Erich Priebke

Erich Priebke (born July 29, 1913) is a former Hauptsturmführer (Captain) in the Waffen SS. In 1996 he was convicted of war crimes in Italy, for participating in the massacre at the Ardeatine caves in Rome, on March 24, 1944. 335 Italian civilians were killed there in retaliation after a partisan attack had claimed the lives of 33 German soldiers (an SS military police battalion from South Tyrol). Priebke was one of those who was held responsible for this mass execution. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, he got help to flee to Argentina where he lived for over 50 years.

In 1991, Priebke's participation in the Rome massacre was denounced in Esteban Buch's book. In 1994, 50 years after the massacre, Priebke felt he could now talk about the incident and was interviewed by an American ABC News reporter Sam Donaldson. This caused outrage among people who had not forgotten the incident, and led to his extradition to Italy and a trial which would last more than four years.

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