Planned Funeral For Nazi War Criminal Called Off By Lawyer Due To Protests

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Published on Oct 16, 2013


Planned Funeral For Nazi War Criminal Called Off By Lawyer Due To Protests
Planned Funeral For Nazi War Criminal Called Off By Lawyer Due To Protests
Planned Funeral For Nazi War Criminal Called Off By Lawyer Due To Protests



ALBANO LAZIALE, Italy -- The bitterly protested funeral of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke was called off hours after it was to have taken place Tuesday by his lawyer, who said police prevented friends and family members from attending amid a noisy protest against the planned religious ceremony.

Shouting "murderer" and "executioner," hundreds of people jeered as Priebke's coffin arrived for the funeral Mass to be celebrated by a splinter Catholic group opposed to the Vatican's outreach to Jews. Protesters even heckled a priest arriving at the gates, yelling "Shame." One woman fainted.

But Priebke's lawyer, Paolo Giachini, told The Associated Press the funeral did not take place "because authorities did not allow people to enter who wanted to come in. 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, along and some younger, right-wing sympathizers, Giachini said. "They were there for a religious ceremony. They didn't have banners or other political manifestations," he said.

The casket remained inside and Giachini said he did not know what would happen next. He said he was turning over responsibility for future decisions to the family and expressed disappointment at the "indignities" that prevented the ceremony.

Since Priebke's death on Friday at age 100, debate has raged over what to do with his remains. Pope Francis' vicar for Rome refused him a funeral in a Catholic Church and Rome's police chief backed him up, citing concerns for public order.

Priebke participated in one of the worst massacres in German-occupied Italy during World War II, the slaughter of 335 civilians at the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome. Tensions have been high ever since he died and left behind an interview in which he denied Jews were gassed in the Holocaust.

No one appeared ready to handle Priebke's service, until, in a surreal twist, the schismatic Society of St. Pius X in the city of Albano Laziale south of Rome stepped forward to celebrate the funeral Mass. The society, known for the anti-Semitic views of some of its members, celebrates the pre-Vatican II old Latin Mass. Where Priebke will be buried remains unresolved.

The society was formed in 1969, opposed to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly its outreach to Jews. It split from Rome after its leader consecrated bishops without papal consent. It currently has no legal standing in the Catholic Church.

As Giachini spoke by telephone from within the splinter group's complex late Tuesday evening, Italian television broadcast images of scuffles between demonstrators protesting the funeral and right-wing extremists who were among those denied entry.

"They are trying to enter because they want to take the casket," Giachini said. "I don't know ... they want to damage it, as they did to Mussolini. They want to enter by force and tear everything apart."

Italy's fascist leader Benito Mussolini was killed by partisans in 1945, and his body was strung up in a Milan piazza.

Despite Giachini's statements that demonstrators protesting the funeral were trying to enter the grounds, witnesses said there were no signs that the crowd tried to breach police lines at the society's gates. Rather, they said the right-wing demonstrator threw bottles and rocks.

Police declined immediate comment on the dynamics.

In a statement, the society said it agreed to perform the funeral at the family's request because "no matter what the guilt or sins" anyone who dies reconciled with God and the Church "has the right to celebrate Mass and a funeral."

"We hereby reiterate our rejection of all forms of anti-Semitism and racial hatred but also of hatred in all its forms," the society said.

One of the society's disgraced members is Bishop Richard Williamson, who made headlines in 2009 when he denied that any Jews were killed in gas chambers during the Holocaust.

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