Herbert Kappler ( 23 September 1907 – 9 February 1978 ) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era . He served as head of German police and security services ( '' Sicherheitspolizei '' and SD ) in Rome during the Second World War and was responsible for the Ardeatine massacre . Following the end of the war , Kappler stood trial in Italy and was sentenced to life imprisonment . He escaped from prison shortly before his death in West Germany in 1978 . Kappler was born to a middle-class family in Stuttgart in the German Empire . Herbert Kappler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1931 . He joined the SS in 1933 . In January 1936 , he was assigned to duty at the Gestapo main office of Stuttgart . In 1937 , Kappler graduated from the '' Führerschule der Sicherheitspolizei '' ( Leadership School of the Security Police ) in Berlin as a '' Kriminalkommissar '' ( criminal commissioner ) . In 1938 , during the Anschluss , he supervised the mass deportations of Austria 's Jews to concentration camps
Ardeatine massacre
Ardeatine massacre
Herbert Kappler