Vatican Official Insists Pontiff Did Mention Jews at Nazi Camp

A day after Pope John Paul II was criticized for not mentioning Jews during a visit to a former Nazi concentration camp, his spokesman insisted Saturday that he had done so, and the pontiff later said the Jews who died there had enriched the world by their suffering.

Responding to reporters’ questions aboard the plane taking the Pope to Enns, chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro said that while the Pope was viewing a plaque commemorating the more than 14,000 Jewish victims at the Mauthausen camp, he used the word Jewish several times.

In a conversation with a camp survivor, Ludwig Soswinsi, Navarro said the pontiff uttered the phrase, “Never again,” three times. The phrase has become a rallying cry among Jews determined not to allow a repetition of the Nazi Holocaust.

On Saturday, speaking to about 70,000 people in Enns, John Paul said, “I come from Rome, where there are the tombs of the martyrs of the early days and I come to Enns, which is a testimony of the martyrdom of your regions.

“Not far from here is Mauthausen, where Christians, Jews and even others suffered for the cause of their faith. With their suffering they enriched the world,” the Pope added.

In Vienna, a member of the board of Austria’s Jewish community, who did not hear the Pope’s speech, said, “If the Pope really said that, it is remarkable progress.”

After John Paul’s visit to Mauthausen, Austria’s Chief Rabbi Chaim Eisenberg and the New York-based World Jewish Congress criticized the pontiff for failing to mention Jewish suffering.

“A visit to Mauthausen without even mentioning the word Jews once is not satisfactory,” Eisenberg said.