A Few Noble Men

A compelling examination of courage, complicity, and conscience during the Holocaust.

In 1939, Romania was home to the third-largest Jewish community in Europe, alongside a significant Catholic minority. A Few Noble Men: The Vatican, the Catholic Church in Romania, and the Holocaust examines the varied responses of the Catholic Church and the Vatican to the persecution of Jews in a predominantly Orthodox country during one of the darkest periods of the twentieth century.

The book explores a striking spectrum of responses—from virulent antisemitism to acts of rescue and resistance to state pressure, including efforts to defy the state-imposed ban on Jews’ conversion to Christianity. It sheds new light on the role of the local Catholic Church and its entanglement with broader Vatican policies and the legacy of Pope Pius XII.
Analyzing interwar developments in Romania that shaped wartime behavior, it also looks at the role of Monsignor Andrea Cassulo, Papal Nuncio to Bucharest (1936–1947), whose wartime activities reveal both humanitarian engagement and troubling political affinities, including his initial admiration for Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. The book also examines the complex intersections of theology, diplomacy, and wartime politics, as well as the persistence of antisemitism within Catholic circles and the postwar legacy of church involvement in contested historical narratives.

Ambitious in scope, A Few Noble Men reshapes our understanding of the Holy See and Catholic institutions in Romania during the Holocaust, and their enduring moral and political dilemmas.

Dr. Ion Popa is a Historical Consultant and Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester. A leading specialist in modern history, his work focuses on the Holocaust, religion and politics, and Jewish-Christian relations. His acclaimed first monograph, The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Holocaust (Indiana University Press, 2017), was co-winner of the 2018 Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research. A widely published scholar, Popa’s research has appeared in numerous prestigious academic journals, including Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Yad Vashem Studies. Over the course of his distinguished career, he has been awarded multiple research fellowships across the United States, Germany, Austria, Romania, and Israel.