32 Facts About Erich Priebke

Erich Priebke was a German mid-level SS commander in the SS police force of Nazi Germany.

In 1994,50 years after the massacre, Erich Priebke felt he could then talk about the incident and was interviewed by American ABC news reporter Sam Donaldson.

Erich Priebke was born on July 29,1913 at Hennigsdorf, which was then in the Kingdom of Prussia.

Little is known of his early life but Erich Priebke told interviewers that his parents died when he was young and that he was reared mainly by an uncle before earning a living as a waiter in Berlin, at The Savoy Hotel, London, and on the Italian Riviera.

Erich Priebke married Alicia Stoll; the couple had two sons: Jorge, born in 1940 and Ingo, born in 1942.

Erich Priebke put some on the list simply because they were Jewish.

Erich Priebke later claimed that this escape had been assisted by a ratline run by German-Austrian Bishop Alois Hudal.

Donaldson and his team first confronted another former Nazi living in the same town, Reinhard Kopps, who, when pressed about his own involvement, took Donaldson aside and told him about Erich Priebke, confirming the ABC research.

Erich Priebke justified his actions by saying that he only followed orders from the Gestapo chief of Rome, Obersturmbannfuhrer Herbert Kappler, and that, in his view, the victims were terrorists.

Erich Priebke denied to Donaldson that any children were killed, but three children as young as 14 were found among the dead.

Erich Priebke admitted that it was he who compiled the lists of those who were going to be executed.

When testifying after the war, Kappler explained that Erich Priebke had been ordered to make sure that all the victims were brought to the caves and executed, and to check the list of people who were to be killed.

Erich Priebke's lawyers used tactics like demanding all Italian documents be translated into Spanish, a process which could have taken two years.

Erich Priebke's lawyers argued that the case could no longer be criminally prosecuted because the crime of murder was subject to a statute of limitations of 15 years under Argentinian law.

In March 1995, after nine months of delays, the president of the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith was promised by, among others, the Argentinian president Carlos Menem, that the case would soon be closed and that Erich Priebke was to be transferred to Italy by the end of the month.

Erich Priebke was put on a direct flight from Bariloche to Ciampino, a military airport close to the Ardeatine caves, where the executions had been carried out many years earlier.

Erich Priebke did not deny what he had done, but he denied any moral responsibility.

Erich Priebke blamed the massacre on those whom he branded as "the Italian terrorists" who were behind the attack in which 33 German SS men were killed.

Erich Priebke went inside together with the second or third group and shot a man with an Italian machine pistol.

Erich Priebke was found not guilty for the reason of acting under orders.

The Italian minister of justice later said that Erich Priebke might be re-arrested, depending on whether he would be extradited to Germany to be charged with murder.

The judges voted two against one for convicting the 83-year-old Erich Priebke for taking part of the massacres, which he had admitted, but he was acquitted again, purportedly because he had been following orders.

The day after, Germany asked Italy to keep Erich Priebke imprisoned until their demand to have him extradited was processed, as they wanted him put on trial for the murders of two people that he had personally shot.

Outside the courthouse there were demonstrations, but when it became known that Erich Priebke had been rearrested, these protests were calmed.

The Italian supreme court decided that the court that had freed Erich Priebke was incompetent and the appeal went through.

The reason that Erich Priebke had been released was that he followed orders.

Erich Priebke claimed that if he had not obeyed, he would have been executed, but the appeals would not accept this as they felt it was a baseless excuse.

At the appeals it was decided that Hass and Erich Priebke had committed murder in the first degree and that they should be given life imprisonment.

Erich Priebke appealed the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where he claimed he had no choice but to obey Hitler's orders, a defense not accepted during the Nuremberg trials.

In 2003 Senator Antonio Serena argued that Erich Priebke should have been pardoned by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, arguing that Erich Priebke was suffering from "cruel and pointless behaviours" from a "Jewish lobby that spreads hate"; because of this position, Serena was expelled from National Alliance.

Erich Priebke died in Rome on 11 October 2013, at the age of 100, from natural causes.

The funeral ceremony for Erich Priebke eventually took place, albeit without the presence of any of his relatives, because his family was unable to enter the city where it was held due to the rioting.