Actes et documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale

Actes et documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale is an eleven volume collection of Vatican archival documents covering Pope Pius XII's actions during the Second World War, including Holy See diplomatic correspondence, humanitarian relief work, and communications with German bishops about the treatment of Jews under Nazi rule. Four Jesuit historians, Pierre Blet, Angelo Martini, Burkhart Schneider and Robert Graham, assembled the volumes under authorization from Pope Paul VI beginning in 1964, and the Vatican published them between 1965 and 1981, mostly in Italian with French introductions. Five volumes cover the war years chronologically, four cover Holy See humanitarian work, one covers papal letters to German bishops, and the final volume covers Poland and the Baltic states. The release broke with the Vatican's usual policy of keeping its archives closed for seventy five years, and came after public controversy over Rolf Hochhuth's play The Deputy, which accused Pius XII of staying silent on Nazi atrocities; the editors intended the documents to show the pope's private protests against the persecution and deportation of Jews.