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. Waiting to solve 5. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. 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. Thank you for using this website. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. Kappler was also never affiliated with the Waffen-SS and spent the war performing "behind the lines" police and security duty. 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). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. Question ( 102766) Answer ( 32) Member ( 11) Since he was at this time considered only a general SS member, not assigned to permanent full-time duties, Kappler was not exempt from the draft and he became a Schtze in the Wehrmacht on June 11, 1935. 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. Without hesitation, O'Flaherty took up Kappler's invitation and in prison the two men chatted over coffee. 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. 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. . Herbert Kappler. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). [1][4][5][6][7], Kappler was immediately put in charge of implementing the Holocaust in Italy in both Rome and Lazio;[4] in his first action, 1,023 Roman Jews were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz; where only 16 survived. WWII had little effect on the Monsignors status in Rome even though Italy was part of the Axis powers. Although most were Allied soldiers, some were Jews. Walter Ciszek as a fellow political prisoner in the Gulag complex located 300km above the Arctic Circle and known as Norillag. Irmgard was born on December 9 1908. iie was 70 years old. The radio play was first broadcast on November 30, 2006 on UK BBC Radio 4. 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. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. 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. 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Kappler was responsible for many cruel deeds in Rome as well as the massacre at The Ardeatine Caves, which were personally supervised by Kappler. Kappler died on 09-02-1978, at home in Soltau at the age of 70. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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 . Herbert Kappler passed away in 1978 after Anneliese broke him out of prison when he was . iie was 70 years old. His wife divorced him while he was serving his sentence. The date of the Ardeatine massacre, March 24, 1944, became a national day of mourning in Italy, and the killings are still recalled with outrage. 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. 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 central office of Stuttgart. Yet it was in The Scarlet and the Black that Plummer played his most Catholic role, the Gestapo chief in Rome, Herbert Kappler. With a portion of Italy under German occupation, those POWs were at risk of being recaptured. 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. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. [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. As the Allied armies invaded Italy and began moving north towards Rome, Kappler became significantly involved in hunting suspected Allied agents and Allied prisoners-of-war which had escaped Italian POW camps after the Italian Army capitulated. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom eventually died in Nazi gas chambers. In 1975, he was diagnosed with cancer. Obersturmbannfhrer Herbert Kappler in 1946; By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. 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 later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom also died in the gas chambers. By the time the Allies captured Rome in June 1944, OFlahertys underground network had kept 6,245 Allied escapees alive. This website makes use of cookies to ensure that the website works properly. Of the citys 9,700 Jews, 5,000 were hidden by the Vatican at different properties, and3,700 were hidden by OFlahertys group. [14][15], In 1948, Kappler was tried by an Italian Army military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. (Photo by Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images), 2001 x 2880 px (6.67 x 9.60 in) - 300 dpi - 1 MB. Kappler was next entrusted with Jewish roundups for transportation to Auschwitz; in his first action, 1,023 Italian Jews were deported with only 16 surviving, and Kappler would later arrange the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom would eventually perish in Nazi gas chambers. Marina was born in Rome on November 4, 1942, to Jewish parents Giuseppe Del Monte and Clara Limentani. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Kappler performed active training duty over three separate periods from June 1935 to September 1936, with final release on September 27, 1936 with the rank of Feldwebel der Reserve. He was intelligent earning a scholarship to a teacher training college. Kappler was in charge of Jewish roundups for deportations to Auschwitz. Collect, curate and comment on your files. The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. 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. [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. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931and the SSin 1933. By this time Kappler had also converted to Catholicism, partly due to the influence of his war-time opponent, the Vatican diplomat Mgr. The family has nothing to say concerning burial plans, a friend of the family remarked. OFlaherty was told he would be shot if he crossed the line not that it stopped him. Arrest and Later Life. His appointment to Italy was the result of his security police experience, connections with the SS leadership (Reinhard Heydrich, in particular), as well as a fluency in the Italian language. [19], Kappler was portrayed by Christopher Plummer in the 1983 TV film The Scarlet and The Black, which detailed Kappler's first meeting with Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty. 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. In 1968 she visited him for the first time in the fortress of Gaeta. You got lucky! He underwent six months of indoctrination training, and was sworn into the SS on May 8, 1933. 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. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. Statis. 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. It was a large and prestigious establishment, owned by an uncle. Did Herbert Kappler become a Catholic? 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. There was a great sense of letting go." . 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. He died of cancer in 1978, never having been returned to Prison. 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. She defended these donations on the grounds that she had spent her entire savings to try and secure her husbands release and to care for him while he was a prisoner. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Kappler was posted to Rome as head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and throughout the war years he cooperated closely with the Fascist police. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. 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. Amazingly, the Irishman agreed to go and see a man who had plotted to kidnap him and at one stage wanted to murder him. Hugh O'Flaherty, who also often visited him in prison, and with whom Kappler often discussed literature and religion. He was posted to Rome in 1922 to finish his studies and was ordained on 20-12-1925. 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 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. As Rome fell to Allied forces, Kappler unsuccessfully tried to seek refuge in the Vatican, but he was arrested by British authorities in 1945 and later turned over to the Italian government in 1947. 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. [17], Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on 9 February 1978, aged 70. World War II [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrias Jews to concentration camps. 1,007 were shipped to Auschwitz. 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 (. 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. In mid 1941, now an SS-Major, Kappler was selected as a liaison officer to the government of Benito Mussolini as well as a security advisor to the Fascist police. 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 also coordinated the rescue of downed pilots, providing them with food, medicine and safe houses throughout Italy. She also denied receiving financial aid for the escape from any group, but admitted, during a TV interview, that she had received money from various groups representing former SS members. 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. Kapplers days were over. Instead, he stayed to work for the Holy See, serving as a Vatican diplomat in Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Czechoslovakia. Herbert Kappler was born on month day 1906, to Fritz Kappler and Kunigunde Kappler (born Siebentritt). [6][7][10][13], Kappler was arrested by British authorities in 1945, turned over to the Italian government in 1947, and tried the following year. 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. 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. 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. Because of Kappler's deteriorating condition and his wife's nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him during his time in the Italian hospital. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practicesof the time they were published. The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. 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. [citation needed] and later turned over to the Italian government in 1947. 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. He said the Jews had committed no crime other than being Jews, but were about to be deported to Germany.. In 1934, O'Flaherty received the title of Monsignor. Source: Dutch National Archives, The Hague. Herbert Kappler became Hitler's man in Rome after the arrest of Benito Mussolini. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Where is Herbert Kappler buried? Kurtna, however, turned the tables on Kappler by stealing the top secret Sicherheitsdienst codebooks from his office during the chaos that surrounded the Liberation of Rome. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 - 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. what happened to herbert kappler's first wife. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. 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. A particular adversary of Kappler's in this respect was Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, whose activities helping Jewish fugitives and Allied prisoners escape Rome led to Kappler having him targeted for assassination. https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/10/archives/herbert-kappler-dies-nazi-fled-captivity-in-rome-called-a.html. [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. Retrieved from Wikimedia . He later remarried Anneliese Kappler, a nurse with whom he had carried on a lengthy correspondence, in a prison wedding ceremony in 1972. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. [1] [2] Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70.[4]. Giuseppe worked as a salesclerk at an interior decoration store in Rome. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 - 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. Photos:Kappler -United States War Department, Public domainvia Wikimedia Commons. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, 1998 - 2023 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 and joined the SS in 1933. 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. [10], In 1975, at the age of sixty-eight, Kappler was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Hugh O'Flaherty was born to James and Margaret O'Flaherty in Lisrobin, Kiskeam, County Cork, Ireland, on February 28, 1898. Kappler attended four years of elementary school (Volksschule) followed by four more of high school and graduated in 1925. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. During those same years, Kurtna covertly spied for the Soviet Union, with devastating results for the many underground priests and faithful whose names he passed to the NKVD. 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. 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 was never discharged and technically held this rank during World War II, although by that time Kappler was an active full-time SS member and exempt from further military service. Mrs. Kappler told reporters: The more they hate Herbert Kappler, the more love him. 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. Fortunately, they did not storm the Vatican because of its unique status. Towards the end of 1934, on September 29, he married Leonore Janns who was the same age as Kappler (27 at the time) and came from the city of Heilbronn. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. In 1947, Kappler was tried by an Italian military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison of Gaeta. 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. Following the end of the war, Kappler stood trial in Italy and was sentenced to life imprisonment. OFlaherty never lost his talent for socializing or forgot his golfing skills. Hunted by them, he ended up converting the SS chief in Rome. Ironically, Kurtna's Soviet masters failed to appreciate or reward his loyalty. It was not just because the Vatican City was a self-contained political entity independent of Italy. On 19-04-1972, he married Anneliese Viktoria Wenger (born 1925), a homeopath and mother of three already grown children from a first marriage divorced in 1955 (including Eckehard and Ekkehard Walther, who was with her in Rome) In 1962, after hearing about Kapplers fate from a patient for the first time, she wrote to him and sent food parcels. Appeals by both his wife and the West German government for compassionate release were denied by Italian authorities, but did earn him a transfer to a hospital in 1976. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. Kurtna, who was always loyal to the USSR, only started to also spy for Nazi Germany in 1943 because his new handler, Kappler, repeatedly threatened to otherwise send Kurtna and his wife to a concentration camp. By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). Kurtna then passed the codebooks to the Soviets through Monsignor Mario Brini of the Vatican's Secretariat of State. 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. As part of the latter operation, Kappler successfully extorted 50 kilograms of gold (110 lbs.) [9][13] Kappler's first wife divorced him while he was serving his sentence. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. 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. Mrs. Kappler said she had received messages of support from people all over the world. 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. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. 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. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. This page was last changed on 26 July 2021, at 19:26. Shahan Russell is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. 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). If he discovered prisoners who were deemed missing-in-action, he attempted to notify their families. Despite the Fascist dictatorship, the war, and racial legislation, the family . Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. Kappler organized the Ardeatine massacre, in which 335 Italian civilians were killed on March 24, 1944, as a reprisal for an attack by resistance fighters that had resulted in the deaths of 33 men of the SS Police garrison in Rome. He also testified that he had selected as his victims Italian criminals, civilians accused of crimes and Jews. 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). 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. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. 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. Erich Priebke did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke would face justice. Appeals by both his wife and the West German government to release him were denied by Italian authorities. 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. This function has been disabled for WW2 Gravestone. 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. He would never join his diocese. Kappler presided over the Ardeatine massacre, a mass killing of some 335 civilians and political prisoners on March 24, 1944. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931 and the SS in 1933. 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. 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. 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. Both Capponi and Bentivegna had grown up under Benito Mussolini's dictatorship. 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]. He next attended a technical college and spent seven semesters studying electrical engineering. By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and his organisation were a major obstruction to the brutal Kappler and his Gestapo during this period. Now he was practically in charge of Rome as. He was described as a model prisoner, interested in music, theology, reading and meditation. [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 1935, as part of Germany's rearming programs, Kappler was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht. Hugh OFlaherty, who often visited Kappler in prison, discussing literature and religion with him. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Does not alter, edit or update them escape, Kappler was diagnosed with terminal.... Passed away in 1978, never having been returned to prison Del Monte and Clara.. Whom Kappler often discussed literature and religion with him, and3,700 were hidden by Vatican. Houses throughout Italy nickname the Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican because of its unique.... Waffen-Ss and spent seven semesters studying electrical engineering of State him were denied by Italian.... 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