Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis (38 page)

13
“death . . . comes”
Claudia Baldoli and Marco Fincardi, “Italian Society Under Anglo-American Bombs: Propaganda, Experience, and Legend, 1940–1945,”
The Historical Journal
n. 52, vol. 4 (December 1, 2009): 1036.

14
“Your Holiness. . . .”
Tittmann,
Inside the Vatican of Pius XII
, 157–58.

14
“The more I think”
Owen Chadwick,
Britain and the Vatican during the Second World War
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 216.

14
“Good! Now also our old Mussolini”
De Simone,
Venti angeli sopra Roma
, 249.

14
For the duration . . . study
Ronald J. Rychlak,
Hitler, the War, and the Pope
(Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2010), 221.

14
through binoculars
De Simone,
Venti angeli sopra Roma
, 246.

14
“carry out his pastoral duties”
Tittmann,
Inside the Vatican of Pius XII
, 166.

14
comfort the survivors
“Il Santo Padre tra i fedeli della Sua Diocesi di Roma colpiti dall’incursione aerea,”
L’Osservatore Romano
, 19 July 1943, 1.

14
Ignoring security concerns . . . black Mercedes
Robert Katz,
The Battle for Rome: The Germans, the Allies, the Partisans and the Pope, September 1943–June 1944
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004), 15. Antonio Spinosa,
Pio XII, un Papa nelle tenebre
(Milan: Oscar Mondadori, 2004), 218, says that the pope was in a Fiat Topolino because his other car, a Graham Paige 837, wouldn’t start that morning.

14
accompanied only by Monsignor Montini and their driver
Tittmann,
Inside the Vatican of Pius XII
, 166; Fabrizio Bettelli and Francesco Arlanch,
Sotto il cielo di Roma
. Video, Christian Duguay (31 October 2010; Rome, Lazio, Italy: Rai Fiction, Lux Vide, Eos Entertainment, Tellux, Bayerischer Rundfunk e Rai trade, 2010).

14
“Holiness” and “Peace”
Katz,
The Battle for Rome
, 15.

14
“His face pale with grief”
Tittmann,
Inside the Vatican of Pius XII
, 166–67; “Il pontefice si inginocchia sulle macerie di San Lorenzo,”
Corriere della Sera
, 21–22 July 1943, 1; De Simone,
Venti angeli sopra Roma
, 252–53.

15 * Rychlak,
Hitler, the War, and the Pope
, 221.

15
first time in three years
Tittmann,
Inside the Vatican of Pius XII
, 166; Katz,
The Battle for Rome,
15; De Simone,
Venti angeli sopra Roma
, 253.

15
white cassock stained
John Cornwell,
Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII
(New York: Penguin Books, 2008), 298.

16
5 p.m. on Saturday, July 24 . . . three years without a meeting
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, 437, 457.

16
concealing pistols and grenades
Ibid., 440.

16
At 2:40 a.m.
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, 440–53, says the vote was 19–7 with one abstention. Cornwell,
Hitler’s Pope,
298, says the vote was 19–8.

16
“There was a silence”
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, 470.

16
the king had arranged
Ibid., 469.

17
As Mussolini exited . . . “protect your person”
Ibid., 471.

17
Within hours, tens of thousands
Katz,
The Battle for Rome
, 23.

17
“The supply of wine”
Allen W. Dulles,
From Hitler’s Doorstep: The Wartime Intelligence Reports of Allen Dulles, 1942–1945
, ed. Neal H. Petersen (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996), 90.

17
“The Duce has resigned”
Helmut Heiber, ed.,
Lagebesprechungen im Führerhauptquartier, Protokollfragmente aus Hitlers militärischen Konferenzen 1942–1945
(Stuttgart: Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, 1963), 152.

17
Because of Hitler’s order
André Brissaud,
Canaris: The Biography of Admiral Canaris, Chief of German Military Intelligence in the Second World War
(New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1974), 305.

17
“Undoubtedly, in their treachery”
Heiber, ed.,
Lagebesprechungen im Führerhauptquartier
, 155.

17
Allied bombing of Hamburg . . . destruction of the city
Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland,
The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany 1939–1945, Volume II: Endeavor
(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1961), 150, 261.

18
sixty thousand
Wehrmacht
Carlo D’Este,
Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943
(New York: HarperCollins, 1988), 607.

18
2.1 million soldiers
Giorgio Rochat,
L’esercito italiano in pace e in guerra: studi di storia militare
(Milan: R.A.R.A., 1991), 285. As of May 31, 1943.

18
With the exception of
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, 483

18
“give the commander of the 3rd Panzergrenadier Div.”
Heiber, ed.,
Lagebesprechungen im Führerhauptquartier
, 156.

18
However, Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring
Gilbert,
Hitler Directs His War
, 31.

19
“I am going into the Vatican immediately”
Said during the night July 25–26. Heiber, ed.,
Lagebesprechungen im Führerhauptquartier
, 171.

19
“macaroni eaters”
Richards and Saunders,
Royal Air Force
, 311.

19
Goebbels knew
Josef Goebbels,
The Goebbels Diaries: 1942–1943
, ed. and trans. Louis P. Lochner (New York: Doubleday, 1948), 409.

19
Most of Hitler’s advisers agreed
Ibid., 416.

19
“master of all the concentration camps”
Jochen von Lang,
Der Adjutant, Karl Wolff: Der Mann zwischen Hitler und Himmler
(Munich/Berlin: F. A. Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1985), 11.

19
“The
Signores
[
sic
] get another reprieve”
Ibid., 199.

19
He had joined the Imperial German Army . . . started his own firm.
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 14–21; Karl Wolff CVs, 7 October 1931, 5 March 1932, 23 September 1943, BArch, SS-F.P. 10-C. (microfilm), Bundesarchiv, Berlin.

19
Although Wolff did not come . . . added to his self-image of nobility.
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 15.

20
They considered him a “Septemberling”
Ibid., 13.

20
Wolff, in fact, waited . . . for the SS
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 16; Karl Wolff SS Admission Form, 7 October 1931, BArch, SS-F.P. 10-C (microfilm), Bundesarchiv, Berlin.

20
Beginning in November 1936
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 45–46; Michael H. Kater,
Das “Ahnenerbe” der SS 1935–1945: Ein Beitrag zur Kulturpolitik des Dritten Reiches
(Munich: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2001), 41.

20 * Joan Clinefelter,
Artists for the Reich: Culture and Race from Weimar to Nazi Germany
(Oxford: Berg, 2005), 105.

20
“Himmler’s eyes and ears”
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 130.

20
“Faith has put me”
Ibid., 193.

20
In July 1941, Wolff accompanied Himmler
Dan Kurzman,
A Special Mission: Hitler’s Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII
(Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2007), 24; Kerstin von Lingen,
SS und Secret Service, “Verschwörung des Schweigens”: Die Akte Karl Wolff
(Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2010), 201.

20
The following summer, he interceded
Lingen,
SS und Secret Service
, 190.

20
“I notice with particular pleasure”
Ibid.

21
During their late-July meeting
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 198–99.

21
Wolff had fourteen days
Ibid., 199.

21
“specimen of a noble German”
Ibid., 297–98.

21
Wolff had also won favor
Ibid., 70, 199.

21
“was to consider himself the Führer’s governor”
Ibid., 206.

21
“that those fellows intend”
“Testimony of Erwin Lahousen taken at Nurnberg, Germany, 1 February 1946,” NARA, RG 238, Entry 7A, Box 11.F: Lahousen, Erwin (Vol. 2, Nov–March 46) I, 6.

21
“Such a dirty trick”
Ibid., 7.

22
On July 29
War Diary of Lahousen, NARA, RG 238, Box 18, Entry 2; Cesare Amè,
Guerra segreta in Italia 1940–1943
(Rome: Casini, 1954), pages 181–84 say the meeting in Venice took place August 2–3, 1943, not July 29, as per Lahousen.

22
“Be careful and watch out”
“Testimony of Erwin Lahousen taken at Nurnberg, Germany, 1 February 1946,” NARA, RG 238, Entry 7A, Box 11.F: Lahousen, Erwin (Vol. 2, Nov–March 46), I, 8.

22
After lunch, Canaris and Amè
Amè,
Guerra segreta in Italia
, 182–83.

22
“to review the political situation”
David Alvarez and Robert Graham Sr.,
Nothing Sacred
(London: Frank Cass, 1997), 84.

22
“warned his audience” . . . floors of the Papal Palace
Ibid.

22
Nineteen days later . . . “confidential documents”
Tittmann,
Inside the Vatican of Pius XII
, 183.

22
“wanted to kill him”
Alvarez and Graham,
Nothing Sacred
, 84; “Testimony of Erwin Lahousen taken at Nurnberg, Germany, 1 February 1946,” NARA, RG 238, Entry 7A, Box 11.F: Lahousen, Erwin (Vol. 2, Nov–March 46) I, 9. Renowned war correspondent and historian William Shirer was present when Major General Erwin Lahousen entered the courtroom in Nuremberg on November 30, 1945. Lahousen was the first prosecution witness of the trial, so his credibility made quite an impression. “At last a German—and a general at that . . . has had the guts to stand up publicly before the world and brand Nazi Germany and the Nazis for what they were!” William Shirer,
End of a Berlin Diary: 1944–1947
(Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1991), 322.

Chapter 2: A New Type of Soldier

23
“The via del cuore”
Deane Keller, “American Impressions of Italians and Italian Customs,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/1.

23
“short, stocky blond chap”
newspaper clipping, Keller Papers, Box 1, Folder 2.

24
1.1 million Soviet casualties
Beevor,
Stalingrad
, 394.

24
Sugar and coffee
Ronald Bailey,
The Home Front: U.S.A.
(Morristown, NJ: Time-Life Books, 1977), 112.

24
By 1943, the ration list
Ibid.

24
Americans planted more than
Ibid., 108.

24
The military deployment of so many men
Ibid., 85.

24
Three million kids
Ibid.

24
women comprising almost a third of the nation’s work force
Ibid.

25
“leads an artist to all the possibilities”
Interview with William Keller (son of Deane Keller), 2005, courtesy of Actual Films.

26
sandbags covered the windows
Charles Seymour, “Yale at War: An American University Accepts the Challenge,”
Life
, June 1942, Yale During World War II, MS 1212, Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University Library, Box 4, Folder 60. “Yale University News Bureau to Yankee Magazine,” Yale During World War II, Box 4, Folder 60.

26
He first tried the Marines
Letter to Parents, Keller Papers, Box 5, Folder 24.

27
“Dear Deane”
Letter from Sizer, 30 May 1943, Keller Papers, Box 12, Folder 99.

27
By August, however . . . “no word as yet”
Letter to Parents, 18 August 1943, Keller Papers, Box 5, Folder 24.

28
“longed for her”
Eugene Markowski (companion and partner of Fred Hartt), in discussion with the author, May 22, 2012.

28
Fred’s emotional connection . . . for many years.
Carole Dick, “Hart to Hartt: A Family History” (unpublished manuscript, 2005), 163.

28
“working with his hands”
Markowski, in discussion with the author, May 22, 2012.

28
Fred’s later efforts . . . was abandoned
Ibid.

29
In 1942 . . . education, art, and travel
Margaret Hildson (niece of Frederick Hartt), in discussion with the author, May 22, 2012.

29
He first traveled there
Eddie DeMarco, “After 17 years as professor, Hartt reflects on art, life,” Frederick Hartt Papers, National Gallery of Art, Gallery Archives, RG 28, Box 23, Folder 1.

29
“I lost my heart”
Letter, 28 February 1968, Hartt Papers, Box 18, Folder 7.

Chapter 3: “Bombs and Words”

31
Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces in North Africa
D’Este,
Bitter Victory
, 584.

31
“the German intruders” . . . “We should stimulate this process”
Churchill to Eisenhower, 27 July 1943, Bedell Smith Papers, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abiline, Kansas, Box 16.

31
“bombs and words”
Memo, 31 July 1943, C. D. Jackson Papers, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Box 24, Folder 1.