Recap

Hitler's Secret Plan to Kill Pope Pius XII

Ian spoke with author Dan Kurzman about Adolf Hitler's covert plan to invade the Vatican, seize its treasures, and kidnap and kill Pope Pius XII. Hitler had wanted the pope neutralized because he believed the pope was partially responsible for the fall of Mussolini, Kurzman explained, and would eventually denounce Hitler's Final Solution, the Nazi plan to exterminate all Jewish people.

Kurzman learned of this little-known story during a 1974 interview with former SS General Karl Wolff, the man Hitler had ordered to carry out his secret plot. Wolff had worked with Heinrich Himmler to implement Hitler's Final Solution. Specifically, Wolff was in charge of transporting box cars filled with Jews to death camps, Kurzman said.

Wolff was given two weeks to plan his mission to Rome. The plot called for a group of SS officers to infiltrate the Vatican dressed in Italian army uniforms. Kurzman said they were to kill the cardinals, make it appear like the pope had tried to escape and kill him too. According to Kurzman, Wolff (along with a group of high-ranking German officers) decided to sabotage Hitler's plan in an effort to win the Pope's gratitude and possibly save his own life when the war ended.