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. Although most were Allied soldiers, some were Jews. "First a great fear, then a great calm, an enormous lucidity. During his teenage years Hugh was a talented student and golfer . The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. An SS officer, he had been an adviser to Italy's fascist police. [18], In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. Mrs. Kappler told reporters: The more they hate Herbert Kappler, the more love him. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office in Stuttgart. 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 Mlzer, as well as the SS chain of command under the Higher SS and Police Leader of Italy, SS-Obergruppenfhrer Karl Wolff. As part of the latter operation, Kappler successfully extorted 50 kilograms of gold (110 lbs.) She lowered him out a fourthfloor window with a mountainclimbing harness, hid him in a box and drove to West Germay. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. 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. 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. 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. In 1947, Kappler was tried by an Italian military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison of Gaeta. In 1947, Kappler was tried by an Italian military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison of Gaeta. 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. Thank you for using this website. 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. 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. 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. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. 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). 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]. Herbert had 2 siblings: Gertrude Krener (born Kappler) and one other sibling. Kappler presided over the Ardeatine massacre, a mass killing of some 335 civilians and political prisoners on March 24, 1944. 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. [1] [2] He next attended a technical college and spent seven semesters studying electrical engineering. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. 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. and later turned over to the Italian government in 1947. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). Contents Photos:Kappler -United States War Department, Public domainvia Wikimedia Commons. 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. This function has been disabled for WW2 Gravestone. 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. 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. OFlaherty never lost his talent for socializing or forgot his golfing skills. By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. Hugh became a scratch golfer meaning he was quite good. What happened to Herbert Kapplers first wife? See the article in its original context from. He was a man of many faces who used his talent at disguise to help thousands of people escape from the Nazis. Over the years, the two developed a strange friendship. Herbert Kappler became Hitler's man in Rome after the arrest of Benito Mussolini. 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. He would never join his diocese. 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. His Nazi Party membership number was 594,899. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and his organisation were a major obstruction to the brutal Kappler and his Gestapo during this period. This page was last changed on 26 July 2021, at 19:26. 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.. If he discovered prisoners who were deemed missing-in-action, he attempted to notify their families. 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. Kunigunde was born on August 21 1882. Giuseppe worked as a salesclerk at an interior decoration store in Rome. Reply ( 0) Leave a comment. Statis. Berlin directed him to have 10 times as many Italians shot in retaliation. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. Marina was born in Rome on November 4, 1942, to Jewish parents Giuseppe Del Monte and Clara Limentani. Yet it was in The Scarlet and the Black that Plummer played his most Catholic role, the Gestapo chief in Rome, Herbert Kappler. 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. 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. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. In 1975, he was diagnosed with cancer. 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. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70. Kappler attended four years of elementary school (Volksschule) followed by four more of high school and graduated in 1925. 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. In 1968 she visited him for the first time in the fortress of Gaeta. . Among them was his future wife, Carla Capponi (1918-2000). Ironically, Kurtna's Soviet masters failed to appreciate or reward his loyalty. Kappler was also never affiliated with the Waffen-SS and spent the war performing "behind the lines" police and security duty. 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. 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. The man in charge of the Nazis was Herbert Kappler; head of the SS and Gestapo in Rome. 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). Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 and joined the SS in 1933. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. See the article in its original context from. 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. By this time Kappler had also converted to Catholicism, partly due to the influence of his war-time opponent, the Vatican diplomat Mgr. Appeals by both his wife and the West German government to release him were denied by Italian authorities. Impressed with his abilities, he was appointed to the Holy See; the Vaticans governing body. Retrieved from Wikimedia . 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. 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. 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TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. SS Obersturmfhrer, The head of German police and security services in Rome. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. 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. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [2], Due to Kappler's deteriorating condition and his wife's nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him. His first assignment was as a member of an Allgemeine SS formation (the 13th SS-Standarte), operating out of Stuttgart, performing part-time duties as a member of the general SS. Source: Dutch National Archives, The Hague. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. 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. OFlaherty enlisted several VIPs. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. 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. Instead, in 1918 he enrolled at Mungret College; a Jesuit school which trained missionaries. Question ( 102766) Answer ( 32) Member ( 11) Herbert Kappler was born on September 23, 1907, to a middle-class family in Stuttgart in the German Empire. 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. 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. During his childhood, Kappler witnessed World War I, and came of age in the Weimar Republic during the 1920s. What happened to Herbert Kappler? [14][15], In 1948, Kappler was tried by an Italian Army military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. 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 . 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. 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). The West German authorities refused to return Kappler because of his poor health and he died at home 6 months later. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Behind the lines '' police and security services in Rome Tbingern, Kurzestrasse,. Authorities refused to return Kappler because of his war-time opponent, the times does alter! 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