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Unholy Trinity: The Vatican, the Nazis, and Soviet Intelligence
The scandalous story of the Communists, the Catholic Church, and the CIA in the last years of World War II. The Unholy Trinity is a disturbing look at the disastrous effects of the Vatican-Nazi connection that may change forever readers' vision of the church's role in world politics.
372 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 17, 2009
An interesting book about the intrigue within the Vatican before, after and during the war with reference to their attitude toward Germany, the Soviet Union and the countries that they occupied. German and Croatian priests and bishops help war criminals escape to South America because they are anti-communist, and later, American-backed anti-communist ex-Nazis are placed in Russia who are turned by the Soviets and become double agents to give out inaccurate information to their handlers. Confused yet? This is a very confusing book, like the subject! The Nazi regime was anti-Catholic, (and yet Hitler and many prominent Nazis were theoretically Catholic). The Catholic Church frowned on the Nazis, but signed a concordat with them and maintained diplomatic relations with Germany right up until the end of the war. The allies were credited with ending the Holocaust, and yet did absolutely nothing to stop it from happening because they were appalled at the possibility of Jewish refugees being allowed into their countries. Pius XII was criticized for not doing enough to save the Jews, but ironically, saved about 138,000 Jews by allowing them to hide in the Vatican itself, or in monasteries and churches throughout Europe.
Everybody sucks in this one.
Everybody sucks in this one.
July 5, 2014
A superbly researched book that deserves renewed consideration and attention.
The primary thesis of this book is that the Vatican was instrumental in developing and maintaining escape routes out of Europe for known and suspected Nazi war criminals during and after WWII. This was done primarily by senior Vatican officials with the full knowledge of Pope Pius XII and senior Vatican advisor Giovanni Montini, later Pope Paul VI. War criminals were smuggled out under the auspices of the otherwise legitimate refugee relocation programs, with falsified International Red Cross documentation. This was done in order to have a ready made anti-Communist force as the Cold War became more and more of a reality.
The Vatican was not alone in this. British, and to a slightly lesser extent, American, intelligence were complicit in recruiting Nazis to serve as anti-communist leaders who needed to be smuggled out. But the hub and actual way station was the Vatican.
Unfortunately they were all played for fools by Soviet intelligence. Even before the war, the Soviet GRU (the military version of the KGB) was integrating itself into Vatican, British, German, and other intelligence services, passing themselves off as right wing supporters and feeding them false information on Soviet activities. Once the Vatican initiated its ratlines out to South America, Britain, America, Canada, and Australia, many of the agents they thought were Nazis were actually Soviet agents taking advantage of the Vatican's naiveté and Soviet agents in the Vatican itself (like Bishop Hudal and Father Dragonovic) to become implanted in Western nations and further into their intelligence services.
If you enjoy Vatican scandals, American and British scandals, WWII history generally, or good old fashioned spy stories, this is great book to read. It is a bit dense at times, and difficult to follow as there a lot of players involved, but it is definitely worth the time and effort.
The primary thesis of this book is that the Vatican was instrumental in developing and maintaining escape routes out of Europe for known and suspected Nazi war criminals during and after WWII. This was done primarily by senior Vatican officials with the full knowledge of Pope Pius XII and senior Vatican advisor Giovanni Montini, later Pope Paul VI. War criminals were smuggled out under the auspices of the otherwise legitimate refugee relocation programs, with falsified International Red Cross documentation. This was done in order to have a ready made anti-Communist force as the Cold War became more and more of a reality.
The Vatican was not alone in this. British, and to a slightly lesser extent, American, intelligence were complicit in recruiting Nazis to serve as anti-communist leaders who needed to be smuggled out. But the hub and actual way station was the Vatican.
Unfortunately they were all played for fools by Soviet intelligence. Even before the war, the Soviet GRU (the military version of the KGB) was integrating itself into Vatican, British, German, and other intelligence services, passing themselves off as right wing supporters and feeding them false information on Soviet activities. Once the Vatican initiated its ratlines out to South America, Britain, America, Canada, and Australia, many of the agents they thought were Nazis were actually Soviet agents taking advantage of the Vatican's naiveté and Soviet agents in the Vatican itself (like Bishop Hudal and Father Dragonovic) to become implanted in Western nations and further into their intelligence services.
If you enjoy Vatican scandals, American and British scandals, WWII history generally, or good old fashioned spy stories, this is great book to read. It is a bit dense at times, and difficult to follow as there a lot of players involved, but it is definitely worth the time and effort.
August 24, 2014
Nora knjiga! Prebral v treh dneh. Naučil sem se ogromno. Najbolj pa tega, da če imamo skupne sovražnike, smo zavezniki, pa čeprav se politično ne maramo! Zanimivo in nič novega, vendar vseeno šokantno. Koliko nedolžnih je umrlo ter ti isti klavci so se tresli pred zavezniki. Na koncu je pravo življenje ena sama kalkulacija in igra. Zmagajo najboljši ali najbogatejši, izgubijo pa predvsem revni in nespretni. Koliko se še moram naučiti! Koliko še!
November 30, 2013
David's review sums it up: everyone sucks in this one.
December 4, 2019
It became a drag in the second part, but there is so much information in here that it's a must read.
The translation is kinda horrible though, with lots of mistakes.
The translation is kinda horrible though, with lots of mistakes.
June 23, 2026
As a research project this book deserves a high rating, but as a reading experience it does not. Perhaps a specialist would be able to pour through it, being already familiar with and remembering all the names and acronyms. I found it daunting. Heavens! There are eighty-two pages of notes following the text!
The basic thesis of this work is that the Soviets had penetrated Western intelligence agencies and Eastern European anti-communist organizations so thoroughly that attempts to overthrow the USSR and allied states all failed. These Soviet moles masked themselves as fascists and, as such, were involved in helping war criminals escape detection and to find refuge in, mostly, the Americas--a small price to pay in order to promote the greater interests of the USSR.
At the center of the escape routes travelled by these criminals were many associated with the Vatican, prominent amoung them being Pius XII and he who became Paul VI. While these two were sincere right-wingers, some lowlier priests were apparently communist moles who managed to manipulate the Vatican to their ends.
An important, but difficult, book!
The basic thesis of this work is that the Soviets had penetrated Western intelligence agencies and Eastern European anti-communist organizations so thoroughly that attempts to overthrow the USSR and allied states all failed. These Soviet moles masked themselves as fascists and, as such, were involved in helping war criminals escape detection and to find refuge in, mostly, the Americas--a small price to pay in order to promote the greater interests of the USSR.
At the center of the escape routes travelled by these criminals were many associated with the Vatican, prominent amoung them being Pius XII and he who became Paul VI. While these two were sincere right-wingers, some lowlier priests were apparently communist moles who managed to manipulate the Vatican to their ends.
An important, but difficult, book!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews