Nazi Terror In Rome
Inside the occupied Eternal City with Victor Failmezger
The tale of occupied Rome is not one of World War II’S better-known episodes and is rarely spoken of in the same breath as the harrowing stories of Paris and Warsaw. Yet this doesn’t mean it’s any less fascinating. In fact, the story of Rome during the war can be considered unique. The position of the Italians initially as members of the Axis meant that the city’s occupation had to be handled with a level of care. As a result, it was unlike any other territory taken by the Nazis, and its story involves brave partisans, Allied POWS and the heart of the Catholic Church. Victor Failmezger, author of Rome: City In Terror, reveals how it lived through nine months of Nazi rule.
How did you become interested in the story of Rome during the Nazi occupation?
As a kid growing up in New Jersey, I was fascinated by movies about ancient Rome. This was the period of sword and sandal movies and I think I saw every single one! In 1968, after my third year at university, I was lucky enough to go to Europe and, of course, I had to go to Italy. In
1970, during the Vietnam War, I joined the US Navy and was fortunate enough to be stationed at NATO in Naples. It was there I met my wife and we made multiple visits to Rome, both of us falling in love with the city. Later, I was assigned as the Assistant US Naval Attaché in Rome and got to see the city as few do – the inside of palaces and embassies, etc. The actual story was suggested by somebody that we met briefly in Naples, almost 50 years ago. Contacting me out of the blue he explained that he had been the secretary and driver to one of the key figures of the Rome Allied (EX-POW) Escape Line, Brother Robert. He felt Brother Robert’s story needed to be told. As I started doing the research, it became obvious that the history of World War II Rome is virtually unknown outside of Italy and so the book expanded.
What was Italy’s role in WWII prior to the book’s opening in 1943?
After Mussolini invaded Abyssinia in 1935, he was condemned by much of the international community for the use of chemical weapons against Ethiopian
tribesmen. The next year Italy, along with the Germans, sent men and materiel to aid the Spanish Fascist General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, Italy and Germany signed the Pact of Steel and pledged eternal friendship and mutual aid. However, when Germany went to war in September 1939 Mussolini held back until after Dunkirk, when it appeared that Germany was winning. Italy then declared war against the United Kingdom and in September 1940 sent an air force contingent to support Germany in the Battle of Britain. Later that same month, Italy invaded British-held Egypt from Libya and in October they invaded Greece. This was Mussolini’s attempt to prove he too could invade countries just like Hitler. Neither of these attacks went very well and by February 1941, Germany sent Field Marshal Rommel to Africa to bail out their Italian allies. In July 1942, Italy returned the favour and sent the Italian 8th Army to Russia. That November, British and American forces invaded North Africa, and this was the first step in the invasion of Europe.
What occurred leading up to the Battle of Rome?
If you go back to Abyssinia, Italy had been at war since 1935 and by 1943 many Italian soldiers had been wounded, killed or captured and the people were fed up with war. Mussolini had declared that no part of Italy would ever be invaded by an enemy, so when on 10 July 10 1943 the Allies invaded Sicily, it was a major shock. Nine days later Rome, which had previously been considered off limits due to the presence of the Pope and the Vatican, was bombed for the first time and the people were devastated. Mussolini was not in the city; he was meeting with Hitler in Northern Italy and when an aide ran in and told him of the bombing he was stunned. On 25 July Mussolini’s Fascist Grand Council handed him a vote of ‘no confidence’. The next day the king had him arrested and appointed Marshal Badoglio as prime minister. Badoglio immediately began to seek a separate peace with the Allies. On 8 September an armistice was announced and the next day the Anglo-american Fifth Army landed at Salerno without any Italian resistance, but not so from the German defenders.
So what happened during the Battle of Rome?
By spring 1943 the Germans were well aware that Italy was growing tired of the war and they believed the king was looking for ways to make a separate peace. In response they began moving troops into Austria (then a part of Germany). Later, following the Allied invasion of Sicily the Germans increased the movement of troops into Italy to repel the Allies. At the same time Marshall Badoglio and the king started to bring back Italian troops from Yugoslavia and France as they were concerned about a German invasion should they make peace with the Allies. Immediately before the Battle of Rome, the Germans were outnumbered 49,000 to 70,000 but they positioned their troops very well, taking over a major airfield and blocking off fuel dumps, effectively incapacitating Italian mobile forces. On 9 September the Germans disarmed Italian troops and in a matter of 24 hours nearly destroyed the entire Italian Army. The main battle for Rome was called the Battle of the Pyramid. A group of ragtag units and more than 400 civilians came armed with shotguns – some even broke into museums and stole World War I rifles to fight the German invasion. One civilian even took a city tram to the battle!
Carla Capponi had an interesting role in the battle. Can you tell us more about her?
Carla Capponi, a participant in the Battle of the Pyramid, was a university student and you can imagine a stereotypical 1940s young woman – very prim and proper – but when there was a call for Italians to defend the city she defied her mother and ran towards the sound of the guns. Through her university connections, she became friends with male and female members of a budding partisan movement after the Germans took over the city. Capponi even participated in attacking German vehicles in the streets and assassinated a German courier. After the war she became Italy’s first female senator. She’s just one example of the many strong female personalities that feature prominently in the book.
Who were some of the key Nazi figures in the occupation?
The face of the Gestapo and the SS in Rome was Herbert Kappler. His background was fairly typical of lower
middle class Nazis. He had attended a technical college and was a trained electrician. Then he joined the Nazi Party and eventually became a policeman, and was picked to go to Rome as a police liaison officer. Married, he and his wife had adopted a Lebensborn child: blond and blue-eyed. Apparently he didn’t get along with his wife and he had a series of mistresses. When the Nazis took over Rome, he expanded his organization and his rule became law. The number-two man in Rome was Erich Priebke. Well before the war, he’d kicked around Europe and worked in hotels, before becoming an early member of the Nazi Party. He was sent to Rome as he spoke good
Italian, and his assignment was to run the Gestapo prison and torture chamber at
Via Tasso. He got so into it that he became an expert torturer. After the war, he escaped to Argentina but was eventually tracked down by Sam Donaldson, a US TV newsman, in 1995. He was extradited back to Italy and put on trial for his participation in the murder of 335 Italian men and boys as a reprisal for a partisan attack that had killed 35 SS policemen.
How typical was the occupation of Rome in regards to other Nazi occupied cities?
The occupation of Rome was unique, it was not like Paris or Warsaw. It remained the official capital of Mussolini’s newly established Italian Social Republic, the socalled Salò Republic. It had to be treated differently. The SS presence in Rome was smaller than you would have expected for a major occupied city and the reason was that Kappler could rely on the Fascist Italian police organizations to do much of his dirty work. Additionally Rome, with its unique art works and history, had a special position – even Hitler felt that it shouldn’t be destroyed! Unlike a lot of other cities, initially there were no open reprisals despite repeated partisan attacks. There were incredible food shortages, curfews became stringent and citizens were rounded up to work in factories or to work as labourers on the fortifications which stretched across Italy. Jews too were rounded up and deported; indeed about a month after the city was captured over a 1,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz and only 17 of them survived.
What was the role of the Pope during the occupation?
The Pope found himself caught in a very difficult position. Whatever the church did it was bound to be criticized. The church therefore adopted a policy of attesismo which means ‘watchful waiting’. Pope
Pius XII was very afraid that German Catholics and those Catholics in occupied countries would suffer persecution at the hands of the Nazis. I believe he really did hate the Nazis but he was also afraid of what he termed ‘Godless communism’.
The Pope had been the Papal Nuncio in Germany and he had seen the excesses of communism during the Munichsoviet of 1919. He took his role as the Bishop of Rome seriously, and through his subordinates he turned a blind eye to escaped Allied POWS and others seeking sanctuary from the Nazis in the city. He even had the convents of Rome opened to the male relatives of people seeking shelter there. The Pope also opened food kitchens and had convoys organized to bring food into the occupied city. He also expanded membership in his personal Papal Guard. At the start of the Nazi occupation there were roughly 100 guardsmen, and by the end of the occupation there were 4,000. This was important because enrolment in the Papal Guard came with status as a citizen of Vatican City and so protected them from arrest by the Nazis. Many Jews, politicians and other civilians were thus saved from deportation. I have come to the conclusion that the Pope really believed he would be more effective if he continued his work quietly. There are many who think he didn’t do enough but I believe he did as much as he could.