Military and Political Situation
The military and political situations during the last year and a half of the war should be briefly recalled. This was the time of the German occupation of Rome (second phase), the slow Allied advance from Anzio, and the bombing of Montecassino. The closing months saw the war front advancing on the cities of Northern Italy, threatening these seats of earlier culture with utter destruction. Hostages were often shot in reprisal for acts of resistance to the occupation. The number of prisoners of war falling into the Allied hands multiplied, and in Germany, hundreds of thousands of Italians stood without protection as "military internees". The formula of unconditional surrender proclaimed by the Allies was met with "total mobilization" in the Reich along with stern repression of all signs of "defeatism". As the war drew to its climax, neither side felt constrained to consider the victims. The iron law of war left little room for the work of any would-be Good Samaritans. The Holy See, however, refused to reconcile itself to this inhumane atmosphere, and it continued to insist on its humanitarian role, despite misunderstanding, failures, and even opposition.
The work of the Vatican Information Office was a visible sign of the Holy Father's paternal solicitude for all victims of war, notwithstanding their nationality, political opinion, race or religion. It consisted of transmitting the names of persons taken prisoner or interned. In many cases, this was the first information received by anxious families about loved ones known to be in the theater of war. Previous volumes in this series discuss the importance attached by Pius XII to this service, one of the few ways in which he could publicly demonstrate his humanitarian concern.