[2], Due to Kappler's deteriorating condition and his wife's nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him. OFlaherty did not just hide POWs. It did not take the Nazis long to realize that OFlaherty was behind the disappearing people. In 1975, he was diagnosed with cancer. 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. 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. 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. Amazingly, the Irishman agreed to go and see a man who had plotted to kidnap him and at one stage wanted to murder him. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. What happened to Herbert Kappler, SS Colonel, after WWII? 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. 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. 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). TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. David Alvarez and Robert A. Graham, S.J. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Therefore, he was allowed to visit POW camps throughout Italy. Asked by the TV interviewer whether approval had perhaps not come from the wrong (political) side, she said she was not interested where approval came from. It is estimated his group hid over 6,500 people for the remainder of the war in farms, convents, churches, and private apartments. 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. Vittorio Lattanzio resigned from his position as Minister of Defense in the aftermath of the escape. 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. In 1975 Kappler was diagnosed with cancer, but requests for his release were refused. Following the end of the war, Kappler stood trial in Italy and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Kappler attended four years of elementary school (Volksschule) followed by four more of high school and graduated in 1925. Kappler was convicted to life imprisonment by an Italian military tribunal after WWII and served life imprisonment in an Italian prison. Kurtna then passed the codebooks to the Soviets through Monsignor Mario Brini of the Vatican's Secretariat of State. 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 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. After his sentencing (which upheld his lifetime conviction), Kappler went ahead with the conversion. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Irmgard was born on December 9 1908. Mrs. Kappler told reporters: The more they hate Herbert Kappler, the more love him. 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. Retrieved from Wikimedia . Yet it was in The Scarlet and the Black that Plummer played his most Catholic role, the Gestapo chief in Rome, Herbert Kappler. 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. [10], In 1975, at the age of sixty-eight, Kappler was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Kappler was in charge of Jewish roundups for deportations to Auschwitz. Paradoxically, after the war Kappler and O'Flaherty would become friends of sorts.[2]. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. [2], 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. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. [9][13] Kappler's first wife divorced him while he was serving his sentence. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931and the SSin 1933. OFlaherty enlisted several VIPs. 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. 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. You got lucky! Giuseppe worked as a salesclerk at an interior decoration store in Rome. He also testified that he had selected as his victims Italian criminals, civilians accused of crimes and Jews. In 1968 she visited him for the first time in the fortress of Gaeta. Herbert married Irmgard Kappler (born Erckmann). Did Herbert Kappler become a Catholic? They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. Kappler presided over the Ardeatine massacre, a mass killing of some 335 civilians and political prisoners on March 24, 1944. In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. 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. 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. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office in Stuttgart. She lowered him out a fourthfloor window with a mountainclimbing harness, hid him in a box and drove to West Germay. 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. Arrest and Later Life. 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. Collect, curate and comment on your files. 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. 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. Kapplers days were over. He was raised in Killarney where his father was a steward on a golf course where the family lived. Kappler prison photo -Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 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. Hugh O'Flaherty, who also often visited him in prison, and with whom Kappler often discussed literature and religion. Raised a Protestant, Kappler wanted to convert to Roman Catholicism, but OFlaherty cautioned against it. It was a large and prestigious establishment, owned by an uncle. While there, he asked to speak to the Monsignor and was probably surprised when OFlaherty agreed. 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. As Nazi police chief in Rome, he ordered the executions in 1944 after a midtown bombing attack by partisans killed 32 SS men. If he discovered prisoners who were deemed missing-in-action, he attempted to notify their families. 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. 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. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70.[4]. During his childhood, Kappler witnessed World War I, and came of age in the Weimar Republic during the 1920s. [14][15], In 1948, Kappler was tried by an Italian Army military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. Photos:Kappler -United States War Department, Public domainvia Wikimedia Commons. 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. 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. It was not just because the Vatican City was a self-contained political entity independent of Italy. 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. 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). Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. This function has been disabled for WW2 Gravestone. With a portion of Italy under German occupation, those POWs were at risk of being recaptured. (Photo by Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images), 2001 x 2880 px (6.67 x 9.60 in) - 300 dpi - 1 MB. Kunigunde was born on August 21 1882. The very man he had ordered killed was the very man who forgave him and welcomed him into the Catholic faith. 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. 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. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom eventually died in Nazi gas chambers. Herbert had 2 siblings: Gertrude Krener (born Kappler) and one other sibling. 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. Obersturmbannfhrer Herbert Kappler in 1946; By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. 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.. Kappler's second in command in Rome, SS-Captain Erich Priebke, did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke . 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