The Pope at War, page 69
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 14
The other security issue facing the pope in the wake of the fall of the Fascist government concerned the sporadic cases of German soldiers seeking haven in Vatican City. On August 25, the commander of the Pontifical Gendarmes, a separate unit from the Swiss Guards, responded to the request communicated to him by Cardinal Maglione “to formulate proposals with the aim of avoiding a repetition of the incidents recently provoked by the deserters Henry Hannemann and Augustus Filusch.” The cardinal had reached a secret agreement with the Italian police to have it station “a special service of vigilance near the entrances of the [Vatican] State to intervene before the soldiers cross into the territory of Vatican City with the intention of seeking refuge there or when the soldiers themselves, having been turned away at one of the entrances, try to sneak into Vatican City through another entrance.” AAV, Segr. Stato, 1943, Stato Città Vaticano, posiz. 108, ff. 1r–33r.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 15
Marras report to Badoglio, July 30, 1943, ASDMAE, Gab., b. 1159A, UC–43 fasc. 1.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 16
July 31 reports found at ASDMAE, Gab., b. 1159A, UC–43, fasc. 3.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 17
Rauscher 2004, p. 480.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 18
Maglione notes, July 31, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, n. 321.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 19
Weizsäcker to Foreign Ministry, Berlin, August 1, 1943, PAAA, GARV, R235, 09.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 20
Italian embassy to the Secretariat of State, July 31, 1943; Maglione to Cicognani, Washington, August 1, 1943; and Maglione to Godfrey, London, August 2, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, nn. 322, 323, 324.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 21
Cicognani, Washington, D.C., to Welles, August 2, 1943, FRUS 1943, vol. 2, pp. 938–39; War Department to Eisenhower, August 2, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, p. 80; Eisenhower to General Marshall, August 3, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, pp. 76–77; Eisenhower to Marshall, August 3, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, p. 75.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 22
“Draft conditions for open city,” U.S. War Department, August 2, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, pp. 46–47; FDR to Churchill, August 3, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, p. 42; Churchill to FDR, August 3, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, pp. 43–33, 78.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 23
Eisenhower to Marshall, August 4, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, pp. 72–73.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 24
Churchill to FDR, August 4, 1943, FRUS 1943, vol. 2, pp. 939–40.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 25
US Joint Chiefs to FDR, August 5, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, pp. 35–37.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 26
Chapter 32: Betrayal
Rauscher 2004, pp. 480–81.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 1
Pirelli 1984, pp. 460–61, diary entry for August 3, 1943.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 2
Tardini notes, August 4, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, n. 327; De Blesson report, October 1943, MAEN, RSS 576, PO/1, 1183. The day earlier Tittmann had sent in a report on the mood in the Vatican, highlighting fears there of a German takeover. He added his own observation that Romans’ apathy “suggests popular uprising against Germans near future is unlikely.” The Romans were certainly eager for peace, but, he observed, “people are counting on us rather than own efforts to get them out of war.” Tittmann to Hull, August 3, 1943, FRUS 1943, vol. 2, pp. 345–46.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 3
Weizsäcker to Foreign Ministry, Berlin, August 4, 1943, PAAA, GBS, 29818, 24–25.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 4
Hennesey 1974, pp. 51–52. The quotes from the pope’s call to prayer are taken from the English translation that Osborne provided in his August 10, 1943, report to Eden, NAK, FO 371, 37537, 166–69.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 5
British Consul General, Tangiers, to Foreign Office, London, FDR Library, mr 159, pp. 74–76. The quotes are from the consul general’s report of his conversation with the Italian emissary.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 6
Tardini handwritten note, July 30, 1943, ASRS, AA.EE.SS., Pio XII, parte I, Italia, posiz. 1336, ff. 131r–32r.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 7
Tacchi Venturi to Maglione, August 10, 1943. ADSS, vol. 9, n. 289.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 8
Maglione to Tacchi Venturi, August 18, 1943, ADSS, vol. 9, nn. 289, 296.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 9
Tacchi Venturi to Maglione, August 29, 1943, ADSS, vol. 9, n. 317.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 10
Davis 2006, 148; De Wyss 1945, p. 83; Questura di Roma alla Prefettura et al., August 13, 1943, ACS, MI, DAGRA 1943, b. 71, n. 161250-066695.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 11
Questura di Roma al Capo della polizia e al Prefetto di Roma, August 14, 1943, ACS, DAGR, A5G, IIGM, b. 134, n. 05161; Rossi 2005, pp. 419–20.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 12
KKADC Quebec to War Department, August 14, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, p. 68; Eisenhower, Algiers, to War Department, August 15, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, p. 63; Combined Chiefs of Staff to Eisenhower, August 15, 1943, FDR Library, mr 303, pp. 62 and 64. The next two weeks saw a constant stream of messages back and forth between Cardinal Maglione and the apostolic delegate in Washington, as they pleaded with the Allies to stop the bombing of Rome. The cardinal’s messages made clear a point he had initially avoided: if the Italian government remained publicly committed to the Axis cause, it was only because it was paralyzed by the prospect of German military intervention. Some of this correspondence can be found in ADSS, vol. 7, including nn. 355, 576, but see the account in the August 21, 1943, U.S. Chronicle, FDR Library, psfa 495, p. 138. See also the memo that Cicognani sent to the U.S. State Department on August 18, FRUS 1943, vol. 3, pp. 944–45.
For his part, on August 16, Monsignor Godfrey, the apostolic delegate in London, reported to Maglione on what Britain’s minister of information, Brendan Bracken, described as an “intimate friend of Churchill,” told him. The British understood that Badoglio was in a difficult position, but as time passed, public opinion was becoming hostile to the new Italian government, “and now it is said openly that the departure of Mussolini has only decapitated Fascism, leaving its body substantially intact.” The notion that some kind of deal could be had that would leave Italian soil free from Allied occupation, said the British minister, was a pure “fantasy,” as the Allies were intent on occupying any part of the country that would prove useful to prosecuting their war on Germany. Godfrey to Maglione, August 16, 1943, ASRS, Gab., Pio XII, parte I, Italia, posiz. 1336, ff. 181r–82r.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 13
De Wyss 1945, p. 94.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 14
On the Petaccis, see Montevecchi 2011; Chessa and Raggi 2010; Bosworth 2017, pp. 174, 180–81. Clara Petacci’s jail-time diary entries are found in ACS, Archivi di famiglie e di persone, Clara Petacci, b. 10, fasc. 159. Reports of the popular joy greeting word of the Petacci family’s fall can be found in “Le sorelle Petacci arrestate per spionaggio?” L’Italia, August 30, 1943, p. 1; and “Raccolta delle prove documentali [informative da Città del Vaticano per il periodo dicembre 1942–settembre 1943] per il procedimento penale istruito contro Trojani Virginio di Nerfa,” ASR, Galla Placidia, CAP, Sezione Istruttoria, b. 1669, f. 1010. In the wake of the liberation of Rome, the Italian government was also launching investigations into the corruption of leading figures in the Fascist regime; see Canali and Volpini 2019.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 15
Guariglia, Memorandum per Badoglio, August 28, 1943, ASDMAE, Gab., b. 1159, UC–43, fasc. 6.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 16
Tittmann 2004, p. 82. On Galeazzi, see Informativa n. 40 (Troiani), January 18, 1940, ACS, MIFP, b. 546, and other police informant files found at b. 546; Comando Supremo S.I.M., Centro C.S. di Roma, October 7, 1944, AUSSME, SIM, Div. 1, faldone n. 67. Osborne would later refer to Galeazzi as “a great personal friend of the Pope” and “certainly the most influential layman” in the Vatican. Osborne to Foreign Office, June 6, 1946, NAK, FO 371, 60812, ZM 1993, 1946.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 17
The Galeazzi mission is explained by Tardini in a note written on June 26, 1944, and placed as an annex to the document containing Galeazzi’s instructions. Maglione to Cicognani, August 28, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, n. 374. A note by Tardini records the pope’s approval for the text given on August 28.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 18
Osborne to Foreign Office, London, September 2, 1943, NAK, FO 371, 37537, 163–64; Bérard to Foreign Ministry, Vichy, September 4, 1943, MAEC, Guerre Vichy, 544; Babuscio Rizzo to Foreign Ministry, Rome, September 5, 1943, tel. 24683, ASDMAE, APSS, b. 64. A Luce video of the pope’s radio address is accessible at https://patrimonio.archivioluce.com/luce-web/detail/IL5000018619/2/sommo-pontefice-invia-messaggio-al-mondo-pace-e-giustizia-i-popoli.html.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 19
Robert Murphy to FDR, September 8, 1943, FDR Library, mr 855, pp. 228–36.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 20
Eisenhower, Algiers, to War Department, and Algiers to War Department, September 1, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, pp. 50–51, 53–56.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 21
FDR and Churchill to Eisenhower, Algiers, September 2, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, p. 48. At the same time, the two leaders wrote to Stalin to explain their plan: “Our invasion of the mainland begins almost immediately, and the heavy blow called AVALANCHE will be struck in the next week or so. The difficulties of the Italian Government and people in extricating themselves from Hitler’s clutches may make a still more daring enterprise necessary, for which General Eisenhower will need as much Italian help as he can get. The Italian acceptance of the terms is largely based on the fact that we shall send an airborne division to Rome to enable them to hold off the Germans, who have gathered Panzer strength in that vicinity and who may replace the Badoglio Government with a Quisling administration probably under Farinacci.” FDR and Churchill to Stalin, September 2, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, pp. 45–46.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 22
Eisenhower, Algiers, to USFOR London and War Department, September 3, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, p. 41; Algiers to War Department, September 6, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, p. 36.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 23
Badoglio to Eisenhower, September 8, 1943, DDI, series 9, vol. 10, n. 769; Eisenhower to War Department, September 8, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, p. 25.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 24
War Department to Eisenhower, September 8, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, p. 19; Eisenhower, Algiers, to Badoglio, September 8, 1943, DDI, series 9, vol. 10, n. 770.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 25
Gabinetto, Questura Roma, al MI-DGPS, September 8, 1943, ACS, DAGR, A5G, IIGM, b. 146, n. 176776/Gab.; MAEC, Papiers Chauvel, vol. 121, pp. 923–34; Klinkhammer 1993, pp. 32–33.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 26
Chapter 33: Fake News
On Mafalda’s arrest, imprisonment, and death at Buchenwald, see D’Assia 1992 and Barneschi 1982. A number of historians have speculated that the king’s escape was facilitated by the German general Kesselring, who thought having the king gone would lead to less resistance by the Italian military to the taking of Rome. Mattesini 2015, pp. 91–92.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 1
Eisenhower to War Department, Algiers, telegram, September 18, 1943, FRUS 1943, vol. 2, p. 331.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 2
Notes, Secrétairerie d’État, September 9, 1943, and Montini notes, September 9, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, nn. 389, 391; Guariglia 1950, p. 718.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 3
Goebbels 1948, p. 427, diary entry for September 9, 1943; “Evolution de l’Italie en 1943,” MAEC, Papiers Chauvel, vol. 121, pp. 216–17; Davis 2006, p. 173.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 4
Montini notes, September 9, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, n. 390; Weizsäcker to Berlin, telegrams, September 9 and 10, 1943, PAAA, GBS, 29818, 31, 32, 33.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 5
Montini notes, September 10, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, nn. 392, 394, 397; Goebbels 1948, pp. 443–44, diary entry for September 11, 1943. Before reaching Kesselring’s aide on September 10, Weizsäcker had sent a telegram to Berlin reporting his meeting with Maglione and asking that, as his contact with Kesselring had been broken, the German military commanders in Rome contact him immediately. PAAA, GBS, 29818, 34.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 6
Eisenhower to Badoglio, and Churchill and FDR to Badoglio and the Italian people, September 10, 1943, FDR Library, mr 160, pp. 4–5, 6–7.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 7
De Felice 1997, pp. 78, 155; Goeschel 2018, p. 260. On Italian soldiers imprisoned in Germany, see Avagliano and Palmieri 2020. On Italians doing forced labor in Germany, see D’Amico, Guerrini, and Mantelli 2020.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 8
Pighin 2010, pp. 195–97.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 9
Stefani report, September 15, 1943, NAK, FO 371, 37571; unsigned, undated report, NARA, RG 84, box 5, 800 It-Vatican, p. 28; French embassy, Vatican, to French Foreign Ministry, Vichy, October 1943, MAEN, RSS 576, PO/1, 1183. On the agreement with the Germans that led to the posting of German military guards, see Weizsäcker to Berlin, September 15, 1943, PAAA, GPA, Vatikan Kirche 6, R98833, 06.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 10
De Felice 1997, pp. 37–43, 52–73; Boiardi et al. 1990, pp. 12–14; A. Rosso diary, September 15, 1943, n. 097835, ASDMAE, RSI, Gab., b. 1; Bosworth 2017, pp. 181–82.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 11
Montini notes, September 16, 1943, ADSS, vol. 7, n. 406.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 12
Franz von Sonnleithner (assistant to Ribbentrop) to Weizsäcker, September 17, 1943, and Weizsäcker to Berlin, September 18, 1943, PAAA, GBS, 29818, 35–36.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 13
Weizsäcker to Berlin, September 18, 1943, PAAA, GPA, Vatikan Kirche 6, R98833, 02–03.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 14
Weizsäcker to Berlin, September 21 and 22, 1943, PAAA, GBS, 29818, 37–38 and 40–41. Ribbentrop’s continued concern about the Allies’ propaganda efforts to portray the pope as endangered by the German occupation of Rome continued in the following month. He sent long instructions to Weizsäcker telling him to ask for a meeting with the pope to urge him to publicly denounce the propaganda, including a statement made by President Roosevelt himself. Ribbentrop to Weizsäcker, October 1943, PAAA, GBS, 29818, 52–53.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 15
Weizsäcker to Reich foreign minister and the state secretary, September 23, 1943, PAAA, GBS, 29818, 44.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 16
Steengracht to Weizsäcker, September 24, 1943, PAAA, GBS, 29818, 48–51.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 17
One indication of how this dilemma presented itself to Pius XII comes from a request sent by Father Gemelli, rector of the Catholic University of Milan, who had been until recently one of Mussolini’s greatest boosters in the upper ranks of Italy’s clergy. In late September Gemelli sent one of his trusted fellow clerics to Rome with an urgent request for the pope. What should he do, he asked, if, as seemed not unlikely, he was called upon to pledge loyalty to Mussolini’s new government? Early the next month, his emissary returned to Rome, where he met with Montini. “Events force me,” wrote Gemelli in the note he sent with his envoy, “to again send you a trusted person to ask for further instructions, for which I greatly feel the necessity given the new situation…. Milan will not only be a land occupied by the Reich, but public instruction there will depend on the Ministry of National Education of the new republican Fascist Government.”
