Nazi Murder of Princess Mafalda
- Italian King's Daughter Killed at Buchenwald Concentration Camp

28 May 2022

Category: Nazi Victims

Princess Mafalda of Savoy was born on the 19th of November 1902 in Rome. Her father was Victor Emmanuel III who reigned as King of Italy from July 1900 and her mother was Elena of Montenegro - Queen consort of Italy. On the 23rd of September 1925 Mafalda married German prince Philipp of Hesse. The 1920s and 1930s were a difficult period in Europe due to the rise of authoritarian regimes especially in Italy and Germany.

It was while Mafalda was in Bulgaria when Italy surrendered to the Allies on the 8th of September, 1943 and Benito Mussolini was arrested. Adolf Hitler considered this a betrayal and started to occupy Rome the same month. Regardless of the risks and unaware that her husband Phlipp had already been arrested and sent to Flossenbürg concentration camp, Princess Mafalda decided to return to Rome to join her children who had been given sanctuary in the Vatican.

Deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp

Mafalda was arrested and boarded on a plane to Munich and then to Berlin for questioning. After that she was finally deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where she was locked up under the false name “Frau von Weber”.

In August 1944 the allied troops bombed an ammunition factory inside Buchenwald and Mafalda, having been housed close to this factory, had her arm badly wounded. She also suffered severe burns and various bruises all over her face and body. She bled to death on the night of August 28, 1944 at the age of 41.

While Mafalda was born as a princess in the palace of Rome, she died in a Nazi death camp as with millions of other victims of the criminal Nazi regime. Her tragic story as with the stories of millions of others, who perished due to Nazi atrocities, should never be forgotten.

For more information,
do not forget to check our video above.