Herbert Kappler (
Richard Burton) is depicted in the film as being a tired worn out man, who is disillusioned with the
Nazi cause and believes that the fall of Nazi Germany is imminent. In reality, Kappler was a zealous Nazi and was sent to
Rome for exactly this reason. During his time as head of the
Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) in Rome, Kappler organized the round-ups of thousands of innocent victims, oversaw raids on Jewish homes for looted valuables, and was a key figure in transporting
Italian Jews to Nazi death camps. At the time of the massacre, Herbert Kappler was 37 years old. Actor Burton was just short of his 48th birthday when the film was produced, eleven years older than Kappler would have been at the time. Father Pietro Antonelli (
Marcello Mastroianni) is a
combination of several different
Vatican officials who personally knew Kappler, the most significant of whom was
Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty (who appears in the
television film
The Scarlet and the Black). One prisoner, a deserter from the Austrian army who had pretended to be an Italian, was allowed to live, as a citizen of the
Reich; and he was the only witness to tell the tale of the courageous behavior of the Resistance priest, Don
Pietro Pappagallo, who blessed those about to be killed, before he himself met his fate. The
SS victims of the partisan attack are referred to throughout the film as "German soldiers", when in fact the company which was attacked was the 11th Company of the Third Battalion of the
SS Police Regiment Bozen, which was composed of ethnic Austrians from German-speaking
South Tyrol annexed by Italy after the
First World War. Historically, the unit also did not wear
SS uniforms, but rather regular German police uniforms of the
Ordnungspolizei.
Kurt Mälzer (
Leo McKern) is shown throughout the film giving direct orders to SS units and personally supervising the buildup to the massacre organized by Kappler. In reality, while several regular
Wehrmacht officers did issue orders to the SS during this period, as well as Kappler and Mälzer personally discussing the operation, Kappler and his men were under the
SS and Police Leader chain of command, and it was through these channels that most of the official orders concerning the massacre were issued. Another man working with the SS was Capt.
Erich Priebke (
Brook Williams), who is depicted in the film. He had full knowledge of the massacre, but would hide for many years evading justice. Then, on nationwide TV in the 1990s,
ABC News reporter
Sam Donaldson found and confronted him about the massacre, leading him to say he "followed orders". Argentinian authorities quickly arrested and extradited him to Italy; he was tried and convicted of mass murder. Colonel
Eugen Dollmann (
John Steiner) was never Kappler's direct superior, as is implied several times in the film. In reality, Kappler answered to the office of SS-
Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, who also maintained his headquarters in Rome. Wolff is never seen or mentioned in the film. In reality, he stood trial and was found guilty of killing Italian Jews as part of the operations in Italy: when he became sick, his sentence was reduced and he was released in 1971. ==References==