Gereon Goldmann

[3] When World War II began, he was transferred to a Waffen SS training unit in occupied Poland.

[4] In his memoirs, he vividly describes the anti-Christianity rampant in the Waffen SS and the brutal hazing wreaked on his fellow Catholic recruits.

In response he sent a protest directly to the SS chief, Heinrich Himmler, and in early 1942, he was transferred back to the Wehrmacht in disgrace.

[2] On a home leave in Germany, he was approached by Adam von Trott zu Solz, a career diplomat and a member of the Kreisau Circle.

To Goldmann's horror, von Trott zu Solz identified himself as a member of a secret organization formed to assassinate Hitler and dismantle Nazi Germany.

In a deliberate attempt to recruit him, von Trott zu Solz told Goldmann, "You can help us to save Germany from its disgrace."

Baron Ernst von Weizsäcker, the German Ambassador to the Vatican, was sympathetic to the Resistance and arranged an audience for Goldmann with Pope Pius XII.

According to Goldmann's memoirs, many of the inmates at Ksar es Souk remained convinced Nazis and therefore regarded their chaplain as a traitor.

In February 1946, just before the scheduled execution, Pope Pius XII and several others interceded on Goldmann's behalf, declaring that the charges were false.

He was once more arrested for war crimes by the United States Army in 1948, but the charges were dropped in 1949 after he revealed his involvement in the 20 July Plot.

For his efforts, in 1965 he was honoured by Emperor Hirohito and business executive Tadashi Adachi with the Order of Good Deeds, the highest award bestowed by the state for social work.