The Vatican Germans and the anti-Hitler Plot
William Frend, later professor of ecclesiastical history at Glasgow University, explained how he influenced the course of European history in 1944.
This is Vatican number 636 speaking’. The voice spoke English with a light German accent, ‘We have something important to tell the Allies’. The date was Friday, July 22nd, 1944, six weeks after the Allies had entered the city; the number was that of the German Embassy. At 3pm I knocked at the door of the Santa Marta building. ‘Herein’ was the reply. I found myself addressing a tall elegant man in his mid-forties, the First Secretary, Albrecht von Kessel, who assured me that what he was about to say had the full authority of Ernst von Weizsäcker, the Ambassador, and until 1943 the State Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry. It was not a hoax.
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