ADSS 1.275 Pacini to Maglione: Glos Polski incident

 ADSS 1.275 Alfredo Pacini, Charge d’affaires, Polish Nunciature, Angers, France, to Luigi Maglione, Sec State.

Reference: Report 21/40 (AES 3267/40)

Location and date: Angers, 02.04.1940

Summary statement: Members of the Polish government condemn the article in Glos Polski and precautions have been taken.  Pope’s concern for Poland has been mentioned in many official statements.

Language: Italian

Text:

I reply with some delay to message 2476/40, regarding the article of the Polish newspaper Glos Polski (Voice of Poland) – on the visit of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Vatican (1).  The delay is due, in part, to the slow nature of the Polish people, who always say jutro, “tomorrow”, and partly to the scattered location of the various offices and of responsible people who reside anywhere between Paris and Angers and are difficult to meet.

And now, here is what I report to Your Eminence.

The Glos Polski  is printed in Paris, where all its writers and editors live.  The paper is in contact with the Propaganda Ministry – a beehive of ultranationalist elements.  Because of these contacts and also because the paper prints public notices about Government officials and audiences of the Polish President, it has gained a sort of semi-official character.  Moreover, in Paris the Polish writers often meet the French newspapermen with left wing tendencies: this explains the tinge of certain opinions and feelings.

As soon as I arrived in Angers I Immediately considered what would be the best way to call the attention of the Government to the article in Glos Polski.  However, I found a very different climate here than the one I noticed in Paris and the article either had not been noticed or had already been censured.  (The Polish papers, of which a considerable number are published, are read very little by the Polish people themselves, who prefer the French papers, even when they only have a little knowledge of this language).

The first person to be surprised when I spoke to him about it, was the Foreign Minister as I had the honour to mention in my report 14/40 of 19 March (2)  the article – he said – “has escaped me and I am very sorry, because all of us here are convinced that the Holy Father has a great love for Poland”.  The Welfare Ministry, mentioned in my report 16/40 of 27 March, expressed similar thoughts.  Many other persons were also surprised.

On 28 March, as soon as I received your message, 2476/40 (3) I went to the office of the President of the council of Ministers, where there is also the Press Relations office, to protest the incident.  The Director General, Count Romer, who frequently deputises for General Sikorski who mainly looks after military affairs and is always busy with inspections, received me (4).  Count Romer had not read the article in question and was shocked when I read it to him.  He declared wonderment as to how such an article could have been written, saying they would ask for immediate satisfactory explanations.

He in fact wrote a letter to the Propaganda Ministry in Paris at once, asking for explanations and how they proposed to remedy the matter.  He also enquired about the writer of the article, severely criticising the Editor of the paper.

The Propaganda Minister replied deploring the article – which had also escaped his notice and he apologised for that (5).  He has reprimanded the Editor in chief of the newspaper for not having shown the article to him first, since it dealt with such a delicate matter; he has also expressed in stronger terms, a reprimand for the writer, instructing that articles of his should no longer appear in the newspaper which is now being put under the direct control of the Propaganda Ministry.  A Polish censor will examine it (up until now only a French censor examined it) with instructions to watch carefully that nothing that offends Polish feelings be printed.  He mentioned that distribution of Glos Polski has been forbidden to soldiers.  Finally the Propaganda Minister has ordered a series of articles be written to offset as far as possible the painful impression which the article might have given to public opinion.  I enclose the most important paragraphs of the first such articles with this report.

Furthermore, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Zaleski, addressed words of respectful homage and thanks to the August Pontiff on behalf of the entire Polish nation in a speech he made to the Polish National Council on 28 March.  I reported this in my submission Number 20/40.  On 31 March the Propaganda Minister broadcast a speech where he spoke about the benevolent attitude of the Holy See towards Poland and of the affection of Poland for the Holy See.  At its General meeting in Angers on 2 April, the Polish National Council unanimously acknowledged the work done by the Holy Father in favour of Poland and addressed to him devoted words of homage, thanks and filial affection.  M. Paderewski, Vice-President of the Council, who does not participate actively at the meeting because of his age and ill health and now lives mostly in Switzerland, reported these matters to me personally (6).

I hope these manifestations of filial devotion to the August Pontiff from the highest Polish Authorities can alleviate the distress felt by the Holy Father.

Notes:

(1) ADSS 1.273

(2) Not published in ADSS.  August Zaleski (1883-1972) Polish Foreign Minister in Exile 1940-47.

(3) ADSS 1.273

(4) Tadeusz Romer (1894-1978), Director General in Exile 1939-42; Wladislaw Sikorski (1881-1943), Polish Prime Minister in Exile 1939-43.

(5) Polish Propaganda Minister

(6) Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), Chief of the National Council of Poland 1939-41.

ADSS 1.274 Borgongini Duca to Maglione: Meeting with Ciano

ADSS 1.274 Francesco Borgongini Duca, Italy, to Luigi Maglione, Sec State.

Reference: Report 7679 (AES 2793/40)

Location and date: Rome, 31.03.1940

Summary statement: Reports meeting with Ciano who revealed that Muissolini had ‘committed himself excessively’; but Ciano continues to do everything possible to preserve neutrality.  Nuncio invited minister to act with prudence.  Ciano warns Nuncio not to trust information sent by the ambassadors to their gov’ts.

Language: Italian

Text:

Last Friday, 27 March, at 12.15, Minister Ciano, who had just come back from the palazzo Venezia, received me.

The purpose of my visit was to converse with him on the matters which Your Eminence had instructed me to settle (about ten arguments, more or less thorny, regarding which I had reported to you in the last few days) and also to take advantage of the occasion to obtain some information about political events.

The Minister, who always listens kindly to me (without ever taking his eyes from the pile of Notes which I am instructed to hand to him), told me when I thanked him, as Your Eminence told me to, for the information which he had sent to you through the Ambassador before the Brenner meeting (1), that: “Certainly it was a big commitment; but I am still doing everything to put a stop to it.  He (Mussolini) committed himself excessively. I cannot say if there will be war or not but ertainly I am working hard and you cannot have any idea of what I have done and am still doing.  But god helps me.

“When will you see the Holy Father?”  (I replied that I had already asked for an audience and hoped that His Holiness would consent to me soon.)  “Well, ask him to think about me from time to time and to pray for me and to send me his blessing because I need it very much”.

Then we started dealing with the business in hand, as I have already mentioned.

At the end, when we got up and were walking towards the door, I returned to the subject hoping to obtain a little more information.

He told me again that it is a great commitment.

I took courage and added: “Excellency, take good care of yourself and do not expose yourself too much”.

He replied: “You are right, I always go about without a bodyguard.  Certainly, the Germans would shoot me if they could” (2).

I insisted: “Be on guard not only against the Germans but also against the Italian people because among them there could be ill-intentioned people”.

He replied: “The Italian people love me and know that I am working for them”.

In the end he gave me a warning: “Do not trust the diplomats accredited to the Holy See who in their telegrams and reports give information about Italy as heard in the Vatican and also mention my name.  We read everything, and Mussolini also reads everything.  You must consider my position, otherwise I shall be obliged not to tell you anything more”.

I replied that we should not give too much credit to the statements of diplomats who want to make themselves look bigger by increasing the importance of the news they send, sometimes adding something of their own.

The conversation ended with these words: “What I told you is meant for the Holy Father and for His Excellency Cardinal Maglione”.

The Minister’s warning makes me fear that the Foreign Embassies have secret informers in the Vatican, besides those the Italian Government itself has.

Notes:

(1) ADSS 1.272.

(2) There were rumours among some German diplomatic circles that Ciano was an Anglophile. See DGFP, Series D, Volume 9, n179, pp197-98.

ADSS 1.273 Maglione to Pancini: Pope "saddened" by article in Glos Polski

ADSS 1.273 Luigi Maglione, Sec State, to Alfredo Pacini, Charge d’affaires Polish Nunciature in Angers, France.

Reference: AES 2476/40

Location and date: Vatican, 22.03.1940

Summary statement: Pope saddened by article in Glos Polski.  Pacini to make appropriate representations.

Language: Italian

Text:

I immediately brought to the Holy Father’s attention the article of the newspaper Glos Polski, which you sent us with your report Number 13/40 of 13 March 1940, regarding the visit of the German Minister for Foreign Affairs (1).

As you can easily imagine, this article was a painful surprise for the August Pontiff.  The author of the article in fact not only shows lack of understanding for the Holy See’s attitude in dealing with grace international problems, but also shows that he is unaware of forgetful of what His Holiness has done so far to help Poland, and his paternal, eager, incessant concern to bring moral and material assistance to Poland.

The Holy Father has been even more grieved by the fact that the article was published in the semi-official publication of the Polish Government in Angers.

I ask you therefore to lodge a complaint to the competent authorities asking for an explanation.

Notes:

(1) ADSS 1.262

ADSS 1.270 Maglione, notes: Polish article is unfair to the Holy See

ADSS 1.270 Luigi Maglione, Sec State, notes.

Reference: AES 2476/40

Location and date: Vatican, 19.03.1940

Summary statement: Polish article is unfair to the Holy See.

Language: Italian

Text:

The article shows injustice and ingratitude (1).  The Holy Father and I spoke with Ribbentrop about conditions in Poland (2).

Monsignor Pacini should remonstrate (3).

Notes:

(1) ADSS 1.262

(2) ADSS 1.257, 258, 259.

(3) Alfredo Pacini (1888-1967), Charge d’affaires of the Polish Nunciature 1935-44; in Angers, France, with the Polish Government in Exile.

ADSS 1.269 Maglione to Orsenigo: conversation with Ribbentrop

ADSS 1.269 Luigi Maglione, Sec State, to Cesare Orsenigo, Germany

Reference: AES 2360/40

Location and date: Vatican, 19.03.1940

Summary statement: Maglione informs Orsenigo of his conversation with Ribbentrop.

Language: Italian

Text:

I take pleasure in sending Your Excellency, for your information and guidance , some notes on the two meetings – one in the Vatican and the other in the German Embassy to the Holy See – which the German Foreign Minister had with me on the 11.03.1940, soon after his audience with the Holy Father (1).

The Minister affirmed his pleasure, several times, in having been able to see the Holy Father and to talk with him about the religious position in Germany taking advantage of his time in Rome to settle a few questions with the Italian Government.

He also told me that he was able, during the audience, to note with great satisfaction that the Pope still has his heart in Germany, and a great wish to reach a firm and lasting agreement with Hitler.

He added that Hitler also wants a sound and lasting settlement.  He has already given proof of his goodwill by stopping, by the hundreds, the proceedings against the clergy.  But Hitler is a man with far-sighted plans and thinks more of the future than of the present.  We cannot therefore think that we can reach the desired settlement at present.  Germany is now engaged in a terrific struggle for its own existence and greatness. Hitler has all Germans on his side: their energy is devoted to the attainment of victory; it is not possible to think about other problems.  Afterwards we will negotiate.

I did not fail to point out to the Minister that religion is also concerned with the present and it is therefore not possible to set aside the current problems which hamper it and cause sorrow, pain and grace danger to souls.  Replying to one of his frequent allusions to the so-called political activity of the German clergy, I recalled to him the Holy See’s instructions on this subject, instructions which the German clergy, at least generally speaking, obey scrupulously.  If in some particular instance these instructions have not been obeyed, the only thing to do would be to inform the competent ecclesiastical authority which would immediately remedy it.  But it would be a grave error, I added, to see political motives in the overall activity of clergy and people.

From here, passing to more concrete points, I recalled the particular attention of the Minister to some of the many facts which the Church has lately been compelled to deplore: these have already been communicated to the German Embassy to the Holy See with our note of last July which so far has not been replied to, and in particular other more recent notes, as for example the closing down of Seminaries and Theological Faculties, without even informing the Holy See although this is a matter which comes under the Concordat.

Regarding Poland – as the Minister handed to me an official publication on the Polish atrocities against the Germans and mentioned the political activity of the Polish clergy – I told him that the Holy See wishes to be accurately informed and therefore they have several times asked Berlin for permission to send a trusted clergyman to Poland namely Monsignor Colli, Counsellor of the Nunciature in Germany, but until now they have not had a reply in the sense desired; and in the meantime, the various reports which circulate on the situation in Poland, some of which cannot be confuted, are becoming very distressing.  We can ask the Polish priests to abstain from creating difficulties to the occupying authority, but it is not possible to pretend that they should renounce their love of their own country.  The presence of the Holy See’s envoy, I added, would help in clearing misunderstandings and in assisting the priests in their undertaking to devote themselves exclusively to their pastoral ministry.  He could, by keeping in touch with the German authorities, give useful directives and good advice to help the Bishops to bring the religious situation back to normal.  But I only received a vague reply.

I spoke also of the necessity of helping the poor Polish population and I reminded him of the request already made for the consent of the Berlin Government for organising assistance under the control of the Holy See’s envoy in agreement with the occupying power.  But I did not get a satisfactory reply.

At Villa Bonaparte I spoke again of the advantage of having a representative of the Holy See in Warsaw, in the interest of Germany itself.  He replied that he would think about it but added explicitly that he could not promise anything.  He spoke again about Hitler’s goodwill (who is looking to the future) and about the necessity of setting aside particular questions.

Notes:

(1) ADSS 1.257, 258.