Black as he is painted
Sir: Taki is a wonderful man but his lament about Conrad Black (High Life, 16 May) cannot pass uncorrected. Conrad Black’s defence did not suffer because he was forced to rely on ‘friendly Canadian lawyers’. One lawyer, Eddie Greenspan, is Toronto’s top fraud defendant, while the second lawyer, Ed Genson, ranks among Chicago’s very best criminal defenders and would be offended to be called Canadian. In the event, both performed remarkably well, demolishing several key prosecution witnesses. Black pleads that he did not have sufficient money to hire better lawyers, but his filings with a Canadian court show that he still possesses a fortune, not least to sustain the $50 million mortgages on his mansions in Florida and Toronto.
Taki and others may lament that the two lawyers failed to win Black’s acquittal, but the reason is simple. Black’s defence was non-existent because he failed to produce a single witness, except his unpersuasive secretary, to disprove the prosecution’s case about his major frauds and obstruction of justice. Critically, despite all his bombast before the trial, he refused to testify in his own defence. Why? Because he had undergone two mock cross-examinations in Chicago and on both occasions exposed his vulnerability as a witness in his own case. He knew that if he had testified he would have got 60 years in prison rather than six and a half.
Tom Bower
London NW3
Beagles lead the way
Sir: The historic vote at the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) on 18 May marks an important moment in the campaign to restore balance to one of this country’s greatest institutions (Letters, 16 May). The Beagle Campaign (www.thebeaglecampaign.com) was thrilled and honoured to receive a smidgen under 40 per cent of the vote. We have moved from 80 signatories to 1,600 supporters in the space of just two months and would like to thank our supporters wholeheartedly for their generous backing.
Our campaign to get the RGS to mount its own expeditions again has always been about bold and innovative science and discovery. At a time when we are faced with so many environmental challenges, we would like to see the RGS resume its position at the forefront of scientific research. The RGS has always been much more than a grant-giving institution and must continue to be so. Its vision, leadership and direction need to reflect the interests of the broad church of its membership.
Academic geography is an important part of the Society and quite rightly always will be. It must not be allowed to predominate, for the very good reason that this alienates a large proportion of the Fellowship. Many feel the Society, to its detriment, has become a professional association of geographers from the Council down. The RGS has called this a ‘vote of confidence in the Society’s policy and leadership’. With 40 per cent support behind us, we do not think this is a helpful analysis. We sincerely hope that the Council now listens to the many voices of those who feel disenfranchised.
Justin Marozzi
The Beagle Campaign, London NW3
Pius XII and the Jews
Sir: Simon Caldwell provides a somewhat one-sided view of Pius XII and his attitude to the Jews (‘Time to reprieve Pius XII’, 16 May). To investigate Pius XII’s true position, the Holy See set up the International Catholic–Jewish Historical Commission (ICJHC) in 2000. A number of serious criticisms were made but the ICJHC was forced to stop its investigation when the Vatican, having seen a draft, refused them access to non-published archival documents from after 1923, making any further work impossible.
Among their initial findings was the fact that Pius XII was clearly aware of the seriousness of the situation of European Jewry from as early as 1941, when he received details from the Bishop of Berlin, who asked for papal assistance. Another archbishop wrote in 1941 asking him to draw attention to the mass murder of the Jews in Lvov, which he refused to do. Giuseppe Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII, expressed criticism of the Vatican’s silence when Pius XII ignored the details he had forwarded detailing the exterminations at Auschwitz.
In 1941 the assistant chief of the US delegation to the Vatican asked the Pope to condemn the Nazi atrocities. He was told that the Holy See wanted to remain ‘neutral’. There is evidence that this was not so. For example, the Pope was happy to denounce abuses committed by the Soviet army against Germans living in Russia.
There is much evidence of assistance being given to Jews during the war by the Catholic Church, but Simon Caldwell should give no credit for this to Pius XII.
Jeffrey Pike
Via email
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