As you know, Adolf Hitler cherished plans to kidnap his political opponents, primarily the heads of European countries. Several years ago, the publication of the Catholic Church, the newspaper Avvenire, published a sensational statement. By order of Hitler, the Pope was to be kidnapped and transported to Germany!
Until now, historians argue who Pope Pius XII was - an ally of the Third Reich or simply a far-sighted politician playing his own game. Moreover, the pontiff took up his high post with the support of Duce Mussolini. New data show that relations between Berlin and the Vatican were even more confusing than is commonly believed.
Operation Rabat
In 1943, SS Obergruppen-Fuehrer Karl Wolf was summoned to Hitler's headquarters. In Italy, he had special powers. He was not subordinate to the commander of the Wehrmacht troops in this region, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, but only to Hitler and his immediate superior, SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler.
Soon, under the leadership of Wolf, preparations began for an operation codenamed "Rabat". During it, the Pope was to be kidnapped and transported to Germany. Since a contingent of allied forces had already been landed in Sicily, the Fuhrer feared that the enemy would quite possibly reach the Vatican and Pius XII would defect to the side of the enemy. Since the pope was so influential in the Catholic world, the consequences for Germany could be unpredictable.
Therefore, it was decided to kidnap the pontiff along with his entourage, as well as the values of the Vatican, and transport them to the territory of the Third Reich.
The direct executor of this action was the favorite of the Fuehrer, SS storm-banfuehrer Otto Skorzeny, who had recently taken Benito Mussolini out of Italy.
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However, Karl Wolff was not only an experienced intelligence officer, but also a far-sighted politician. He was well aware that after the failures of the German troops on the Eastern Front, Germany would soon be defeated. And we need to deal with completely different things, and not abductions. Apparently, he managed to dissuade Hitler from this dangerous adventure. The Fuhrer agreed with the arguments and ordered the operation to be postponed indefinitely.
Postponement used
The Fuhrer hoped that Kesselring's Italian group would throw enemy troops into the Mediterranean. However, the year 1944 came. The opening of full-scale hostilities in Western Europe by the troops of the Americans and the British led to the creation of the Second Front. Their armadas, equipped with powerful military equipment, were rapidly advancing towards each other from the south and north.
Then Hitler again remembered the unrealized Operation Rabat and called Wolf to headquarters. An order was given - to force the "evacuation" of the curia from the Vatican. But by that time, General Karl Wolf, the commander of all police forces and residencies on the territory of the state of the allied Germany, made a decision, which was fully supported by his chief Heinrich Himmler: to sabotage the Fuehrer's order with all his might.
Wolf came up with a business trip for Skorzeny in order to lose the company of the spy. And he himself, in a civilian suit, unaccompanied, went on a single-engine plane to Rome in early May.
Of course, the Vatican has had its own intelligence and counterintelligence for a long time. Therefore, Wolf managed to directly contact one of the leaders of these special services, Father Pancrazio Pfeifer, and asked for an audience. At a secret meeting, Wolf detailed to his counterpart the plan he was ordered to implement. And he added: to prevent destabilization, he will play for time.
The Vatican took appropriate security measures. However, they were already redundant. Less than a month later, the American army entered Rome. Karl Wolff flew to Berlin to report to the Fuehrer about the inglorious retreat of the Wehrmacht troops and the impossibility of performing the operation.
Six months later, he will lead negotiations with the allies to conclude a separate peace with the consent of his boss, Heinrich Himmler. This process is shown in detail in the serial film "Seventeen Moments of Spring".
After the surrender of Germany, General Wolff was arrested, but released a few years later. After which he hid from justice for a long time under false names. And only in the early 1960s, Karl Wolff was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison. True, he did not serve the entire sentence - in 1971 he was released for health reasons. He ended his life as a Nazi in the summer of 1984, at the age of 84. Pontiff Pius XII, remaining in office until the end, died in 1958.
Sergey Uranov