Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis (48 page)

237
Dulles received an urgent phone call
Ibid., 62.

237
“a Chinaman’s chance”
Ibid., 64.

238
On Dulles’s behalf. . . .“startled”. . . . By asking for the release
Ibid., 65.

238
In December 1944
Salter,
Nazi War Crimes
, 96.

238
On January 31, 1945
Cable 29479, Glavin to Dulles and Donovan, 31 January 1945, Donovan Papers, Churchill Archives Centre, DOVN Acc 847, Box 12, Reel 76.

238
“without entering [into] any negotiations”
Salter,
Nazi War Crimes
, 97.

239
On March 8 . . . “Gero, are you standing or sitting?”. . . . “Because if you’re standing”
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 74–75.

239
Earlier in the day
Ibid.

239
Dulles decided to meet with Wolff
Ibid., 78; Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
, 103.

239
Wolff’s curriculum vitae
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender,
78.

239
“The present Pope”
Ibid.

Chapter 23: Operation Sunrise

241
With a grandfather and an uncle. . . . Dulles became the head
Dulles,
From Hitler’s Doorstep
, 2–6.

241
In October 1941, Dulles
Anthony Cave Brown,
The Last Hero: Wild Bill Donovan
(New York: Vintage Books, 1982), 275.

241
Special Assistant to the Minister
Dulles,
From Hitler’s Doorstep
, 5.

242
He was shrewd, daring, and ambitious
Ibid., 5, 19.

242
“A handsome man”
Ibid., 80–81.

242
“At this stage we were more interested”
Dulles and Gaevernitz, “The First German Surrender,” 6.

242
Following introductions. . . . The discussions took place in German.
No handshakes: Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 269.

242
“a crime against the German people” . . . “that from the early days”
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender,
81.

242
“I control the SS forces in Italy”
Ibid.

242
225,000 troops
Dulles,
From Hitler’s Doorstep
, 479. Dulles telegram 7329, March 20, 1945.

242
Army Group C, comprising twenty-seven divisions
“German Forces OB Southwest 12 April 1945,” Combined Arms Research Library, Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle, http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/945GDBJ.pdf.

242
“joint action with Kesselring”
Dulles,
From Hitler’s Doorstep
, 468. Dulles telegram 6689, March 9, 1945.

243
“would have vital repercussions.”
Dulles and Gaevernitz, “The First German Surrender,” 22 May 1945, 7.

243
attacks against Italian partisans
Dulles,
From Hitler’s Doorstep,
468.

243
oath of loyalty
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 28–29.

243
Wolff would have to persuade
Dulles and Gaevernitz, “The First German Surrender,” 7.

243
“Gentlemen, if you will be patient”
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 269.

243
The following day
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
, 103.

243
On March 8. . . . Führer appointed him Commander-in-Chief in the West
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, 768.

244
Once Wolff reached his headquarters
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
, 103.

244
Wolff decided to tell Kaltenbrunner
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 86.

244
He bristled at the thought
Letter, Ringler to Langsdorff, 11 November 1944, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive, Rome; Ringler, “Gedächtnis-Protokoll (private Aufzeichnung des Dr. Ringler),” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/440.

244
in the snow
Cooper and DeWald, “Report on the German Kunstschutz,” NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 71, 17.

244
“So if we want to take this responsibility”. . . . “The withdrawal of many German Wehrmacht departments”
Letter, Ringler to Langsdorff, 6 March 1945, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive.

245
“Those precious items have been rescued”
Letter, Langsdorff to Ringler, 12 March 1945, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive.

245
“the responsibility for the entire Italian works of art”
Ibid.

245
Wolff was prepared to act alone
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 87.

245
scorched piece of fabric
Dulles and Gaevernitz, “The First German Surrender,” 11.

245
While returning to his headquarters
Dulles and Gaevernitz, “The First German Surrender,” 11. The two earliest documents describing these events—the Dulles and Gaevernitz report and that of Ted Ryan (May 25, 1945)—provide matching details of the March 9 strafing incident. However, the event recounted by Dulles in his 1966 book differs significantly by stating that the attack took place after Wolff supposedly drove to Kesselring’s headquarters on March 11–12 hoping to obtain further details about the Generalfeldmarschall’s appointment, a trip that makes no apparent sense. Further, there is no mention of Wolff’s near-death experience in any of his secretly taped conversations, interrogations, or interviews, or in his autobiography; nor in Dulles’s notes or Dulles’s cables to Donovan. Dulles’s cable 6969 (to Donovan in Paris), dated March 12, 1945, does summarize his meeting with Parrilli, but makes no mention of the strafing incident.

245
“good sense of humor”
“DULLES,” NARA, RG 226, Entry 190C, Box 8, 13.

245 * Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 3.

245
The second meeting with Dulles
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
, 107–10.

246
Wolff was unaware that Dulles
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 97.

246
Wolff greeted Dulles with the news
Ibid., 98–99.

246
“If you can give me”
Ibid., 100.

246
“military advisers,”
Ibid., 103.

246
The somber atmosphere marked
Ibid., 104.

246
Wolff, anticipating the awkwardness
Ibid., 103.

246
Wolff departed for Italy
Ibid., 106.

247
“the Germans had a V-weapon site”
Hartt,
Florentine Art Under Fire
, 79.

247
“All we knew was that the works of art”
Ibid., 78.

247
When Marchese Serlupi Crescenzi
Ibid., 96–97.

248
“may be shipped across the Swiss border”
“Visit to Switzerland,” 26 March 1945, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/297.

248
“Works of Art Removed by Germans to North Italy”. . . . “agents of OSS endeavor”
22 March 1945, Hartt Papers, Box 4, Folder 2.

248
“disposition of works of art”
Proctor to Hartt, “Removal of Works of Art by Germans,” 25 March 1945, Hartt Papers, Box 3, Folder 15.

248
Officer in Charge, N. Italy City Teams
“Exploitation of Intelligence in N. Italy,” 27 March 1945, NARA, RG 226, Entry 190C, Box 92.

248
some sixteen in all
“Final Operations Section Report, Period 16 April to 25 May,” 26 May 1945, NARA, RG 226, Entry 190C, Box 109, Final Report of Co. D, 3 June 1945.

248
Cagiati limited Anelli’s initial assignment
Don Guido Anelli, Report to Giovanni Poggi, November 1945, Private Collection, Italy.

248
received instructions to make contact with the Patriarch of Venice,
Ferraro, “La resistenza veneta in difesa delle opere d’arte,”
Il Ponte
, September (1954), 128; Memo by Marchese Filippo Serlupi Crescenzi (no date, no signature, but Filippo Serlupi’s name is handwritten at the end of the document), Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.154, 4.

249
“to chase all over the place at will”
Letter to DeWald, 30 March 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 33.

249
“I hope you won’t mind”
Ibid.

249
“in view of Hofer’s anti-Italian feeling” . . . “confessed to me”. . . . Hofer apparently distrusted Ringler
Carlo Anti, “Removal of Works of Art from Tuscany to Bolzano,” 23 June 1945, John Bryan Ward-Perkins Papers, British School at Rome, Box C.

250
“the Gauleiter in agreement”
Ringler, “Gedächtnis-Protokoll (private Aufzeichnung des Dr. Ringler),” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/440.

250
“the farmers are tired of this”
Ringler letter to Langsdorff, 15 March 1945, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive.

250
“Dangerous are the South Tyroleans,”
Carlo Anti, “Agenda 1945,” 17 March 1945, Anti Papers, Serie 1, n.2.

250
On March 21, Wolff set out
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
, 111.

250
With field telephones ringing
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 109.

250
“The idea is a good one”
Dulles, “Diary-notes of events leading to the surrender of the German armies in Italy,” Notes of Wolff & Harster, 24.

251
After another harrowing drive,
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers,
113.

251
Wolff had known Himmler
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 18–19.

251
“feeling guilty of having wasted”
Ibid., 193.

251
“If the schoolboy Karl”
Ibid.

251
Wolff’s mistress, however
Ibid., 192, 196.

251
“liebes Wölffchen”
Letter, Heinrich Himmler to Karl Wolff, 28 March 1944, BArch SS-F.P. 10-c, Bundesarchiv Berlin.

251
“one of his closest and oldest associates”
Salter,
Nazi War Crimes
, 46; Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 219.

251
“whom I have come to love as a friend”
Salter,
Nazi War Crimes
, 43.

252
His continual prodding of Himmler to dismiss Wolff
Ibid., 36; Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers,
142.

252
Himmler and Kaltenbrunner had been informed
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 38, 86, 112.

252
While Wolff had ready explanations. . . . The problem soon became clear
Ibid., 112.

252
had fallen in his disfavor
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 280.

252
Minor bruises aside
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
, 115.

253
relocating his second wife. . . . He intended to get them
Ibid., 116, 134.

253
On March 30, Wolff had arranged. . . . This message encouraged
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 108.

253
But on Monday, April 2. . . . Wolff received a distressing phone call
Ibid., 109.

253
“This was imprudent of you”. . . . Himmler added
Ibid.

253
He also believed that Himmler
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
, 120.

254
“It’s not half as bad”
Dulles,
The Secret Surrender
, 110.

254
“Wolff had not sent a single word”
Ibid., 111.

Chapter 24: Complications

255
Göring supervised the final packing. . . . Some items had to be left
Report No. 2, The Goering Collection, September 1945, O.S.S. Art Looting Investigation Unit Consolidated Interrogation Reports, NARA, M1782, 171.

255
Göring arranged for it to be moved
Anna Maria Sigmund,
Die Frauen der Nazis
(Munich: Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 2000), 65.

255
Göring left orders
Yeide,
Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: The Hermann Goering Collection
, 16.

255
On March 28
Report No. 2, The Goering Collection, September 1945, attachment 10, “Art Objects from Monte Cassino, indicated as Goering’s property.”

255
thousands of paintings, drawings
Report No. 4, Linz: Hitler’s Museum and Library, December 1945, O.S.S. Art Looting Investigation Unit Consolidated Interrogation Reports, NARA, M1782, 78.

256
attention!—marble—do not drop
Ernst Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
(Vienna: ORAC Buch- und Zeitschriftenverlag, 1989), 99; Pöchmüller,
Weltkunstschaetze in Gefahr
, 54.

256
“international Jewry”
Katharina Hammer,
Glanz im Dunkel: die Bergung von Kunstschätzen im Salzkammergut am Ende des 2. Weltkrieges
(Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1986), 130.

256
he would destroy the salt mine
Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 141–56; Pöchmüller,
Weltkunstschätze in Gefahr
, 8, 49–51.

256
“We have received the following message”
Cagiati to Hartt, “Removal of Works of Art by Germans,” April 3, 1945, Hartt Papers, Box 3, Folder 16.

256
Ferraro had initially
Ferraro, “Memo,” signed Antonio, 10 April 1945, Poggi Papers, n.155, 5.

256
In late February, Anti had contacted
Anti, “Removal of Works of Art from Tuscany to Bolzano,” 23 June 1945.

257
“A decision in this instance”
Langsdorff, “Aktenvermerk, Betr.: Bergungsdepots im Alpenvorland,” 6 March 1945, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive, Rome.

257
the following day Anti heard
Anti, “Removal of Works of Art from Tuscany to Bolzano,” 23 June 1945.