Rating: 
Summary: renewed interest
Review: I want to say that as a work of dramatic writing I think the author relies far too much on the personality of Pius XII and not enough on the institutional nature of the Church during this period. Very few institutions of any size spoke to the fate of Jews and others during this period. Thus its appeal as a play is somewhat limited those it has its powerful moments. As for the veracity of the play's account of Pius XII's silence, I can only offer up the words of John XXIII who, when asked what he would do against the play, answered: "Do against it? what can you do against the truth?" I guess I don't understand those who still speak out against this play casting it as a work that says the Church was responsible for the Holocaust.
Rating:
Summary: renewed interest
Review: I want to say that as a work of dramatic writing I think the author relies far too much on the personality of Pius XII and not enough on the institutional nature of the Church during this period. Very few institutions of any size spoke to the fate of Jews and others during this period. Thus its appeal as a play is somewhat limited those it has its powerful moments. As for the veracity of the play's account of Pius XII's silence, I can only offer up the words of John XXIII who, when asked what he would do against the play, answered: "Do against it? what can you do against the truth?" I guess I don't understand those who still speak out against this play casting it as a work that says the Church was responsible for the Holocaust.
Rating: 
Summary: Libelous slander
Review: I was tempted to write a long review, pointing out how this play is merely a tissue of lies, using quotes from both Catholic and Jewish sources that prove that Pius XII saved millions of lives in the Second World War, both Jewish and Gentile. However, I think this quote will be more effective. It is from the book _Hitler's Pope_ by John Cornwell, obviously not a friend or supporter of Pius XII:"[The Deputy is] historical fiction based on scant documentation...[T]he characterization of Pacelli (Pius XII) as a money-grubbing hypocrite is so wide of the mark as to be ludicrous. Importantly, however, Hochhuth's play offends the most basic criteria of documentary: that such stories and portrayals are valid only if they are demonstrably true." If one of Pius XII's loudest critics dismisses this work as rubbish, can anyone really believe that it portrays the truth of the matter?
Rating:
Summary: Anti-Catholic Slander from Johns Hopkins
Review: I wonder if Johns Hopkins University Press would publish the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" or "The Klansman" or any other works of bald-faced Hate and Bigotry? Of course not, because such "literature" is unworthy of publication by any university press. Yet Johns Hopkins sees no problem with publishing "The Deputy", a slanderous, FICTIONAL play about Pope Pius XII, written in the early 60s by an anti-Catholic German Protestant, who, presumably, was seeking to absolve the blood-drenched soul of his native country by shifting the blame for the Holocaust to the leader of the Catholic Church, several million of whose members also perished in the deathcamps at the hands of jackbooted creeps from the author's own Germany. For a GERMAN to blame the Holocaust on the Catholic Church is not merely absurd, it is sickening. It is amazing how the cancer of anti-Catholicism thrives in our American universities. How long must Catholics put up with Intolerance?
Rating: 
Summary: Hugely important drama on the holocaust
Review: No literary work about the holocaust has so much shaken the conscience of the western world as he Deputy". Since the play first appeared in 1963, it has been reviewed, rereviewed, praised, damned and boycotted (including the American Nazi Party). What I have to add here is (1) praise to Johns Hopkins University Press for republishing the play and (2) rebuttal of the bizarre and shameful comments appearing at this site on July 1, 1999 and October 21, 1999. To any one who has read the play, or attended it, it is obvious that it deals with the HOLOCAUST and nothing less. That Pius II did not protest as strongly and often as he should could have and that he did not protect Roman jews is an important part of the play. Nowhere in the play, the stage instructions, the appendices nor anywhere does Hochhuth "shift the blame" for the holocaust. Indeed, Acts 1-3 and 5 put the responsibility brutally and exactly where it belongs. (The pope, drawn as a caricature of a CEO, appears only in Act 4, essentially denying the reality of the holocaust). The principal character in the play is Riccardo Fontana, a catholic priest (a jesuit), son of a laic counsellor to the pope, who struggles futilely against the Nazis - and the obtuseness of the vatican - and is murdered by the Nazis. Like all characters in the play, Riccardo is a fictional character inspired by a real person. The inspiration for Riccardo came from Bernard Lichtenberg, prelate of St. Hedwig's cathedral, Berlin and father Maximilian Kolbe, martyred in Auschwitz and canonized (John Paul II) in 1982. The play is dedicated to these men.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning and still relevant.....
Review: Some works of literature wear well with time, and some do not. Understandably, The Deputy was quite a red-hot item 40 years ago, when there was a certain frisson in criticizing a recently-deceased Pope, and not a great deal of historical work had been done to analyze the opposition of the Catholic Church against Hitlerism. But now, at the beginning of the 21st Century, a wealth of actual documentary evidence can take the place of the fictitious imaginings, sceptical conjectures, and whole-cloth fabrications which make up the basis of this play. At the time of its writing, it must havce seemed daring and challenging in a disturbing but healthy sense. Now it looks more like, at best, sophomoric propaganda, and at worst, like a new and deeply unattractive variation on Blood Libel.
Rating:
Summary: Embarrassing, historically obtuse, obsolete
Review: Some works of literature wear well with time, and some do not. Understandably, The Deputy was quite a red-hot item 40 years ago, when there was a certain frisson in criticizing a recently-deceased Pope, and not a great deal of historical work had been done to analyze the opposition of the Catholic Church against Hitlerism. But now, at the beginning of the 21st Century, a wealth of actual documentary evidence can take the place of the fictitious imaginings, sceptical conjectures, and whole-cloth fabrications which make up the basis of this play. At the time of its writing, it must havce seemed daring and challenging in a disturbing but healthy sense. Now it looks more like, at best, sophomoric propaganda, and at worst, like a new and deeply unattractive variation on Blood Libel.
Rating:
Summary: Impossible to be unbiased
Review: The Deputy is a fair to good play, considered as a piece of drama. There's tension, conflict, and a good denouement. The problem is that some people think it's history, which it's not. Most of the characters are fictitious. The speeches are not historical. The venal portrait of Pius XII completely contradicts history. It is astonishing to read previous reviewers still treat this work as history. Pierre Blet's recent work, based on Vatican archives and diplomatic cables, shows without a doubt that Pius XII spoke out hundreds of times against the Nazi persecution of the Jews and that he and his diplomatic representatives personally saved thousands of Jewish lives. As a play, it has its merits. But as fact, this is Oliver Stone territory. As a a piece of history, this is nothing but an anti-Catholic fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: But it's not true
Review: The Deputy is a fair to good play, considered as a piece of drama. There's tension, conflict, and a good denouement. The problem is that some people think it's history, which it's not. Most of the characters are fictitious. The speeches are not historical. The venal portrait of Pius XII completely contradicts history. It is astonishing to read previous reviewers still treat this work as history. Pierre Blet's recent work, based on Vatican archives and diplomatic cables, shows without a doubt that Pius XII spoke out hundreds of times against the Nazi persecution of the Jews and that he and his diplomatic representatives personally saved thousands of Jewish lives. As a play, it has its merits. But as fact, this is Oliver Stone territory. As a a piece of history, this is nothing but an anti-Catholic fantasy.
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