Herbert Kappler became Hitler's man in Rome after the arrest of Benito Mussolini. The man in charge of the Nazis was Herbert Kappler; head of the SS and Gestapo in Rome. Hunted by them, he ended up converting the SS chief in Rome. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Following the armistice between Italy and the Allied Forces on September 8, 1943, the German military occupied Rome and Kappler was ordered to serve as Chief of the Security Police and Security Service (Oberbefehlshaber des Sicherheitspolizei und SD) for all SS and police units deployed in Rome. . Without hesitation, O'Flaherty took up Kappler's invitation and in prison the two men chatted over coffee. 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. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practicesof the time they were published. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. iie. 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. There was a great sense of letting go." . (Photo by Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images), 2001 x 2880 px (6.67 x 9.60 in) - 300 dpi - 1 MB. 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. 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. Photos:Kappler -United States War Department, Public domainvia Wikimedia Commons. Since he was at this time considered only a general SS member, not assigned to permanent full-time duties, Kappler was not exempt from the draft and he became a Schtze in the Wehrmacht on June 11, 1935. Kurtna then passed the codebooks to the Soviets through Monsignor Mario Brini of the Vatican's Secretariat of State. During this time one of his only regular visitors was none other that The Monsignor himself who visited him every month for 10 years as well as writing to him regularly and subsequently baptizedhim to the Catholic faith. 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. iie was 70 years old. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. Arrest and Later Life. On 19-04-1972, he married Anneliese Viktoria Wenger (born 1925), a homeopath and mother of three already grown children from a first marriage divorced in 1955 (including Eckehard and Ekkehard Walther, who was with her in Rome) In 1962, after hearing about Kapplers fate from a patient for the first time, she wrote to him and sent food parcels. 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. 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. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). His Nazi Party membership number was 594,899. Italy demanded his extradition, but .West Germany said this was impossible under its Constitution. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom also died in the gas chambers. Giuseppe worked as a salesclerk at an interior decoration store in Rome. Reply ( 0) Leave a comment. The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. In 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. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. what happened to herbert kappler's first wife. Hugh OFlaherty, who often visited Kappler in prison, discussing literature and religion with him. Herbert Kappler was born on September 23, 1907, to a middle-class family in Stuttgart in the German Empire. He was a man of many faces who used his talent at disguise to help thousands of people escape from the Nazis. 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. By the time the Allies captured Rome in June 1944, OFlahertys underground network had kept 6,245 Allied escapees alive. Over the years, the two developed a strange friendship. Because of Kapplers deteriorating condition and his wifes nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him after he was transferred to an Italian hospital. 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. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. In 1968 she visited him for the first time in the fortress of Gaeta. With a portion of Italy under German occupation, those POWs were at risk of being recaptured. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70.[4]. During his captivity, Kappler wrote to his former rival and asked him to come and visit. During his childhood, Kappler witnessed World War I, and came of age in the Weimar Republic during the 1920s. 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. 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 website makes use of cookies to ensure that the website works properly. He would never join his diocese. 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. Meanwhile, the West German government has denied German press reports that it has secretly reached agreement with the Italian government on a means of ending the Kappler controversy. The Monsignor decided to help. In January 1936, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Scharfhrer (sergeant) and assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office of Stuttgart (Stapoleitstelle Stuttgart). [citation needed] In 1938, during the Anschluss, he supervised the mass deportations of Austrias Jews to concentration camps. 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. Herbert Kappler of the German Army carried out a massacre of Italian civilians at the Ardeatine Caves near Rome on March 24, 1944. The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. 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. What happened to Herbert Kapplers first wife? 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. Following the end of the war, Kappler stood trial in Italy and was sentenced to life imprisonment. 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 (. 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. OFlaherty enlisted several VIPs. 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. He would be Kapplers only visitor until 1959. Question ( 102766) Answer ( 32) Member ( 11) 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. [citation needed] Paradoxically, after the war Kappler and O'Flaherty would become friends of sorts.[2]. 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. What happened to Herbert Kappler, SS Colonel, after WWII? Fritz was born on February 23 1876. 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. Kappler was also never affiliated with the Waffen-SS and spent the war performing "behind the lines" police and security duty. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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. 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. 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. In 1934, OFlaherty was appointedMonsignor; a title for high-ranking clergy members who have provided valuable service to the church. 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. 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. An SS officer, he had been an adviser to Italy's fascist police. 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). [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. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931and the SSin 1933. "First a great fear, then a great calm, an enormous lucidity. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Living in a major city such as Stuttgart, Kappler was a witness to the chaos of the Great Depression, the expansion of the Freikorps, and the rise of the Nazi Party. Erich Priebke did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke would face justice. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Kunigunde was born on August 21 1882. Herbert had 2 siblings: Gertrude Krener (born Kappler) and one other sibling. In his first action, 1,023 Italian Jews were deported, of whom only 16 survived. It did not take the Nazis long to realize that OFlaherty was behind the disappearing people. 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. In 1975, he was diagnosed with cancer. Now he was practically in charge of Rome as. It was a large and prestigious establishment, owned by an uncle. In 1931, Herbert Kappler formally became a Nazi Party member. Anyone can read what you share. In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. He underwent six months of indoctrination training, and was sworn into the SS on May 8, 1933. 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. 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. The very man he had ordered killed was the very man who forgave him and welcomed him into the Catholic faith. Hugh OFlaherty was born on February 28, 1898, in County Cork, Ireland. Ironically, Kurtna's Soviet masters failed to appreciate or reward his loyalty. 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. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. In 1947, Kappler was tried by an Italian military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison of Gaeta. Retrieved from Wikimedia . 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.. She lowered him out a fourthfloor window with a mountainclimbing harness, hid him in a box and drove to West Germay. (1997), Military history of Italy during World War II, "An Italian doctor explains "Syndrome K", the fake disease he invented to save Jews from the Nazis", "Weitere Grber nicht mehr namenlos (neues deutschland)", "La vedova di Kappler a Trento per il culto del Simonino", "Erich Priebke, Nazi Who Carried Out Massacre of 335 Italians, Dies at 100", "Nazi funeral that's forcing Italy to face its past", "Kappler's escape MEETING WITH Hon. 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. [18], In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. 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. 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. 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. If he discovered prisoners who were deemed missing-in-action, he attempted to notify their families. By using this website we assume that you agree with this. He also coordinated the rescue of downed pilots, providing them with food, medicine and safe houses throughout Italy. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. 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. 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. Kappler attended four years of elementary school (Volksschule) followed by four more of high school and graduated in 1925. Collect, curate and comment on your files. He was raised in Killarney where his father was a steward on a golf course where the family lived. 2023 Getty Images. Yet it was in The Scarlet and the Black that Plummer played his most Catholic role, the Gestapo chief in Rome, Herbert Kappler. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. 1,007 were shipped to Auschwitz. 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. He was intelligent earning a scholarship to a teacher training college. By early 1944, Kappler was the highest representative of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office) in Rome and answered directly to both the military governorship, under Luftwaffe Major General Kurt Mlzer, as well as the SS chain of command under the Supreme SS and Police Leader of Italy, SS-Obergruppenfhrer Karl Wolff. [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. Therefore, he was allowed to visit POW camps throughout Italy. I recommend you watch his trial here. Thank you for using this website. 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. This function has been disabled for WW2 Gravestone. 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. 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. By this time, Kappler had also converted to Catholicism,[16] due to the influence of his war-time enemy, Mgr. He escaped from prison shortly before his death in West Germany in 1978. Raised a Protestant, Kappler wanted to convert to Roman Catholicism, but OFlaherty cautioned against it. Herbert married Irmgard Kappler (born Erckmann). 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). Following the armistice between Italy and the Allies on September 8, 1943, the German military occupied Rome and Kappler was appointed as Chief of the Security Police and Security Service (Oberbefehlshaber des Sicherheitspolizei und SD) for all SS and Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) units deployed in Rome. The Irish War of Independence broke out in 1919, making life difficult. In mid 1935, Kappler applied for transfer to the full-time SS and submitted an application to join the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) or SiPo. Irmgard was born on December 9 1908. 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. 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. 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 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. . Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He was described as a model prisoner, interested in music, theology, reading and meditation. [17], Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on 9 February 1978, aged 70. 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. This page was last changed on 26 July 2021, at 19:26. SOLTAU, West Germany, Feb. 10 (UPI) The family of Herbert Kappler, a former Nazi SS colonel, withheld plans for his funeral today to prevent pro- and antiNazi demonstrators from appearing at the rites. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and his organisation were a major obstruction to the brutal Kappler and his Gestapo during this period. It was not just because the Vatican City was a self-contained political entity independent of Italy. 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. Since the marriage had remained childless, the couple adopted a boy from a Lebensborn home. 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. At the same time, he became a stormtrooper in the Sturmabteilung . Shahan Russell is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. In retaliation for the armistice between Italy and the Allies on 8 September 1943, the German military occupied Rome and Kappler was appointed as Chief of the Security Police and Security Service (Oberbefehlshaber des Sicherheitspolizei und SD) for all SS and Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) units deployed in Rome. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. Hugh O'Flaherty was born to James and Margaret O'Flaherty in Lisrobin, Kiskeam, County Cork, Ireland, on February 28, 1898. 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. 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. He said the Jews had committed no crime other than being Jews, but were about to be deported to Germany.. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. See the article in its original context from. Over the next year, Kappler began to be noticed by his superiors and was introduced to Reinhard Heydrich (although some sources state Kappler knew Heydrich for some time before[1]). [19], Kappler was portrayed by Christopher Plummer in the 1983 TV film The Scarlet and The Black, which detailed Kappler's first meeting with Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. Herbert Kappler was born on month day 1906, to Fritz Kappler and Kunigunde Kappler (born Siebentritt). Kapplers second in command in Rome, SS-Captain. Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 at the age of twenty three. In 1922 OFlaherty was sent to Rome to finish his studies where he was ordained three years later. While serving his sentence in prison, Herbert Kappler divorced his first wife and married his nurse, Anneliese, in 1972. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In mid 1941, now an SS-Major, Kappler was selected as a liaison officer to the government of Benito Mussolini as well as a security advisor to the Fascist police. 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. As Nazi police chief in Rome, he ordered the executions in 1944 after a midtown bombing attack by partisans killed 32 SS men. As part of the latter operation, Kappler successfully extorted 50 kilograms of gold (110 lbs.) 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. By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. Kappler was in charge of Jewish roundups for deportations to Auschwitz. 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. The reports suggested that Bonn would place Kappler in a German hospital under strict police guard and the Italian government would find this a politically palatable solution to the row over his escape. [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. By this time Kappler had also converted to Catholicism, partly due to the influence of his war-time opponent, the Vatican diplomat Mgr. His wife divorced him while he was serving his sentence. 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. Kappler prison photo -Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "An Italian doctor explains "Syndrome K", the fake disease he invented to save Jews from the Nazis", https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Herbert_Kappler&oldid=7681127, German military personnel of World War II, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. Anyone can read what you share. She was their only child. 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 the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. [2], Due to Kappler's deteriorating condition and his wife's nursing skills, Anneliese Kappler had been allowed almost unlimited access to him. By 1929, he was a certified electrician, still living in Stuttgart. 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. 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. 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. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. 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. 8, 1933 on a golf course where the family lived and war criminal during the Nazi on! 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