The Papal Plot

By Robert J. Bauman

The Nazi plan was to train Jewish concentration camp prisoners for a special unit to kill Pope Pius XII, as many Cardinals and church hierarchy as possible, and to destroy major parts of the Vatican. 

With the Allied victories in Africa and the weakening power of Mussolini, having Jews kill the Pope with documents proving that

• Language: English
• Publisher: Go To Publish
• Release date: Apr 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781647492342

Robert J. Bauman

This is Mr. Bauman's second novel. The first, Extension of Life, was published in 2012. Mr. Bauman also authored (non-fiction): The Paper Money of Argentina, A Window to History, 1819-1899 (only available from the author). Mr. Bauman, a native New Yorker, is married and has three sons and four grandchildren. He is a collector of paper money and donated his Judaica collection of more than 350 pieces to the Houston Holocaust Museum.

Book preview

Chapter 1: The Plan

W e are losing Italy SS-Standartenführer Speiss, who was in charge of the Italian intelligence network, blurted out to Himmler.

What do you mean we are losing Italy?

Mussolini is losing control. The people are in the streets protesting. The government is in chaos over the losses in Africa – and they still refuse to kill their Jews or give them to us for the camps!! Speiss replied, still out of breath from his run to the anteroom. We need to do something!

Did you have anything in mind? Himmler asked.

Yes, but it would require the Fuehrer’s approval. That is why I rushed to see you before the staff meeting. But you need to act quickly. It will take some time. It is rumored that the Allies are going to invade Italy when they finish in North Africa. It is only a matter of time.

Himmler listened attentively as Speiss told him about his plan. Himmler thought it was brilliant. He promised to talk to Hitler right after the staff meeting. The utmost secrecy must be maintained for this to work. The fewer that are aware of this, the better. Who have you told about your plan?

No one. SS-Sturmbannführers Stauffer and Klinger developed the plan and came directly to me. I will need them to implement the plan. SS-Sturmbannführer Klinger speaks Italian. He spent four years in Rome as a student. He met his wife there.

Three hours later, Himmler came out of the staff meeting. Speiss had been nervously sitting for a while then getting up and pacing in Himmler’s office for the entire three hours. He thinks it is an excellent plan. He wants to see you right now. You will have all of the resources that you need. I will personally authorize everything you need. After we meet with him, you can develop all of the details and give them to me as soon as possible. When will they be ready?

Speiss replied, They will be ready in five days at the most. We have already developed a full outline. I just need to determine the number of people that will be involved and the locations. They left Himmler’s office and hurriedly walked to see Hitler. This was the first time that he met Hitler. Needless to say, he was awestruck. At first, he stuttered a bit but Hitler put his arm around his shoulder and calmed him down. This was not unusual that someone meeting him for the first time reacted in this manner and he rather enjoyed it. Speiss started to describe the plan.

The Plan is to train at least three teams of Jews to kill the pope and as many priests and hierarchy of the church as possible and to blow up parts of the Vatican. This would help stabilize Mussolini, create a global wave of anti-Semitism and eliminate the pope who is becoming more and more antagonistic. While he does not publicly criticize us, he secretly tells priests to help Jews and he has developed a secret network of spies throughout the country. Through this network, he has arranged for the escape of many priests who were about to be arrested for delivering sermons against us and for warning Jews before we raided their homes. If we have Jews kill the pope, it may even galvanize the Italian army and the people to resist the Allied invasion, which we know is being planned. We would surely be able to deport all of the Jews in Italy – those that would still be alive.

Jews from Austria and Germany fluent in Italian will be trained for this special mission. They will be selected from the prisoners in the concentration camps and ghettoes. Jews with prior military or law enforcement experience will be preferred and they must have a family. The bigger the family, the better. The family link will ensure that they do the job. They will be dressed in civilian clothes, armed with American and British weapons. Some will be killed right after they complete the mission. Others will be allowed to escape creating the biggest manhunt in the history of the world. A large reward will be offered for their capture. One team will be captured by the SS making them heroes to the Italian people. The other team members will be killed for the reward as each one tries to make their way back to their families. All of the families will be killed immediately after the mission is complete. Incriminating evidence will be planted in a house linking Jews from America and England to the crime as the financial backers. Jewish leaders in Palestine will also be implicated as the developers of the plan.

Two secret camps will be set up: one for the Jews that will kill the pope and the other for their families. The selected Jews and their families will be allowed substantial privileges, be well-fed and be trained by a special SS unit. The true nature of their mission would not be revealed initially. They will be told that they will form a special commando unit that would have special missions in other countries such as England, Italy and, perhaps, even in the United States and Canada. They will be told that since they were Jews no one would think that they were working for the Nazis. They would be considered refugees and would most likely not be intensely searched. Even if they were captured, as long as they did not reveal that they were working for us, their families would remain well-cared for and stay in the special camp, until their escape from captivity could be arranged.

Documents describing the reasons for the assassination will be prepared stating that the Pope had not openly condemned Hitler and directed churches in Germany not to rebel against the Nazi government and to save only the Jews that converted to be Catholics. While some priests were outspoken against the Nazi persecution of the Jews, they were sent to concentration camps with only minor protests from the Vatican, whereas priests that supported the Nazis were, in turn, supported by the Vatican.

Based on this, these Jews believed that the Pope was secretly supporting Hitler’s policies and that the Catholic Church would soon join the Nazis against world Jewry and promote anti-Semitism in other countries paving the way for the Nazis to cleanse the world of non-converting Jews. It would be worse than the Spanish Inquisition. For the pope’s support, the Nazis would make some concessions for Jews in other countries that had converted prior to the passing of the Nuremberg Laws. It was believed that those Jews that converted to Catholicism after the Nuremberg Laws were passed were not sincere, that they just wanted to escape persecution and did not really believe that Jesus Christ was the savior. These Jews would do anything to stay alive, even openly denying their true belief in their God while that secretly continuing to practice Jewish rites – just like many Jews did during the Spanish Inquisition. Of course, once we rid the world of the Jews that did not convert, we would get those that did convert but by then it would be too late for the church to do anything about it.

The Elders of Zion would be part of the evidence substantiating the existence of the plan for world domination for at least the past fifty years. This, and other proof, would be released to the press

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an anti-Semitic book that was written and published in Russia in 1903. It describes a meeting of rich Jewish businessmen, bankers, publishers, politicians and other Jewish leaders to develop a plan for global domination. The book gained popularity among anti-Semitic groups in other countries so it was translated into many languages. Sales in some countries exceeded 500,000 copies. In 1921, the London Times, after a detailed investigation, concluded and published that the book was a complete fabrication by the author. In spite of this, sales continued and many readers believed the book rather than the London Times, which obviously was controlled by Jews. Many high schools and colleges throughout Germany and Austria used the book in the classroom to emphasize the rationale for the Nazi policies against the Jews.

On November 27, 1921, the city fathers of Bremen, Germany issued some paper money during a coin shortage showing the Elders of Zion meeting to plan world domination. Bremen was large city and the use of these notes (there were four denominations in the series) gave credence to the story. The series was so popular that people from other cities took some of the notes to their cities thereby spreading the myth even farther.

A 50-pfennig note from Bremen showing the

Elders of Zion (Die weisen von Zion) meeting

(source: author’s private collection)

Once the pope is dead, the newspapers in every country in the world will be continuously provided with information to publish stories in detail to foment anti-Semitism globally as well as anti-English and anti-American actions. The information will prove that rich American and English Zionist Jews financed the assassination and that they were going to take control of the churches, loot them, raze the buildings and sell the valuable land. The press byline would be, ‘No matter how rich these Jews are, they never have enough’. Similar bylines will be provided on a daily basis

The swell of anti-Semitism will be like a volcano leading to violent actions against Jews globally abetted by our people in these countries. Countries with large Roman Catholic populations will be prime targets. For example, we will focus on Latin America due to their large Catholic populations and their close ties to the United States. Imagine if we could get countries such as Brazil, Cuba and even Mexico to become our allies. We could put bases there and bring the war to the United States.

To be sure that the pope will be in the Vatican, we will strike on Saturday night, April 24, which is the night before Easter Sunday, when the pope makes his traditional blessings. Thousands of Catholics and priests from all over the world come to Rome for this event. Just imagine the frenzy of the crowd when they wake up Easter Sunday morning and find out that Jews have killed the pope and many priests during the night and destroyed parts of the Vatican.

Moreover, we will target most of the cardinals in addition to the pope and we will make sure that the next pope supports the Nazi doctrines, I already have someone in mind.

Hitler loved the plan.

Most Italians did not support the vitriolic anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany. Even Mussolini would not give the Jews to them. This would change.

Hitler’s demeanor changed dramatically. He had been brooding about the defeats in Russia and Africa. He needed time to perfect the secret weapons under development – rockets, remote controlled bombs, jet planes. With these weapons he would turn the tide of the war. He wanted to meet the two men who developed it.

Elated, Speiss left the building and went immediately to the SS headquarters where he told SS-Sturmbannführers Stauffer and Klinger the results of the meeting, Not only did he love the plan, he wants to meet you. We have set up a meeting for next week after the plan is fully developed.

Stauffer and Klinger worked relentlessly fine tuning the plan. Additional details were developed. Sleep was out of the question. They were going to meet Hitler. They decided on a code name for the plan, Operation Resurrection. Just as Jesus was resurrected on Easter Sunday, they would resurrect the popularity of Mussolini and the Nazi cause as well as the resistance to the Allies and destroy world Jewry at the same time. They established a code word, OpRes. Any communique with this in the heading was to be given highest priority.

Speiss met with them for breakfast the day of the meeting and listened to the additional details of the plan. He was ecstatic. Even though he had nothing to do with the plan, he would take some credit for it. He would surely be promoted. Stauffer and Klinger could see it in his face. He was now an integral part of the plan, which they gladly accepted. He would be their champion and would surely share his rewards with them. They left the headquarters at 9 o’clock and arrived at the chancellery thirty minutes later. They were led into a large room with a long table that seated twenty people. Bookcases lined the walls. There was a movie projector in the room and a place for a screen to be set up in the back of the room.

A few minutes before 10, the men invited to the meeting came in. It was the who’s who of the Nazi hierarchy. Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, came in with Klaus von Stauffenberg, Hitler’s aide-de-camp. Shortly thereafter, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe and Rudolf Hess, the vice-chancellor, came in by themselves. They sat apart from each other without talking. Precisely at 10 o’clock, Hitler came in. Everyone stood up and saluted. Hitler returned the salute. He had briefly informed the other attendees of the subject of the meeting but did not provide any details. He introduced Speiss and told him to explain the plan.

Speiss provided an overview and asked Klinger to explain the plan in detail. At breakfast, it was decided to have Klinger make the presentation. He was a teacher before the war and was used to speaking before people. Stauffer was factory worker who led many work stoppages and other actions in support of the Nazis. They both joined the Nazi party in the late 1920s and the SS in 1933.

Klinger, still somewhat nervous due to the audience, described the plan in minute detail. He told them that some specific details still had to be developed but the framework for success was there. He added that the three of them met this morning to develop additional details and that they would be ready to implement the plan in two weeks. As he said this, he looked at Speiss. He could see him gloat. By bringing him into the development of the plan, they were insuring his advancement and theirs as well. Klinger stressed the need for secrecy. This has to be seen as a Jewish plot, not a Nazi plot. The fewer who know about the plan, the better.

Hitler praised the three men. He was smiling and was in the best of spirits. It was very noticeable to the others seated at the table. They also realized the importance of it. Himmler was to be in charge of the operation. He was to provide whatever resources were needed for the success of the plan. Goebbels was to prepare the campaign against Jews globally. He was also directed to prepare all of the documents needed to prove that this was a Zionist conspiracy to destroy the Catholic church. Even as he was being told of his assignment, Goebbels was thinking of a theme. He was good at that. He decided to base the propaganda campaign along the lines of, Not satisfied with killing Jesus Christ, they are now trying to kill the Catholic church by killing the pope. Hitler assigned von Stauffenberg as the liaison with Himmler and Goebbels. Anything they needed was to be prioritized. Goering did not have a specific task. He was there so he knew of the plan even though he had no direct role, he offered to provide planes if needed and to get any Wehrmacht support. Hess said nothing.

Himmler met with them every three days for the following two weeks as the details of the plan were finalized. He would provide the materials and labor to build the two camps as well as whatever transportation was needed. He would also help them select the Jews needed for the mission and get them to the camps with their families. Special orders and travel passes would be provided along with the SS men needed for security and training. If this project was successful, he could see himself as the next führer of the Third Reich. Failure was not an option. This was to be the highest priority project of his career. Anyone that needed anything from him had priority. Phone calls were to be immediately routed to him. Radio messages and other communications with the code had the highest priority. He would personally issue any travel passes, documents and funds to purchase whatever was needed to ensure the success of the mission, even if it meant going through illegal channels such as the black market. He did want to give Goebbels or Goering any excuse to blame him should the mission fail.

Goebbels was also in high spirits. This would be the highlight of his career – the destruction of world Jewry. He decided to put Otto Bauer in charge of the operation.

Otto was not military. He joined the Nazi party in 1922. He was a history professor at Berlin University and was extremely patriotic. Due to a childhood accident that gave him a permanent limp, he was turned down for the army. He tried seven times to enlist but his limp was too obvious. After the war he was inconsolable. The Versailles Treaty was an abomination – it essentially castrated the country. He refused to teach anything about the war when it was added to the curriculum. How could the superior Germany be defeated? He languished about this for some time until one day he was walking down Lindenstrasse, when he was handed a flyer about a rally being held by the National Socialist Workers Party. The flyer contained strong anti-Semitic statements and he was about to throw it away but what caught his eye as he was about to crumple up the flyer, was the statement that the Jews were the cause of Germany’s defeat and how they profited from it. He thought about it for a few seconds. Jews owned a number of large newspapers, factories, banks and there were far more Jewish teachers and Jewish students in the university in relation to their percentage in the population. He decided to attend the rally.

The following night he went to the rally. There were not many people there – maybe about thirty not counting the men wearing the swastika armband. At precisely 8 o’clock, a man with a short, trimmed mustache stepped up to the podium. He looked at the audience for about thirty seconds, placed both hands on the podium and started speaking. As he spoke, he became more animated. His hands left the podium and he used his arms to augment his emotional tirade. He was mesmerizing. He had the answer to his question as to why the superior German army was defeated. Germany was betrayed from within. It was the Jews who caused the defeat of Germany. The war could not be fought successfully if internal forces undermined the military. He joined the party that night and offered to help in any way possible. He volunteered to help with publicity where his knowledge of history could reinforce Aryan superiority. In this capacity, he met Joseph Goebbels. They became close friends.

Otto immediately formed a special team of two men and one woman whom he trusted implicitly. They were sworn to secrecy under penalty of death. When they learned about the mission, they were proud to be involved in it. They would help win the war and rid the world of Jews. What more could they ask for? They met every day for the next two weeks while the plan was being developed so they could interface with the people in charge of the mission. On the fifth day, Magda, suggested that they make a documentary movie of the plot and the mission. She suggested that after the mission was completed that they would bring in Leni Riefenstahl to produce and direct the film. This was hailed as a brilliant idea.

Otto then asked Magda, You know her, don’t you? to which Magda replied, Yes, I worked with her when she directed Olympia, the documentary of the 1936 Olympics. She was absolutely amazing. She developed many innovative filming techniques that that were critically acclaimed and are being used by most movie directors globally."

What techniques? Otto asked".

On the morning of the racing events, she asked me if I wanted to go for a ride. I had no idea what she meant but answered yes. She took me to the racing event and had me get on a special rail car with a motion picture camera and some regular cameras. She had the person in charge of the Olympics build tracks parallel to the course. I got on the special car and waited for the race to start. As soon as it did the car, pulled by a special train, moved in unison with the runners. It almost looked like they were running in place and not moving forward. This was the first time this technique was used and it received world-wide praise. She also used slow motion cameras and long-distance shots to accentuate specific events. When she showed the film to Hitler, he was ecstatic. It was released for world-wide distribution and won many awards.

Magda paused and added, I had previously met her when she was an actress and again after she directed Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light). She was one of the first women film directors in the world. It was this film that caught the attention of our führer which resulted in her directing Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) about the 1935 party congress in Nuremburg. I was invited to the celebration when the movie was released and had the opportunity to talk to her. We shared the same views on Hitler, his greatness and the robust future for Germany under his leadership. She promised to introduce me to him, but the opportunity never materialized.

Everyone was clearly impressed. Otto put Magda in charge of developing the storyline. Magda had another brilliant suggestion. Not only should they make the film, they should help rebuild the destroyed sections of the Vatican. This would become part of the film and contribute to its commercial success as well as showing the world that the Nazi regime supports the church and the ability to worship in complete freedom. It could even win an Oscar for best documentary or for best foreign film – or both. That is if the Americans would allow an enemy to participate in the Academy Awards program. This idea was then discussed with Goebbels who lauded Magda for it. He brought Otto and Magda with him to the next meeting with Klinger and Stauffer. They also thought it was a superb idea. Magda added, If we are going to rebuild the Vatican, let’s not destroy too much of it, especially things that could not be replaced such as the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Most of the destruction should be in the living quarters, meeting rooms, museums and some other areas that we will identify.

That was another great suggestion that was immediately adopted. Magda was assigned the task of identifying what should be destroyed, what should be superficially damaged and what should be spared. In addition, she was to gather as much information as possible on the layout of the Vatican, the rooms, hallways, etc. This would require making at least one trip to Rome and the Vatican. Speiss added, We will get Cardinal Huber to arrange a special tour for you into the areas not open to regular tourists. He is sympathetic to our cause and I am sure he would arrange it as a favor to Himmler. Otto suggested that she take her husband and two children on an all-expense paid vacation that she would be awarded for exemplary service to the Third Reich. Klinger and Stauffer agreed. They had unlimited funds from Himmler. She readily accepted the offer and decided to make the trip during the children’s next break from school. She would be given a special camera to take high quality pictures no matter how light or how dark it was. Special high-speed film would be provided as well. Just before the meeting was adjourned, Magda requested two cameras so she could give one to each of her sons which would avoid them fighting over it and double the number of photographs. The group agreed and thanked her profusely. Klinger said that she really did earn the trip for exemplary service.

Chapter 2: Hitler, Austria and the Catholic Church

Not a shot was fired when the Nazis triumphantly marched into Austria on March 12, 1938. On the contrary, they were welcomed as saviors. Thousands upon thousands lined the highways, roads and streets to wave them on. Miraculously, thousands upon thousands of Nazi flags and banners of all sizes appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Gigantic banners, measuring two meters by six meters were unfurled across government and office buildings in all of the major cities. Slightly smaller flags adorned cars and trucks, some of which tried to enter the parade of marching soldiers and trucks but were not allowed entry. Small flags were waved by the thousands of cheering Austrians. Men, women and children had them. Overall, it seemed as if the entire country turned out to welcome the Nazi horde – but, of course, appearances can be deceiving. The Jewish community was abhorred. Their worst fear, their worst nightmare, had just occurred. Their fate was in the hands of a regime that was overtly anti-Semitic with numerous laws enacted to clearly show how they felt about Jews. Throughout Hitler’s election campaign the message was clear, The Jews were the cause of all of the economic and social ills of Germany. They started the war and caused Germany’s defeat. They must be eliminated from German society.

Of course, Jews were not the only ones terrified by the Nazi takeover. Communists, labor union leaders, government officials that opposed the Austrian Nazi party, and many catholic, protestant and other religious denomination priests also feared the Nazis – but it was the Jews that were clearly singled out. A wave of anti-Semitic terror spread across Austria that same day. With Vienna having the most Jews, Vienna bore the brunt of the attacks. Homes were invaded, shops were vandalized after, of course, most of the contents were appropriated by the mob. Jews were beaten in the streets and anti-Semitic slogans appeared throughout the city. Nighttime was worse. Darkness gave courage to the attackers. Not that daytime was much better. Jews were made to perform menial tasks such as washing sidewalks and streets. They were spat upon, kicked and, in some cases urinated upon, especially if they were wearing nice clothes. So, for the first few days it was degradation and beatings during the day and robbery and beatings during the night. Surprisingly, it was the Nazis that intervened to protect the Jews, at least from home invasions, vandalized stores and robberies in the street. This was not an act of benevolence or empathy – it was a matter of economics. As was the practice in Germany, all Jewish assets would be appropriated (aryanized) so any robbery or act of vandalism was an act against the future assets of the Nazi government and had to be stopped. Penalties were severe and most of the random acts of destruction and robberies stopped. However, Jews could still be degraded, beaten and made to do menial tasks. While the pope abhorred the attacks, there was nothing that he could do to interfere, especially since it was the Nazi regime that stopped the violence against the Jews.

Two popes spanned the Nazi regime – Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII. Pope Pius XI was the pope from 1922 until his death on February 11, 1938. Initially, in 1933, he issued the Reichskonkordat which was an agreement between the Holy See and the German government guaranteeing the rights of the Catholic church under the new coalition government with von Hindenburg as the newly elected president and Adolf Hitler as Chancellor. Hitler basically was in control and immediately started to violate the agreement. By 1937, the violations became frequent and worsened. The pope decided not to nullify the agreement as it would only make matters worse so he decided to take covert action against Hitler.

However, he openly criticized Hitler and his anti-Semitic policies, especially when Jews that converted to Catholicism were arrested because they were born Jewish. The Catholic church was largely built on proselytization. Devout Catholics and priests would travel to many countries to convert natives and other non-Catholics to Catholicism. Hitler was violating one of the basic tenets of the church.

Recognizing that there was no official way to stop these violations, he did two things in secret. The first was to ask sympathetic priests to help converted parishioners hide from the Nazis and help them to escape from Germany. The second was to set up an intricate spy network to find out what the Nazis were doing that would affect the church. Both of these had to be done with utmost caution. There were many priests in Germany that supported Hitler and his policy against the Jews. Those that were outspoken against Hitler and the Nazis were arrested and sent to concentration camps. All too often, they were reported by their own parishioners who placed Adolf Hitler above Jesus Christ.

Pope Pius XII continued these covert actions. On November 11, 1938, right after Kristallnacht, he joined Western leaders in condemning the pogrom and antisemitism, which led to an official protest from the Nazis and some unofficial actions against the church such as vandalism and attacks on priests and churchgoers. He continued his public criticisms which infuriated Hitler but he was not able to do anything about it – until this plan was put forth.

Austria was predominantly Roman Catholic. While the Catholic church did not intervene officially to protect the Jews, no other religious denomination intervened either. Many priests individually protested and advised their parishioners not to commit any act against Jews, which led to their arrest. The church was worried about its own position under Nazi rule and decided not to infuriate the Nazi regime by outwardly supporting Jews. However, they still did try to protect Jews that had converted to Catholicism and later, when persecution became more severe, to hide Jewish children and help families and individuals get out of Germany. The decision on what protective measures would be taken were largely given to the individual priests.

Recognizing the need for Roman Catholic support when he annexed he met with Theodor Innitzer, the Archbishop of Vienna and Cardinal of Austria. He assured him that under the Nazi government that the church would function as it had always functioned and that they would not interfere with any church practice. With this reassurance, Cardinal Innitzer gave tacit approval to Hitler and the Nazis. This was not well-received in Rome. Pope Pius XII was quite angry at Cardinal Innitzer’s acquiescence and conveyed this to him. However, it did not take long for the cardinal to realize that Hitler would not keep his word – and it came in many fronts:

• Using church records, Jews that converted to Catholicism were subsequently arrested and had their assets aryanized and their personal property, such as their home furnishing looted, most often by neighbors, whom they had known as friends for many years. Under Hitler’s dogma, Jews were a race, not a religion, so while you could change your religion, you could not change the fact that you were a Jew by your race. In fact, the Nazis believed that religious conversion was just a ploy to infiltrate the church and undermine it from within. When the church protested, the Nazis ignored it

• Pro-Nazi parishioners would report any priest that made anti-Nazi sermons or statements whether in private or to a group. The priests would be arrested and imprisoned. Here again, when the church protested, the protests were ignored

• Catholic youth groups were forced to disband and their leaders threatened with either personal imprisonment or the arrest of their entire family. Rallies in support of the church were brutally broken up by the Hitler Youth. Invariably, the Catholic youth group members were arrested and, if there was any property damage, they had to pay for the repairs. This came to a head during one large anti-Hitler, pro-Jesus Christ demonstration which occurred at the St. Stephen’s Church square. Not only were the protesters beaten with many arrests, the Nazi Youth group invaded the Cardinal’s residence and threw one of the priests out of a second-floor window causing severe injuries. He died from these injuries a few days later. Luckily, Cardinal Innitzer was not there at the time or he would have met a similar fate. The leaders of the Catholic Youth Organization were formally threatened by the Gestapo: either leave the organization or have their entire family arrested and sent to concentration camps. After this, there were no more organized protests by the church

While most of the tasks that the Jews were forced to do were degrading, some went far beyond that. On Saturday, April 23, a group of Jews leaving the synagogue after Sabbath services were ordered to walk to Prater Park, the amusement park with the landmark Ferris wheel, crawl on their hands and knees, and eat the grass. Some were ordered to make animal sounds as they ate the grass. Those not eating fast enough were kicked. Some had heart attacks and a few died from eating the grass. When the Jews protested, the Nazis stopped any further such acts that could kill Jews. A couple of the Jews that were killed owned businesses and the succession in ownership would delay the aryanization process.

Another practice that was stopped by the Nazis was the day kidnapping of wealthy Jews by various gangs. The kidnapped Jew would be held for a moderate ransom, which was typically paid on the same day, and then released. When the Nazis found out about it, they arrested two of the groups as the ransom was being paid and sentenced them to ten years in prison. Again, these gangs were stealing the future assets of Germany. The kidnappings ceased immediately.

Chapter 3: The Team

The order was read in every concentration camp, work camp and ghetto. Anyone fluent in Italian and had military or law enforcement experience, was to report to the camp commandant for special work. Special privileges would be given to those selected along with their families.

At each camp, a special high-ranking SS officer along with an Italian officer from Rome came to interview the volunteers. They did not know the true purpose of the order but followed it to the letter.

The interview consisted of four parts. The first part was to have the prisoner speak Italian to the officer to test their fluency and whether they had a regional Italian accent or a foreign accent. The Italian officer was sent back to Rome after he had sorted out the Jews not really fluent in Italian. Those that passed moved to the second part. The qualifying Jews were asked to describe their military or law enforcement experience. Those that had the requisite experience (e.g., did not just sit at a desk) went to the next level where they were questioned about their families. The larger the family, the more qualified they became. The final part was to determine their attitude towards the Catholic church. Those that had any animosity to the church were asked to provide details. The interview ended at this point. The list of qualifying prisoners was brought by each SS officer to SS-Sturmbannführers Stauffer and Klinger in Berlin. When the lists were consolidated, there were eighty-seven qualified Jews. Not surprisingly, the longest list came from Theresienstadt.

Theresienstadt, located in Czechoslovakia, was the model concentration camp set up to show the world how well the relocated Jews were being treated. To accommodate the Jews, the residents of the city were forced to move to other cities and the Jews were moved in. They were told that rich Jews bought the city for rich Jews to live in to be away from the prejudice that was increasing in all of the other cities in Germany. If any of the residents were tolerant of Jews before this occurred, they changed and became highly anti-Semitic after being forced to move. Not one of the residents questioned how ridiculous the reason was told to them for their forced move. Hatred replaced tolerance. Wherever they went they brought their hatred with them and changed the attitudes of many people along the way, especially the family members with whom they went to live.

The Jews selected for Theresienstadt were decorated veterans of the first war and those that had provided some special service to Germany. Their entire families were included. Initially, it was indeed a model camp. There was no overcrowding. Families lived in their own apartments. Schools were set up for the children and an orchestra was formed. Food, although limited, was enough to keep everyone heathy. Stores were stocked with merchandise taken from Jews that were sent to concentration camps and people were paid for the work that they did. In fact, special money was printed for the camp.

The money was called quittung, which meant receipt as the Nazis did want to give it the legitimacy of regular currency. There were seven denominations in the set (1, 2, 5,10, 20, 50 and 100 Kronen) with one side having the value and the other showing Moses holding the Ten Commandments. Both sides had a small Star of David.

Three of the seven denominations showing

Moses holding the Ten Commandments

(source: private collection of the author donated

to the Houston Holocaust Museum)

As time progressed, more and more Jews were sent there. The city soon became overcrowded. As the war progressed, especially when the Nazis started to lose the war, food and medical supplies became scarce. Disease and malnutrition became the norm so when the call for Italian speaking Jews was made, anyone with even a smattering of Italian, volunteered. Of course, they were not the veterans themselves. They were their sons who had followed in their father’s footsteps becoming policemen or enlisting in the military. They were cashiered out when the Nazis took control because they were Jewish. The list was prioritized based on the degree of animosity that the Jew had for the Catholic church. In some of the interviews, the animosity was very strong with the person threatening to do bodily harm to priests if they had the chance. They were at the top of the list if they had a wife and children. Eighteen men with large families were selected from Theresienstadt.

The trucks arrived at 10 PM. There were the eighteen men and their wives, thirty-one children, and eight grandparents for a total of eighty-three people. There were two guards per truck. While one would have sufficed, the commandant did not want only one guard per truck. The guard would only be able to talk to the Jews. That would have been unbearable and unconscionable. Besides, the SS officer in charge said that the guards should not ask any questions as to why they were being brought to Berlin or how they were selected. So, the extra guard was added. Since there were children, ten people could be comfortably seated in each truck. With two guards per truck and one driver, the total complement one hundred thirteen people in ten trucks. Three trucks would have eleven people so those trucks would have one more child. The commandant decided against a motorcycle escort and a guard to accompany the drivers as he already was sending thirty guards with the Jews and he did not want to draw too much attention to the convoy. The convoy left Theresienstadt at dusk.

The lists of qualified Jews from all of the other camps was winnowed. Including Theresienstadt, fifty-five Jewish men and their families were selected. The top fifty-five Jews and their families were brought to Berlin for a detailed cross examination. Similar to the procedure at Theresienstadt, they were taken from the camps in covered trucks at night with two SS guards. To assuage their fears, each person was given a small basket of food consisting of bread, meat, vegetables and fruit. A piece of chocolate was in each child’s basket. Their mood quickly changed. They were now happy. Whenever one of them needed to go to the bathroom, the truck stopped and they were allowed to use the woods or fields along the way. They were told that they could not go out of the truck when they were in any town or city. The back of the truck was covered when they approached any residential area.

The fifty-five Jewish men were from the following concentration camps:

• Theresienstadt – 18

• Auschwitz – 8

• Dachau – 4

• Mauthausen – 6

• Sobibor – 5

• Treblinka - 5

• Buchenwald – 4

• Sachsenhausen – 4

• Neuengamme – 1

The total number of Jews being brought to Berlin were:

• 55 selected men and their wives (110 people)

• 46 brothers and sisters

• 136 children

• 22 grandparents (18 were from Theresienstadt; only 4 were from the other camps as most old people were either gassed upon arrival or died from starvation or disease)

When they arrived, the 314 Jews were housed in barracks in a Wehrmacht base about 5 kilometers from Berlin. The base had been cleared of all of the soldiers on the pretense of war maneuvers. Until all fifty-five families arrived, the early arrivals were well fed but restricted within the barracks buildings and the outside areas between them. A makeshift fence surrounded the area but it was a regular wire not a barbed wire fence. All of the men and women either noticed this immediately, or were told by those that did notice it. This boosted their morale. By the fourth day, all of the families had arrived.

The second interview process began the following day. A five-member panel interviewed each man. On the panel were SS-Standartenführer Speiss, SS-Sturmbannführers Stauffer and Klinger, SS-Obersturmbannführer Werner Karl von Haeften, and Dr. Rolf Stücker. Werner Karl von Haeften was the aide-de-camp of von Stauffenberg who was responsible for reporting the progress to Hitler. Dr. Stücker was the latest member of the team. He was a psychiatrist. His task was to determine if the Jew was telling the truth to the extent possible. He was one of the earliest supporters of Hitler and was the author of the best-selling book, Skillful Liars: The Rise of Jewish Domination.

Dr. Stücker studied medicine and psychiatry at the University of Munich. He received his license to practice psychiatry in 1923. He had a very good reputation until he was publicly humiliated by Sigmund Freud when he was making a presentation of his findings at the annual convention of psychiatry in 1927. Freud refuted his findings and his methodology, calling it inept and riddled with misconceptions. A vitriolic debate ensued that was finally stopped by the Chairman of the session who supported Dr. Stücker and called Freud a callous, stupid Jew. Immediately after that session, he became a strong anti-Semite with an interesting twist. For the next four years, he specialized in Jewish patients in order to find out more about them. He advertised in Jewish publications and even made donations to some synagogues. He learned quite a bit about them and believed that only a handful of the Jews that needed psychiatric treatment recognized it and sought treatment. He was convinced that at least 90 percent of the Jewish population had inbred anti-social and predatory behavioral characteristics that were passed on through their genes and upbringing. At the end of the fourth year, to the day, he stopped treating all of his Jewish patients, becoming a professor at the University of Ulm, dedicating his life to teaching psychiatric students about the deceptive qualities of the Jews. On the first day of class he would ask Jewish students to identify themselves and then he would ask them to leave the class. In spite of this, he was an excellent teacher, mixing humor and facts with his own personal beliefs. He was very popular with the students. After his third-year at the university, the word was out – if you are Jewish, do not register for any course he teaches.

He joined the Nazi party in 1927, two weeks after his confrontation with Freud. In the early 1930s, he wrote a series of articles based on his interaction with his Jewish patients which was so popular that it was consolidated into his aforementioned best seller.

Some of the chapters:

• The Innermost Workings of the jewish Mind

• Holidays of the jews and What They Really Mean

• Retribution (A Discourse on the Validity of Pogroms)

• Distinguishing Characteristics of jews: They Hide Among Us

• The Myth of jewish Food: True Origins

• Historical jewish Betrayals: Never Trust a jew

• The Economic Invasion of jews: What They Own and How They Usurped Ownership

• Destroying the Church from Within: The Reason jews Convert to Christianity

One of his basic tenets of grammar, which was in the introduction of the book, was that words like jews, jewish, judaism, etc. should never be capitalized – as it would recognize that these words are respectable nouns. Just as you would not capitalize mongrel, bitch and charlatan, you should never capitalize these words. Therefore, you should never begin a sentence with these words as grammatical syntax requires that the first word of a sentence be capitalized. You should never use bold letters for these words unless you print them in red. Red symbolizes the German blood that the jews spilled when they caused Germany to lose the war so they could profit from our downfall. But, with all their machinations and treachery, we weathered the post-war years of jewish domination of our economic system and emerged the strongest nation in the world due to our savior, Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist Party. Now, it is their turn to bleed.

Here are two excerpts from the book:

From the chapter The Myth of jewish Foods: True Origins

"The only food that the jews actually created is matzoh. This is a large, stiff, flat, tasteless cracker that is made without yeast. It dates back to the time that a number of natural disasters led the superstitious Egyptians to believe that the jewish God had unleashed ten plagues upon the country. Moses, who had a speech impediment, convinced the pharaoh to set thousands of jewish workers free from their work contracts. According to one of his advisors, Ramses had a hearing problem and couldn’t understand half of what Moses was saying but the extent of the death and destruction of the so-called plagues was so great that he agreed to release the jewish workers from their contractual obligations. Moses had apparently swindled some Palestinians out of a large tract of land in Canaan and needed a lot of people to develop it.

According to the jewish story, they were in such a hurry to leave that they did not want to waste time adding yeast to the bread to wait for it rise. That is only partly true. The real reason was that they were so busy stealing the gold, silver and jewels from the people that they forgot to steal the yeast. They did send some men to get the yeast but they stole more gold and silver instead, so they were stuck with this unleavened crap. This is easily confirmed by their own history. When Moses did not return from Mount Sinai for more than 30 days, the jews panicked and made a large golden calf using almost one ton of gold. The story doesn’t elaborate on the origins of the gold, but it is obvious that slaves do not have gold so it is also obvious that they must have stolen the gold from the people of Egypt. When Moses finally came down and saw the golden calf that he threw the stone tablets containing the so-called Ten Commandments on the ground with such force that they shattered into thousands of pieces so they could not be put back together again. Moreover, they had made the calf so big and heavy that it could not be moved from its spot. Someday, some archeologist will stumble upon it when the winds uncover the thousands of years of sand that has entombed it."

From the chapter The Innermost Workings of the jewish Mind

Jews are the most proficient people in the world with numbers. It makes up for their lack of social skills. Children are taught to count before they are taught to read. They are taught that numbers control the world. They are taught that even the best orators in history had to have financial backing to succeed so if you control the money you can shape public opinion. That is why so many German newspapers are owned by jews. They buy companies after they cause their financial ruin – and they only pay a fraction of their true value. Sometimes, they do not even have enough money so they borrow from the jewish banks at half the interest rates that you and I have to pay. Even in elementary school they know the difference between profit and loss. As an example, seven-year old Samuel Goldman was asked by his teacher, ‘How much is twelve times twelve?’ He replied with a question, ‘Am I buying or selling?’ To a jew, there are multiple answers to factual questions.

His work was admired by the entire Nazi hierarchy. In 1937, Goebbels asked him to come to Berlin to head up one of the departments dealing with Jews. When Goebbels learned of the plan to kill the pope and the need to find jews that would be able and willing to kill the pope to save themselves and their families, he naturally turned to Dr. Stücker to help with the selection.

Dr. Stücker developed the initial list of questions which was reviewed by the other members of the panel who added some additional questions. What it really came down to was two key issues: would they do anything to save their family and did they hate Catholics enough to kill them? If the person interviewed showed hesitation based on moral reasons, as ascertained by his facial expression, he would be eliminated. All of the candidates clearly scored high on doing anything to save their families. Twelve men did not hate Catholics enough to kill them so they were eliminated. The part where Dr. Stücker was needed came when some of the men hesitated but then said yes that they could kill Catholics. He had to determine whether the hesitation was because the man was thinking about it before answering and then saying yes or if the idea clearly was abhorrent to him but thought that saying yes was the right answer. For his book, he had interviewed hundreds of Jewish businessmen, criminals, teachers and rabbis. In his book, when describing the interviews, he wrote, Except for some of the rabbis, there is no such thing as an honest jew.. He was the expert.

He eliminated fifteen more men leaving twenty-eight qualified for the mission. Since they only needed twenty-four, four more had to be eliminated. Speiss said, Let their God decide. With that he placed the names of the men in a pile and selected four at random. They now had the requisite amount. The deselected men and their families were sent to Auschwitz on trucks and gassed immediately upon arrival. There would be no loose ends that could compromise the mission. It was decided, however, to wait until all of the families were evacuated from the barracks rather than take only some of them. If the deselected families were taken out first and saw that other families were not taken, they could realize that they were being sent back to the concentration camps.

The next day, the panel met to decide how to proceed. At first, Speiss decided to let Dr. Stücker go home, but Klinger suggested that he be included and go with them to monitor their mental state and attitude during the training. They all agreed including Dr. Stücker; he could see another best-seller on the horizon.

They decided to set up the two camps in a remote wooded area not too far from the Italian border– one for the men to be trained and one for their families. The camps would be about one kilometer apart. If the men performed well in their training, they would be allowed to see their families on the weekend. All of them were to be well-fed, well-treated and given special privileges. Medical services were to be provided by a resident SS doctor stationed in the training camp. Each family would be given their own spacious apartment in a building that housed only six families. Initially, the families would be randomly placed in the buildings but once the teams were set up, they would be billeted in the same building. The families were told this when they arrived so as to eliminate any fear when they had to move from one building to another.

Two large communal bathrooms were to be in each building – one for men and the other for women and small children. A school would be set up for the children with the mothers responsible for the curriculum. A play area with swings and other playthings would also be included. They would even be allowed to hold sabbath services in the school but could not have any overt Jewish symbols on the walls. To really make them feel special, a torah, confiscated from one of the synagogues, would be given to them. Rolf, who had experience with the resettlement of Jews, learned quite a bit about their customs and religion so he knew about the torah. A rabbi, of course, was out of the question! Besides, all of the rabbis were killed as soon as they arrived in the camps. They did not want to have a spiritual leader that could provide comfort and hope to the other Jews in the camps. The next step was to choose a location in southern Austria. It had to be remote, in a wooded area that could not be seen from the roads, or seen easily from the air to avoid an allied