even early reviews had communist links. Pacepa also relates that in 1974 Yuri Andropov admitted that had Soviets known in 1963 what they knew in 1974 (newly released information that Hitler was hostile to and plotted against Pius XII) they would never have gone after him. According to Rychlak, a declassified British intelligence memorandum, dated January 10, 1969, surmises that Hochhuth may have played a knowing role in spreading communist propaganda, rather than having been a dupe, saying he "might perhaps be an ‘intellectual agent', writing either on behalf of the East Germans or the Soviets" and the British agents declined to "discount the possibility of long-term efforts by the communists to foster Hochhuth's allegations until they become legend." The memorandum continued: "whether Hochhuth is motivated only by the urge to write historical plays, to rehabilitate the Germans or is up to some more sinister game is difficult to determine at this stage. But the Russians are certainly reaping some of the benefit." Rychlak concludes that Hochhuth might not have been a knowing actor in the propaganda but was a "perfect candidate to be an unknowing dupe." Rychlak writes "his ideology was not far removed from Marxism. He also admitted that he was, at least at times, anticlerical. He was particularly opposed to priestly celibacy." Referring to Pacepa's account, German historian Michael F. Feldkamp writes that "Pacepa's report is wholly credible. It fits like a missing piece in the puzzle of communist propaganda and disinformation aimed at discrediting the Catholic Church and its Pontiff." English historian, Michael Burleigh, concurring with Feldkamp, states: "Soviet attempts to smear Pius had actually commenced as soon as the Red Army crossed into Catholic Poland", noting that the Soviets "hired a militantly anti-religious propagandist, Mikhail Markovich Sheinmann" – "Hochhuth's play ... drew heavily upon Sheinmann's lies and falsehoods." Pacepa's story has not been corroborated; the national German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine stated in 2007 that "Hochhuth did not require any KGB assistance for his one-sided presentation of history". See also Pope Pius XII and Judaism Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust Catholic Church and Nazi Germany Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII Religion in the Soviet Union Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union Ratlines (World War II aftermath) References Citations Bibliography Cold War espionage Communist propaganda Disinformation operations Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Holy See–Soviet