Church of Spies
The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler
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Narrated by:
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Fred Sanders
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By:
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Mark Riebling
About this listen
The Vatican's silence in the face of Nazi atrocities remains one of the great controversies of our time. History has accused wartime pontiff Pius the Twelfth of complicity in the Holocaust and dubbed him "Hitler's Pope". But a key part of the story has remained untold.
Pius ran the world's largest church, smallest state, and oldest spy service. Saintly but secretive, he skimmed from church charities to pay covert couriers and surreptitiously tape-recorded his meetings with top Nazis. When he learned of the Holocaust, Pius played his cards close to his chest. He sent birthday cards to Hitler - while secretly plotting to kill him.
Church of Spies documents this cloak-and-dagger intrigue in shocking detail. Gun-toting Jesuits stole blueprints to Hitler's homes. A Catholic book publisher flew a sports plane over the Alps with secrets filched from the head of Hitler's bodyguard. The keeper of the Vatican crypt ran a spy ring that betrayed German war plans and wounded Hitler in a briefcase bombing.
The plotters made history in ways they hardly expected. They inspired European unification, forged a US-Vatican alliance that spanned the Cold War, and challenged Church teachings on Jews. Yet Pius' secret war muted his public response to Nazi crimes. Fearing that overt protest would impede his covert actions, he never spoke the "fiery words" he wanted.
Told with heart-pounding suspense, based on secret transcripts and unsealed files, Church of Spies throws open the Vatican's doors to reveal some of the most astonishing events in the history of the papacy. The result is an unprecedented audiobook that will change perceptions of how the world's greatest moral institution met the greatest moral crisis in history.
©2015 Mark Riebling (P)2015 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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The Kremlin intrigues, the private worlds of the Soviet Empire's ruling class, Radzinsky thrillingly brings them to life. And the riddle of that most cold-blooded of leaders, a man for whom nothing was sacred in his pursuit of absolute might, and perhaps the greatest mass murderer in Western history, is solved.
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A Great Book About a Great Tyrant
- By Moon Man on 05-01-05
By: Edvard Radzinsky
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Sisters in Resistance
- How a German Spy, a Banker's Wife, and Mussolini's Daughter Outwitted the Nazis
- By: Tilar J. Mazzeo
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1944, Benito Mussolini's daughter, Edda, gave Hitler and her father an ultimatum: release her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, from prison, or risk her leaking her husband's journals to the press. To avoid the peril of exposing Nazi lies, Hitler and Mussolini hunted for the diaries for months, determined to destroy them. Hilde Beetz, a German spy, was deployed to seduce Ciano to learn the diaries' location and take them from Edda. Drawing from in‑depth research and first-person interviews, Mazzeo gives listeners a riveting look into this little‑known moment in history.
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Fascinating WW2 account of women in resistance
- By lgmichael on 10-30-23
By: Tilar J. Mazzeo
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Trotsky
- Downfall of a Revolutionary
- By: Bertrand M. Patenaude
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary, Stanford University lecturer Bertrand M. Patenaude tells the dramatic story of Leon Trotsky's final years in exile in Mexico. Shedding new light on Trotsky's tumultuous friendship with painter Diego Rivera, his affair with Rivera’s wife Frida Kahlo, and his torment as his family and comrades become victims of the Great Terror, Trotsky: Downfall ofa Revolutionary brilliantly illuminates the fateful and dramatic life of one of history's most famous yet elusive figures.
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Good Trotsky Book, BAD conclusions at end
- By Darius on 02-09-15
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The Butcher's Trail
- How the Search for Balkan War Criminals Became the World's Most Successful Manhunt
- By: Julian Borger
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Written with a thrilling narrative pull, The Butcher's Trail chronicles the pursuit and capture of the Balkan war criminals indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. Borger recounts how Radovan Karadžic and Ratko Mladic - both now on trial in The Hague - were finally tracked down and describes the intrigue behind the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav president who became the first head of state to stand before an international tribunal for crimes perpetrated in a time of war.
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The most comprehensive and unbiased account of ICTY’s inception and development to date
- By AR on 04-18-22
By: Julian Borger
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Thirteen Days in September
- Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Lawrence Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping day-by-day account of the 1978 Camp David conference, when President Jimmy Carter persuaded Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to sign the first peace treaty in the modern Middle East, one which endures to this day.
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Lessons in Negotiation
- By David on 06-18-15
By: Lawrence Wright
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The Pope at War
- The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler
- By: David I. Kertzer
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his papers were sealed in the Vatican Secret Archives, leaving unanswered questions about what he knew and did during World War II. Those questions have only grown and festered, making Pius XII one of the most controversial popes in Church history, especially now as the Vatican prepares to canonize him.
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Intellectually dishonest
- By ReviewAmazon384 on 04-08-23
By: David I. Kertzer
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The Assassination of Heydrich
- Hitler's Hangman and the Czech Resistance
- By: Jan G. Wiener
- Narrated by: Mark Kamish
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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If you only listen to one book about what it felt like to be present during the worst time in modern human history, a time when your life could be snuffed out for having the mere thought of opposition against the Nazi regime, this should be the book. It is told by survivors and by one of the greatest survivors of them all, Jan Wiener.
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Hard to listen to
- By Amazon Customer on 01-26-23
By: Jan G. Wiener
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The Trial of Adolf Hitler
- The Beer Hall Putsch and the Rise of Nazi Germany
- By: David King
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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February 26, 1924 was the first day of the greatly anticipated high treason trial that would galvanize Germany - but few in the courtroom that morning anticipated that the leading defendant, General Erich Ludendorff, whose risky offensives during World War I doomed Germany to defeat, would soon be eclipsed by the private first class at his side, Adolf Hitler. Hitler was charged with treason after unsuccessfully trying to seize power in the notorious Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in 1923.
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Story largely untold
- By DLKFC on 08-25-19
By: David King
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Prevail
- The Inspiring Story of Ethiopia's Victory over Mussolini's Invasion, 1935-1941
- By: Jeff Pearce, Richard Pankhurst - foreword
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 24 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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It was the war that changed everything, and yet it's been mostly forgotten: in 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. It dominated newspaper headlines and newsreels. It inspired mass marches in Harlem, a play on Broadway, and independence movements in Africa. As the British Navy sailed into the Mediterranean for a white-knuckle showdown with Italian ships, riots broke out in major cities all over the United States.
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This is not a history, it's a package of anecdotes
- By M2 on 02-03-15
By: Jeff Pearce, and others
What listeners say about Church of Spies
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- jdannels
- 10-27-18
Well written historical account
Well written historical account of what happened behind the scenes during WWII. The pope’s public silence was not compliance when you understand what was going on behind the scenes.This was like Schindler’s List on steroids!!!
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- NF
- 11-23-18
Truth finally re Pius XII vs Nazis in WWII
Finally, real historical facts countering the big lie re Pius XII vs the Nazis in WWII. Compelling facts told in a dramatic narrative. Wonderful.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Nathaniel Polley
- 01-18-19
A Thriller and A History
By far one of the best books I've listened to in a long time. The narrator is perfect, and the story is gripping.
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- LucyP
- 01-07-23
Impressive story of courage
While at times confusing in rapid switches of dates and locations, it’s a wonderful story of courage and perseverance in the face of unprecedented attack. Especially the hand of Joseph Muller in the German Resistance.
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- Stephen
- 11-21-15
Church of Spies - Background for Film Valkyrie
I enjoyed this book because is touched on the difficult decisions leaders had to make in WWII about publically supporting groups at risk in Nazi Germany. Speaking out may have not been the correct decisions since it only drew more attention to the groups attempting to subvert the Third Reich and who were assisting Jews and Christians out of the SS and Gestapo view. Even the decision of the FDR to push for unconditional surrender pf Germany may have prolonged the war versus getting the sympathetic leadership to assassinate Hitler and sue for peace if they thought that Germany would be portioned and horribly punished for Hitler's action. Finally, it showed that Germany was not a monolith culture of Nazism. As in all conflicts, the range of people in Germany went from true Nazi believers to people doing their duty to the Fatherland to neutrals and fence sitters to the those of the underground resistance.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Da super bros.
- 11-11-16
Great, too-little-told story of the Church.
Highly recommended book about how the Catholic Church fought the evils of Nazism during WWII.
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- J
- 01-28-18
Pope Pius XII in Plot to Assassinate Hitler
This thoroughly documented account of the role of the Vatican and Pope Pius XII in collaborating with the German Catholic underground has many fascinating details. Of particular ethical interest is the Catholic argument for the legitimacy of tyrannicide.
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- Jess T
- 04-11-16
Fantastic detail, well-researched
Mark Riebling did his homework, and Fred Sanders does an excellent job reading the story.
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- Frances Rouse
- 04-16-17
Outstanding
I decided to listen to this book to get the real story of the Catholic Church in WWII - wonderfully read
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- Megan MacNeal
- 07-21-23
Eye opening and excellent
For any WW ll buff or historian this is a must read.
Well documented history about the persecution of Catholics ( pew to Priest) and Catholics of Jewish Ancestory.
I am not Catholic, but gained a new respect for them, especially as they attempted to assist… don’t want to give it away.
I’ve listened more than once it is that good!
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