Nazi Criminal to Be Buried in 'Secret' Location

After an attempt to hold a funeral for a Nazi war criminal sparked clashes, a secret burial place has been found for Erich Priebke, his lawyer says—though he seems to have a strange definition of "secret." The lawyer says Priebke will be buried in Italy or Germany, and "whoever wants will be able to pay homage to a figure who has become a symbol of dignity, freedom, and human suffering," the Telegraph reports. The lawyer boasts that the war criminal's supporters have "not allowed the authorities or the Jewish community to walk all over us."

The Jewish community wanted the ashes to be scattered at sea "to avoid creating a place of pilgrimage," the lawyer says. Priebke, who died earlier this month at the age of 100, spent the final 17 years of his life under house arrest in Italy for his role in the massacre of 335 Italian civilians in 1944. He never expressed remorse for the killing and in a video message recorded earlier this year and released after his death, he repeated his defense that he was acting under direct orders from Hitler and blamed Italian partisans for provoking the massacre by killing German soldiers, the BBC reports. Argentina, where he lived for 50 years after the war, has refused to allow the return of his body to be buried next to his wife. (More Erich Priebke stories.)