Catholic Church and Nazi Germany during World War II of collusion between the late Cardinal Verdier and the Jews". Verdier had described World War II as "a crusade ... We are struggling to preserve the freedom of people throughout the world, whether they be great or small peoples, and to preserve their possessions and their very lives. No other war has had aims that are more spiritual, moral, and, in sum, more Christian". On September 9, the Bishop of Quimper was arrested for opposing Nazi plans for Brittany. The Bishop of Strasbourg was prevented from returning from Vichy France to his dioceses and his Cathedral was closed to the
Portugal during World War II islands and over the wolfram (tungsten) trade. At the outbreak of World War II, Portugal was ruled by António de Oliveira Salazar, the man who in 1933 had founded the "Estado Novo" ("New State"), the corporatist authoritarian government that ruled Portugal until 1974. Salazar's dislike of the Nazi regime in Germany and its imperial ambitions was tempered only by his view of the German Reich as a bastion against the spread of communism. He had favoured the Spanish nationalist cause, fearing a communist invasion of Portugal, yet he was uneasy at the prospect of a Spanish government bolstered by strong