Book description
Irish Sunday Times Bestseller
A true story of war, peace and friendship: a Nazi colonel and an Irish priest
The story begins in Rome at the outbreak of WWII, when ardent Nazi
Herbert Kappler, SS Obersturmbanführer, and Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty
would become adversaries in a real-life game of 'cat and mouse' of epic
proportions. Hide and Seek chronicles the intimate and intensely
personal war between them. A fiercely fought rivalry that would
culminate in failed attempts by Kappler to kidnap and then murder his
Irish opponent.
In July 1943 Rome was bombed for the first time during the war. As the
swastika flew above the city, it was a time of fear, and a moment of
choice: collaborate and compromise, or resist and revolt. O'Flaherty
decided to quietly resist and fight the new rulers.
Dubbed 'Ireland's Oscar Schindler', he masterminded a large-scale
operation from within the Vatican, to help Jews and escaped Allied
prisoners on the run from the Nazis. He used a series of safe houses and
church buildings and sheltered around 500 Jews in the Holy See, and it
is believed that sanctuary was found for some 4000 Jews across Rome, and
4000 Allied escapees.
After the Resistance killed 32 German soldiers in a bombing, Hitler was
enraged, and declared that he wanted a revenge attack to "make the
world tremble". He instructed Kappler to draw up plans. Eventually,
335 people would be executed in the Ardeatine Caves, a labyrinth of
tunnels outside the city. The massacre would become the worst atrocity
committed on Italian soil during WWII.
Kappler's handiwork would remain secret until Rome was liberated by the
Allies in June 1944. The Nazi Colonel was found guilty on all the
charges relating to the caves massacre. He was sentenced to life
imprisonment with no parole. Amazingly, O'Flaherty would continue his
relationship with Kappler, going to see his former rival in prison. The
discussions of the two men would become intense and searching, and a
friendship grew between them. In later life, after much soul-searching
Kappler became a Catholic, and was baptised by the Irish Monsignor. 'A
heartening story. This is a new angle on it as a duel between the Irish
Monsignor and the Gestapo Colonel.' - Book of the Week Daily Mail
'Stephen Walker has produced a really thrilling book, all the more so
because he has taken care to reflect the complexities of his central
characters.' - Fergal Keane
'… remarkably affecting… the old stories are, it seems, still the best
ones'. - The Sunday Telegraph Stephen Walker is an award-winning BBC journalist.
Born in England and educated in Northern Ireland, he has worked for BBC
Northern Ireland for 20 years as a television and radio reporter, a
documentary maker and a lobby correspondent at Westminster. He has made
numerous current affairs and historical documentaries.
Stephen's journalism has been honoured by the Royal Television Society
and the Association of European Journalists.
In 2005 he was named the Northern Ireland Journalist of the Year. His
first book, Forgotten Soldiers: The Irishmen Shot at Dawn was
shortlisted for the 2007 Irish Non Fiction Book of the Year.
He lives in County Down with his wife and family
