Visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem often leads to emotional and unexpected encounters.

Polish peasants and villagers played an instrumental role in rounding up and denouncing Jews during the Holocaust, often taking initiative without any encouragement from the Germans, according to a soon-to-be-published study by Holocaust historian Jan Grabowski.

Next month, The Pope's Jews hits book stores. In this historical account, author Gordon Thomas attempts to clarify the role played by Pope Pius XII, known as "Hitler's Pope," during the Second World War regarding Europe's Jewish population. Based on previously unpublished Vatican documents and first-hand accounts provided by Holocaust victims and wartime priests, the book reveals the existence of a secret operation personally overseen by the Pope to shelter Jews across Nazi Europe.