Death in Rome

On March 23rd, 1944, the Roman Resistance opened fire on a column of German SS police, inflicting severe casualties. In return the SS, ordered by Hitler, herded together 355 civilian Romans and marched them to the Ardeatine Caves. Here they slaughtered them one by one, and then tried to destroy the evidence of their horrific act of vengeance. To this day it is unclear as to the real cause of the bloodshed. Why should the Germans retaliate so brutally and on a scale never again repeated in Italy? Were the Roman Resistance unjustified in ther attack? Could the Pope have intervened? American journalist Robert Katz, many years with H.I.A.S. and the United Nations, attended the twentieth anniversary of the Massacre, 1964. His compassion was stirred that day, and he tried to discover the truth, and to answer some unanswered questions. The book was filmed as Massacre in Rome, starring Richard Burton (featured on the front cover in the role as Nazi chief Kappler - who implemented the massacre) and Marcello Mastroianni, directed by Carlo Ponti.