Kappler was in charge of Jewish roundups for deportations to Auschwitz; in his first action, 1,023 Italian Jews were deported, of whom only 16 survived. He later arranged the deportation of a further 993 Roman Jews, nearly all of whom eventually died in Nazi gas chambers. During this action, he demanded 50 kilograms of gold (110 lbs.) from the Jewish community in Rome, which he later claimed was an attempt to prevent the round-up and the deportations.