CHAPTER THIRTY

Konstanz Cathedral in Konstanz, Baden-Wurttemberg, Lake Constance Border Region, September 25, 1954

Michaele, Jacob, and the ODESSA volunteers did not hear any explosion as they drove through the night with the final goal of making it to the Swiss bank that was the repository for the Nazi Raubgold already accumulated. The presumption was that the men left in Ellingen would destroy the entryway and any access to the basement of the old Romanesque and Gothic Schlosskirche [Palace Church]. They were extremely tense as they wound their way through the city streets, expecting at any time to encounter police which would provoke a firefight. They headed west on Veterinärstrasse, then left onto Professor-Huber-Platz, then right onto Ludwigstrasse, then left on Leopoldstrasse.

To confuse anyone who might be following them, they turned on Odeonsplatz, then onto Brienner Strasse, then Maximiliansplatz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, then Lenbachplatz; then—in a dizzying set of left and right turns—they drove onto Elisenstraße, Marsstraße, Arnulfstraße, and finally Landshuter Allee at the edge of the city. They pulled into a vacant lot by an abandoned building and waited until it was sure that all six trucks had been able to keep with the erratic pattern. The ramp to Salzburg was in view.

They waited an hour before deciding that they had not been followed before driving as fast as possible to Saarbrücken. Predawn light made Michaele nervous; so, he ordered Jacob to find a place to spend the rest of the night and the next day where they would not create any reason to be noticed. That was not difficult. There were still many bombed out buildings where once business thrived before the Nazis came, then the Americans came after them with a vengeance.

In the morning, Jacob left the convoy to make contact with the priest in the Church of the Twelve Apostles. He was the ODESSA’s conduit to the Vatican and from the Vatican to the bank in Switzerland where they could deliver the treasure. At the time, the Vatican was acting as a crucial way station to provide forged documents for Nazi fugitives. Pope Pius XII considered the entire communist movement to be atheistic and antithetical to the beliefs, aims, and purposes of the Church to the point of being the Antichrist. As a result, he was sympathetic to the violent anticommunism of the fascists and especially the Nazis whom he felt were serving the ends of the Church. Publically, he kept his distance from Hitler and his senior cronies; but privately he condoned, and, in fact, supported the Nazis before, during, and after the war. During the war, Pope Pius displayed an implacable public stance of indifference to the German Holocaust and to all of the other atrocities committed against the defenseless Jews. He turned away thousands of pleas from the Jews, telling them that his hands were tied, because the Vatican had to remain neutral like Switzerland. He was instrumental in setting up the network to move Nazi treasure from Germany and Nazi-occupied countries and aided the ODESSA in its efforts to move SS personnel to Switzerland, Italy, and Argentina.

The US State Department described the Vatican’s participation as “the largest single organization involved in the illegal movement of emigrants.” That was rank hypocrisy given the immense effort by the Americans to save Nazi scientists and to incorporate them into the warp and woof of American scientific and engineering life via Operation Paperclip. The facilitator of the Vatican’s activities was a rich and enthusiastic Swiss Nazi collaborator named François Caussidière.

The Vatican was very efficient the day Jacob contacted the priest at the Church of the Twelve Apostles. Through the mediation of the Vatican’s Pontificio Istituto Teutonico Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome—a seminary for Austrian and German priests and the Roman conduit for the Swiss/Argentine Ratline—Jacob was able to speak directly to Caussidière.

“Caussidière here,” the Swiss collaborator answered.

“ODESSA code ‘SpecialSwissEmigration No. 1945,’” Jacob answered.

“What is needed?”

“Documents for twenty-four to allow safe transit into Switzerland, avoidance of search of my six trucks, and a warm welcome at the UBS in Geneva.”

“Your documents will be prepared by the Vatican Emigration Service and the Commissione Pontificia d’Assistenza [Vatican Refugee Organization] and will be ready in six days. Stop at the Konstanz Cathedral in Konstanz, Baden-Wurttemberg, Lake Constance region. Pope Pius XII raised it to a papal Basilica Minor. You cannot miss it. Lake Constance is the only area in Europe where no borders exist, because there is no legally binding agreement as to where the borders lie between Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. You will have no difficulty.”

“And, once we are in Switzerland?”

“Immediately across the border, you will be met by trusted men who answer to me. They will see to your safe passage.”

“I cannot thank you enough, Herr Caussidière.”

“It is my humble duty. Heil Hitler!”

“Seig Heil [Hail, my Leader]!” Jacob answered and ended the call.

Dusk was approaching by the time Jacob returned to the convoy. He knew the men would not have been able to get out for food and water and had to be famished. He stopped at a restaurant and bought twenty full meals. He was received with enthusiasm.

Jacob conveyed all he had learned to Michaele, then asked, “What next, Oberführer?”

“We head to Brienne le Chateâu to get Antoine and the others out of that hellhole.”

“It is possible that we will run into trouble and will endanger the mission, Oberführer.”

“Saving Antoine and the ‘Gebirgsjägers’ is every bit a part of the mission, Obersturmführer [SS-Senior Storm Leader] Bunnemann. Never under any circumstances ever think differently.”

“Ja wohl!” Jacob replied vigorously.

“Have the men check the weapons and ammunition, Obersturmführer. We will be ready for whatever comes. We are SS.”

Jacob nodded without demurrer and gathered the other men. When it was fully dark, they moved out and drove to the preplanned rendezvous for restocking and planning their crossing into Switzerland. They stopped in a copse of trees to the north of the Konstanz Cathedral in Konstanz, Baden-Wurttemberg. The cathedral was run by priests who were part of the Vatican Refugee Organization and who were waiting for them.

Michaele insisted that they trust no one at this point. He ordered the men to hide their trucks, and he went alone to the rear door of the cathedral. He reasoned that—if he were taken—the mission still had a chance to succeed. He rapped softly on the door in a pattern which had been agreed upon during Jacob’s telephone conversation with François Caussidière—the Latin Gregorian chant, Adoro Te Devote. The rhythm of the chant was simple, easy to remember, and so familiar that any priest throughout the world was familiar with it. Michaele and Jacob had practiced the beat repeatedly to avoid confusion.

It was obvious that he was expected. A man’s voice came from behind the heavy oak door.

“What is wanted?”

“I come with the Holy Father’s blessing,” Michaele said, repeating the prearranged identification code.

“State your purpose.”

“We are émigrés with intent to travel into Switzerland to obtain religious freedom and to fight godless Bolshevism.”

“You may enter, Brother.”

With that invitation, the great door swung open; and five bearded young men in Franciscan Friars Minor Capuchin brown cloaks and hoods stood facing Michaele with automatic rifles pointing at his chest.

“Pardon our caution, Brother. With the Americans and the communists, one can never be cautious enough. Are you alone?”

“I am alone at the door, but my men are close. Is it safe?”

The priest nodded his head.

The priests escorted Michaele into the main area of the cathedral—a simple cruciform plan with a nave of four square bays, a square crossing, a transept that projected by half a bay one each side, and an apse. There were no aisles. The building combined both Romanesque and Gothic styles which had not been altered nor improved in two centuries. There were rows of frescoes along the walls which had deteriorated from damp and decay. The floors were covered with what had once been very handsome inlaid tiles, but which had become chipped and some areas replaced with mismatching pieces. The Order had not had the funds to maintain the cathedral as it should have been, let alone to make improvements. The promise of reward from Nazi treasure was no small incentive to the Franciscans. Michaele was led to a small chapel located at right angles to one arm of the cruciform extensions. It was much better kept and had well-maintained tall Gothic windows designed and periodically cleaned and releaded by German craftsmen from the same families who made the originals. The pews were made of deep dark hardwood and polished to a waxy gleam. They were built at hard right angles to maintain the proper level of discomfort.

“Behind the altar is where we do the document preparation. Our work is masked by genuine work being done to restore medieval manuscripts. We have fourteen copies of the New Testament under way. You and your men will have to come in; so, we can make photographs for the identification cards and papers; and so we can produce papers with reasonably plausible birthdates and physical descriptions. We have only a few hours before it becomes too light to be safe; so, please fetch your companions; and we’ll get underway,” Brother Luke requested.

Michaele was led back outside and hurried to where the ODESSA men were secluded. All eight men trotted back to the cathedral which was only a silhouette in the dim light, its Romanesque bell tower and sharp turret looking like a menacing specter suggestive of the guard tower of a large POW camp. Six hours later, Michaele was satisfied with the quality of the brothers’ work, especially the details of aging and wear that indicated frequent use. There were now eight new Swiss citizens ready to cross the border.

Brother Luke nodded to four of the brothers who left the chapel and were gone for ten minutes. When they returned, they were pulling a cart laden with FN machine guns and crates of ammunition.

“Is this sufficient?” Brother Luke asked Michaele.

“Better than we could have hoped,” Michaele answered.

The friars and ODESSA men took the weaponry to the trucks and loaded them into secure but accessible locations.

“Go then in peace, my son,” Brother Luke said. “Remember us in your prayers.”

Michaele had to laugh inwardly at the possibility that a prayer of his would have efficacy, but he kept his expression strictly neutral.

“We will do better than that,” he said.

He whispered to Jacob, who went out to the lead truck and returned with four gold ingots loaded on the cart.

Brother Luke said with heartfelt enthusiasm, “We are grateful to you, my Brothers and to our God that He has made us part of this holy work. We were privileged to visit and to provide comfort to many of the victims in the heinous American and French prisons and concentration camps such as Bad Kreuznach—Lager Galgenberg und Bretzenheim PWTE and Brienne le Chateâu. It was with God’s grace that we have been able to give aid and to help some of them escape with false identity papers. Bless you, my sons. May God and the holy saints protect you as you continue your pilgrimage.”

With that blessing, the hardened Nazis left their cover in the trees and headed for Brienne le Chateâu and POW camp 63.