Mafalda of Savoy

Mafalda von Savoyen and Philipp Prinz von Hessen at their wedding on September 23, 1925 in Racconigi

Princess Mafalda and her three sons, around 1938

Mafalda Maria Elisabetta Anna Romana , Princess of Savoy (born November 19, 1902 in Rome , † August 27, 1944 in Buchenwald concentration camp ) was a daughter of King Victor Emanuel III. of Italy and his wife Princess Elena of Montenegro .

Life

Princess Mafalda as a little girl

In 1903, in honor of her birth, the municipality of Ripalta sul Trigno in Molise was renamed Mafalda . The passenger ship Principessa Mafalda of the Italian shipping company Lloyd Italiano, which was commissioned in 1909 , was named after her. Mafalda married Philipp Prinz von Hessen in 1925 (1896–1980).

In 1943 Hitler sent eight divisions to Italy to take control of the government ( Axis case ). King Victor Emmanuel III was able to place himself under the protection of the Allies with his family. In revenge, Hitler had Princess Mafalda lured to the German embassy in Rome on September 23, 1943, and deported from there via Berlin to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar. There she was housed in a strange barrack with the Breitscheid couple .

death

It was buried in a USAAF bombing raid on August 24, 1944. She survived with severe injuries and burns. Her arm was amputated too late, so she died three days later.

“Mafalda came to Buchenwald after a few days, where she was a prisoner with preferential treatment. Another prisoner was assigned to help her. However, her identity was to remain a secret, and she was given the name Frau Weber. On August 24, 1944, the production facilities of the camp were bombed by American planes. The princess was able to flee into a splinter trench, in which, however, she was buried by a falling wall. She had a serious injury to her shoulder and burns. With hundreds of inmates wounded and the hospital facilities destroyed, it was August 28th before she had an operation to amputate an arm. She died a little later. In Italy the question has been asked again and again whether Mafalda was deliberately allowed to die. There is no evidence of this. After all, three doctors were involved in the operation. "

On the evening of August 27, she was buried in Weimar in grave 262, in the cemetery register it said "Unknown woman". She was buried in Kronberg im Taunus in 1951 after being transferred .

children

• Moritz (1926-2013)
• Heinrich (1927–1999)
• Otto (1937-1998)
• Elisabeth Margarethe (* 1940), ⚭ 1962 with Friedrich Carl Graf von Oppersdorff (1925–1985)

literature

• Renato Barneschi: Weber's wife: vita e morte di Mafalda di Savoia a Buchenwald ; Milan: Rusconi, 1982; DNB 101289889X . New edition: Milan: Tascabili Bompiani, 2006; ISBN 88-452-5641-3
• Dino Campini: La Principessa Martire. Mafalda di Savoia ; Milan, ELI, 1955
• Jobst etiquette : Prince Philip of Hesse: Hitler's special ambassador for Italy ; Humboldt University Berlin 2009 ( full text online )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jobst Knigge: Prince Philip of Hesse - Hitler's special ambassador for Italy , p. 85
2. ↑ Spiegel Online: Not only autographs from October 30, 1948 , accessed on October 24, 2011

Web links

Commons : Mafalda of Savoy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Princess of Buchenwald ( Memento from March 13, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
• Portrait of Mafalda of Hesse
• Mafalda di Savoia - morta a Buchenwald ( Memento from August 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (it.);