Roman Catholic officials and ratlines

[SenpaiNoticeMeYouBlindShmuck]

Bear in mind Hitler's first government was a coalition, with the major partner being no less than....The Catholic Center Party.

Wrong. Papen originally came from the Zentrum, but the coalition was formed between the DNVP and the NSDAP and supported by the Stahlhelm. Papen wasn't affiliated with any party at that point in time.

This discussion is mostly true, however, although the details only scratch the surface. Such as the Croatian slaughterer Ante P?avelic made it out, thanks to the Vatican. Even considered a beast by the German foreign office, and that´really says something. Pacelli was mainly motivated by two factors. One that he had spent many years as nuntius in Germany and the other that he had his pants full when thinking of Stalin. His role is less than admirable during the war, but he also opened the Vatican to take in jews.

Doesn't change the fact that figures such as Hudal or Draganović had more or less free reign after the war to ship criminals to safety. Sometimes supported by the OSS having their own cynical reasons for helping. They were instrumental in bringing out such august figures as Klaus“ Barbie, the slaughterer of Lion among others.

Interesting, thank you. The works I'd read on the subject tend to focus more on the role of Ludwig Kaas acting under guidance from Pius XII than Papen in the Catholic/Nazi alliance, I didn't know that.

He might have opened up the Vatican to the Jews, but by that point don't you think Hitler had made it clear he was going to steamroller Italy including the Vatican hence why he wanted to suck up to the allies real fast?

Then again, just how much a say Pius XII might have had might be hard to say. There's a lot of accounts that suggest he was more or less Pascalina's puppet and couldn't do anything without her.But if he was her own actions during the war suggest her being anti-Nazi if anything. There was definitely something odd with he, once Pius XII died the Cardinals literally exiled her from the Vatican that same day, couldn't get rid of her fast enough.

It's confusing, and no-one probably knows the full story anymore.