A Special Mission by Dan Kurzman

A Special Mission: Hitler’s Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII, by Dan Kurzman, reviewed by John Sheridan, Head of the Local History and Genealogy Collection, Hoyt Library (Da Capo Press; 2007; 285 pg. $26.00)
In September, 1943, after the overthrow of Mussolini, Hitler gave SS General Karl Wolff a special mission. General Wolff was to kidnap Pope Pius XII and loot the treasures of the Vatican. Realizing that the war was going against Germany, General Wolff and fellow conspirators planned to circumvent the plot to ingratiate themselves with the Allies in the event of a German defeat. An intense, true story, that reads like the best spy novel.