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. Although most were Allied soldiers, some were Jews. [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. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. [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. 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. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. 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. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. 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. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931 at the age of twenty three. Impressed with his abilities, he was appointed to the Holy See; the Vaticans governing body. OFlaherty was told he would be shot if he crossed the line not that it stopped him. [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. Thank you for using this website. Collect, curate and comment on your files. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. 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. 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. 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. Source: Dutch National Archives, The Hague. Kappler prison photo -Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. [9][13] Kappler's first wife divorced him while he was serving his sentence. 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. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Waiting to solve 5. 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. Since the marriage had remained childless, the couple adopted a boy from a Lebensborn home. 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. 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 . 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. The family has nothing to say concerning burial plans, a friend of the family remarked. He was raised in Killarney where his father was a steward on a golf course where the family lived. 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 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. Erich Priebke did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke would face justice. Arrest and Later Life. By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. 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. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. 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. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. 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. Where is Herbert Kappler buried? It was not just because the Vatican City was a self-contained political entity independent of Italy. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. This function has been disabled for WW2 Gravestone. 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. She was their only child. We have no ads to show you! 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 also coordinated the rescue of downed pilots, providing them with food, medicine and safe houses throughout Italy. Kappler was responsible for many cruel deeds in Rome as well as the massacre at The Ardeatine Caves, which were personally supervised by Kappler. iie. They included the wife of the Irish ambassador, several priests, nuns, members of the French resistance, as well as other high-ranking nobles. Kappler's activities between 1929 and 1931 are little known, except that he was living in Stuttgart, occasionally performing work as an electrician. In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. 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. 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 served as the Vaticans diplomat to Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Czechoslovakia. 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. An SS officer, he had been an adviser to Italy's fascist police. In 1934, OFlaherty was appointedMonsignor; a title for high-ranking clergy members who have provided valuable service to the church. and later turned over to the Italian government in 1947. The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. 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. [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrias Jews to concentration camps. The Irish War of Independence broke out in 1919, making life difficult. He escaped from prison shortly before his death in West Germany in 1978. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70. Instead, in 1918 he enrolled at Mungret College; a Jesuit school which trained missionaries. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 and joined the SS in 1933. Now he was practically in charge of Rome as. Irmgard was born on December 9 1908. 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. Photos:Kappler -United States War Department, Public domainvia Wikimedia Commons. While serving his sentence in prison, Herbert Kappler divorced his first wife and married his nurse, Anneliese, in 1972. what happened to herbert kappler's first wife. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Kappler was in charge of Jewish roundups for deportations to Auschwitz. Statis. I recommend you watch his trial here. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom also died in the gas chambers. The radio play was first broadcast on 30 November 2006 on UK BBC Radio 4. What happened to Herbert Kapplers first wife? 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). from the Jews of Rome, which Kappler later alleged was an attempt to prevent the deportations.[3][8][9]. Shahan Russell is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. 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]. 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. She lowered him out a fourthfloor window with a mountainclimbing harness, hid him in a box and drove to West Germay. Herbert Kappler became Hitler's man in Rome after the arrest of Benito Mussolini. Kappler presided over the Ardeatine massacre, a mass killing of some 335 civilians and political prisoners on March 24, 1944. He would never join his diocese. Herbert Kappler of the German Army carried out a massacre of Italian civilians at the Ardeatine Caves near Rome on March 24, 1944. Both Capponi and Bentivegna had grown up under Benito Mussolini's dictatorship. Of the citys 9,700 Jews, 5,000 were hidden by the Vatican at different properties, and3,700 were hidden by OFlahertys group. Mrs. Kappler said she had received messages of support from people all over the world. Herbert Kappler. 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. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. 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 later married Anneliese Kappler, a nurse who had carried on a lengthy correspondence with him, before marrying him at a prison ceremony in 1972. Fortunately, they did not storm the Vatican because of its unique status. What happened to Herbert Kappler? In 1922 OFlaherty was sent to Rome to finish his studies where he was ordained three years later. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. 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. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. What happened to Herbert Kappler, SS Colonel, after WWII? Hugh O'Flaherty, who also often visited him in prison, and with whom Kappler often discussed literature and religion. Kappler was responsible for many cruel deeds in Rome as well as the massacre at The Ardeatine Caves, which were personally supervised by Kappler. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. [14][15], In 1948, Kappler was tried by an Italian Army military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gaeta military prison. See the article in its original context from. 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