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Otto the Great, Germany ties its
destiny to I taly!
In the same year, the two dicta–
tors enter the Spanish Civil War on
the side of General Francisco Fran–
co's Nat ionalist forces. There they
test new weapons in preparation for
a much greater conflict to come.
Prelude to War
While the fight is going on in
Ethiopia, events are happening in
quick succession in Germany.
In a dar ing move, H itler orders
German t roops to march into the
demilitarized zone of the Rhine–
land, established by the T reaty of
Versailles. l t is March 7, 1936. The
French fai l to call Hitler 's bluff.
A year earlier, Hi t ler had uni lat–
erally abrogated the disarmament
clauses of the Versai lles treaty and
had begun to rearm openly.
In March 1938, Germany occu–
pies Austria, which is qu ickly
incorporated into the Greater Ger–
man Reich. In September, H itler
demands and receives the cession of
the Sudetenland area of Czechoslo–
vakia ("my last territorial claim in
Europe," he says).
Prime Minister Nevi lle Cham–
berlain of Britain yields to Hit ler's
demands, hoping against hope that
concessions to the d ictator will pro–
mote "peace in our time."
On May 22, 1939, ties between
Hitler and Mussolini become even
closer as the two form a 10-year
political and military alliance- the
Pact of Steel. The ltal ian press pro–
claims, "The two s trongest powers of
Europe have now bound themselves
lo each other for peace and war."
In August 1939, Germany and
Soviet Russia sign a nonaggression
pact, guaranteeing Soviet noninter–
vention in Hitler's ventures in the
West. Hitler's eastern flank is now
secure. T he stage is set. A catastro–
phe is about to engulf the wor ld!
In a final last-minute appeal to
head off the outbreak of world con–
flict, the new Pope, Pius X II ,
declares on August 24, "Every–
thing can be lost by war; nothing is
lost by peace."
But Hitler's plan is set. Casting
aside all pretenses of peaceful aspi–
r ations, the Ge rman d ictator
accuses and attacks Poland on Sep–
tember
l.
The peace of Europe is
broken . W orld Wa r II has
14
begun-a struggle for the mastery
of the world!
Papal Dilemma
Pope Pius XI died in March 1939.
His successor as war breaks out in
Europe is Eugenio Pacelli, now
Pius XII.
Few Popes will be the subject of
as much controversy as he.
In 1917, Pacelli had been sent as
Papal nu ncio (ambassador) to
Municb to negot iate a concordat
with the Bavarian Cou r t. T his
accomplished, he was next sent to
Berlin in 1925 with the same aim.
After concluding the concordat
with the Weimar Republic, Pacell i
was recal led to Rome in 1929 and
created a cardinal and Vatican sec–
retary of state.
As Cardinal Pacelli, he drew up
and signed the concordat with Hit–
ler's Nazi Germany on behalf of
P ius XI in the summer of 1933.
Pacelli's years in Germany gave
him a fl uency in the German lan–
guage and a great love for the Ger–
man people. In view of this, his
proclaimed neut rality as wartime
Pontiff wi ll be questioned. After
the war he wi ll be accused of failing
to denounce H itler and neglecting
to speak out publicly against H it–
ler 's "final solut ion" to the " J ewish
problem." Sorne critics will declare
that by remaining si lent he became
an accomplice to genocide.
P ledged to neutrality , P i us
believes the Holy See can play a
peacemaking role if it maintains
formal relations with all the bellig–
erents. Yet he is keenly concerned
about the Jews.
Pius faces a terrible choice. He
knows the capabi li ties of Naziism,
having been closely associated with
the anti-Nazi encyclical
Mit bren–
nender Sorge.
In September 1943, Germans
occupy Rome. The dilemma of Pius
X II becomes even more acute.
Nazi troops are now camped on his
very doorstep. Public condemna–
tion of Hit ler could lead to repri–
sals, even invite a Nazi invasion of
the Vatican. That would jeopard ize
the Holy See's diplomatic efforts
on behalf of the Jews and end any
influence the Papacy might have in
favor of peace.
Pius issues repeated prívate pro–
tests against Nazi atrocities and is
even involved in efforts to shelter
J ews and political refugees. But he
stops short of public denunciation.
Faced with ci rcumstances in which
his public statements might further
rouse H itler and his associates
against the Jews and expose Ger–
man Catholics to charges of trea–
son, he takes the side of caution.
In retrospect , sympathetic ob–
servers will assert that, under the
circumstances, Pius did all he could
against a powerfu l total itar ian gov–
ernment. Public de nunciation
would not have stopped the Nazi
leadership anyway.
Shattered Empires
At the outset of war, Germany
seems almost invincible. Hit le r
subj ects a whole continent, directly
or indirectly, to his power. Not
since the days when tbe Roman
Empire was at its height has one
man ruled such vast expanses in
Europe.
But Hitler's is an epbemeral
empi re. l n 194 1, tbe German dicta–
tor makes Napoleon's disastrous
mistake of invading Russia. Opera–
tion Barbarossa is a fatal blunder.
The tide of war begins to turn.
In tbe end, the
Fuehrer
and the
Duce
die witbin days of each other,
t he ir d r eams of conquest and
empire shattered.
Mussolini is executed by ltalian
partisans on April 28, 1945. H is
megalomaniac attempt to restore
the Roman Empire ends in ruin.
Hitler, it is declared, has commit–
ted suicide in bis Berl ín bunker on
April 30, as bis " Thousand-year
Reich" crasbes around bim.
The war in Europe is over.
Italy is devastated. Germany lies
in ruins. Sorne observers declare
Germany will
never
rise again.
Others say it wi ll take at least
50,
maybe even
100
years or more. Pri–
vately, sorne Germans are thinking
that no defeat is fi nal.
As the victors and vanquished
alike pick up the pieces of their
shattered and now-divided conti–
nent, a centuries-old concept again
takes its rise in the minds of Euro–
peans- the ideal of a United States
of Europe. Europe slowly sets out
on the path toward its final- and
most crucial- revival.
(Next Month: " T he Fina l
Union")
The PLAIN TRUTH