The Holy See and Germany in the Postwar Years: The Vatican Mission in Kronberg and Bishop Aloisius Muench (1945-1951)

With the end of the war, Germany became a militarily occupied territory of the Allied powers. One of the consequences of this situation war the irrelevance of the apostolic nunciature, which lost its status as a diplomatic mission. However, the Holy See was able to maintain a form of 'presence' in the country through the Papal Mission in Kronberg, established in the fall of 1945. Heading this Vatican 'outpost' was, from the summer of 1946, the German-American Bishop Aloisius Muench, who also acted as liaison consultant for religious affairs to the US military government. This contribution examines Muench's manifold activities until 1951, the year when the prelate was appointed as the first postwar apostolic nuncio in Germany and the Kronberg Mission could consequently be terminated.