Joseph Müller (Catholic lawyer)
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Joseph Mueller (1896–1979) was a prominent German Catholic lawyer and member of the resistance during World War II. He was motivated by anti-Catholic actions orchestrated by Hitler in the establishment of Nazi dominance over Germany.
Mueller was part of the resistance within the Abwehr (German military intelligence) under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. Early in the war (1939–1940) Mueller made a number of trips to the Vatican under the identity "X." He carried correspondence between the German resistance and British intelligence that sought co-operation in a coup to replace Hitler's regime with an anti-Nazi civilian government supported by the German military. The correspondence and related intelligence passed through an intermediary to the hands of Pope Pius XII, who would review it and in turn forward it to Lord Halifax in Britain.
This material was summarized in a report prepared by Hans von Dohnanyi. Despite Mueller's urgings, Dohnanyi failed to destroy this document which fell into the hands of the Gestapo on September 22, 1944. It included a list of individuals slated to assume roles in a post-coup civilian government and led to the arrests, trials and executions of many members of the resistance. Although he was arrested late in the war, Mueller managed to avoid the fate of many of his fellow resistance members.
