ITALY : Witness Contradicts Ex-Nazi’s Claim

A former SS officer testified in Rome that his battalion refused an order to kill 335 civilians, casting doubt on Erich Priebke’s claims that he risked execution if he did not obey. Priebke, a former SS captain extradited from Argentina, is accused of playing a central role in the 1944 massacre, ordered in retaliation for a bombing by Resistance fighters that killed 33 German soldiers. The massacre victims, shot in caves outside Rome, included two Roman Catholic priests and 75 Jews. Priebke has admitted shooting two of the victims but insists that he was told to follow orders or be shot. But Heinrich Perathoner testified that his battalion refused to carry out the shootings, citing its members’ Roman Catholic background.