On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. 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. 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. . What happened to Herbert Kappler? While serving his sentence in prison, Herbert Kappler divorced his first wife and married his nurse, Anneliese, in 1972. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931 at the age of twenty three. Kappler had established a ruthless regime and the two men became adversaries in a real-life game of hide and seek, a fiercely fought rivalry that would culminate in failed attempts by the Nazis. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom also died in the gas chambers. Kappler was also never affiliated with the Waffen-SS and spent the war performing "behind the lines" police and security duty. Kunigunde was born on August 21 1882. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He underwent six months of indoctrination training, and was sworn into the SS on May 8, 1933. Kappler died on 09-02-1978, at home in Soltau at the age of 70. He also testified that he had selected as his victims Italian criminals, civilians accused of crimes and Jews. Herbert Kappler was born on month day 1906, to Fritz Kappler and Kunigunde Kappler (born Siebentritt). 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. He also coordinated the rescue of downed pilots, providing them with food, medicine and safe houses throughout Italy. Kurtna was last seen in 1948 by Fr. Of the citys 9,700 Jews, 5,000 were hidden by the Vatican at different properties, and3,700 were hidden by OFlahertys group. 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]. [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. World War II He was only obeying orders.. 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. Although most were Allied soldiers, some were Jews. 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. Berlin directed him to have 10 times as many Italians shot in retaliation. His wife divorced him while he was serving his sentence. [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. 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. I recommend you watch his trial here. 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. 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 born on September 23, 1907, to a middle-class family in the city of Stuttgart in what was then the German Empire. Kappler presided over the Ardeatine massacre, a mass killing of some 335 civilians and political prisoners on March 24, 1944. 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 intelligent earning a scholarship to a teacher training college. Obersturmbannfhrer Herbert Kappler in 1946; By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 at the age of twenty three. 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. Appeals by both his wife and the West German government to release him were denied by Italian authorities. 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. 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 promoted to SS-Obersturmbannfhrer (lieutenant colonel) on September 12 and quickly assumed his new duties operating out of the Italian capital. 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. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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]. . Appeals by both his wife and the West German government to release him were denied by Italian authorities. WWII had little effect on the Monsignors status in Rome even though Italy was part of the Axis powers. 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. 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. Paradoxically, after the war Kappler and O'Flaherty would become friends of sorts.[2]. [1] [2] Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931and the SSin 1933. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of 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 Maelzer, as well as the SS chain of command under the Higher SS and Police Leader of Italy, SS-Obergruppenfhrer Karl Wolff. 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. 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. [14][15], In 1948, Kappler was tried by an Italian Army military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. As Nazi police chief in Rome, he ordered the executions in 1944 after a midtown bombing attack by partisans killed 32 SS men. 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. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. 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. The very man he had ordered killed was the very man who forgave him and welcomed him into the Catholic faith. 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. iie was 70 years old. from the Jews of Rome, which Kappler later alleged was an attempt to prevent the deportations.[3][8][9]. Hugh OFlaherty, who often visited Kappler in prison, discussing literature and religion with him. He was raised in Killarney where his father was a steward on a golf course where the family lived. 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. [citation needed] Anyone can read what you share. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. In 1975 Kappler was diagnosed with cancer, but requests for his release were refused. 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 . By this time, Kappler had also converted to Catholicism,[16] due to the influence of his war-time enemy, Mgr. Kapplers second in command in Rome, SS-Captain. Herbert Kappler was born on September 23, 1907, to a middle-class family in Stuttgart in the German Empire. The priest believed it might be misinterpreted as an attempt to influence his trial judges. [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. 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 arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom eventually died in Nazi gas chambers. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. Hunted by them, he ended up converting the SS chief in Rome. 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. Comment * what is insensible water loss. What happened to Herbert Kappler, SS Colonel, after WWII? 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. Impressed with his abilities, he was appointed to the Holy See; the Vaticans governing body. Thank you for using this website. What happened to Herbert Kapplers first wife? 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. The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. 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. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrias Jews to concentration camps. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. 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. 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. 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. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. 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. 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. Because of Kapplers deteriorating condition and his wifes nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him during his time in the Italian hospital. Shahan Russell is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. At the same time, he became a stormtrooper in the Sturmabteilung . Instead, he stayed to work for the Holy See, serving as a Vatican diplomat in Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Czechoslovakia. With a portion of Italy under German occupation, those POWs were at risk of being recaptured. 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. Among them was his future wife, Carla Capponi (1918-2000). Kappler was in charge of Jewish roundups for deportations to Auschwitz. The film was filled with the Catholic faith of his wife, Maria von Trapp, and their family. Fortunately, they did not storm the Vatican because of its unique status. Anyone can read what you share. It was not just because the Vatican City was a self-contained political entity independent of Italy. Therefore, he was allowed to visit POW camps throughout Italy. [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. 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. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. In 1947, Kappler was tried by an Italian military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison of Gaeta. He next attended a technical college and spent seven semesters studying electrical engineering. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 (. 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. 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. 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. 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. Raised a Protestant, Kappler wanted to convert to Roman Catholicism, but OFlaherty cautioned against it. In 1947, Kappler was tried by an Italian military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison of Gaeta. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. 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. She was their only child. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. 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. https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/10/archives/herbert-kappler-dies-nazi-fled-captivity-in-rome-called-a.html. 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. iie was 70 years old. He would never join his diocese. 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. . iie. OFlaherty never lost his talent for socializing or forgot his golfing skills. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, 1998 - 2023 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 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. SS Obersturmfhrer, The head of German police and security services in Rome. Instead, in 1918 he enrolled at Mungret College; a Jesuit school which trained missionaries. 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. In 1935, as part of Germany's rearming programs, Kappler was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht. Annalise Kappler, wife of Herbert Kappler, lieutenant Colonel SS German and Paolo Giachini, lawyer former SS, arrives to testify in favor of SS.