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]. 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. [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. He later remarried Anneliese Kappler, a nurse with whom he had carried on a lengthy correspondence, in a prison wedding ceremony in 1972. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. 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. In practice, refusal to obey orders during war is not possible. She declined to give details of the escape, saying these would appear in a mass-circulation magazine this week. It was later performed live under the name Kingfishers Catch Fire.[21]. Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70. The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. We have no ads to show you! Of the citys 9,700 Jews, 5,000 were hidden by the Vatican at different properties, and3,700 were hidden by OFlahertys group. iie. An SS officer, he had been an adviser to Italy's fascist police. In the 1973 feature film Massacre in Rome, which deals with the Ardeatine massacre, Kappler was portrayed by actor Richard Burton. Asked whether there werent times when such orders should be disobeyed, Mrs. Kappler replied: One cannot judge this today if one has not experienced war. Contents 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. 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. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. It did not take the Nazis long to realize that OFlaherty was behind the disappearing people. In 1935, as part of Germany's rearming programs, Kappler was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht. 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. See the article in its original context from. Irmgard was born on December 9 1908. Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. Herbert Kappler was born on month day 1906, to Fritz Kappler and Kunigunde Kappler (born Siebentritt). Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931and the SSin 1933. Herbert married Irmgard Kappler (born Erckmann). Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. In 1937, Kappler graduated from the Fhrerschule der Sicherheitspolizei (Leadership School of the Security Police) in Berlin as a Kriminalkommissar (criminal commissioner). A particularly detested adversary of Kappler's was Irish Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty of the Sacred Congregation De Propaganda Fide. Germany was furious at the betrayal and retaliated by invading Italy. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931 and the SS in 1933. 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. 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. He would never join his diocese. Fritz was born on February 23 1876. [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. 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). This page was last changed on 26 July 2021, at 19:26. Kappler was born to a middle-class family in Stuttgart in what was still the German Empire. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. Among them was his future wife, Carla Capponi (1918-2000). 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. Marina was born in Rome on November 4, 1942, to Jewish parents Giuseppe Del Monte and Clara Limentani. 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. 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. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom eventually died in Nazi gas chambers. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, 1998 - 2023 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. iie was 70 years old. He escaped from prison shortly before his death in West Germany in 1978. Kurtna then passed the codebooks to the Soviets through Monsignor Mario Brini of the Vatican's Secretariat of State. [10], In 1975, at the age of sixty-eight, Kappler was diagnosed with terminal cancer. 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. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. The radio play was first broadcast on November 30, 2006 on UK BBC Radio 4. 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. The only people he did not ask for help were his superiors who were anxious to avoid antagonizing the Nazis. 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. With a portion of Italy under German occupation, those POWs were at risk of being recaptured. While serving his sentence in prison, Herbert Kappler divorced his first wife and married his nurse, Anneliese, in 1972. If he discovered prisoners who were deemed missing-in-action, he attempted to notify their families. In 1934, O'Flaherty received the title of Monsignor. She smuggled him into West Germany by car. Raised a Protestant, Kappler wanted to convert to Roman Catholicism, but OFlaherty cautioned against it. 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. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. 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. Other One month ago 0 answers 1 views. Paradoxically, after the war Kappler and O'Flaherty would become friends of sorts.[2]. He died of cancer in 1978, never having been returned to Prison. Kappler died on 09-02-1978, at home in Soltau at the age of 70. He was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannfhrer (lieutenant colonel) on September 12 and quickly assumed his new duties operating out of the Italian capital. Kappler was also never affiliated with the Waffen-SS and spent the war performing "behind the lines" police and security duty. The priest believed it might be misinterpreted as an attempt to influence his trial judges. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. In 1947, Kappler was tried by an Italian military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment in the military prison of Gaeta. It was also because the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war. what happened to hercules after he died . 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. Berlin directed him to have 10 times as many Italians shot in retaliation. Thank you for using this website. See the article in its original context from. Italy demanded his extradition, but .West Germany said this was impossible under its Constitution. Since the marriage had remained childless, the couple adopted a boy from a Lebensborn home. Herbert Kappler passed away in 1978 after Anneliese broke him out of prison when he was . While there, he asked to speak to the Monsignor and was probably surprised when OFlaherty agreed. By 1943, the Italians had suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Allied powers. David Alvarez and Robert A. Graham, S.J. 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. Upon the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Kappler was serving as an SS-Hauptsturmfhrer (captain) out of the Stuttgart Gestapo main office. Erich Priebke did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke would face justice. 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. What happened to Herbert Kappler, SS Colonel, after WWII? By the time the Allies captured Rome in June 1944, OFlahertys underground network had kept 6,245 Allied escapees alive. 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. 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. The man in charge of the Nazis was Herbert Kappler; head of the SS and Gestapo in Rome. The family has nothing to say concerning burial plans, a friend of the family remarked. Statis. His wife divorced him while he was serving his sentence. The Monsignor decided to help. 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 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. Herbert Kappler became Hitler's man in Rome after the arrest of Benito Mussolini. 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. He would be Kapplers only visitor until 1959. Comment * what is insensible water loss. 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. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and his organisation were a major obstruction to the brutal Kappler and his Gestapo during this period. His Nazi Party membership number was 594,899. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. 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. 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. 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. 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. SS Obersturmfhrer, The head of German police and security services in Rome. Kapplers days were over. She was their only child. He next attended a technical college and spent seven semesters studying electrical engineering. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. OFlaherty never lost his talent for socializing or forgot his golfing skills. 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. By this time, Kappler had also converted to Catholicism,[16] due to the influence of his war-time enemy, Mgr. 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. Kappler was in charge of Jewish roundups for deportations to Auschwitz. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. As they already had so many enemies, the last thing they wanted was to alienate the worlds entire Catholic population by violating the Popes domain. 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. Appeals by both his wife and the West German government to release him were denied by Italian authorities. In mid 1935, Kappler applied for transfer to the full-time SS and submitted an application to join the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) or SiPo. 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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