies reached Rome.

CORSO

(dismissively) He sat passively while ordinary Italian Catholics risked their lives to save Jews.

ORSINI

Was it passivity that saved Signora Davi? Shall we call her back so that you can ask her?

CORSO

Shame! I was not about to grill that good woman. Fact is, Pius is unworthy to be mentioned in the same breath with her and her father – and the Catholics who shielded them. Oh, I give Pius credit for saving the few Jews he did here in Italy. Fifty thousand. Actually not that many, but it’s a round number. That’s what – eight thousandths of one percent of the six million the Germans murdered? Bravo for Pius.

ORSINI

Signora Davi understands that Pius had larger responsibilities. Why can’t you!

CORSO

Responsibilities to his anti-Communist fever. (He gestures toward the window.) Responsibilities to all this stone and marble ... responsibilities to his dream of European peace through a harmony of stable dictatorships. No messy democracies. He had no use for democracies, good Germanophile that he was. (He grabs a group of his papers, held together by a paper clamp, from the table and holds them out toward Orsini.) So he turned a deaf ear to these! Reports to him from Catholics all along the rail lines to Auschwitz. Telling him the Italian Jews were pleading for water in the boxcars, dying in the boxcars! Thirst, hunger, no toilets, freezing cold as the trains slowly moved through the mountains. They pleaded with him to speak out! (He pulls a paper from the group.) Here – the Bishop of Padua pleading with his Pope to do something! To say something! But not Pius! Not that deliberative, cool-headed, calculating, “brilliant” thinker! No “impulsive” statements coming from him! Better just to weep tears from his “kind” eyes like some soap-opera fan when people told him their personal troubles. (Orsini averts his face from the papers. Corso throws the papers onto the table and picks up another group of some three dozen sheets, stapled together at one top corner.) Alright, then, maybe you’ll like these better!

ORSINI

(not taking them) What are they?

CORSO

A list of witnesses I’d like to invite to this darkroom where we’re developing a picture of Pius’ “saintliness.” Let’s see how pretty a picture it turns out to be.

(Orsini takes the pages and leafs thought them. He sighs heavily at how many there are. Light fades to black.)