A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII [Paperback]

Dan Kurzman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 27, 2008

In September, 1943, Adolf Hitler, furious at the ouster of Mussolini, sent German troops into Rome with plans to deport Rome’s Jews to Auschwitz. Hitler also ordered SS General Karl Wolff, who had been Heinrich Himmler’s chief aide, to occupy the Vatican and kidnap Pope Pius XII. But Wolff began playing a dangerous game: stalling Hitler’s kidnap plot, while blackmailing the pope into silence as the Jews were rounded up. This tale of intrigue and betrayal is one of the most important untold stories of World War II, and A Special Mission is the only book to give the full incredible account of Hitler’s kidnap plot and its far-reaching consequences.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran popular historian Kurzman (The Bravest Battle) relates how a Hitler-Himmler order in 1943 to kidnap the pope and seize Vatican files and treasures was twice delayed and finally undermined by a group of high German officers and officials in Rome. The foilers were headed by the SS leader in Italy, Gen. Karl Wolff, whom Kurzman interviewed before his death in 1984. 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. Wolff and others in Rome, meanwhile, hoped to use the pope as an intermediary for a negotiated peace and an Anglo-American-German campaign against the Soviets. Kurzman also touches upon such related topics as the 1933 Nazi-Vatican Concordat, how Pius's silence on the murder of the Jews was partly rooted in excessive fears of a Soviet takeover of the Vatican, and the curious role of Rome's chief rabbi, Israel Zolli, who ultimately converted to Catholicism. Kurzman does a good job of telling a suspenseful and little-known story of WWII intrigue. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

By September 1943, the tide of battle had turned against Germany. As the Russian army steadily advanced from the east, British and American bombers were reducing German cities to rubble. As Hitler's physical and mental condition deteriorated, he often proposed wildly reckless and impractical schemes. One of those involved invading the Vatican and seizing the pope. According to Kurzman, a former foreign correspondent, the plot was serious and was to be implemented by SS General Karl Wolff, who was Kurzman's principal source for this intense, absorbing, but not fully convincing tale. According to Wolff, he foiled the plan through delay while obtaining the pope's silence as the SS rounded up Italian Jews and transported them to the death camps. As seen here, Wolff is arrogant, cynical, and manipulative. Still, he seems to have been blessed with a degree of personal charm, not quite fitting the bill as a monster. Some of his claims seem credible, but others can never be verified; his account is a wild ride loaded with surprising twists and turns. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306816172
• ISBN-13: 978-0306816178
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,345,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About Time, June 1, 2007

By 

Michael Hussle (Baltimore, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius the XII (Hardcover)

It's about time that somebody jumped off the bandwagon that blindly shouts that Pius XII didn't do enough about the holocaust, and actually took a look at historical evidence to see if such accusations are warranted. What's been said about Pius XII is a real assasination of character. Bravo for standing up for historical truth for once.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Done and Balanced View of Pius, September 6, 2007

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Hope for the Best "Hope for the Best" (California USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius the XII (Hardcover)

Kurzman has done excellent work in this very well balanced history of Pope Pius and the Nazi threat in WWII. There are no excuses made or whitewash of what the Vatican did and did not do during the war but this book aids in having a better understanding of the situation, time, and place. It also offers some enlightenment into the thinking of the pope and the objectives of the Vatican. Very worthwhile to anyone interested in these issues and most certainly essential reading for anyone who has read "Hitler's Pope." It is clear from what Kurzman writes that Pius was not a supporter of Hitler and his policies. The complications, danger, and moral struggle of a basically good man of faith challenged by impossible circumstances in a world gone mad have never been presented in a better way.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Breath of Fresh Air, July 15, 2007

By 

J. M. Dattilo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius the XII (Hardcover)

Kurman's work, the research for which was done over the course of almost 30 years, does a great job of showing that Pope Pius XII is not the evil figure portrayed by so many wannabe historians. This book is well-written, thoughtful and touching. If you are a student of history, this is well worth your time.