Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. As part of the latter operation, Kappler successfully extorted 50 kilograms of gold (110 lbs.) A particularly detested adversary of Kappler's was Irish Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty of the Sacred Congregation De Propaganda Fide. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. Question ( 102766) Answer ( 32) Member ( 11) By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. Herbert Kappler was born on month day 1906, to Fritz Kappler and Kunigunde Kappler (born Siebentritt). According to evidence at the 1948 tribunal, Colonel Kappler's troops drove the prisoners to the ancient Ardeatine Caves south of Rome and massacred them with machine guns, hand grenades and flame throwers. He was described as a model prisoner, interested in music, theology, reading and meditation. Anneliese Kappler, wife of the former Rome Gestapo chief, Herbert Kappler and organizer of his controversial escape from a Rome military prison to West Germany, denied last night that any. See the article in its original context from. His Nazi Party membership number was 594,899. Marina was born in Rome on November 4, 1942, to Jewish parents Giuseppe Del Monte and Clara Limentani. Kappler and his first wife divorced while Kappler was serving his sentence, but he was married again to Anneliese Kappler, a nurse who had carried on a lengthy correspondence with Kappler before marrying him in a prison wedding ceremony in 1972. [citation needed] He next attended a technical college and spent seven semesters studying electrical engineering. Kappler prison photo -Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. As the authorities refused to release him, in 1977, Anneliese carried Kappler out of prison in a large suitcase (he weighed less than one hundred five pounds at the time). He said the Jews had committed no crime other than being Jews, but were about to be deported to Germany.. Other One month ago 0 answers 1 views. With a portion of Italy under German occupation, those POWs were at risk of being recaptured. Kappler was responsible for many cruel deeds in Rome as well as the massacre at The Ardeatine Caves, which were personally supervised by Kappler. Herbert Kappler passed away in 1978 after Anneliese broke him out of prison when he was . By 1975, at the age of sixty-eight, Kappler was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he was moved to a military hospital in Rome in 1976. Did Herbert Kappler become a Catholic? It was not just because the Vatican City was a self-contained political entity independent of Italy. Kunigunde was born on August 21 1882. By this time, Kappler had also converted to Catholicism,[16] due to the influence of his war-time enemy, Mgr. She defended her husbands shooting of 335 Italian Jews and non-Jews in 1941 in reprisal for a partisan attack on Romes SS headquarters, saying he was acting under orders. Herbert had 2 siblings: Gertrude Krener (born Kappler) and one other sibling. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Soon after his arrival here, West German authorities stationed guards near the Kappler apartment, which is above pharmacy, explaining ,that they wanted to prevent any group from killing him or taking him back to Italy. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. She smuggled him into West Germany by car. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70.[4]. Kappler was arrested by British authorities in 1945, turned over to the Italian government in 1947, and tried the following year by an Italian military tribunal. Berlin directed him to have 10 times as many Italians shot in retaliation. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was head of German police and security services (Sicherheitspolizei and SD) in Rome during the Second World War and was responsible for the Ardeatine massacre. During this action, he demanded 110 pounds of gold from the Jewish community in Rome, which he later claimed was an attempt to prevent the round-up and the deportations. In 1968 she visited him for the first time in the fortress of Gaeta. This website makes use of cookies to ensure that the website works properly. Kappler ordered a white line painted at the entrance to St. Peters Square to delineate the boundary between the Vatican City and the rest of Italy. From 1939 to 1940, he was briefly deployed to Poland and participated in various Einsatzgruppen actions before serving a further tour as a uniformed Gestapo officer in occupied Belgium where he acted to suppress resistance. Ironically, Kurtna's Soviet masters failed to appreciate or reward his loyalty. Mr. Kappler, who died yesterday, was serving a life term for ordering the 1944 reprisal killing of 335 Italians when his wife, Anneliese, helped him escape from a prison hospital in Rome six months ago. At the same time, he became a stormtrooper in the Sturmabteilung (SA) and served as an SA-Mann from August 1, 1931 to December 1, 1932. Raised a Protestant, Kappler wanted to convert to Roman Catholicism, but OFlaherty cautioned against it. Even so, due to his membership in the SA and Nazi Party dating from 1931, Kappler was considered an Alter Kmpfer and awarded the Honour Chevron for the Old Guard in 1934. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. He was buried on the Soltau Stadtfriedhof, but Leif Stjerna found out that Kapplers removed the gravestone and put it in his garden and the burial ground looks now different. [10], In 1975, at the age of sixty-eight, Kappler was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Kappler was posted to Rome as head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and, from the beginning of the Second World War, he cooperated closely with the Italian police. He rose to the rank of SS- Obersturmbannfhrer and was responsible for the Ardeatine massacre as well as dealing with Vatican City over its neutrality. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office in Stuttgart. and later turned over to the Italian government in 1947. [3][9], Despite demands that Kappler be returned to Italy the West German authorities refused to extradite him and did not prosecute Kappler for any further war crimes, reportedly owing to ill-health. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. World War II For his role in several atrocities, including the Ardeatine Massacre (the slaughter of 335 civilians in the Ardeatine Caves), the Nazi chief was sentenced to life in prison. Kappler had established a ruthless regime and the two men became adversaries in a real-life game of hide and seek, a fiercely fought rivalry that would culminate in failed attempts by the Nazis. ROME, ITALY 1996: Annalise Kappler, wife of Herbert Kappler, lieutenant Colonel SS German and Paolo Giachini, lawyer former SS, arrives to testify in favor of SS officer Erich Priebke during the trial at Military Court of former SS officer Erich Priebke for participating in the 1944 massacre at the Ardeatine caves in Rome in which 335 civilians, including 75 Jews, were killed during World War II. Kappler's second in command in Rome, SS-Captain Erich Priebke, managed to escape to Argentina and was not extradited to Italy to face trial over his own role in the Ardeatine Caves Massacre until 1996. He underwent six months of indoctrination training, and was sworn into the SS on May 8, 1933. iie was 70 years old. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. Walter Ciszek as a fellow political prisoner in the Gulag complex located 300km above the Arctic Circle and known as Norillag. Minister Vito Lattanzio", National Archives and Records Administration, Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea, Pope Pius XII and the raid on the Roman ghetto, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Herbert_Kappler&oldid=1128139070, Germans convicted of war crimes committed in Italy during World War II, German police officers convicted of murder, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Italy, Prisoners and detainees of the British military, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 December 2022, at 16:08. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. Kappler was born to a middle-class family in Stuttgart in what was still the German Empire. During his teenage years Hugh was a talented student and golfer . Kappler's first action as head of German security forces in Rome was to help plan the rescue of Benito Mussolini by the SS special forces, a feat which was accomplished by Otto Skorzeny. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. Comment * what is insensible water loss. Without hesitation, O'Flaherty took up Kappler's invitation and in prison the two men chatted over coffee. Waiting to solve 5. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. Kappler's second in command in Rome, SS-Captain Erich Priebke, did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke would face justice. Both Capponi and Bentivegna had grown up under Benito Mussolini's dictatorship. OFlaherty was told he would be shot if he crossed the line not that it stopped him. In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. Anneliese Kappler, wife of the former Rome Gestapo chief, Herbert Kappler and organizer of his controversial escape from a Rome military prison to West Germany, denied last night that any official German authority or any group had aided in the escape attempt. Among them was his future wife, Carla Capponi (1918-2000). https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/10/archives/herbert-kappler-dies-nazi-fled-captivity-in-rome-called-a.html. Over the years, the two developed a strange friendship. During his captivity, Kappler wrote to his former rival and asked him to come and visit. Anyone can read what you share. Kappler came into direct conflict with the Vatican, as the Germans had strong suspicions that it was harboring Allied fugitives and escaped prisoners, even though the Vatican under Pope Pius XII was technically neutral. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). She was their only child. Impressed with his abilities, he was appointed to the Holy See; the Vaticans governing body. What happened to Herbert Kappler, SS Colonel, after WWII? He rose to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannfhrer and was responsible for the Ardeatine massacre as well as dealing with Vatican City over its neutrality. He mingled with Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy and he also became friendly with Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini; the founder of Italian Fascism. Since the marriage had remained childless, the couple adopted a boy from a Lebensborn home. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. Anyone can read what you share. In 1922 OFlaherty was sent to Rome to finish his studies where he was ordained three years later. [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrian Jews as part of the Holocaust in Austria.[3]. In 1931, Herbert Kappler formally became a Nazi Party member. By early 1944, Kappler was the highest representative of the Reich Security Main Office in Rome and answered directly to both the military governorship, under Luftwaffe General Kurt Maelzer, as well as the SS chain of command under the Higher SS and Police Leader of Italy, SS-Obergruppenfhrer Karl Wolff. Shortly after his birth O'Flaherty's parents moved to Killarney, Ireland, and made a home on a golf course where James O'Flaherty worked as a steward. Statis. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom eventually died in Nazi gas chambers. At the same time, he became a stormtrooper in the Sturmabteilung . He also testified that he had selected as his victims Italian criminals, civilians accused of crimes and Jews. He was portrayed by Christopher Plummer in the 1983 TV film, The Scarlet and The Black, which detailed Kapplers first meeting with Monsignor Hugh OFlaherty. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practicesof the time they were published. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 - 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He later married Anneliese Kappler, a nurse who had carried on a lengthy correspondence with him, before marrying him at a prison ceremony in 1972. Hugh OFlaherty, who often visited Kappler in prison, discussing literature and religion with him. Kappler was convicted to life imprisonment by an Italian military tribunal after WWII and served life imprisonment in an Italian prison. As they already had so many enemies, the last thing they wanted was to alienate the worlds entire Catholic population by violating the Popes domain. SOLTAU, West Germany, Feb. 10 (UPI) The family of Herbert Kappler, a former Nazi SS colonel, withheld plans for his funeral today to prevent pro- and antiNazi demonstrators from appearing at the rites. Appeals by both his wife and the West German government to release him were denied by Italian authorities. Herbert Kappler became Hitler's man in Rome after the arrest of Benito Mussolini. Wellwishers showered the Kappler apartment with flowers and telegrams, and young neoNazis marched along the street below with, Fascist and antiJewish banners. In January 1936, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Scharfhrer (sergeant) and assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office of Stuttgart (Stapoleitstelle Stuttgart). Hugh O'Flaherty was born to James and Margaret O'Flaherty in Lisrobin, Kiskeam, County Cork, Ireland, on February 28, 1898. If he discovered prisoners who were deemed missing-in-action, he attempted to notify their families. Kappler's activities between 1929 and 1931 are little known, except that he was living in Stuttgart, occasionally performing work as an electrician. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom also died in the gas chambers. Collect, curate and comment on your files. Herbert Kappler. ROME, ITALY 1996: Annalise Kappler, wife of Herbert Kappler, lieutenant Colonel SS German and Paolo Giachini, lawyer former SS, arrives to testify in favor of SS officer Erich Priebke during the trial at Military Court of former SS officer Erich Priebke for participating in the 1944 massacre at the Ardeatine caves in Rome in which 335 civilians, including 75 Jews, were killed during World War II. Appeals by both his wife and the West German government to release him were denied by Italian authorities, but earned him a transfer to a hospital. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. 2023 Getty Images. Italy demanded his extradition, but .West Germany said this was impossible under its Constitution. By early 1944, Kappler was the highest representative of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office) in Rome and answered directly to both the military governorship, under Luftwaffe Major General Kurt Mlzer, as well as the SS chain of command under the Supreme SS and Police Leader of Italy, SS-Obergruppenfhrer Karl Wolff. Fritz was born on February 23 1876. He also said that he had refused to allow clergymen to visit the hostages before they were killed because we were pressed for time, and I know that people who are about to be executed always indulge in talking to the minister. Shortly before his trial, Mr. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. Annalise Kappler, wife of Herbert Kappler, lieutenant Colonel SS German and Paolo Giachini, lawyer former SS, arrives to testify in favor of SS. OFlaherty enlisted several VIPs. The Irish War of Independence broke out in 1919, making life difficult. From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "An Italian doctor explains "Syndrome K", the fake disease he invented to save Jews from the Nazis", https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Herbert_Kappler&oldid=7681127, German military personnel of World War II, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. Mr. Kappler, who died yesterday, was serving a life term for ordering the 1944 reprisal killing of 335 Italians when his wife, Anneliese, helped him escape from a prison hospital in Rome six. Living in a major city such as Stuttgart, Kappler was a witness to the chaos of the Great Depression, the expansion of the Freikorps, and the rise of the Nazi Party. In his first action, 1,023 Italian Jews were deported, of whom only 16 survived. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 - 9 February 1978) was the head of German police and security services ( Oberbefehlshaber des Sicherheitspolizei und SD) in Rome during World War II. Kurtna then passed the codebooks to the Soviets through Monsignor Mario Brini of the Vatican's Secretariat of State. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. We have no ads to show you! Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 - 9 February 1978) was the head of German police and security services ( Oberbefehlshaber des Sicherheitspolizei und SD) in Rome during World War II. Instead, he stayed to work for the Holy See, serving as a Vatican diplomat in Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Czechoslovakia. Over the next year, Kappler began to be noticed by his superiors and was introduced to Reinhard Heydrich (although some sources state Kappler knew Heydrich for some time before[1]). Kappler was also in Stuttgart during the Night of the Long Knives, but was at this time too junior in the SS to significantly participate. They included the wife of the Irish ambassador, several priests, nuns, members of the French resistance, as well as other high-ranking nobles. Instead, in 1918 he enrolled at Mungret College; a Jesuit school which trained missionaries. He was head of German police and security services (Sicherheitspolizei and SD) in Rome during the Second World War and was responsible for the Ardeatine massacre.[1][2]. Although most were Allied soldiers, some were Jews. Giuseppe worked as a salesclerk at an interior decoration store in Rome. By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. After serving as an SS-Anwrter from December 1932 to May 1933, Kappler was appointed an SS-Mann and assigned the SS membership number 55,211. In 1975, he was diagnosed with cancer. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Source: Dutch National Archives, The Hague. In these measures, Kappler came into direct conflict with the Vatican, which was highly suspected of harboring Allied fugitives and escaped prisoners, even though the Vatican under Pope Pius XII was technically neutral. By this time Kappler had also converted to Catholicism,[3] partly due to the influence of his war-time opponent, the Vatican diplomat Mgr Hugh O'Flaherty, who often visited Kappler in prison, discussing literature and religion with him. He escaped from prison shortly before his death in West Germany in 1978. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. In 1975 Kappler was diagnosed with cancer, but requests for his release were refused. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was the head of German police and security services (Oberbefehlshaber des Sicherheitspolizei und SD) in Rome during World War II. In 1935, as part of Germany's rearming programs, Kappler was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht. Retrieved from Wikimedia . The film was filled with the Catholic faith of his wife, Maria von Trapp, and their family. Kapplers days were over. You got lucky! In 1937, Kappler (now an SS-Oberscharfhrer (staff sergeant)) was sent by his Gestapo superiors to attend the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolzei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin from which he graduated in the summer of 1937 as a certified Kriminalkommissar (Criminal Commissioner). SOLTAU, West Germany, Feb. 9 (Reuters)Herbert Kappler; a_convicted Nazi war criminal, died of stomach cancer here today, six months after- a daring escape from a Rome military hospital. [11][12], Kappler organised the Ardeatine massacre, in which 335 Italian civilians were killed on 24 March 1944 in response to a direct order from Adolf Hitler to "kill 100 Italians for each German", in retaliation for an attack by the Italian Resistance that had resulted in the deaths of 33 men of the SS Police Regiment Bozen's garrison in Rome. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). On a visit in August 1977, Kappler's wife carried him out in a large suitcase (Kappler weighed about 47kg (104lb) at the time) and escaped to West Germany, assisted by apparently unwitting carabinieri. He later married Anneliese Kappler, a nurse who had carried on a lengthy correspondence with him, before marrying him at a prison ceremony in 1972. Following the armistice between Italy and the Allies on September 8, 1943, the German military occupied Rome and Kappler was appointed as Chief of the Security Police and Security Service (Oberbefehlshaber des Sicherheitspolizei und SD) for all SS and Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) units deployed in Rome. He was raised in Killarney where his father was a steward on a golf course where the family lived. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. Upon leaving the SA, Kappler was accepted as a prospective candidate into the Schutzstaffel (SS) and appointed to the entry level probation rank of SS-Anwrter. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 - 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. Following the end of the war, Kappler stood trial in Italy and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Kappler and his first wife divorced while Kappler was serving his sentence, but he was married again to Anneliese Kappler, a nurse who had carried on a lengthy correspondence with Kappler before marrying him in a prison wedding ceremony in 1972. Erich Priebke did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke would face justice. In 1977 he escaped from a Rome Prison hidden in a laundry basket, and was spirited away to Germany, by his recently wedded wife, whom he had married in Prison in 1972. He died of cancer in 1978, never having been returned to Prison. Thank you for using this website. Arrest and Later Life. One of the most notorious actions Kappler undertook while in Rome was the organization of the Ardeatine massacre where over three hundred Italian civilians were killed on 24-03-1944 in collective punishment for an attack by resistance fighters against an SS formation in Rome. [2], Due to Kappler's deteriorating condition and his wife's nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him. The Italians demanded that Kappler be returned, but the West Germany authorities refused to extradite him and did not prosecute Kappler for any further war crimes, reportedly owing to ill-health. An SS officer, he had been an adviser to Italy's fascist police. Kapplers second in command in Rome, SS-Captain. Kappler was born on September 23, 1907, to a middle-class family in the city of Stuttgart in what was then the German Empire. Herbert Kappler of the German Army carried out a massacre of Italian civilians at the Ardeatine Caves near Rome on March 24, 1944. Kappler presided over the Ardeatine massacre, a mass killing of some 335 civilians and political prisoners on March 24, 1944. Hunted by them, he ended up converting the SS chief in Rome. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931 and the SS in 1933. The very man he had ordered killed was the very man who forgave him and welcomed him into the Catholic faith. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. The Italians unsuccessfully demanded that Kappler be returned, but the West Germany authorities refused to extradite him and did not prosecute Kappler for any further war crimes, reportedly due to his ill health. He served as the Vaticans diplomat to Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Czechoslovakia. [20], Kappler's post-war time seeking asylum in the Vatican, and his resultant friendship with his former enemy Monsignor O'Flaherty, was dramatised in the radio play The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican by Robin Glendinning. Amazingly, the Irishman agreed to go and see a man who had plotted to kidnap him and at one stage wanted to murder him. On a prison visit in August 1977, Kappler's wife carried him out in a large suitcase (Kappler weighed less than 105 pounds at the time) and escaped to West Germany, assisted by apparently unwitting carabinieri. Meanwhile, the West German government has denied German press reports that it has secretly reached agreement with the Italian government on a means of ending the Kappler controversy. Kappler and his first wife divorced while Kappler was serving his sentence; later, he was married again to Anneliese Kappler, a nurse who had carried on a lengthy correspondence with Kappler . In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. The West German authorities refused to return Kappler because of his poor health and he died at home 6 months later. The priest believed it might be misinterpreted as an attempt to influence his trial judges. 9 (Reuters)Herbert Kappler; a_convicted Nazi war criminal, died of stomach cancer here today, six months after- a daring escape from a Rome military hospital. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70. Asked whether there werent times when such orders should be disobeyed, Mrs. Kappler replied: One cannot judge this today if one has not experienced war. List of aircraft of the Malaysian Armed Forces, Italy and the Second World War (1940-1945), Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, German police officers convicted of murder, Military history of Italy during World War II, http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0304/1224291271284.html?via=mr, http://catholicexchange.com/2009/02/25/116165/, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915344,00.html, Sturmabteilung: August 8, 1931 December 1, 1932 (SA-Mann), Wehrmacht: June 11, 1935 September 21, 1936 (. Paradoxically, after the war Kappler and O'Flaherty would become friends of sorts.[2]. During Kappler's probationary period, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, meaning that Kappler did not have the "honor" of full SS membership prior to the Nazis' assumption of power. It is estimated his group hid over 6,500 people for the remainder of the war in farms, convents, churches, and private apartments. [5][10], Meanwhile, Kappler's moles inside the Vatican included an Estonian national and former Byzantine Rite seminarian from the Russicum named Alexander Kurtna, who worked from 1940 until 1944 as a translator for the Vatican's Congregation for the Eastern Churches. The Monsignor's activities covertly assisting Jews and other fugitives led both Kappler and his Italian colleague Pietro Koch to repeatedly plot O'Flaherty's kidnapping, torture, and summary execution in vain. what happened to hercules after he died . OFlaherty never lost his talent for socializing or forgot his golfing skills. Reply ( 0) Leave a comment. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. He was intelligent earning a scholarship to a teacher training college. Herbert Kappler was born on September 23, 1907, to a middle-class family in Stuttgart in the German Empire. On a prison visit in August 1977, Kapplers wife carried him out in a large suitcase, Kappler, a chain smoker, weighed less than 105 pounds at the time and escaped to West Germany, assisted by apparently unwitting carabinieri. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. In 1977, his wife visited him in prison and smuggled him out in a large suitcase (owing to his illness he weighed only 105 pounds at the time). [14][15], In 1948, Kappler was tried by an Italian Army military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. He was a man of many faces who used his talent at disguise to help thousands of people escape from the Nazis. The man in charge of the Nazis was Herbert Kappler; head of the SS and Gestapo in Rome. The family has nothing to say concerning burial plans, a friend of the family remarked. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. Kappler was also portrayed by Christopher Plummer in the 1983 TV movie The Scarlet and The Black, which detailed Kappler's first meeting with Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty. Kappler died on 09-02-1978, at home in Soltau at the age of 70. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. [18], In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. In 1934, OFlaherty was appointedMonsignor; a title for high-ranking clergy members who have provided valuable service to the church. iie. In 1934, O'Flaherty received the title of Monsignor. By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org, Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. 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His victims Italian criminals, civilians accused of crimes and Jews although most were Allied soldiers, some were.... On 09-02-1978, at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, never having been to... Massacre, a mass killing of some 335 civilians and political prisoners March... Ss membership number 55,211 priest believed it might be misinterpreted as an SS-Anwrter from December 1932 to May 1933 Kappler. Talented student and golfer requests for his release were refused Gestapo main office in Stuttgart in was!, in 1918 he enrolled at Mungret college ; a Jesuit school which trained.. Born to a middle-class family in escaping from Rome at Liberation war criminal during the Party..., to Fritz Kappler and O'Flaherty would become friends of sorts. [ 2.... An exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers trademark of Getty design! In Soltau at the same time, Kappler was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht would become friends sorts... 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