After the defeat in World War II, former Axis officials and officers fled Europe in every possible way. They were helped in this by sympathizers from various circles - European aristocrats, representatives of foreign intelligence services and even the clergy. Including from the Vatican.
The relationship between National Socialism and Christianity has always been difficult. On the one hand, the main enemy in the Vatican was the Soviet Union, an officially atheistic state. The Nazis pressed on conservative values and at first did not renounce religion. On the other hand, the cult of strength and pre-Christian myths, glorified in the Third Reich, had little resemblance to Christian values. And there were a lot of Catholics in Germany, especially in the south.
On June 20, 1933, Pope Pius XI and Germany signed a concordat. Hitler achieved the dissolution of the Catholic Center Party, one of the most influential in the country. But the rights of the church in the field of education and family law expanded. The Nazis promised not to touch the Catholics if they did not get involved in politics.
By 1937, the Vatican finally realized that they had entered into an agreement with the devil. On March 10, Pius XI addressed the faithful with the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, in which he criticized the Reich's policies and the pagan roots of National Socialism.
Despite this, the Vatican maintained neutrality in World War II. After its completion, the Holy See found itself at the center of accusations of sympathy for the Nazis. And although Pius XII, elected in March 1939, condemned the persecution of Jews, he was given the nickname "German Pope"
In practice, the positions of the Catholic clergy could be completely different - even directly opposite. Someone sheltered Jews or openly fought the Nazis, while others, on the contrary, helped them escape justice.
The signing of the concordat between Nazi Germany and the Holy See, Rome, July 20, 1933. Source: German Federal Archives.
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ALOIS HELPS ADOLF
In Rome, in Piazza Navona, stands the Church of Santa Maria del Anima, which has a courtyard for German pilgrims and a school for clergy. The head of the Austro-German congregation in Rome during the Second World War was Bishop Alois Hudal, who was not embarrassed by the pagan roots of National Socialism.
Hudal supported the racist laws of the Third Reich. In general, he was not ashamed of his anti-Semitism. He wrote: "The new alliance will destroy liberalism and communism, stemming from Jewish inspiration."
There is a version that Hudal, among other things, received money from the Germans and worked for their intelligence. This point of view was expressed by historians Robert Graham and David Alvarez in their work Nothing Sacred: Nazi Espionage Against the Vatican, 1939-1945. Since 1938, the bishop has received money transfers from the German Foreign Ministry for not entirely clear purposes.
In 1945, Hudal began to be gradually isolated from the affairs of the Holy See, but he succeeded in forging ties with the Argentine dictator Juan Perón to save the Nazis. He did not consider them criminals: “After 1945, all my charitable work was aimed at helping former members of the National Socialist and Fascist parties, especially the so-called war criminals […] who were persecuted, who were often completely innocent. […] Thanks to forged documents, I saved many of them. They can run away from their pursuers and flee to happy countries."
Bishop Alois Hudal next to Countess Franziska von Larisch-Mennich in Vienna, 1936.
To escape from Europe, a displaced person's passport was needed, which was issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The committee often checked those to whom it issued documents, so it was dangerous to travel with a real passport or a crude forgery. This is where Bishop Hudal came in handy.
The documents issued by the Vatican refugee assistance organization were rarely checked, the authority of the church was too high. After that, the fugitive could easily apply for an Argentine visa. With a simple tourist visa, the Nazi came to Argentina, where he was met by Cardinal Antonio Cardgiano.
In Latin America, the fugitive had no problems. They could not have been, given that Juan Peron did not hide his attitude to the outcome of the war: “In Nuremberg at this time something happened that I personally consider a dishonor and an unsuccessful lesson for the future of humanity. I am sure that the Argentine people, too, recognized the Nuremberg Trials as dishonor, unworthy of the victors who acted as if they had not won. We understand now that they deserve to lose the war."
Perhaps among those who were saved by Bishop Hudal were ordinary officers who were afraid of the wrath of the victors. But there were also enough criminals: the architect of the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann; physician Josef Mengele; Treblinka Commandant Franz Stangl; Deputy Commandant of Sobibor Gustav Wagner.
Refugee ID. Issued by the Red Cross to an SS officer, head of the Gestapo department, Adolf Eichmann, addressed to Ricardo Clement.
Escape From Zagreb
In April 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia capitulated and was occupied by the Germans. In Croatia, Hitler placed power in the hands of the local right-wing Ustasha movement and its leader, Ante Pavelic, who headed the puppet Independent State of Croatia (NGH). After the fall of Pavelic's power in 1945, the priests from the Franciscan order organized the salvation of the former Ustasha from justice.
The main savior of war criminals in Croatia was Krunoslav Draganovic, the secretary of the Croatian Catholic brotherhood of San Girolamo in Rome, a very mysterious figure who often visited Zagreb, Rome and Berlin.
The patron saint of the church of San Girolamo dei Croati was then the archbishop of Buenos Aires and a supporter of Peron, Cardinal Santiago Copello. Therefore, Draganovich's task was quite simple - to transport the Ustasha to Italy, shelter them for a while and send them to Argentina.
Even the local leader needed help. In early May 1945, the Germans were retreating from the Balkans. Pavelic ran after them with false documents in the name of Pedro Goner, a citizen of Peru. Arriving in Italy via Austria, Pavelic hid in the monastery of San Girolamo. Soon he was accepted by friendly Argentina, and Peron made his advisor.
True, they did not manage to get away from the consequences of their policy to the end. In April 1957, two Serbs tracked down Pavelic in Argentina and tried to kill him. He received two bullets, survived and fled to Spain. But Pavelic's body did not recover, two years later he died in a hospital in Madrid.
Krunoslav Draganovich - Croatian Roman Catholic priest and historian, accused of being one of the organizers of the "rat trails" for war criminals.
RELIABLE SHELTER
The Serbian historian Momo Pavlovich claims that Pope Pius XII, the USA and Great Britain knew about the actions of the monastic brethren. Ante Pavelic was planned to be used in the fight against socialist Yugoslavia and its leader Josipim Broz Tito. Direct evidence of this is the report of the American counterintelligence agent Robert Clayton Mud.
In a message dated February 12, 1947, Mood reported that he had managed to infiltrate the monastery of St. Jerome. Outside the walls of the monastery, he saw Pavelic, with a short haircut and dressed in monastic clothes, and former members of the Croatian government. In the report, the agent noted that the fugitives were guarded by armed men, and they were moving in cars with diplomatic numbers of the Vatican.
Another proof is the incident around the Pontifical Institute of the Orient at the Vatican. According to British intelligence, former Nazis were hiding on the premises of the institution. Through its ambassador to the Vatican, Sir Francis Osborne, Britain asked the Pope to consent to the search. The diplomat added that the Vatican's refusal to hold the action would only raise additional grounds for accusations. No permission was received from Pope Pius XII. Ambassador Osborne wrote to London that he did not believe for a second that the Pope would betray his "guests."
CATHOLICS AGAINST THE NAZIS
Despite the activities of such bishops as Hudal and the passive position of the Pope, many Catholic priests and parishioners actively opposed National Socialism, often ending up in concentration camps themselves. In Italy alone, about 30 male and female monasteries were hiding Jews.
Many priests who saved Jews were killed for this. Franciscan monk Maximilian Kolbe died in Auschwitz, exchanging his life for the life of another prisoner. Carmelite Titus Brandsma was executed at Dachau. Carmelite Edith Stein died in the gas chamber. Only through the special barracks for priests in Dachau, 2,600 people passed. The role of Pope Pius XII, both in saving the Nazis and in saving their victims, is not yet fully clear.
Pope Francis promises to open his predecessor's personal archive in March 2020. Researchers are looking forward to the documents as they should shed light on many of the nuances of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Nazis. Francis himself said on this occasion that the church is not afraid of its history.
Author: Mitya Raevsky
