Hugh O'Flaherty
Encyclopedia
Monsignor
Hugh O'Flaherty, CBE
(28 February 1898 – 30 October 1963) was an Irish
Roman Catholic priest
and senior official of the Roman Curia
. During World War II
, he was responsible for saving 6,500 Allied soldiers and Jews. Due to his ability to evade the traps set by the German Gestapo
and Sicherheitsdienst
, Monsignor O'Flaherty earned the nickname "the Scarlet Pimpernel
of the Vatican
".
, his parents, James and Margaret, moved to Killarney
. The family lived on the golf course where James worked as a steward. By his late teens, young O'Flaherty had a scratch handicap and a scholarship to a teacher training college. But his destiny lay elsewhere. In 1918, he enrolled at Mungret
, a Jesuit college in Limerick
dedicated to preparing young men for missionary priesthood.
Normally, students ranged from 14 to 18 years of age. At the time when O'Flaherty came in, he was a bit older than most of the students, about 20. The college allowed for some older people to come in if they had been accepted by a bishop who would pay for them.
O'Flaherty's sponsor was the Bishop of Cape Town
, Cornelius O'Reilly, in whose diocese he would be posted after ordination, a big step for a young man who had never stepped foot outside of Munster
. At the time when O'Flaherty was in Mungret, there was a lot of conflict in Ireland. He was posted to Rome
in 1922 to finish his studies and was ordained
on 20 December, 1925. He would never join his diocese. Instead, he stayed to work for the Holy See
, serving as a Vatican diplomat in Egypt
, Haiti
, Santo Domingo
, and Czechoslovakia
. In 1934, O'Flaherty received the title of Monsignor
.
, O'Flaherty toured prisoner of war
(POW) camps in Italy and tried to find out about prisoners who had been reported missing in action
. If he found them alive, he tried to reassure their families through Radio Vatican.
When Italy changed sides in 1943, thousands of British POWs were released. Some of them, remembering visits by O'Flaherty, reached Rome and asked him for help. Others went to the Irish Embassy to the Holy See, the only English-speaking embassy to remain open in Rome during the war. Delia Murphy
, who was the wife of the ambassador and in her day a well-known ballad singer, was one of those who helped O'Flaherty.
O'Flaherty did not wait for permission from his superiors. He recruited the help of other priests (including two young New Zealanders Fathers Owen Snedden and John Flanagan
), two agents working for the Free French
, François de Vial and Yves Debroise, and even Communists and a Swiss count. One of his aides was British Colonel Sam Derry. Derry along with British Officers and escaped POWs Lieutenents Furman and Simpson and Canadian Captain Byrnes were responsible for the security and operational organisation. O'Flaherty also kept contact with Sir D'Arcy Osborne, British Ambassador to the Vatican and his butler John May, whom O'Flaherty described as "a genius...the most magnificent scrounger.". O'Flaherty and his allies concealed 4,000 escapees − Allied soldiers and Jews − in flats, farms and convents. One of the first hideouts was beside the local SS headquarters. O'Flaherty and Derry coordinated all this. When he was visiting outside the Vatican, he wore various disguises.
The German occupiers of Rome tried to stop him and eventually they found out that the leader of the network was a priest. SS attempts to assassinate him failed. They learned his identity, but could not arrest him inside the Vatican. When the German ambassador revealed this to O'Flaherty, he began to meet his contacts on the stairs of the St. Peter's Basilica
.
Several others, including priests, nuns and lay people, worked in secret with O'Flaherty, and even hid refugees in their own private homes around Rome. Among these were Augustinian Maltese Fathers, Egidio Galea, Aurelio Borg, Ugolino Gatt and Brother Robert. Another person who contributed significantly to this operation was the Malta
-born widow Chetta Chevalier, who hid some refugees in her house with her children, and was lucky to escape detection. Jewish religious services were conducted in the Basilica di San Clemente
under a painting of Tobias
− the Basilica was under Irish diplomatic protection
.
When the Allies arrived in Rome in June 1944, 6,425 of the escapees were still alive. O'Flaherty demanded that German prisoners be treated properly as well. He took a plane to South Africa
to meet Italian POWs and to Jerusalem to visit Jewish refugees. Of the 9,700 Jews in Rome, 1,007 had been shipped to Auschwitz. The rest were hidden, 5,000 of them by the official Church − 3,000 in Castel Gandolfo
, 200 or 400 (estimates vary) as "members" of the Palatine Guard
and some 1,500 in monasteries, convents and colleges. The remaining 3,700 were hidden in private homes.
Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kappler
, the head of the SS Sicherheitsdienst
and Gestapo
in Rome
learned of O'Flaherty's actions; he ordered a white line painted on the pavement between The Vatican
and Rome
, stating that O'Flaherty would be killed if he crossed it. Ludwig Koch, the head of the neo-Fascist Italian police in Rome often spoke of his intention to torture O'Flaherty before executing him, if O'Flaherty ever fell into his hands.
At the time of the liberaton of Rome, O'Flaherty's and Major Sam Derry's organisation was caring for 3,925 escapees and men who had succeeded in evading arrest. Of these 1,695 were British, 896 South African, 429 Russian, 425 Greek, 185 American. The remainder were from 20 different nations. This does not inculde the Jews and sundry other men and women who were in O'Flaherty's strictly personal care.
by Israel and was honoured by Canada and Australia. He refused to use the lifetime pension that Italy had given him.
In the 1950s, the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, in the form proposed by the now-sainted Mary Faustina Kowalska
, was under a ban from the Vatican. It was O'Flaherty who, as Notary, signed the document that notified Catholics of the ban.
Hugh O'Flaherty regularly visited his old nemesis (the former SS chief in Rome, Colonel Herbert Kappler
) in prison, month after month, being Kappler's only visitor. In 1959, Kappler converted to Catholicism and was baptised by O'Flaherty.
In 1960, Hugh O'Flaherty suffered a serious stroke during Mass and was forced to return to Ireland. (Shortly before his first stroke in 1960, he was due to be confirmed as the Papal Nuncio to Tanzania.) He moved to Caherciveen to live with his sister, Mrs. Bride Sheehan. He died at her home on 30 October 1963 aged 65. He was buried in the cemetery of the Daniel O'Connell Memorial Church in Caherciveen.
There is a grove of Hugh O'Flaherty Trees in the Killarney National Park
.
in the 1983 television film, The Scarlet and the Black
, which follows the exploits of O'Flaherty from the German
occupation of Rome to its liberation by the Allies. He was also the second principal character in a radio play by Robin Glendinning on Kappler's time seeking asylum in the Vatican, entitled The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, which was first broadcast on 30 November, 2006 on Radio 4
, with Wolf Kahler
as Kappler.
The Irish-language television station TG4 broadcast a 51-minute documentary on Hugh O'Flaherty in 2008. It is available (in mixed Irish/English with full English subtitles) on a region free DVD titled 'The Pimpernel of the Vatican - The Amazing Story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty'.
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
Hugh O'Flaherty, CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
(28 February 1898 – 30 October 1963) was an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
Roman Catholic priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
and senior official of the Roman Curia
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was responsible for saving 6,500 Allied soldiers and Jews. Due to his ability to evade the traps set by the German Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
, Monsignor O'Flaherty earned the nickname "the Scarlet Pimpernel
Scarlet pimpernel
Scarlet pimpernel is a low-growing annual plant found in Europe, Asia and North America...
of the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
".
Early life
Shortly after the birth of Hugh O'Flaherty in Lisrobin, Kiskeam, County CorkCounty Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, his parents, James and Margaret, moved to Killarney
Killarney
Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is located north of the MacGillicuddy Reeks, on the northeastern shore of the Lough Lein/Leane which are part of Killarney National Park. The town and its surrounding region are home to St...
. The family lived on the golf course where James worked as a steward. By his late teens, young O'Flaherty had a scratch handicap and a scholarship to a teacher training college. But his destiny lay elsewhere. In 1918, he enrolled at Mungret
Mungret College
Mungret College, situated west of Limerick, Ireland, near the village of Mungret, was a Jesuit apostolic school and a lay secondary school from 1882 until 1974 when it closed as a school for the last time. The college produced over 1000 priests in that period...
, a Jesuit college in Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
dedicated to preparing young men for missionary priesthood.
Normally, students ranged from 14 to 18 years of age. At the time when O'Flaherty came in, he was a bit older than most of the students, about 20. The college allowed for some older people to come in if they had been accepted by a bishop who would pay for them.
O'Flaherty's sponsor was the Bishop of Cape Town
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cape Town is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa...
, Cornelius O'Reilly, in whose diocese he would be posted after ordination, a big step for a young man who had never stepped foot outside of Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
. At the time when O'Flaherty was in Mungret, there was a lot of conflict in Ireland. He was posted to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1922 to finish his studies and was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
on 20 December, 1925. He would never join his diocese. Instead, he stayed to work for the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, serving as a Vatican diplomat in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. In 1934, O'Flaherty received the title of Monsignor
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
.
World War II
In the early years of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, O'Flaherty toured prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
(POW) camps in Italy and tried to find out about prisoners who had been reported missing in action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
. If he found them alive, he tried to reassure their families through Radio Vatican.
When Italy changed sides in 1943, thousands of British POWs were released. Some of them, remembering visits by O'Flaherty, reached Rome and asked him for help. Others went to the Irish Embassy to the Holy See, the only English-speaking embassy to remain open in Rome during the war. Delia Murphy
Delia Murphy
Delia Murphy was a singer and collector of Irish ballads. Her notable voice gave her the nickname the "Queen of Connemara".-Early life:...
, who was the wife of the ambassador and in her day a well-known ballad singer, was one of those who helped O'Flaherty.
O'Flaherty did not wait for permission from his superiors. He recruited the help of other priests (including two young New Zealanders Fathers Owen Snedden and John Flanagan
Owen Snedden
Owen Noel Snedden was the Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Wellington, New Zealand . He was the first Auckland-born priest to be ordained a bishop.-Early life:...
), two agents working for the Free French
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
, François de Vial and Yves Debroise, and even Communists and a Swiss count. One of his aides was British Colonel Sam Derry. Derry along with British Officers and escaped POWs Lieutenents Furman and Simpson and Canadian Captain Byrnes were responsible for the security and operational organisation. O'Flaherty also kept contact with Sir D'Arcy Osborne, British Ambassador to the Vatican and his butler John May, whom O'Flaherty described as "a genius...the most magnificent scrounger.". O'Flaherty and his allies concealed 4,000 escapees − Allied soldiers and Jews − in flats, farms and convents. One of the first hideouts was beside the local SS headquarters. O'Flaherty and Derry coordinated all this. When he was visiting outside the Vatican, he wore various disguises.
The German occupiers of Rome tried to stop him and eventually they found out that the leader of the network was a priest. SS attempts to assassinate him failed. They learned his identity, but could not arrest him inside the Vatican. When the German ambassador revealed this to O'Flaherty, he began to meet his contacts on the stairs of the St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
.
Several others, including priests, nuns and lay people, worked in secret with O'Flaherty, and even hid refugees in their own private homes around Rome. Among these were Augustinian Maltese Fathers, Egidio Galea, Aurelio Borg, Ugolino Gatt and Brother Robert. Another person who contributed significantly to this operation was the Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
-born widow Chetta Chevalier, who hid some refugees in her house with her children, and was lucky to escape detection. Jewish religious services were conducted in the Basilica di San Clemente
Basilica di San Clemente
The Basilica of Saint Clement is a Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I located in Rome, Italy. Archaeologically speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings: the present basilica built just before the year 1100 during the height of the Middle Ages; beneath...
under a painting of Tobias
Book of Tobit
The Book of Tobit is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent...
− the Basilica was under Irish diplomatic protection
Diplomatic protection
In international law, diplomatic protection is a means for a State to take diplomatic and other action against another State on behalf of its national whose rights and interests have been injured by the other State...
.
When the Allies arrived in Rome in June 1944, 6,425 of the escapees were still alive. O'Flaherty demanded that German prisoners be treated properly as well. He took a plane to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
to meet Italian POWs and to Jerusalem to visit Jewish refugees. Of the 9,700 Jews in Rome, 1,007 had been shipped to Auschwitz. The rest were hidden, 5,000 of them by the official Church − 3,000 in Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo is a small Italian town or comune in Lazio that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano about 15 miles south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills. It is best known as the summer residence of the Pope. It is an Italian town with the population of 8834...
, 200 or 400 (estimates vary) as "members" of the Palatine Guard
Palatine Guard
The Palatine Guard was a military unit of the Vatican. It was formed in 1850 by Pope Pius IX, who ordered that the two militia units of the Papal States be amalgamated...
and some 1,500 in monasteries, convents and colleges. The remaining 3,700 were hidden in private homes.
Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kappler
Herbert Kappler
Herbert Kappler , was the head of German police and security services in Rome during World War II...
, the head of the SS Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
and Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
learned of O'Flaherty's actions; he ordered a white line painted on the pavement between The Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, stating that O'Flaherty would be killed if he crossed it. Ludwig Koch, the head of the neo-Fascist Italian police in Rome often spoke of his intention to torture O'Flaherty before executing him, if O'Flaherty ever fell into his hands.
At the time of the liberaton of Rome, O'Flaherty's and Major Sam Derry's organisation was caring for 3,925 escapees and men who had succeeded in evading arrest. Of these 1,695 were British, 896 South African, 429 Russian, 425 Greek, 185 American. The remainder were from 20 different nations. This does not inculde the Jews and sundry other men and women who were in O'Flaherty's strictly personal care.
Post-war
After the war Hugh O'Flaherty received a number of awards including Commander of the Order of the British Empire and the US Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm. He was declared Righteous Among the NationsRighteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
by Israel and was honoured by Canada and Australia. He refused to use the lifetime pension that Italy had given him.
In the 1950s, the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, in the form proposed by the now-sainted Mary Faustina Kowalska
Mary Faustina Kowalska
Maria Faustina Kowalska, commonly known as Saint Faustina, born Helenka Kowalska was a Polish nun, mystic and visionary...
, was under a ban from the Vatican. It was O'Flaherty who, as Notary, signed the document that notified Catholics of the ban.
Hugh O'Flaherty regularly visited his old nemesis (the former SS chief in Rome, Colonel Herbert Kappler
Herbert Kappler
Herbert Kappler , was the head of German police and security services in Rome during World War II...
) in prison, month after month, being Kappler's only visitor. In 1959, Kappler converted to Catholicism and was baptised by O'Flaherty.
In 1960, Hugh O'Flaherty suffered a serious stroke during Mass and was forced to return to Ireland. (Shortly before his first stroke in 1960, he was due to be confirmed as the Papal Nuncio to Tanzania.) He moved to Caherciveen to live with his sister, Mrs. Bride Sheehan. He died at her home on 30 October 1963 aged 65. He was buried in the cemetery of the Daniel O'Connell Memorial Church in Caherciveen.
There is a grove of Hugh O'Flaherty Trees in the Killarney National Park
Killarney National Park
Killarney National Park is located beside the town of Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. It was the first national park established in Ireland, created when Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish state in 1932...
.
Dramatisation
O'Flaherty was portrayed by Gregory PeckGregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
in the 1983 television film, The Scarlet and the Black
The Scarlet and the Black
The Scarlet and the Black is a 1983 made for TV movie starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer. This production should not be confused with the 1993 British television mini series Scarlet and Black, which starred Ewan McGregor and Rachel Weisz....
, which follows the exploits of O'Flaherty from the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
occupation of Rome to its liberation by the Allies. He was also the second principal character in a radio play by Robin Glendinning on Kappler's time seeking asylum in the Vatican, entitled The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, which was first broadcast on 30 November, 2006 on Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, with Wolf Kahler
Wolf Kahler
Wolf Kahler is a German actor.Born in Kiel, since 1975 he has appeared in many US and UK television and film productions. Due to his height - he is 6 feet 2 inches tall - sharp features, blond hair and blue eyes he is often cast in roles as Nazis or other unsympathetic German characters...
as Kappler.
Further reading
- William C. Simpson 1996, A Vatican Lifeline, Sparedon Press
- Stephen Walker 2011, Hide & Seek: The Irish Priest In The Vatican Who Defied The Nazi Command, Harper Collins (London)
- Alison Walsh 2010, Hugh O’Flaherty: His Wartime Adventures, Collins Press
The Irish-language television station TG4 broadcast a 51-minute documentary on Hugh O'Flaherty in 2008. It is available (in mixed Irish/English with full English subtitles) on a region free DVD titled 'The Pimpernel of the Vatican - The Amazing Story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty'.