The announcer spoke in the mellifluous baritone of the radio personalities of that age. He explained what the listening audience was about to hear: a live national broadcast from the CUA campus, carried by both the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), featuring several prominent members of the clergy and a well-known former governor, patched in from their respective locations across the country. The announcer then introduced Rev. Maurice S. Sheehy, head of the university’s Department of Religious Education, who was the broadcast’s organizer. His voice, though grave, possessed the theatrical quality of a moving Sunday sermon.
“The world is witnessing a great tragedy in Europe today,” Father Sheehy began, “and after sober, calm reflection, various groups and leaders of the Catholic Church have sought permission to raise their voices, not in mad hysteria, but in firm indignation against the atrocities visited upon the Jews in Germany…”
This was 6 days after the start of Kristallnacht, and apparently it would have been rare for CBS & NBC to collaborate, but that was the only way to get nationwide coverage.
The purpose of this program, Father Sheehy said in his opening address, was to appeal to Christian political leaders in Germany to stop the persecution of the Jews. But it is clear the broadcast was also meant to inspire prayers for the beleaguered Jews and to denounce what Monsignor Corrigan called “a persecution hardly if ever equaled since earlier blood-lusting paganism martyred Christians for their faith in God.”
Father Sheehy, the driving force behind the broadcast, had a special interest in radio. Since the 1920s he had lobbied the university to take advantage of the broadcasting medium, believing it would give CUA a voice in public issues.
After his opening words, he turned the Kristallnacht broadcast over to Archbishop Mitty, who was 2,800 miles away. The archbishop delivered a declaration of solidarity with Jewish people that was rare for that pre-Vatican II era, when, according to archivist Maria Mazzenga, many felt that defending other religions put those faiths on an equal footing with Catholicism. The archbishop likened the violence against German Jews to a “parallel crucifixion” in Spain, where thousands of clergy had recently been murdered during the Spanish Civil War. He asked whether something like that “monstrous story whose record was written month after month in human blood” might be repeated.
Bishop Gannon then continued from Erie, Pa., speaking about the importance of standing with the Jews in protest. “In the face of such injustice toward the Jews of Germany, I express my revulsion, disgust and grief,” he said. For his part, former Gov. Smith asked if the great country of Germany had fallen into the hands of a band of ruffians, and “If that be true, what about the future of Germany?”The radio broadcast received nationwide attention in the papers, too.
the next day, papers across the country reported on the speeches. Once the archivists knew the date of the broadcast, they were able to go back to — where else? — the university’s archives, and find two large scrapbooks corresponding to that date. They contained hundreds of yellowed newspaper clippings mentioning the CUA broadcast. The headlines echoed the broadcast’s impact: “Prominent Churchmen Denounce Oppression of Jews by Germans,” “Catholic Churchmen Join Pleas for Jews,” “Noted Layman, Clerics Voice Nazi Protest.”
It's a neat story --not only of historical interest, but just as an insight into the work of archivists. You can hear a clip of the broadcast at the link, too. I'm just impressed by the raising of voices "not in mad hysteria, but in firm indignation."
