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Erich Priebke Funeral Suspended After Protesters Rally During Service For Nazi War Criminal

Protesters Force Suspension Of Nazi War Criminal's Funeral
Reuters
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A van allegedly carrying the coffin of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke is protected by policemen in riot gear as it leaves the Society of St. Pius X headquarters, a schismatic Catholic group, where his funeral was scheduled to take place in Albano Laziale, in the outskirts of Rome, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013. Priebke's lawyer Paolo Giachini, told The Associated Press that the funeral did not take place "because authorities did not allow people who wanted to come in to enter. Everything was ready. We were waiting for those who should have arrived to participate." They included Priebke's son Ingo, other lawyers in Giachini's firm and some younger right-wing sympathizers, Giachini said. Priebke participated in one of the worst massacres of German-occupied Italy during World War II, the slaughter of 335 civilians at the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome in 1944. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

ROME, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The body of convicted Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke lay at a military airport near Rome and its final destination remained unclear on Wednesday, a day after rival groups of protesters forced a suspension of his funeral.

Priebke, a former German SS officer, died aged 100 last week in Rome, where he had been serving a life sentence under house arrest for his role in the killing of 335 civilians in 1944 in caves near the capital, one of Italy's worst wartime massacres.

Priebke never apologised for his wartime actions.

The mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino, said Italian authorities may now seek help from the German government.

"I know that people are considering what decisions to take and I don't rule out contacts between our government and the government of Germany," he told state television RAI.

Marino said the body had been brought to the military airport at Pratica di Mare from the town of Albano Laziale, where clashes between angry residents and neo-Nazi visitors prevented the funeral going ahead on Tuesday.

A fringe right-wing group, the Catholic Society of St Pius (SSPX), had organised the funeral despite local protests. The arch-traditionalist SSPX is at odds with mainstream Catholic teaching and has strained relations with the Vatican.

Rome daily Il Messaggero quoted Priebke's lawyer Paolo Giachini as saying he had ordered the suspension of the funeral after the neo-Nazis attempted to join the service in defiance of an agreement that the ceremony would be private.

Priebke was in charge of SS troops in March 1944 who executed civilians in the Ardeatine Caves in retaliation for the killings of 33 German soldiers by a partisan group.

Adolf Hitler had ordered German occupation forces to respond by executing 10 Italians for every German killed. The victims were rounded up from jails, streets and homes.

Priebke was deported from Argentina to Italy after he was interviewed on U.S. television and admitted his role in the massacre, which he said had been conducted against "terrorists".

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy in 1998. (Reporting By James Mackenzie, editing by Gareth Jones)

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Liberation Of Buchenwald
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Former prisoner from Buchenwald concentration camp holding a flag with a hammer and a sickle. Paris, May 1st, 1945. (Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Weak and ill survivors of the Nazi concentration camp in Buchenwald march April 1945 towards the infirmary, after the liberation of the camp by Allied troops. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A prisoner dying of dysentery at the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald peers out from his bunk in April 1945 upon the liberation of the camp by Allied troops. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A young scrawny boy stands naked in front of his prisoner mates in block 61 Buchenwald death camp after the liberation of the Nazi's concentration camp in 1945. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A man shows a noose used for hanging in the Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. The construction of Buchenwald camp started 15 July 1937 and was liberated by U.S. General Patton's army 11 April 1945. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Corpses of prisoners are seen piled up at the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald in April 1945 upon the liberation of the camp by Allied troops. The construction of Buchenwald camp started 15 July 1937 and was liberated by U.S. General Patton's army 11 April 1945. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Prisoners look at the photographer in block 61 of Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. The construction of Buchenwald camp started 15 July 1937 and was liberated by U.S. General Patton's army 11 April 1945. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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An unidentified man poses in front of pile of arms taken in the courtyard of Nazi camp of Buchenwald in April 1945 after its liberation. The construction of Buchenwald camp started 15 July 1937 and was liberated by U.S. General Patton's army 11 April 1945. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Prisoners and U.S. army soldiers stand behind the gate of Buchenwald concentration camp on which it is written 'Jedem das seine' (To each his just deserts). The construction of Buchenwald camp started 15 July 1937 and was liberated by U.S. General Patton's army 11 April 1945. (ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Slave laborers in their bunks at Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany after liberation April 16, 1945. Many had died from malnutrition when U.S. troops entered the camp. Included in this photo is Elie Wiesel, future Nobel Peace Prize recipient, pictured in the second row of bunks, seventh from the left, next to the vertical beam. (Courtesy of the National Archives/Newsmakers) (credit:Getty Images)
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A truck load of bodies at the German concentration camp at Buchenwald, found by troops of the 3rd U.S. Army on liberating the camp. The bodies were to be incinerated. (Photo by W Chicersky/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A German girl expresses horror at the sight of the decomposing bodies of the slain victims, German civilians of Namering were ordered by Military Government officers of the 3rd U.S. Army to view the exhumed bodies of 800 slave laborers, murdered by SS troops during a forced march from Buchenwald and Flossenburg Concentration Camps. (Photo by Photo12/UIG/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Bunker in which the Nazis practiced torture and scientific experiments on deportees, political prisoners from the camp of Buchenwald (Germany). (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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FRANCE - MAY 01: Former prisoner from Buchenwald concentration camp holding a flag with a hammer and a sickle. Paris, May 1st, 1945. (Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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