Posted on 10/11/2013 11:47:48 AM PDT by Borges
Erich Priebke, a former Nazi SS captain sentenced to life in prison for his role in one of the worst atrocities by German occupiers in Italy during World War II, died Friday, his lawyer said. He was 100.
Because of his age, Priebke had served his life term under house arrest at the home of his lawyer, Paolo Giachini, who announced the death in a brief statement.
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Priebke was extradited to Italy from Argentina in 1995 and put on trial for his role in the 1944 massacre of 335 civilians by Nazi forces at the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome. The massacre was carried out in retaliation for an attack by resistance fighters that killed 33 members of a Nazi military police unit a day earlier.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
What the heck?!?
Did he also have to serve as his lawyer's butler?
Look at his lawyer’s statement...he was crazy about him!
From the Wikipedia entry on the massacre, FWIW.
Not to mention on Seinfeld!
In his final interview, Priebke denied that gas chambers were used in Nazi concentration camps and that generations have been “brainwashed” into believing that they were. He acknowledged he could be prosecuted for denying the Holocaust, but said such laws “demonstrate fear of the truth coming out.”
If they could get away with it, Van Jones, Valerie Jarrett and others would happily march us off to the camps.
Here is a fictionalized movie about it.
MASSACRE IN ROME.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070592/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Obama’s U.S. Park Rangers should be saddened by their loss.
Speaking of Communists....also according to Wikipedia, most of the victims of this massacre were Communist partisans. No doubt some innocents were killed as well. But this was war. I don’t think a death sentence would have been approriate here.....anymore than I would not have supported a death sentence for Lt. Calley.
you are quite right, sir:
The partisan attack was led by the GAP Gruppi di Azione Partigiana and resulted in the deaths of 33 German soldiers.
In retaliation, the largest cohesive group among those executed were the members of Bandiera Rossa (Red Flag), a non-mainstream communist (Trotskyist) military resistance group
In sixty years or so, oldsters suffering from dementia and under house arrest will talk of the dreaded “crackersweeps” by the obama regime in the early 20’s, yet few will notice because “that’s ancient history” and “we don’t need to relive the past”.
I think the National Park Service employees gave us a tiny (not-so-lovin’)spoonful of what it’s like to have your countrymen take up arms against you for actions that have always been legal and proper. Their behavior has left many scared, angry and wanting vengeance. A lot of respect for the paid walkers of NPS was lost for good last week. I see this old man’s death and know that it is possible for people of today to behave in the same manner. A lot of insecure high authority people waiting for the right Puppeteer.
At 100 years old, do you really fear the death penalty?
In addition, Priebke was ordered to round up the partisans by his superiors after the 33 German soldiers were killed.
It is not as if Priebke went “rogue” and did this all on his own accord. Priebke was not a major criminal and the death penalty would not have been appropriate in this case.
Some interesting twists to this one.
To start with, communist partisans had set off a bomb killing some 33 German soldiers during a road march. What today we would call an IED. Unusually, both Waffen (not General) SS and Wehrmacht (regular army) leaders called for reprisals.
Hitler wanted reprisals as well, the complete destruction of Rome (much like he later wanted to destroy Paris), but was persuaded that killing 10 Italians for every German killed would be acceptable. But things became odd:
“Most of the men were convicted prisoners under sentence of death, but there were not enough, so their ranks were swelled by petty criminals, political detainees and resistance fighters. Even then, to reach the number required, the Germans rounded up civilians on the streets. The oldest was in his seventies, the youngest 15. In fact, the Nazis found they had actually assembled 335 men and boys — five more than the number prescribed — but decided not to release the extra five so as not to compromise security.”
So, many in this massacre already had (legitimate?) death sentences. So the real crime was in murdering political detainees and partisans. However, at the time, killing partisans, non uniformed fighters without a chain of command, was more or less tolerated in the Geneva Convention.
So the bottom line was the murdering of the few who had been rounded up off the street to complete the designated number, was the clearest part of this as a war crime.
lol
It is not as if Priebke went “rogue” and did this all on his own accord. Priebke was not a major criminal and the death penalty would not have been appropriate in this case.
Are you seriously attempting to confer legitimacy on the NAZI "I vas chust followink orders!" war crimes defense, which has been rightly rejected by every civilized man, court, and country? BTW, Pribke also signed the orders for trains transporting Italian Jews to the death camps. Not a major criminal? In your judgment, apparently not...but that's extremely revealing about you.
Did not say he should not have been punished. Would not have requested a death sentence. (Would not have favored a death sentence for Lt. Calley either). Priebke...on the scale of Nazi war criminals....was small potatoes....NOT a major war criminal like Himmler, Heydrich, or Eichmann. A mid level cog in a big machine. THERE ARE NO MAJOR NAZI WAR CRIMINALS ALIVE TODAY. PERIOD. The Soviets and the ChiComs liquidated many millions more people than the Nazis did, YET NO EVER WHATSOEVER has been made to round them up.
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