Death Of 100-Year-Old Italian Nazi Leads To Unrest

[struggle4progress]

10/15/13
JTA and staff

Italians rioted and shouted “murderer” as the hearse carrying the body of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke made its way to a Rome church for his funeral.

The funeral was held Tuesday after the local police chief overruled an order by Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino banning a funeral in the city for Priebke, who died there last week at 100.

The funeral was held by the Society of St. Pius X, a Catholic order whose representatives have charged contemporary Jews with deicide and whose bishop, Richard Williamson, has made statements denying the Holocaust. Priebke’s body was to be cremated ...

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/news-brief/death-100-year-old-italian-nazi-leads-unrest

[rug]

1. Williamson was thrown out of the SSPX last year.

Apparently he was too extreme for the extremists.

[struggle4progress]

3. I had wondered why Benedict (never my favorite) had moved to reabsorb the SSPX and had

thought (somewhat against my tendencies) that the intent might have been to reassert control. I either completely missed, or have just forgotten, the expulsion of Williamson -- but it's consistent with reassertion of control

[Deep13]

2. So one less Nazi pisses people off.

Yeah, I understand that the death and the fascist funeral opened old wounds. Still, seems odd that the funeral is worse than still having the guy around.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Deeds speak louder than words.

[struggle4progress]

5. Former Nazi Erich Priebke’s funeral stopped by protestors

Rome, the Vatican, Argentina, and Priebke’s hometown in Germany have all refused to offer Priebke a funeral or accept his remains. A funeral arranged by the Society of St. Pius X on Tuesday was canceled after mobs started a scuffle outside.
By Carol Kuruvilla / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, October 15, 2013, 7:09 PM

... Priebke’s lawyer, Paolo Giachini, said that funeral was called off after scuffles erupted between protesters and the right-wing extremists who were trying to get into the building ... Pope Francis’ vicar in Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, has prohibited any Rome church from giving Priebke’s his funeral rites. Vallini cited canon law and claimed that a funeral could be denied to "manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful" ... He spent the last 17 years under house arrest. Rome’s Jewish community was inflamed by the presence of a Nazi in their midst, especially since Priebke was allowed to go to church on Sundays ...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/nazi-erich-priebke-funeral-stopped-protestors-article-1.1486732

[struggle4progress]

6. Funeral of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke abandoned in Italy after clashes with protesters

Hundreds shouted 'murderer' and 'executioner' as coffin arrived, as reports emerge that Germany may be persuaded to take the body
Adam Withnall
Wednesday 16 October 2013

... With no Catholic church in Rome allowed to house the service, it was eventually taken on by a splinter Catholic group that opposes the Vatican's outreach to Jews ... The society, known for the anti-Semitic views of some of its members, celebrates the pre-Vatican II old Latin Mass. Where Priebke will be buried remains unresolved ... In a final interview released by his lawyer upon his death, Priebke denied the Nazis gassed Jews and accused the West of inventing such crimes to cover up atrocities committed by the Allies during the war ... He died in the Rome home of Mr Giachini, where he had been serving his life term under house arrest ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/funeral-of-nazi-war-criminal-erich-priebke-abandoned-in-italy-after-clashes-with-protesters-8883456.html