It remains unclear where the body of former German Nazi officer Erich Priebke, who earlier this week died in Rome at the age of 100, will be buried, following the refusal of Argentinean and Italian authorities to allow the convicted mass murderer's remains to be buried. Argentina, where Priebke lived after the war, has refused to accept the return of his body to be buried beside his wife. Rome's Mayor Ignazio Marino said his burial in the capital would be an "insult" and said he may seek help from the German government to find a solution. Priebke's hometown in Germany has also resisted a grave there, fearing it could become a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site.
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder praised the decisions by authorities in Argentina and Italy, as well as in the Catholic Church, to hold a funeral of the unrepentant Nazi: "The entire world is expressing its revulsion at this Nazi war criminal. We commend the government of Argentina, the mayor of Rome, and the Catholic Church for refusing to give Erich Priebke posthumous rehabilitation and credibility. His corpse should be cremated and its ashes scattered in an unknown location, as was done with Adolf Eichmann and Osama Bin Laden, lest his grave become yet another shrine for Neo-Nazis and other anti-Semites."
Priebke was an SS captain who took part in a 1944 massacre near Rome that killed 335 people, including around 75 Jews. He was living under house arrest in Rome for the last 15 years. Extradited from Argentina in 1995, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998 but was allowed to live under house arrest because of his age and ill health. He remained unrepentant to the end, saying he was only obeying orders.
Riccardo Pacifici, the head of Rome's Jewish community, praised protesters who blocked a funeral mass held by the ultra-conservative, dissident Catholic group Society of St Pius as Italy marked on Wednesday the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Jews from the Rome ghetto. The protesters forced a suspension of the ceremony in the Italian town of Albano Laziale. Priebke’s body is currently lying at a military airport near Rome pending a decision from the authorities where to bury him.
At a ceremony in Rome's main synagogue, Pacifici drew loud applause as he lauded the citizens and mayor of Albano Laziale for resisting Priebke's funeral. "For this we feel proud to be Romans," he said at the event to mark the anniversary of the Nazis' rounding up of 1,000 Jews from Rome's centuries-old ghetto and their deportation to Auschwitz. Only 16 of them survived. "I do not even want to say his name, not to profane this sacred place," said the head of Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Renzo Gattegna. "He never repented of his crimes and repeated the most incredible arguments denying the Holocaust."
Italian lawmakers debated on Wednesday a bill to outlaw denial of the Holocaust, in which some six million Jews perished. Several other nations already have such a law. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who attended the ceremony, said the event showed "great solidarity... between Catholics, Muslims, Jews, believers and non-believers".
The Pius Brotherhood, a fringe right-wing group which has strained ties with the Vatican, defended its decision to hold the funeral for Priebke, saying a baptized Christian had the right to a proper burial "no matter what his sins".
A German Foreign Ministry spokesman told a regular news briefing on Wednesday he knew of no laws preventing a German citizen who had died abroad being buried in Germany, adding such matters were usually for the family of the deceased to sort out. "It would be nice if Mr. Priebke's remains could be laid to rest somewhere without it being used by anyone for political ends," he added.
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. He was deported from Argentina to Italy after he was interviewed on American television and admitted his role in the massacre, which he said had been conducted against "terrorists".
Many Italians feel strongly he should not be buried in their country.
