Erich Priebke, convicted in Nazi massacre, dies aged 100
Erich Priebke, who played part in slaughter of 335 civilians, lived last years under house arrest
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 the second world war, died yesterday, his lawyer said. He was 100.
Because of his age, Priebke had served his life term under house arrest at the home of the lawyer, Paolo Giachini.
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. Priebke admitted shooting two people and rounding up victims.
He later described the massacre as "a horrible thing, a personal tragedy" in a long letter written at the time of his failed appeal.
But he stopped short of real remorse. "If I could have stopped this horror I would have. My death would not have allowed for those innocents to be saved," he wrote.