Karl Hass

Karl Hass (October 5, 1912 – April 21, 2004) was a German Lieutenant-Colonel in the SS whose involvement in the Ardeatine massacre while serving in Italy led to allegations of war crimes. Hass was not charged with or convicted of war crimes following the war, but the reprisal killings of some 335 Italians following a partisan attack on German troops in Rome is one of the most notorious events of World War II. His involvement as a witness in the Erich Priebke trial led him to being tried and convicted in Italy for the Ardeatine killings in 1998.

Biography

Hass was born in Kiel. In 1934, Hass joined the Sicherheitsdienst, the SS's intelligence service, where his ruthlessness brought promotion. After the downfall of Benito Mussolini and the occupation of Italy by Nazi Germany, Karl Hass was sent to Rome to set up a network of radio operators and to organize saboteurs behind the invading Allied lines. While in Rome, under SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant-Colonel) Herbert Kappler, Karl Hass aided in the deportation of more than 1,000 Jews to Auschwitz.