A Nazi war criminal, the only one still confined in an Italian prison, is seeking Grace from the Catholic Church and forgiveness from his victims in the hope that if granted, he will be freed and allowed to return to his native Austria before his 40-year sentence expires next July.
Walter Reder, a former SS colonel who organized and led the massacre of the population in Marzabotto in northern Italy during the Nazi occupation, has written a letter to the people of Marzabotto asking them to think of him as “an unhappy brother, rediscovered after a long time and not forgetful of those of their and our side who fell, but in common veneration of their memory.”
The letter and petition, made public by the Vatican, was sent to Father Giuseppe de Gennaro, a Jesuit priest, who subsequently wrote an article in the Catholic magazine, Civilta Cattolica, favoring clemency for Reder. The Vatican Radio broadcast an interview with de Gennaro. Reder wrote another letter, addressed to the Vatican last week, the contents of which were not disclosed.
Reder is confined in Gaeta prison. His cellmate until a few years ago was Herman Kappler, a Nazi war criminal responsible for the deportation of Jews from Rome during the war and the Ardeatine Caves massacre. Kappler, who was removed to a military hospital, made a sensational escape and returned to Germany where he died a year later.
Reder asked de Gennaro to deliver his plea for forgiveness to the parish priest in Marzabotto, Father Angeio Serra. (By Lisa Palmieri-Billig)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
