38 Facts About Alois Hudal

Alois Karl Hudal was an Austrian bishop of the Catholic Church, based in Rome.

Alois Hudal, the son of a shoemaker, was born on 31 May 1885 in Graz, Austria, and studied theology there from 1904 to 1908.

Alois Hudal was ordained to the priesthood in July 1908.

Alois Hudal became a specialist on the liturgy, doctrine and spirituality of the Slavic-speaking Eastern Orthodox Churches while a parish priest in Kindberg.

Alois Hudal entered the Teutonic College of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome where he was a chaplain from 1911 to 1913 and attended courses in Old Testament at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

Alois Hudal earned his Doctor of Sacred Scripture degree with a dissertation on, published in 1914.

Alois Hudal joined the faculty for Old Testament studies at the University of Graz in 1914.

Alois Hudal became the public face of advocacy for Austria, the Austrian bishops' conference, and Austrian prestige in the Vatican, as German groups attempted to reestablish their influence at the Anima.

In June 1933, Alois Hudal was consecrated titular bishop of Aela by Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, who had succeeded Merry del Val as the cardinal protector of the German national church at Rome.

From 1933 on, Alois Hudal publicly embraced the pan-Germanic nationalism he had previously condemned, proclaiming that he wished to be a "servant and herald" of "the total German cause".

Alois Hudal's ideas were similar to the political and economic ideas of such fascist politicians as Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg, Franz von Papen, and Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.

Alois Hudal was most concerned with the rise of the international communist movement and worker parties in Austria.

Alois Hudal had another reason to hope for a German-led defeat of Russia.

Alois Hudal expected that the invasion of the Soviet Union by European forces would serve these aims.

Alois Hudal is said to have received a Golden Party Badge, but this is disputed.

In Vienna in 1937, Alois Hudal published a book entitled The Foundations of National Socialism, with an imprimatur from Archbishop Theodor Innitzer, in which he enthusiastically endorsed Hitler.

Alois Hudal sent Hitler a copy with a handwritten dedication praising him as "the new Siegfried of Germany's greatness".

Alois Hudal criticized the works of several Nazi ideologues, like Alfred Rosenberg and Ernst Bergmann, who despised Christianity and considered it "alien to Germanic genius".

Rosenberg's reaction to Alois Hudal's ideas was severe, and the circulation of The Foundations of National Socialism was restricted in Germany.

Alois Hudal was particularly close to von Papen, who as the Reich's ambassador in Vienna prepared the German-Austrian agreement of 11 July 1936, which some claim paved the way for the Anschluss.

When, in 1937, Alois Hudal published his book on the foundations of Nazism, Church authorities were upset because of his deviation from Church policy and teachings.

Alois Hudal, without mentioning names, had openly questioned the Vatican policy of Pope Pius XI and Eugenio Pacelli towards Nazism, which culminated in the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, in which the Vatican openly attacked National Socialism.

The 1937 Alois Hudal book froze his steady rise in Rome and resulted in his leaving the city after the war.

Alois Hudal had proposed a "truly Christian National Socialism": education and church affairs would be controlled by the Church, while political discourse would remain exclusively National Socialist.

Alois Hudal saw a direct link between Jews and Marxism, lamenting their alleged dominance in academic occupations, and supporting segregation legislation against Jews in order to protect against foreign influence.

Alois Hudal continued as pastoral head of the Anima Church and College but had no position in the Vatican and no access to Pope Pius XII or his senior staff.

Alois Hudal is said to have met Rauff then and to have begun some cooperation with him that was useful afterwards in the establishment of an escape network for Nazis, including for Rauff himself.

In 1945, Allied-occupied Austria forced Alois Hudal to give up his Graz professorship; however Alois Hudal appealed on a technicality and regained it two years later.

Alois Hudal is credited with helping, networking and organising the escape of war criminals such as Franz Stangl, commanding officer of Treblinka.

Alois Hudal arranged quarters in Rome for him until his carta di riconoscimento came through, then gave him money and a visa to Syria.

In 1994, Erich Priebke, a former SS captain, told Italian journalist Emanuela Audisio of la Repubblica, that Hudal helped him reach Buenos Aires, verified by Church historian Robert A Graham, a Jesuit priest from the United States.

Alois Hudal's ratline was supposedly financed by his friend Walter Rauff, with some funds allegedly coming from Giuseppe Siri, the recently appointed auxiliary bishop and archbishop of Genoa.

Alois Hudal assumed that the Holy See's policy during and after the war was entirely controlled by the western Allies.

Alois Hudal said the justice of the Allies and the Soviets had resulted in show trials and lynchings, including the major trials at Nuremberg.

Alois Hudal's activities caused a press scandal in 1947 after he was accused of leading a Nazi smuggling ring by the Passauer Neue Presse, a German Catholic newspaper, but, as in 1923, playing the Austrian versus the Vatican and German cards, he only resigned as rector of Santa Maria dell'Anima in 1952, under joint pressure from German and Austrian bishops and the Holy See.

Alois Hudal resided afterwards in Grottaferrata, near Rome, where in 1962 he wrote his embittered memoirs called, published posthumously in 1976.

Alois Hudal's diaries were published in Austria 13 years after his death and describe perceived Vatican injustices he experienced under Pius XI and Pius XII after the publication of his book.

Alois Hudal maintained the opinion that a bargain among socialism, nationalism and Christianity was the only realistic way of securing the future.