Warburg in RomeBy James Carroll(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 365 pages; $28)Seventy years after the liberation of Rome from Nazi occupation, disturbing questions remain regarding the role of the Vatican during the Holocaust. Damning archival documentation reveals the blind eye turned by holy and unholy alliances, so that high-ranking Nazis were not merely sheltered in flight through Italy but actively provided with safe escape routes out of Europe. Not coincidentally, the novel references the real-life work of Raoul Wallenberg - the Swedish special envoy to Budapest credited with saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from transport to death camps during the war's final stages. With its thriller pacing and psychological intrigue, "Warburg in Rome" addresses not only the uncertain "fate of the Jews" but also the ethical dilemmas posed by shifting alliances across the mutating borders of immediate postwar Europe. Croatian fascism tied to the Franciscans; the Holy See plotting to castle Tito with Pavelic; Church congregations, tribunals, and commissions at the service of Nazi fugitives; powerful figures of the Roman Curia, beginning with Tardini and Tisserant, sponsoring criminal escape in the name of mercy.
Reported by SFGate 36 minutes ago.
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