Heiliger Stuhl, Drittes Reich und Radio Vaticana : Die Beziehungen zwischen dem Vatikan und dem nationalsozialistischen Deutschland im Spiegel des päpstlichen Rundfunksenders (1936–1943)

This article intends to show that the German language broadcasts of Vatican Radio influenced relations between the Holy See and the Third Reich in the period between the start of the station’s radio broadcasts and 1943. As emerges from the analysis of published and unpublished sources, Vatican Radio seems to have been used as a Catholic propaganda tool in Germany, but also as an instrument of diplomacy. Vatican radio continued to broadcast in German and to attract listeners even after Goebbels’ decree of 1 September 1939 forbidding people to listen to foreign radio stations. The Holy See, aware that its broadcasts were being monitored by the Sonderdienst Seehaus and of their importance not only for the population of Germany but also for its government, exploited them to spread specific ideas and messages depending on the circumstances and the progress of the war. The study of Vatican Radio thus represents a specific point of view from which to understand the Holy See’s attitude towards National Socialism and its actions during the Second World War.