PRODUCTIONS: KAPPLER: PRISONER OF WAR ON THE RUN

DIRECTOR

PRODUCER

DURATION

VERSIONS

FORMAT

Eugenio Costantini

SD Cinematografica

52'

HD

Herbert Kappler, the notorious SS Lieutenant-Colonel and head of the Gestapo in Rome, who was responsible for numerous war crimes, including the massacre of the Ardeatine Caves, escapes from a Italian military hospital during the night of 14 and 15 August 1977.
How did he escape from the Celio prison? In a suitcase, as he first claimed, dropped on a rope, as his wife wrote in her book “I'll Take You Home”, or on foot, as he claimed in a recent interview (2007)? In front of our cameras, Eckehard Walther, Annelise's son, who was involved in the escape, tells the truth.
When it was discovered, the escape plunged the Italian government into chaos and embarrassed the Germans. The news filled the front pages of leading newspapers throughout Europe and beyond. In Italy, the Minister of Defence, Vito Lattanzio was forced to resign. Did someone allow or protect Kappler’s escape?
More than 30 years later, many questions remain unanswered.
Now we want to find those answers.