Diego von Bergen

Carl-Ludwig Diego von Bergen (1872 – 7 October 1944) was the ambassador to the Holy See from the Kingdom of Prussia (1915–1918), the Weimar Republic (1920–1933), and Nazi Germany (1933–1943), most notably during the negotiation of the Reichskonkordat and during the Second World War.

[1] According to a New York Times obituary, "a man of considerable culture, a fluent linguist, he was said to have never been in sympathy with the Weimar Republic and to have been an early adherent to the National Socialist Regime.

[1] On 1 April 1919 Matthias Erzberger persuaded the new German Republic to "restore the Prussian legation to the Holy See", the only diplomatic appointment that year.

[1][5] Bergen's counsellor, Menschausen, would act on his behalf when he was ill.[6] Menschausen was also named chargé d'affaires after Bergen was temporarily withdrawn on 2 June 1937 (this move was echoed by the temporary withdrawing of Cesare Orsenigo, nuncio to Berlin, and replacing him with a chargé d'affaires) after American Cardinal George Mundelein had spoken publicly against Hitler.

[10] In the address, he urged the College of Cardinals to elect a successor who would assist Germany and their allies in building "a new world upon the ruins of a past that in many things has no longer any reason to exist".

[13] Both Karl Joseph Schulte and Michael von Faulhaber promised as much to Bergen, who was confident that Adolf Bertram would follow their lead but unsure about what course of action Theodor Innitzer would undertake.

[22] Bergen also demanded on 29 August 1941 that "all ecclesiastical appointments to important posts in annexed or occupied regions be first communicated to Berlin".

[5] He was recalled to Berlin on 27 February 1943 "for consultation", reportedly to protest against the Pope's "frivolous attitude" toward mediating the end of the war.

[31] Diego von Bergen died on 7 October 1944 in Wiesbaden, Germany; his death was announced ten days later in L'Osservatore Romano, in an obituary which called him "highly esteemed and unanimously liked".

[1] A few months later, in the final hours of the war in Europe, an "acre of ground" at Bergen's Wiesbaden residence was used by the German General Staff, including Field Marshal Karl von Rundstedt, to discuss how to proceed.