World War II Thank you for using this website. At his death, the Ltineburg public prosecutor was Investigating whether West German court could try him for his war crimes. 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. In 1935, as part of Germany's rearming programs, Kappler was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht. [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrian Jews as part of the Holocaust in Austria.[3]. 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. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, 1998 - 2023 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Raised a Protestant, Kappler wanted to convert to Roman Catholicism, but OFlaherty cautioned against it. 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. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a 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.[1][2]. Vittorio Lattanzio resigned from his position as Minister of Defense in the aftermath of the escape. During his teenage years Hugh was a talented student and golfer . OFlaherty did not just hide POWs. 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. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. 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.. [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrias Jews to concentration camps. He was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannfhrer (lieutenant colonel) on September 12 and quickly assumed his new duties operating out of the Italian capital. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office in Stuttgart. 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. 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. He was intelligent earning a scholarship to a teacher training college. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. David Alvarez and Robert A. Graham, S.J. 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. Hunted by them, he ended up converting the SS chief in Rome. The film was filled with the Catholic faith of his wife, Maria von Trapp, and their family. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. 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. Kunigunde was born on August 21 1882. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931 at the age of twenty three. Now he was practically in charge of Rome as. 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. 2023 Getty Images. SS Obersturmfhrer, The head of German police and security services in Rome. 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. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. 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. 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. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. 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. Mrs. Kappler told reporters: The more they hate Herbert Kappler, the more love him. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931and the SSin 1933. [17], Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on 9 February 1978, aged 70. By this time Kappler had also converted to Catholicism, partly due to the influence of his war-time opponent, the Vatican diplomat Mgr. Kappler's activities between 1929 and 1931 are little known, except that he was living in Stuttgart, occasionally performing work as an electrician. Photos:Kappler -United States War Department, Public domainvia Wikimedia Commons. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. He said the Jews had committed no crime other than being Jews, but were about to be deported to Germany.. The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. 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. Kappler was also never affiliated with the Waffen-SS and spent the war performing "behind the lines" police and security duty. He would be Kapplers only visitor until 1959. 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. Ironically, Kurtna's Soviet masters failed to appreciate or reward his loyalty. [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. Obersturmbannfhrer Herbert Kappler in 1946; By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. He would never join his diocese. It did not take the Nazis long to realize that OFlaherty was behind the disappearing people. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Fortunately, they did not storm the Vatican because of its unique status. Reply ( 0) Leave a comment. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. 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. . 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. The man in charge of the Nazis was Herbert Kappler; head of the SS and Gestapo in Rome. 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. 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. As Nazi police chief in Rome, he ordered the executions in 1944 after a midtown bombing attack by partisans killed 32 SS men. Kappler's main activities during this period involved suppressing resistance groups, rounding up "enemies of the state", and enforcing anti-Jewish measures, conducting Jewish ghetto raids, and deportations to extermination camps. The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. 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. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. Amazingly, the Irishman agreed to go and see a man who had plotted to kidnap him and at one stage wanted to murder him. Kappler's second in command in Rome, SS-Captain Erich Priebke, did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke . Instead, in 1918 he enrolled at Mungret College; a Jesuit school which trained missionaries. 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. One of the most notorious actions Kappler undertook while in Rome was the organization of the Ardeatine massacre where 335 Italian civilians were killed on March 24, 1944 in collective punishment for an attack by resistance fighters against the SS Police Regiment Bozen in Rome. 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. "First a great fear, then a great calm, an enormous lucidity. 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, 1931 and the SS in 1933. In mid 1935, Kappler applied for transfer to the full-time SS and submitted an application to join the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) or SiPo. In 1968 she visited him for the first time in the fortress of Gaeta. She smuggled him into West Germany by car. 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. In 1931, Herbert Kappler formally became a Nazi Party member. Kappler prison photo -Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Kapplers second in command in Rome, SS-Captain. 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. what happened to hercules after he died . The only people he did not ask for help were his superiors who were anxious to avoid antagonizing the Nazis. Anyone can read what you share. Hugh became a scratch golfer meaning he was quite good. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 at the age of twenty three. 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. 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. 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. 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). What happened to Herbert Kappler? 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. Statis. By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. Walter Ciszek as a fellow political prisoner in the Gulag complex located 300km above the Arctic Circle and known as Norillag. Did Herbert Kappler become a Catholic? Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. 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. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 and joined the SS in 1933. 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. Anyone can read what you share. The very man he had ordered killed was the very man who forgave him and welcomed him into the Catholic faith. It was a large and prestigious establishment, owned by an uncle. This function has been disabled for WW2 Gravestone. OFlaherty was told he would be shot if he crossed the line not that it stopped him. By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. Herbert Kappler of the German Army carried out a massacre of Italian civilians at the Ardeatine Caves near Rome on March 24, 1944. By using this website we assume that you agree with this. 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. Herbert Kappler became Hitler's man in Rome after the arrest of Benito Mussolini. 1,007 were shipped to Auschwitz. An SS officer, he had been an adviser to Italy's fascist police. 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. Contents 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. 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). 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 . from the Jews of Rome, which Kappler later alleged was an attempt to prevent the deportations.[3][8][9]. OFlaherty enlisted several VIPs. Kappler was responsible for many cruel deeds in Rome as well as the massacre at The Ardeatine Caves, which were personally supervised by Kappler. He later remarried Anneliese Kappler, a nurse with whom he had carried on a lengthy correspondence, in a prison wedding ceremony in 1972. . Toget about, he donned various disguises, hence his nickname the Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican. 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