Princess Mafalda of Savoy

Princess Mafalda of Italy

Princess Mafalda Maria Elisabetta Anna Romana of Savoy (November 2, 1902, Rome – August 27, 1944, Buchenwald) was the second child of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and of his wife Princess Elena Petrovich of Montenegro.

On September 23 1925, at Racconigi Castle in Piedmont, near Turin, she married Philip of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1896-1980). They had the following children:

Moritz (born 1926)
Heinrich (1927-1999)
Otto (1937-1998)
Elizabeth (born 1940); married Count Friedrich Carl von Oppersdorff

Mafalda's husband was a Nazi party loyalist. His brother Christoph was part of the Nazi hierarchy and who was married to Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Princess Mafalda 's marriage resulted in her husband being in a position to act as intermediary between the Nazis in Germany and the Fascist regime in Italy. However, during World War II Hitler believed Princess Mafalda was working against the Nazis, referring to her as the "blackest carrion in the Italian royal house."

In early September of 1943, Princess Mafalda traveled to Bulgaria to attend the funeral of her brother-in-law, King Boris III. While there, she was informed of Italy's surrender and that her husband was being held in Bavaria while her children had been given sanctuary in the Vatican. The Gestapo ordered her arrest, and on September 23 she received a telephone call from Karl Hass at the German High Command who informed her there was an important message from her husband. On her arrival at the German embassy she was arrested, ostensibly for subversive activities, but more as a threat to keep her father, the king of Italy, in line. Princess Mafalda was transported to Munich for questioning, then to Berlin and was finally deported to Buchenwald concentration camp.

On August 24, 1944 Buchenwald was bombed by the Americans. Some four hundred prisoners were killed. Mafalda was wounded. She was buried up to her neck in debris and her arm was burned almost to the bone. When her arm became infected, it was amputated. She bled profusely during the operation and never regained consciousness She died during the night of August 26-27.

Mafalda's family were not notified of her death. Rumors began to circulate towards the end of 1944. Her death was not confirmed until after the Allies liberated Germany in 1945.

In 1997, the Italian government honored Princess Mafalda with her image on a postal stamp.