740.00116 European War 1939/590
Mr. Harold H. Tittmann, Assistant to the President’s Personal Representative to Pope Pius XII, to the Cardinal Secretary of State (Maglione)7
Memorandum
In accordance with instructions received from his Government, the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States to the Holy See8 has the honor to call the attention of His Eminence the Cardinal Secretary of State to the cruel and inhuman treatment by the Hitler forces of the civil populations in areas occupied by the Germans, he desires to point out that these incredible horrors have been universally condemned and that this universal condemnation has been reflected in the expressions of all free peoples.
The Chargé d’Affaires has also been authorized by his Government to point out the helpful effect that a similar condemnation of these atrocities by the Holy Father would have in bringing about some check on the unbridled and uncalled-for actions of the forces of the Nazi regime.
- Copy transmitted to the Department by Mr. Tittmann in his despatch No. 114, September 15; received October 14.↩
- Myron Taylor, the Personal Representative of the President to Pope Pius XII, was absent from the Vatican. In his absence, Mr. Tittmann was Chargé at the Vatican, but he was not accredited to the Holy See.↩