Revelations by former Nazi SS Capt. Erich Priebke, on trial here for his involvement in a 1944 massacre, have led Italian judges to seek another former SS officer for his alleged role in the affair.
Investigators want to question former SS Maj. Karl Hass, who they believe also took part in the murder of 355 civilian men and boys and the Ardeatine Caves near Rome.
After Priebke, 83, gave an interview to an Italian magazine last month, it was discovered that Hass, now in his 80s, has been living near Milan.
Hass, based in Rome from 1943 to 1944, was implicated in the Ardeatine Caves massacre in testimony given after the war by the Rome SS Cmdr. Herbert Kappler, but all traces of him were lost.
Military Judge Giuseppe Mazzi has ordered the investigation against Hass reopened.
In the interview last month, Priebke said he had met with Hass in Rome in 1978.
“Despite an arrest warrant issued in 1946, he never left Italy,” Priebke was quoted as saying.
The newspaper Corriere della Sera on Sunday published photographs of a residency permit issued to Hass in the town of Albiate, near Milan, and of his house and its doorbell with Hass’ name on it.
Reports said police attempted to question Hass at his home 10 days ago, but that he apparently had left the country.
The Ardeatin Caves massacre was ordered by the Nazi command March 24, 1944, in retaliation for an attack by Italian partisans that killed 33 German soldiers the day before.
About 75 of the massacre victims were Jewish.
Priebke’s trial began May 8. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
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