Hide & Seek: The Irish Priest In The Vatican Who Defied The Nazi Command

- Added new perspectives to the 4 other books I know of on the same subject. My great-Uncle was deeply involved so I have researched the events as widely as possible and this book added to my knowledge.The one negative was that it was delivered into my letterbox during a rainstorm, and the packaging was far from weatherproof so the book got very wet. After drying thoroughly so I could read it, It's no longer suitable for sitting on my shelf on display but that wasn't what I bought it for anyway. The content is still accessible and that's what mattered.

I had already read the book "The Scarlet and the Black" and had seen the movie by the same name when I came upon this book. I was already intrigued by the story, so when I saw this book, I decided to read it as well. "Hide and Seek" also focuses on Msgr. O'Flaherty and Colonel Kappler and covers much of the same territory as does "The Scarlet and the Black," but that book ends with the end of WWII. "Hide and Seek" goes beyond the end of the war and has approximately 100 more pages on what happened in the lives of Msgr. O'Flaherty and Kappler (and some others as well) after the war until their deaths. That is quite a story in itself."Hide and Seek" also focuses much more on the massacre at the Ardeatine Caves because that war atrocity had a great impact on what happened to Colonel Kappler after the end of the war."Hide and Seek" cites sources, although many of them are secondary; "The Scarlet and the Black" does not even do that. This book also has a bibliography and an Index, which are helpful. I enjoyed both books, but felt that "Hide and Seek" was better from the point of view of the additional material focusing on the aftermath of the war and because of the citations and other support material which help readers see the sources of the material in this controversial story. It also includes a good folio of photographs, but I would have hoped for more.Also, I felt that "The Scarlet and the Black" was almost like reading a movie script, especially after seeing the movie which closely follows that book. Both were good, but if I had to recommend reading just one it would be "Hide and Seek."

This is a very interesting book about how, an Irish priest stationed at the Vatican, tried to help the allies that were moving north behind enemy lines. Allies that had either escaped POW camps or bomber crews or figter pilots that perhaps had been shot down. The resourcefulness of the priest was amazing. The other message that comes thru is twofold, the fact that the SS were ruthless in their 9 month occupation of Rome and second, the fact that the Romans who survived the war neither forgave nor forgot how badly they had been mistreated during the occupation. The other thing that comes thru is the overwhelming fear that the Holy Father had that his neutral Vatican would become just another war prize and was therefore not supportive of the freedom trail that the Irish priest had developed for escaping allies. If the books lacks anything, it will wander from year to year. So one year we are in 1939, next we are in 1945 and it bounces back to 1944. A true chronological order would have been great. Lastly, the book is quite long so don't buy this book if you don't have the time to pore through alot of detail.

Another person in our facility had asked me to order a book about this event in history. She stated that she had read "The Scarlet and the Black" once before, and wanted to read it again. However, the copy I had ordered for our library was out. So, I looked at the other choices offered by Amazon and found this book. She has read it, and stated that she has learned so much more about the setting, the people, and the events that occurred. She said that this book puts what happened into a more complete context with wider focus and understanding for her. She also said she really wants to read it again because there was so much information. This one looks like a real plus for people who like history.

The story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty is spellbinding. He took so many risks to live his Catholic beliefs. Frankly, he was heroic

This is an unbelievable story of faith, mercy and redemption in World War II in Rome, I highly recommend it.

Amazing true story about a man who always remembered Jesus teachings of love and kindness even to enemies. A brave priest who kept his principles and did what was right even without the support of his superiors.

This is a fascinating story with lots of research and documentation regarding the life of this brave priest and his efforts to save people during the Nazi occupation of Italy and one of the Nazi general who tried to stop his efforts

This is a superb beautifully written book, which details the history of the appalling Nazi occupation of Rome during WW11 and the response of the Vatican and, in particular, the role of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty. This is a sweeping history encompassing all the principal players including the Nazi commanders. Little is left to the imagination including the gratuitous murder of 330 civilians in response to the partisan killing of 33 Nazi troops. However, O'Flaherty's selfless work, despite huge personal risk, to hide up to 4,000 allied prisoners of war and others from the grips of the Gestapo makes up the centrepiece of this book. The narrative makes clear that he did not do it all by himself, but he was undoubtedly the driving force. Yet despite the unspeakable wickedness of the Gestapo and its commander Herbert Kappler, Hugh O’Flaherty clearly forgave him. For years after the war, he was Kappler’s only prison visitor and finally received him into the Catholic faith. At the end of the war he worked as hard for the welfare of Axis prisoners as he had for Allied escaped prisoners of war. Very helpfully, we are given an insight into the lives of O’Flaherty and Kappler after the war. Kappler’s escape from a Rome hospital to his final days in Germany is particularly revealing.This is an exceptional book with a moral that should resonate now as much as it clearly did during WW11, but at the same time it is so exciting that, at times, I found quite difficult to put down.

Reads very much like a documentary, factual. Amazing that people like Father O'flaherty others risked their lives to help others, no matter what nationality they were in WW2. Also the ideology /culture of the third reich, the author gives the facts and lets you draw your own conclusions about Herbert Kappler, an ambitious individual. Enjoyed the read very much, liked that father o'flaherty hid from the limelight, he could have so easily been a superstar, after the war. I was taught at school the vatican remained neutral during the war, and did nothing, quite obviously the turned a blind eye to the british secret service and the priest's "work". Wished to remain neutral to stop the nazi's getting the vatican and also not be bombed, wished to save the historical buildings and their contents. Good read.

A fascinating account of the lives of two former enemies: Mgr Hugh O'Flaherty who served in the Vatican in World War II, and Colonel Herbert Kappler, head of the SS in Rome. I think what was especially helpful was that Kappler was portrayed with more nuance than, say, his portrayal in the film "The Scarlet and the Black;" not the cardboard cut-out nasty Nazi. I found it particularly moving to read this book during a stay in Rome, which included a visit to Via Tasso (the former HQ of the Gestapo in Rome) and the Fosse Adreatine, where Kappler organised the massacre of over 300 in March 1944; thus bringing home (if that were needed) something of the dreadful reality of Kappler's actions.

I had not read any reviews about this book when I picked it up in the bookshop. I chose it because I knew a little through the films made around this dreadful chapter in Italian/German history & I wanted to learn the truth behind those Box-office hits. I wasn't disappointed, Stephen Walker more than fulfilled my expectations. I agree with the previous reviewers it was truly unput'downable, I have just finished it. What Stephen Walker does is to answer all the questions that needed to be answered regarding the motives behind the actions of the two adversaries and what happened them in the years following War. Despite being so detailed I found the book very easy to read.

Not read anything by this author before so this was a chance buy, how glad I did, it's the kind of book you can't put down, after reading it my sister read it & at present my mother in law is reading it. Highly recommended, but, be warned once you start reading it, everything else gets left. It arrived within a couple of days & was well packaged.