The Assisi Network was an underground network in Italy established by Catholic clergy to protect Jews during the

Nazi Occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

. The churches, monasteries, and convents of Assisi served as a safe haven for several hundred Jews.

General History of Assisi

Holocaust historian

Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...

credits the Assisi Network, established by Bishop

Giuseppe Placido Nicolini Monsignor Giuseppe Placido Maria Nicolini O.S.B. (1877–1973), born Villazzano, Italy, was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Assisi from 1928 until 1973. Prior to serving as Bishop, he was ordained as a Benedictine priest in 1899 and was appointed ...

and Father Rufino Nicacci, with saving 300 Jews. When the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

began to murder

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, Monsignor Nicolini,

Bishop of Assisi The Italian Catholic Diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino ( la, Dioecesis Assisiensis-Nucerina-Tadinensis) in Umbria, has existed since 1986. In that year the historic Diocese of Assisi, known as the birthplace of Francis of Assisi, was ...

, under orders from Monsignor Montini, ordered Father Aldo Brunacci to lead a rescue operation using shelters in 26 monasteries and convents, and providing false transit papers. Many of the papers claimed the person was from Southern Italy, an area liberated by American forces. Among those that were helped by Nicolini were the Baruch, Viterbi and Kropf families. Nicolini hid Jews in places that were regularly closed to outsiders by papal monastic regulations. His "Committee of Assistance" transformed Assisi into a shelter for many Jews, and assisted others with transit through the town to other places of safety. Respect for Jewish religious practices saw

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...

celebrated at Assisi in 1943, with nuns preparing the meal to end the fast.Assisi Network
published by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

The activities of the network were the subject of a 1978 book, ''

The Assisi Underground ''The Assisi Underground: The Priests Who Rescued Jews'' is a 1978 novel written by Alexander Ramati based on a true-life account, told by Father Rufino Niccacci, of events surrounding the Assisi Network, an effort to hide 300 Jews in the town of ...

'' by

Alexander Ramati Alexander Ramati (December 20, 1921 – February 18, 2006), born David Solomonovich Grinberg,1985 film starring

Ben Cross Harry Bernard Cross (16 December 1947 – 18 August 2020) was an English stage and film actor. He was best known for playing Billy Flynn in the original West End production of the musical ''Chicago'', and his portrayal of the British Ol ...

and James Mason as Bishop Nicolini. Assisi was liberated on June 16, 1944.

Righteous among the Nations: Father Aldo Brunacci

Father Aldo Brunacci was the head of the Committee for Assistance and a canon in the Cathedral of San Rufino. He was recognized as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem's publication in the year of 1977. Brunacci owned a huge library where he taught Latin to several people, including Mira Baruch, that enabled her to resume her studies after the war. On May 15, 1944, Father Brunacci was arrested by governor Rocchi Perugia, who suspected his involvement in the rescue missions. Through the Bishop of Assisi's intervention, Brunacci was released, but forced to leave Assisi. Testimony of Father Aldo Brunacci is availabl
here

Famous Quotes

* "God is our father and we are all brothers and sisters." * "There are times in everyone's life in which it is easy to confuse prudence with a calm life; there are times when heroism is required. Monsignor Nicolini took the path of heroism."

Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust

The actions of Pope Pius XII, also known as Eugenio Pacelli (1876-1958), during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

remain highly controversial. He kept a public front of neutrality. Though he made public speeches condemning injustices of the world, Pope Pius XII did not take any direct or public action against Hitler and the Nazi regime. He privately sheltered a small number of Jews and encouraged select officials to help Jews. In 1933, while a cardinal, before being elected Pope, Pracelli signed a concordant with German diplomat Franz Von Papen that was considered a diplomatic victory for Hitler, and granted freedom of practice to the Roman Catholic church. In return, the Church was to abstain from political issues. Pacelli was elected Pope on March 2, 1939 and began speaking out against the 1938 Italian racial laws, though he did not condemn ''

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

.'' In that same month, Pius obtained 3,000 visas for European Jews who converted to Catholicism to enter Brazil. Two thousand of the visas were later revoked because those Jews continued to practice Judaism in Brazil. The Pope did not take any action on the revocations. Between 1940 and 1943, Pope Pius was confronted with demands to denounce the Nazi violence from individuals including: Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Isaac Herzog; Cardinal

Theodor Innitzer Theodor Innitzer (25 December 1875 – 9 October 1955) was Archbishop of Vienna and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. Early life Innitzer was born in Neugeschrei (Nové Zvolání), part of the town Weipert (Vejprty) in Bohemia, at that time ...

of Vienna; Assistant Chief of the U.S. delegation to the Vatican, Harold Tittman; Ukrainian Metropolitan Andrej Septyckyj; Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, Wladislaw Raczkiewicz, president of the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

; and Bishop Preysing of Berlin. The Church responded to these demands by stressing the Church's need to remain neutral. Any aid that the Pope provided Jews came after 1942 when US joined the war. At that time, Pope Pius began encouraging German and Hungarian bishops to speak out against the massacre of the Jews.

Viterbi Family

The Viterbi family were able to live openly due to the false papers of identification provided by Brizi. In the papers they registered as residents of the town of Lecce, an area that was already liberated by the Americans, thus preventing the Nazi's from checking the papers validity. Grazia Viterbi's name was changed to Graziella Vitelli. However, even with the false papers and safe area of residence, the family was in a constant fear of capture by the Nazis. To familiarize herself in the event of capture, Grazia learned about the town of Lecce at the Assisi library.The problem with forged papers: According to her forged papers, Grazi Viterbi was from Lecce
/ref>

References

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External links

Assisi Network
published by

.
The Assisi Network
published by Rome Reports. *www.catholicnewsagency.com, News, Europe, Holocaust survivor thanks pope, Oct. 5,2013.
Pope Pius and the Holocaust
Organizations which rescued Jews during the Holocaust Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust Italian resistance movement