page_title: Pope Pius XII and the German Resistance
section_title: Josef Müller mission
hierarchical_section_title: Pope Pius XII and the German Resistance / Pope and Resistance / Josef Müller mission
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Ludwig Beck ADN-Zentralbild / Archiv General der Artillerie Ludwig Beck, Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres, geb.: 29.6.1880 gest.: 20.7.1944 Beck war einer der Hauptbeteiligten an der Verschwörung gegen Hitler vom 20.7.1944 und nahm sich nach dem Mißlingen des Attentats das Leben. (Aufnahme 1937) [Porträt General Ludwig Beck] Abgebildete Personen: Beck, Ludwig: Generaloberst, Heer, 20.7.1944 hingerichtet, Deutschland
context_page_description: During the Second World War, Pope Pius XII maintained links to the German resistance to Nazism against Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Although remaining publicly neutral, Pius advised the British in 1940 of the readiness of certain German generals to overthrow Hitler if they could be assured of an honourable peace, offered assistance to the German resistance in the event of a coup and warned the Allies of the planned German invasion of the Low Countries in 1940. The Nazis considered that the Pope had engaged in acts equivalent to espionage.
context_section_description: In the winter of 1939-1940, the Bavarian lawyer and reserve 'Abwehr' officer Josef Müller, acting as an emissary for the early German military opposition against Hitler then centered on General  Franz Halder, the chief of staff of the German army, contacted Monsignore Ludwig Kaas, the exiled leader of the German Catholic Zentrum party, in Rome, hoping to use the Pope as an intermediary to contact the British. Kaas put Müller in contact with Father Robert Leiber, who personally asked the Pope to relay the information about the German resistance to the British. Müller had known the Pope since his time as nuncio in Munich, and they had stayed in contact. The Pope's Private Secretary, Robert Leiber, acted as the intermediary between Pius and the Resistance. He met with Müller, who visited Rome in 1939 and 1940.
caption: Colonel General Ludwig Beck, a key figure in the German Resistance, secretly advised the Pope of plots against Hitler through emissaries.
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