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Herbert Kappler was the Gestapo chief SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) of Rome who committed war crimes.
Biography
Early life
Herbert was born at Stuttgart, Germany, on the 23rd 1907 by a driver that worked as an office worker in the municipe of his city.
First tasks as an SS
Herbert entered in the SS for his qualification in criminology and he was promoted to captain (Hauptsturmführer) and he was sended to Rome to the embassy of Villa Wolkonsky in 1939 for spying the italian police.
In 1942, he was promoted to major (Sturmbannführer) and the following year to lieutenant colonell (Obersturmbannführer). In this way, Herbert assumed command of the Sicherheitsdienst in Rome, also taking power over the fascist police.
Freeing Mussolini
Thanks to some italian collaborations, he knew in advance of Mussolini's dismissal on 25 July 1943 and he was able to capture Galeazzio Ciano and Mafalda of Savoy.
Then, Kappler identified the place where Mussolini was held prisoner, in Campo Imperatore, and planned its release by direct order of Heinrich Himmler, even though Kappler defined fascism dead and he didn't wanted to re-establish a puppet fascist government.
After the successful release of Mussolini, Kappler ordered the seizure and transport to Germany of the entire gold reserve of Italy kept in the safes of the Roman headquarters of the Bank of Italy. The entire gold reserve was first transferred to Milan in the night between 22nd and 23rd September and from here the gold also passed through the fortress of Fortezza, until it was finally transported to Berlin.
The deportation of the Roman Jews
On the afternoon of September 26, 1943, he summoned the President of the Jewish community of Rome, Foà, and the president of the Union of Italian Israelite Communities, Dante Almansi, to Villa Wolkonsky, ordering them the delivery of at least 50 kilograms of gold, threatening otherwise the deportation of two hundred Roman Jews to Germany. The gold was collected and delivered by 12,000 people.
The ransom paid by the Roman Jews only assured them a brief pause in the persecution to which they were to be subjected. Two weeks later,on the morning of October 16th 1943, 1259 Jews were rounded up by surprise, being temporarily incarcerated at the military college in via della Lungara. 1,023 deportees were sent to Auschwitz. Only sixteen of them survived the extermination, fifteen men and one woman.
By that moment, the attitude of the fascists and Nazis became more violent and various roundups were made. In fact, a building in Tasso street was made in to a prison for torturing and interrogate anti-fascists and partisans.
The massacre of the Ardeatine
After the attack of the 23rd March 1944 at Rasella street, Kappler with the commisioner Pietro Caruso attended for the choice of some of the victims: mostly civilians and Jews were led by Erich Priebke and Karl Hass to the Fosse Ardeatine, shot in groups of five. At the end of the mass execution, the entrance to the quarries was detonated. 335 Italians were murdered. The 5 more were taken by mistake, but murdered all the same because they witnessed the massacre.
Roundup of the Quadrato district
On April 1th, 1944, to crush the partisan forces operating in the outskirts of Rome, Kappler gave the order to raid the Quadraro district and arrest and deport approximately one thousand men to concentration camps in Germany and Poland. At the end of the conflict, only the half of these men survived and returned to their homes.
Persecution of Archbishop Hugh O'Flaherty
He is best remembered for trying to stop Archbishop Hugh O'Flaherty, a Catholic priest helping Jews and Allied survive the Nazi regime in Rome. Kappler even tried breaking the neutrality rules in the Vatican by trying to assassinate O'Flaherty, which never succeeded.
Capture and prison life
Kappler was arrested by the Allies for his actions during his rule in Rome. Kappler stayed in prison, his wife divorced him and refused to have his children visit him. His only visitor was his old enemy Hugh O'Flaherty. The two started to become friends, where they discussing literature and religion. In 1959, a remorseful Kappler converted to the Catholic church thus ending his atheist beliefs. In 1972, Kappler later married a nurse named Anneliese Kappler.
Death
In 1975, Kappler was diagnosed with terminal cancer. After Italy denied appeals to have him be with Anneliese at her home in Soltau (West Germany), she carried him out in a large suitcase and escaped to West Germany. The Italians demanded that Kappler is returned, but the West Germany authorities refused to extradite him. Six months after the escape, Herbert Kappler died in his wife's home on February 9th 1978.
Trivia
- He weighed less than 105 pounds.
- Before converting to the Catholic Church, he was a devouted atheist.