Nazi war criminal was 100 years old

The former SS officer Erich Priebke, one of the world’s last surviving Nazi criminals, has died in Rome on 11 October, just over two months after reaching his 100th birthday.

Priebke was jailed for life in 1998 for his role in the 1944 Fosse Ardeatine massacre in Rome in which the Nazis killed 335 people. However, due to his age and ill health, his life sentence was reduced to house arrest which he served in Rome's Balduina district.

He was a familiar figure on his daily walks around his home near Piazza Irnerio, which was the scene of frequent protests and had a permanent police presence.

Priebke's recent 100th birthday in July angered many people in Rome, particularly relatives of those killed at the Fosse Ardeatine. His laywer Paolo Giachini said on 11 October that Priebke had left a "final legacy" in the form of an interview, both written and filmed, that serves as a "human and political testament."

See related articles on Erich Priebke and the Fosse Ardeatine massacre.