Alleged plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII
Encyclopedia
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
by the Nazis when they occupied Rome during World War II. SS General Karl Wolff
Karl Wolff
Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff was a high-ranking member of the Nazi Schutzstaffel , ultimately holding the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS. He became Chief of Personal Staff to the Reichsführer and SS Liaison Officer to Hitler until his replacement in 1943...
stated that he had been ordered on September 13, 1943 to kidnap the pope.
Both British historian Owen Chadwick
Owen Chadwick
William Owen Chadwick, OM, KBE, FBA, FRSE is a British professor, writer and prominent historian of Christianity. He was also a rugby union player.-Early life and education:Chadwick was born in Bromley in 1916...
and Jesuit ADSS editor Robert A. Graham
Robert A. Graham
Father Robert Andrew Graham, SJ was an American Jesuit priest and World War II historian of the Catholic Church...
dismissed the existence of a plot as British wartime propaganda. Dan Kurzman
Dan Kurzman
Dan Halperin Kurzman , was an American journalist and writer of military history books.- Life :...
, a former correspondent for the Washington Post, published a book in 2007 maintaining that the plot was serious.
Karl Wolff
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
that he had disobeyed an order from Hitler to kidnap the pope and instead sneaked into the Vatican to warn the pontiff. Most other allegations of a plot to kidnap Pius XII are based on a claimed 1972 document written by Wolff that Avvenire d'Italia published in 1991 or personally interviews with Wolff before his death in 1984. Wolff maintained that Hitler summoned Wolff to his office on September 13, 1943, and that Hitler stated:
I have a special mission for you, Wolff. It will be your duty not to discuss it with anyone before I give you permission to do so. Only Reichsfuhrer (Himmler) knows about it. Do you understand? ... I want you and your troops to occupy Vatican City as soon as possible, secure its files and art treasures, and take the Pope and Curia to the north. I do not want him to fall into the hands of the Allies or to be under their political pressure and influence. The Vatican is already a nest of spies and a center of anti-National Socialist propaganda.
Wolff's reliability has been questioned by Holocaust historians; for example, Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
's use of Wolff as a source was one of the issues in Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt
Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt
David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt is a case in English law, relating to Holocaust denial. It ruled that the claim that such denial is a deliberate distortion of evidence is substantially true, and therefore not libellous....
. Dan Kurzman and István Deák
István Deák
István Deák is a Hungarian-born American historian, author and academic.Deak was born at Székesfehérvár, Hungary. He was educated at a Catholic gymnasium in Budapest and began his university studies in 1945 at the University of Budapest...
, a professor of history at Columbia University, debated the reliability of Wolff's testimony regarding the plot to kidnap Pius XII in a series of letters to the editor in The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
, where Deák had previously reviewed A Special Mission. Deák wrote in his review:
The main trouble with Kurzman's interesting book is the author's credulity; he uncritically accepts the validity of controversial documents and unquestioningly believes in the statements made to him by his principal German interlocutor, the former SS General Karl Wolff, who died in 1984. The book's documentation is modest; the short notes and index contain a great number of vague or inaccurate references. Moreover, it is difficult to believe the arguments of an author who so manifestly lacks the language abilities needed for his work. Kurzman seems to know Italian but no German; he misspells German names and uses almost no German-language sources.
While Deak's review maintained that Kurzman "unquestioningly believes" Wolff's statements, Kurzman says the others he interviewed corroborate Wolff's account. In contrast to Deak's review in the New York Review of books, other reviewers felt that Kurzman proved his case." Publishers Weekly writes: "Kurzman demonstrates that Hitler wanted the Vatican neutralized because he thought the pope had aided the overthrow of Mussolini in 1943 and feared that the Church's leader would denounce the Final Solution in general and the imminent deportation of Rome's Jews in particular.
Erwin von Lahousen and Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven
Erwin von Lahousen
Generalmajor Erwin von Lahousen was a high-ranking Abwehr official during World War II, as well as a member of the German Resistance and a key player in attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler on March 13, 1943 and July 20, 1944.- Background :...
, in his deposition at the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
on February 1, 1946 (Warnreise Testimony 1330-1430), said that Hitler had ordered the Reichssicherheitshauptamt to devise a plot to punish the Italian people by kidnapping or murdering Pius XII and the king of Italy. But, von Lahousen said, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
, head of the German counterintelligence service, informed his Italian counterpart, General Cesare Amè, during a secret meeting in Venice on July 29–30, 1943, in a meeting where von Lahousen and Colonel Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven were present; Amè apparently spread the news and the plot was dropped. The Colonels were later part of the July 20 plot
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
to assassinate Hitler, along with Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg.
Niki Freytag Loringhoven, the son of von Loringhoven, gave a substantially similar account in Munich in 1972 to von Lahousen's deposition in Nuremberg, according to the Italian Bishops' newspaper Avvenire
Avvenire
Avvenire is an Italian daily newspaper affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two Catholic magazines: L'Avvenire d'Italia of Bologna and l'Italia of Milan.-History:...
.
Rudolf Rahn
Rudolf Rahn, the German ambassador to the Italian Social RepublicItalian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
(RSI), sent a letter to Robert A. Graham
Robert A. Graham
Father Robert Andrew Graham, SJ was an American Jesuit priest and World War II historian of the Catholic Church...
(one of the editors of the ADSS, see below) in the 1970s, which was published by Italian magazine 30 Giorni in 1991, stating that such a plot existed but that all documents relating to it had been destroyed or lost; Rahn died in 1981.
John Cornwell
John Cornwell's Hitler's PopeHitler's Pope
Hitler's Pope is a book published in 1999 by the British journalist and author John Cornwell that examines the actions of Pope Pius XII during the Nazi era, and explores the charge that he assisted in the legitimization of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany, through the pursuit of a...
(1999) subscribes to the existence of such a plot. The only source that Cornwell's account cites is "Teste manuscript, 822ff, in the keeping of the Jesuit Curia at the Borgo Santo Spirito in Rome." Cornwell's version centers on Wolff, but—unlike the account of other secondary authors—does not claim that the matter was not to be put in writing; in fact, Cornwell claims that Wolff "sent in about six to eight personnel reports." As with Wolff's own account, Cornwell casts Wolff as the hero, whose "purpose" was to "impede the deportation of the Pope." According to Cornwell, Wolff was able to persuade Hitler to drop the plan.
In Cornwell's view: "all the facts indicate, therefore, that an attempt to invade the Vatican and its properties, or to seize the Pope in response to a papal protect would have seriously hindered the Nazi war effort. And thus even Hitler came to acknowledge what Pacelli appeared to ignore: that the strongest social and political force in Italy in the autumn of 1943 was the Catholic Church, and that its scope for noncompliance with disruption was immense."
Avvenire d'Italia
Rabbi David Dalin in The Myth of Hitler's PopeThe Myth of Hitler's Pope
The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis is a book written by American historian and Rabbi David G. Dalin and published in 2005 by Regnery Publishing.- Background :...
(2005) argues:
It is depressing wild-eyed hysteria is accepted as fact by the liberal mediaMedia bias in the United StatesMedia bias in the United States occurs when the media in the United States systematically presents a particular point of view. Claims of media bias in the United States include claims of liberal bias, conservative bias, mainstream bias, and corporate bias...
. But while the liberal media continues to offer further grotesque distortions to its myth of Hitler's pope, it ignores what could be equally compelling stories—ones that are true—about Pope Pius XII based on newly released documents. Consider, for instance, the documents about the Nazi plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII.
Dalin's source is Italian Catholic daily newspaper Avvenire d'Italia
Avvenire
Avvenire is an Italian daily newspaper affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two Catholic magazines: L'Avvenire d'Italia of Bologna and l'Italia of Milan.-History:...
, which is published by the Italian Bishops Conference
Conferenza Episcopale Italiana
The Italian Episcopal Conference is the episcopal conference of the Italian bishops of the Catholic Church and as such is the official assembly of all the bishops in Italy. The conference was founded in 1971 and carries out certain tasks as well as having authority assigned to setting the...
. The Avvenire documents are also based on the testimony of Wolff, given in Munich on March 24, 1972.
Dan Kurzman
Dan KurzmanDan Kurzman
Dan Halperin Kurzman , was an American journalist and writer of military history books.- Life :...
, a former foreign correspondent for the Washington Post, maintains in A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII (2007) that the planned kidnapping was real and that the interviews he conducted "leave little doubt that the plot was serious". He calls the plot "a most important and intriguing episode of World War II. Yet, it has been barely mentioned in even the most comprehensive history books about the war. And what has been reported is treated as inconsequential rumor". Kurzman says that the plot was intended to ensure that Pius XII remained silent during the Roman razzia
Pope Pius XII and the Roman razzia
Pope Pius XII's response to the Roman razzia—Italian for roundup, or mass deportation of Jews on October 16, 1943—is one of the central issues related to Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust...
, which deported over a thousand Jews to Auschwitz. Kurzman's book has received substantial attention from Catholic and other Christian news sources and advocacy organizations.
Kurzman acknowledges that there are no official German documents that refer to the plot, claiming that Hitler prohibited the plot to be put in writing, and bases his book on personal interviews with Germans and Vatican officials. Kurzman's principal source is Wolff, whom he interviewed only hours after his release from Allied custody; Kurzman acknowledges that Wolff was demonstrably untruthful in many aspects of his testimony, but notes that "other key persons" corroborate Wolff's account. Kurzman's other interviewees include: Rudolph Rahn, German ambassador to the RSI
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
, Eitel Mollhausen, Rahn's deputy, Albrecht von Kessel, the deputy of Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1938 to 1943, and as German Ambassador to the Holy See from 1943 to 1945...
, SS Colonel Eugen Dollman, Wolff's liaison to Field Marshal Albert Kesselring
Albert Kesselring
Albert Kesselring was a German Luftwaffe Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. In a military career that spanned both World Wars, Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most skilful commanders, being one of 27 soldiers awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords...
. Finally, Kurzman cites a personal interview with Peter Gumpel
Peter Gumpel
Peter Gumpel is a German jesuit priest and Church historian. Professor emeritus of the Gregorian University , he is presently the relator in Pius XII`s cause for beatification....
, the Vatican's advocate for canonization
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
of Pius XII, who claims that unpublished documents support the existence of such a plot. Gumpel has also stated that Pius XII made plans to resign in the event of his kidnapping.
Owen Chadwick
Owen Chadwick
William Owen Chadwick, OM, KBE, FBA, FRSE is a British professor, writer and prominent historian of Christianity. He was also a rugby union player.-Early life and education:Chadwick was born in Bromley in 1916...
, a professor of history at Cambridge, studied of the papers of D'Arcy Osborne, the British ambassador to the Vatican during the war, argued that the British Political Warfare Executive
Political Warfare Executive
During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale and sustaining the morale of the Occupied countries....
(PWE) "found it excellent propaganda to put it about that Hitler was just about to kidnap the Pope". The British propaganda office fabricated at least two German wireless broadcasts in support of the theory, building upon a pre-existing "rumour". First, on October 9, 1943 the British released a fake German broadcast claiming that all preparations had been made for such a kidnapping. Then, two days later, another falsified transmission stated that the Lichtenstein Castle
Lichtenstein Castle
Lichtenstein Castle is situated on a cliff located near Honau in the Swabian Alb, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.Historically there has been a castle on the site since around 1200. It was twice destroyed, once in the Reichskriegs war of 1311 and again by the city-state of Reutlingen in 1381...
in Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
was ready to imprison the Pope and cardinals.
Osborne himself considered the odds of such a kidnapping incredibly unlikely, as the Pope's presence in the Vatican prevented the British from bombing the key communications center of the German army in Southern Italy, which was adjacent. Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1938 to 1943, and as German Ambassador to the Holy See from 1943 to 1945...
, the German ambassador, had already ensured that the Vatican itself would be unoccupied when the Germans occupied Rome after the collapse of Mussolini's government.
Alvarez and Graham
David Alvarez and Robert A. GrahamRobert A. Graham
Father Robert Andrew Graham, SJ was an American Jesuit priest and World War II historian of the Catholic Church...
, one of the Jesuit priest-historians chosen by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
to edit the ADSS, concur with Chadwick, concluding that "the evidence concerning an alleged plot to kidnap the pope is, at best, mixed". Noting that such a kidnapping would have outraged Catholics around the world and seriously destabilized the Third Reich's occupation of majority Catholic nations, Alvarez and Graham argue that Allied propagandists "did not shrink from the opportunity" to claim such a plot.
Alvarez and Graham cite the PWE fabrications mentioned by Chadwick, but also prior PWE propaganda pieces featuring various claims about the Pope contemplating abandoning the Vatican due to Axis threats. Although such rumors were picked up even by German diplomats, Alvarez and Graham conclude that "the clearest evidentiary trail in the tangle of rumor, memory and fiction that surrounds the purported plot to kidnap the Pope is the one that leads back to London instead of Berlin". Alvarez and Graham go further in indicting the scholarship of those claiming a plot:
Historians have yet to uncover a single piece of contemporary evidence indicating that Hitler, Himmler, Bormann, or any other authority had any serious intention, let alone plan, to invade Vatican City and carry out Pope Pius XII. As for all the smoke, the recollections are post-war and suspiciously self-serving; the rumors and warnings second- and third-hand; the alleged plans and concentration of forces undocumented. The few bits of credible evidence that do exist suggest that, in fact, there was no plan to move against the Pope.
In popular culture
The plot is featured in a 2010 Italian television film starring James CromwellJames Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...
as Pius XII: formerly titled Sotto il Cielo di Roma (English translation: Under the Roman Sky). The plot of the film centers on the topic of Pope Pius XII and the Roman razzia
Pope Pius XII and the Roman razzia
Pope Pius XII's response to the Roman razzia—Italian for roundup, or mass deportation of Jews on October 16, 1943—is one of the central issues related to Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust...
.