Unique Mission
On November 4, Burzio went as ordered to President Tiso on a mission that surely few apostolic nuncios have ever performed in modern times. The priest-president said he would give his own answer in writing to the Pope. Five days later Dr. Tiso summoned the papal charge' and gave him a letter, handwritten in Latin, which clarified his attitude and the position of his government toward the Jewish question. It arrived in Rome on December 19.
Among the Jews facing deportation in October was a group of about 400 persons in possession of passports from the United States and various Latin American countries. On October 7, following an appeal from the United States, the Secretariat of State had sent a note on their behalf to Karol Sidor, the Slovak minister. On November 21, an additional telegram was sent to the charge' in Bratislava, with the instruction: "The Holy See relies greatly on your deep interest and that of the episcopate in order that, in conformity with the universal mission of charity of the Church, all possible influence may be exerted on that government so that any Jews who are still in Slovak territory may be treated in a humane and Christian way."
What happened in fact was that the 400 had been taken under the special protection of the Slovak foreign ministry and brought to a separate shelter a Marianka, under the vigilance not of the German SS but of the Slovak gendarmerie. Nevertheless, they were again seized by the Germans and their passports declared forgeries. Only four were recognized as having authentic U.S. papers and returned to Marianka, where they were joined by the pitiful remnants of another raid, making a total of 13. They too were soon removed to Germany.
On November 21, having learned of the deportations, the Holy See notified Sidor of its indignation at the failure of the Slovak government to maintain its pledge. The Vatican note concluded:
This news, in contradiction with the assurances referred to above, has been learned with deep sorrow by the Holy See which, once more, finds itself in the painful necessity of expressing its regret. The Holy See hopes that the Slovak government, in accordance with the principles of the Catholic religion, to which the vast majority of the people belongs, will leave no stone unturned in order that the Jews who are still in the territory of the Republic may not be subjected to even more sufferings.