It did not take the Nazis long to realize that OFlaherty was behind the disappearing people. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. 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. The radio play was first broadcast on November 30, 2006 on UK BBC Radio 4. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. 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. 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. He was intelligent earning a scholarship to a teacher training college. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. 1,007 were shipped to Auschwitz. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. During his childhood, Kappler witnessed World War I, and came of age in the Weimar Republic during the 1920s. In practice, refusal to obey orders during war is not possible. She declined to give details of the escape, saying these would appear in a mass-circulation magazine this week. 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 (. Kapplers days were over. Of the citys 9,700 Jews, 5,000 were hidden by the Vatican at different properties, and3,700 were hidden by OFlahertys group. On a visit in August 1977, Kapplers wife carried him out in a large suitcase (Kappler weighed about (104 pounds at the time) and escaped to West Germany. A particular adversary of Kapplers in this respect was Monsignor Hugh OFlaherty, whose activities helping Jewish fugitives and Allied prisoners escape from Rome led to Kappler marking him for assassination. iie. Source: Dutch National Archives, The Hague. [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrias Jews to concentration camps. 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. By using this website we assume that you agree with this. Fortunately, they did not storm the Vatican because of its unique status. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70. Because of Kapplers deteriorating condition and his wifes nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him after he was transferred to an Italian hospital. Mrs. Kappler told reporters: The more they hate Herbert Kappler, the more love him. 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. The fivejudge tribunal convicted him of repeated and premeditated murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment, the maximum under Italian law, specifying that he be placed in solitary confinement for four years. World War II After the war Kappler lived in house 318 on Via Salaria in Rome with his first wife Leonore Wilhelmine Minna, ne Janns (born 05-02-1907 in Heilbronn), whom he married on 29-09-1934. 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. [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. 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. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. He also coordinated the rescue of downed pilots, providing them with food, medicine and safe houses throughout Italy. Comment * what is insensible water loss. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. In 1934, O'Flaherty received the title of Monsignor. In retaliation for the armistice between Italy and the Allies on 8 September 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. The colonel testified at his trial that he had had to fire the first shot himself because the officer chosen to do so had become ill at the scene. Mr. Kappler's wife, Anneliese, who said she had lowered him with ropes from the third floor of the hospital, explained that it had been her greatest wish that her husband, whom she called a Christbike figure, should not die in captivity. He served as 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]. 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. Kappler attended four years of elementary school (Volksschule) followed by four more of high school and graduated in 1925. In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. 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. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. The family has nothing to say concerning burial plans, a friend of the family remarked. 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. 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. In 1975, he was diagnosed with cancer. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. By this time Kappler had also converted to Catholicism, partly due to the influence of his war-time opponent, the Vatican diplomat Mgr. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. 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. 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. OFlaherty did not just hide POWs. Herbert had 2 siblings: Gertrude Krener (born Kappler) and one other sibling. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom also died in the gas chambers. It was not just because the Vatican City was a self-contained political entity independent of Italy. [17], Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on 9 February 1978, aged 70. Priebke's commanding officer, Col. Herbert Kappler, was put on trial in postwar Rome; in 1948 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the Ardeatine Caves atrocity, but his wife eventually. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. Although most were Allied soldiers, some were Jews. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom eventually died in Nazi gas chambers. Both Capponi and Bentivegna had grown up under Benito Mussolini's dictatorship. 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. 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. In 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. Herbert Kappler. Kappler was responsible for many cruel deeds in Rome as well as the massacre at The Ardeatine Caves, which were personally supervised by Kappler. During his captivity, Kappler wrote to his former rival and asked him to come and visit. 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. You got lucky! Upon the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Kappler was serving as an SS-Hauptsturmfhrer (captain) out of the Stuttgart Gestapo main office. 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. Among them was his future wife, Carla Capponi (1918-2000). 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. Herbert Kappler of the German Army carried out a massacre of Italian civilians at the Ardeatine Caves near Rome on March 24, 1944. 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. 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. 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. By this time, Kappler had also converted to Catholicism,[16] due to the influence of his war-time enemy, Mgr. [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. In 1931, Herbert Kappler formally became a Nazi Party member. Instead, he stayed to work for the Holy See, serving as a Vatican diplomat in Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Czechoslovakia. what happened to herbert kappler's first wife. Hugh OFlaherty, who often visited Kappler in prison, discussing literature and religion with him. Kappler prison photo -Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. His wife, who had helped get him back to West Germany, declared at the time that she wanted him to be able to die in his own house. The priest believed it might be misinterpreted as an attempt to influence his trial judges. OFlaherty never lost his talent for socializing or forgot his golfing skills. Hugh O'Flaherty was born to James and Margaret O'Flaherty in Lisrobin, Kiskeam, County Cork, Ireland, on February 28, 1898. Mr. Kappler's escape last Aug. 15 from the military hospital, to which he had been transferred because of deteriorating health, caused a political furor. The Monsignor decided to help. Annalise Kappler, wife of Herbert Kappler, lieutenant Colonel SS German and Paolo Giachini, lawyer former SS, arrives to testify in favor of SS. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office in Stuttgart. Kappler came into direct conflict with the neutral Vatican under Pope Pius XII, which Kappler correctly believed was harbouring escaped Allied POWs, members of the Italian Resistance, and Jews. Kurtna was last seen in 1948 by Fr. This set the stage for further advancement and Kappler was commissioned a Gestapo officer, with the rank of SS-Untersturmfhrer (second lieutenant), on November 9, 1938 (the traditional anniversary of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch). Family of Kappler, ExSS Colonel, Withholds plans for His Funeral, https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/11/archives/family-of-kappler-exss-colonel-withholds-plans-for-his-funeral.html. 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. 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. He had served 30 years of a life term imposed by an Italian military tribunal in 1948 for the reprisal killing during World War II of 335 hostages, including 57 Jews. Waiting to solve 5. This website makes use of cookies to ensure that the website works properly. SS Obersturmfhrer, The head of German police and security services in Rome. He was posted to Rome in 1922 to finish his studies and was ordained on 20-12-1925. Anyone can read what you share. 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. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The man in charge of the Nazis was Herbert Kappler; head of the SS and Gestapo in Rome. Kapplers second in command in Rome, SS-Captain. At his trial in 1948, after six hours, the head of the five-judge military tribunal gravely pronounced the stiffest sentence he could give under Italian law: "life imprisonment, including four years solitary confinement, for repeated and premeditated murder.. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. (1997), Military history of Italy during World War II, "An Italian doctor explains "Syndrome K", the fake disease he invented to save Jews from the Nazis", "Weitere Grber nicht mehr namenlos (neues deutschland)", "La vedova di Kappler a Trento per il culto del Simonino", "Erich Priebke, Nazi Who Carried Out Massacre of 335 Italians, Dies at 100", "Nazi funeral that's forcing Italy to face its past", "Kappler's escape MEETING WITH Hon. 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. This page was last changed on 26 July 2021, at 19:26. Toget about, he donned various disguises, hence his nickname the Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican. It came from a book about an Englishman who disguised himself to help French nobility escape the purges of the French Revolution. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 at the age of twenty three. 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 the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. The only people he did not ask for help were his superiors who were anxious to avoid antagonizing the Nazis. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. 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. At the same time, he became a stormtrooper in the Sturmabteilung . He later remarried Anneliese Kappler, a nurse with whom he had carried on a lengthy correspondence, in a prison wedding ceremony in 1972. By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 - 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. 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