Holding Paper - Christopher Hitchens.

Listening to a debate between Hitchens and Shmuley Boteach, Hitchens made his perennial claim that the Vatican was the first country to enter into a treaty with Nazi Germany, thereby implying that this was some type of official recognition of the Nazis and all they stood for.  Apparently, Hitch is either disingenuous or ignorant because according to William Doino, Jr., writing of a similar ploy by James Carroll in Constantine's Sword:

Carroll’s treatment of the fascist-Nazi period is similarly skewed. He highlights Italy’s anti-Semitic decrees under Mussolini, without describing how the Church combated them: denouncing racialism, taking in Jews expelled from their jobs, and providing shelter. Commenting on the Vatican’s concordat with Germany, he asserts: “The Vatican became the first foreign power to enter into a bilateral treaty with Hitler.” This is devious. By using the word bilateral—i.e., between two entities—Carroll is able to avoid mentioning that the first international treaty with Hitler’s government was not the concordat, signed on July 20, 1933, but the Four-Power Pact (involving Germany, France, England, and Italy), which preceded it by a full month (June 7). Even before that, in May the Soviets and the British accepted friendship and trade agreements with Germany; Germany was recognized by the League of Nations; and in August 1933, one month before the concordat was ratified, Palestinian Jews signed the Haavara emigration agreement with Germany. Moreover, Hitler himself later railed against the concordat (Table Talk, July 4, 1942), realizing it had become a means of anti-Nazi subversion.

Nazi Germany was recognized by the League of Nations before the Concordat was signed?

That's not something I've heard Hitchens admit.

Update:  Here is Indiana University's retrospective on the year 1933 - which has to rank as one of suckiest years in human history.  It includes:

March 19, 1933

Mussolini's Four-Power Pact

Italian Premier Benito Mussolini called for the creation of a Four-Power Pact, composed of the British, French, Germans, and Italians, as a better means of insuring international security. Under this plan, smaller nations would have less of a voice in Great Power politics.

March 23, 1933

Passage of the Enabling Law in Germany

With control of the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler introduced a range of political and legal reforms through the Enabling Law which gave the new government dictatorial powers until April 1, 1937 (the only party to oppose the act were the Social Democrats). The Enabling Act marked the beginning of constitutional, administrative, judicial, political, racial, religious, economic, and military reforms across Germany.

April 1, 1933

National German Boycott of Jews

The German government began its persecution of the Jews by launching a national boycott of Jewish businesses and professionals. In a short time, the majority of Jewish businesses were liquidated and most Jewish lawyers and doctors were barred from practice.

April 27, 1933

Anglo-German Trade Agreement

The British and German governments negotiated a trade agreement designed to stimulate economic relations between the two countries.

May 5, 1933

Russo-German Treaties Renewed

The Soviet and German governments decided to renew the Treaty of 1926 and the Treaty of 1929.

July 5, 1933

Catholic Parties Dissolved in Germany

Religious political parties in Germany, including the Catholic parties, were dissolved in Germany, which followed the dissolution of the Nationalist Party in June 1933.

July 14, 1933

One Party German State

The National Socialist Party became the only legal political party in Germany as a result of the dissolution or outlawing of opposition parties, making Germany a one-party, totalitarian state.

July 15, 1933

Four-Power Pact Signed

Representatives of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy signed a diluted version of Premier Benito Mussolini's Four-Power Pact proposal. The treaty reaffirmed each country's adherence to the Covenant of the League, the Locarno Treaties, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Premier Mussolini's goal was to reduce the power of the small states in the League of Nations with a bloc of major powers. In practice, the Four-Power Pact proved of little significance in international affairs.

July 20, 1933

German-Vatican Concordat

The Vatican and the National Socialist government signed a concordat carefully defined the position of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. However, the rise of atheism and neo-paganism in Germany was very strong and tensions between the Catholic Church and National Socialist government were inevitable. Catholic clergy could no longer participate in German politics and future diocesan appointments by the Holy See were made only after consultation with the German government. The German government permitted Catholic schools and societies to remain open as long as they did not interfere in German politics. The Vatican viewed National Socialism as great a threat to the church as Communism, while the German government made every effort to discredit the Catholic Church and persuade parents not to send their children to parochial schools.

The Concordat was ratified in September of 1933. [See here for terms of Concordat.]

Here is some information on the Haavara Agreement. 

The Haavara Agreement was a pact between the Nazis and Zionists regarding Jewish emigration from Germany during the 1930's. It is the only contract between an official Third Reich authority and a Zionist organization. This agreement is considered to have benefited the interests of both parties. Haavara was intended to promote both the emigration of German Jews and the export of German products to Palestine.


As a result of the Agreement, German exports arrived in Palestine at bargain prices with the help of Jewish capital and Jewish commercial assistance. The Agreement also made it possible to settle a large number of German Jews in Palestine. Goods worth a total of 139.5 million Reichsmark were transferred by 1939. Only the outbreak of war in September 1939 ended the transfer practice.

Well, mark that up as a surprise.  There was an agreement - only one, but one nonetheless - between Nazi Germany and a Jewish organization.


There was clearly quite a bit of diplomatic activity occuring between variou secular states and Nazi Germany  prior to the Concordat. Are we supposed to believe that Palestinian Jews took their cue from the Vatican by entering into an agreement with the Anti-Semitic Nazi state one month before the ratification of the Concordat?

So, where does the myth that the Concordat was the first diplomatic recognition of Nazi Germany come from?  And, why apart from ignorance or duplicity, does it get repeated without contradiction?