The Vatican Pimpernel (13 page)

A few days later Secundo became aware that the Embassy was being watched, so Br Robert was sent to move the two Britons to a nearby Lithuanian Seminary. Again, their stay lasted about ten days when they had to be moved again because of the fear of a search being carried out. This time, they were brought to the apartment of Renzo and Adrienne Lucidi where they met three other prisoners of war, Simpson, Furman and Wilson. The apartment was too small to cater for them all, so Garrad-Cole found himself moved that evening to the French seminary. Again, some time later due to the fear of searches he was moved to live with a retired Italian Colonel and his wife on the outskirts of Rome. By this time Garrad-Cole was aware that the brains behind all of these movements was O'Flaherty, whom he had previously met when the latter visited the camp at Sulmona.

He decided to ask Br Robert to arrange for him to meet O'Flaherty. A few days later, he arrived at St Peter's and explained to the Guard Commander that he had an appointment with Monsignor O'Flaherty.

Garrad-Cole was surprised when he entered the apartment to find some of the escapees that he had previously met at the Lucidis' apartment.

Within a couple of days he was moved to live with a marchesa, who came from the north of Italy but had an apartment in Rome.

The Italian Resistance in its various forms had begun to reassert itself and, in response, the Germans had replaced their original military Governor, Stahel, with Maelzer who took a far stronger line. On the evening of 18 December, one group of the Resistance bombed a favourite haunt of Nazis and Fascists, killing eight German soldiers. An attack was also carried out on a cinema where twice-weekly showings were exclusively for the occupying troops. On 19 Sunday, an assault was made on the Hotel Flora which was the headquarters of the German high command in the city. It is clear that there were serious numbers of casualties but the Germans kept the details secret. Immediately the curfew was changed from 11.30 p. m. to 7.00 p. m. and the use of bicycles after 5.00 p. m. was prohibited. The provision in relation to bicycles arose from the fact that one of the resistance attacks had been carried out using a bicycle as a means of transport. Notices went up on walls in Rome outlining the new regulations.

The Duchess of Sermoneta reports:

After a few days these were forbidden also.

In December a new Italian Fascist police squad, under the leadership of Pietro Koch, was formed in response to the increased activity by the Resistance. Meanwhile Monsignor Montini became aware that the numbers of German security forces stationed in Rome were being increased significantly and he began to fear that an attempt to breach the neutrality of papal properties was imminent. Some days later, his fears were realised as Koch's group was used to breach the sanctuary of a number of Vatican properties.

The first target on 21 December was the seminary beside the Basilica of San Giovanni. This was the hiding place of some leading members of Italy's anti-Fascist elite. Included among these were the heads of various parties in the coalition of anti-Fascist organisations and a total of approximately 200 powerful enemies of the regime including 55 Jews. The notice on the door was the usual one on such properties, printed in Italian and German, making it clear that all searches and requisitions were prohibited because it was the property of the Vatican. Despite this, of course, such a raid was not unexpected by those in occupation and many managed to make their escape. Koch had in his group a man who had previously been a monk. Those who were caught, and pretended to be seminarians, were asked to recite the Ave Maria. This enabled the former monk to identify who were imposters. All in all, eighteen prisoners were taken. The rest managed to disperse through the city. A number of other properties were raided in the next few days. The Vatican authorities immediately made a protest but Kappler denied any German involvement when challenged by the German Ambassador, even though some of his own men had joined as part of the exercise.

The authorities then published a list of offences throughout Rome and the punishments which would apply. Anyone harbouring escaped prisoners of war, owning a wireless transmitter or not fulfilling labour obligations would be immediately executed. Anyone in contact with escaped prisoners of war, printing or publishing news derogatory to the Axis Forces, assisting with the operation of a wireless or taking photographs out of doors would be sentenced to hard labour for life. A twenty-year prison sentence would apply to anyone who failed to notify the authorities of a change of address.

It is also clear from reading Mother Mary's diary and, indeed reports from the Irish diplomats in Rome, that living conditions in the city were quite difficult. The food supply was far from satisfactory. A rationing system was in operation but even the full rations would not have been enough to meet the needs. Very often the items one was entitled to, in accordance with the rationing system, were not in fact available. There was a thriving black market but prices were very high. Kiernan wrote back to Dublin:

Later on he was to report,

Tea and coffee were more or less unavailable and bread was very scarce. The public transport system had deteriorated due to a lack of spare parts and tyres. In addition the Allied Forces had started to bomb the city.

Over the years the Monsignor paid visits home to stay with his sister whenever he got the opportunity. Also living there was his nephew and namesake, Hugh O'Flaherty, afterwards a distinguished barrister and judge, who was being cared for by Mrs Sheehan as his own mother had died when he was quite young. His aunt had very high standards as regards table settings. She was of the view that there should be two of everything, such as butter and sugar, so that nobody would have to stretch too far. Hugh (the nephew) recalls his uncle's joy at seeing such plentiful supplies which contrasted with what he had been experiencing in Rome.

Koch's gang was in many ways more dangerous than the Germans. As Italians, this neo-Fascist Gestapo group found it easier to gather information in relation to the activities of the escape organisation and within a short space of time they had built up a network of informers. The additional manpower enabled Koch, working together with Kappler, to enhance their security crackdown. They had identified that a number of radio transmitters were operating in the city illegally. Their investigations led them to conclude that one of them was located in the Via delle Impero where the Chevaliers lived. One afternoon Paul Chevalier called to his mother's house and alerted her to the fact that there was a security sweep planned for the area that evening. The four soldiers who were hiding there, together with some of the younger daughters, went separately for walks through the city. Just before seven o'clock there was a discreet knock on the door and it was the porter, Egidio, alerting Mrs Chevalier to the fact that the raid was about to take place. The next knock was the raiding party of troopers. They searched each of the rooms and challenged Paul for his papers which were acceptable, being from the Swiss Legation. They questioned Mrs Chevalier as to the size of her family and she explained that herself, her five daughters and her mother lived there while her son lived at the Legation. Not for the first time, the size of her family and the limited accommodation available fooled a search party into thinking that nobody else could possibly be living there. There was a pile of gramophone records in one corner of the living room and one of the SS men began to search through them. Gemma, one of Mrs Chevalier's daughters, became very concerned as she remembered then that there was a British disc in among them. Luckily he did not notice it. After the search of the house and the entire area was over, Gemma went to collect her sisters and the soldiers who began to re-assemble in the room. By nine o'clock that evening they were all having supper. There were five British soldiers in the apartment for the next raid and this time it was the porter's wife, Elvira, who raised the alarm. Again the soldiers evacuated but, as it turned out, the objective of the raid was other apartments in the same block.

The increasing numbers which had been allocated to Kappler's group, together with the setting up of the separate group under Koch, enabled the authorities to gain tighter control on the city. One plain-clothes member of Koch's group was posted more or less permanently on the street where the Chevalier family lived. Cigarettes were invariably in high demand among the escaped soldiers. These were usually circulated by the priests but, on this particular occasion, some of the soldiers in the Chevalier apartment had none, so Gemma went to the local shop. As she handed over the money to make the payment, something in the face of the shopkeeper alerted her to danger. She left the shop and she noticed an Italian man watching her. So instead of walking towards the family home she went the other way and he began to follow. As the noise of his footsteps rang louder she decided to make a getaway and ran into the main street right across the path of an oncoming tram. Passers-by assumed she had been struck but when the tram passed through all that was left strewn on the street were large numbers of loose cigarettes. Gemma had got away. She kept this near miss from her mother for some time. These episodes were a portent of more serious developments to come as the new year dawned.

As Christmas approached, the pursuit of the Jews was stepped up. Again, Mother Mary records the developments:

In that period of November–December, the work of the organisation developed quite significantly. By Christmas they were catering for approximately 2,000 escapees, of whom about 80 were located in Rome.

The Monsignor was anxious that Christmas would be celebrated to the greatest possible extent. Simpson recalls visiting O'Flaherty's room on 23 December, which he describes as being:

Simpson and Furman were very busy on Christmas Eve. They distributed turkeys, wine, cigarettes and the special Christmas parcels prepared by Miss Stanley to all the billets.