Six months after his escape, Kappler died at home in Soltau, on February 9, 1978, aged 70.[4]. Walter Ciszek as a fellow political prisoner in the Gulag complex located 300km above the Arctic Circle and known as Norillag. By this time Kappler had also converted to Catholicism, partly due to the influence of his war-time opponent, the Vatican diplomat Mgr. They deposed Mussolini and freed all Allied POWs. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kapplerwas head of The Gestapo in Rome during the occupation. 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. 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, O'Flaherty received the title of Monsignor. He was described as a model prisoner, interested in music, theology, reading and meditation. 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. 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. It is estimated his group hid over 6,500 people for the remainder of the war in farms, convents, churches, and private apartments. Kunigunde was born on August 21 1882. 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. 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Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. 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. It was a large and prestigious establishment, owned by an uncle. Kappler converted to Roman Catholicism. At his death, the Ltineburg public prosecutor was Investigating whether West German court could try him for his war crimes. OFlaherty was told he would be shot if he crossed the line not that it stopped him. (Photo by Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images), 2001 x 2880 px (6.67 x 9.60 in) - 300 dpi - 1 MB. The two lived at an address on Tbingern, Kurzestrasse 15, before later moving to an apartment listed at Stuttgart-Degerloch, Reutlingerstrasse 98. 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. Wellwishers showered the Kappler apartment with flowers and telegrams, and young neoNazis marched along the street below with, Fascist and antiJewish banners. [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. Mr. Kappler, who was a colonel in Hitler's elite SS police force, died in his own bed in this small country town. [citation needed] 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. Without hesitation, O'Flaherty took up Kappler's invitation and in prison the two men chatted over coffee. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. 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 responsible for many cruel deeds in Rome as well as the massacre at The Ardeatine Caves, which were personally supervised by Kappler. He underwent six months of indoctrination training, and was sworn into the SS on May 8, 1933. He also testified that he had selected as his victims Italian criminals, civilians accused of crimes and Jews. 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. 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. 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. 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. [1] [2] 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. In January 1936, he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo central office of Stuttgart. [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. Herbert married Irmgard Kappler (born Erckmann). 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. He was raised in Killarney where his father was a steward on a golf course where the family lived. 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. He next attended a technical college and spent seven semesters studying electrical engineering. Kappler's second in command in Rome, SS-Captain Erich Priebke, managed to escape to Argentina and was not extradited to Italy to face trial over his own role in the Ardeatine Caves Massacre until 1996. 2023 jewish telegraphic agency all rights reserved. In 1935, as part of Germany's rearming programs, Kappler was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht. 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 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. 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. Kappler joined the Nazi Party on August 1, 1931 and the SS in 1933. Paradoxically, after the war Kappler and O'Flaherty would become friends of sorts.[2]. He was a man of many faces who used his talent at disguise to help thousands of people escape from the Nazis. Herbert Kappler. 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. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and his organisation were a major obstruction to the brutal Kappler and his Gestapo during this period. https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/10/archives/herbert-kappler-dies-nazi-fled-captivity-in-rome-called-a.html. In 1975 Kappler was diagnosed with cancer, but requests for his release were refused. Kappler was also never affiliated with the Waffen-SS and spent the war performing "behind the lines" police and security duty. 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 . Hugh O'Flaherty was born to James and Margaret O'Flaherty in Lisrobin, Kiskeam, County Cork, Ireland, on February 28, 1898. 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. Kappler's second in command in Rome, SS-Captain Erich Priebke, did manage to escape and it was not until 1996 that Priebke . Kappler prison photo -Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. He would be Kapplers only visitor until 1959. Kappler attended four years of elementary school (Volksschule) followed by four more of high school and graduated in 1925. 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. 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. Yet it was in The Scarlet and the Black that Plummer played his most Catholic role, the Gestapo chief in Rome, Herbert Kappler. There was a great sense of letting go." . This function has been disabled for WW2 Gravestone. "First a great fear, then a great calm, an enormous lucidity. I recommend you watch his trial here. 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. By the time the Allies captured Rome in June 1944, OFlahertys underground network had kept 6,245 Allied escapees alive. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, 1998 - 2023 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Kapplers second in command in Rome, SS-Captain. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. Kappler and his first wife divorced while he was serving his sentence. Despite this O'Flaherty assisted in helping members of Kapplers family in escaping from Rome at Liberation. Giuseppe worked as a salesclerk at an interior decoration store in Rome. 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. The film was filled with the Catholic faith of his wife, Maria von Trapp, and their family. 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