In the city hall of Assisi, today at 9 pm, young local musicians and actors will perform readings of Primo Levi. Brilliant scientist, Primo Levi was one of the few Italians who made it back from Auschwitz (liberated on January 27, 1945). Today’s Giorno della Memoria (Day of Memory), a day of tribute to Shoah victims – “to diffuse reciprocal respect for the diversities of cultures and religions, denying every type of racism and antisemitism” – became law in Italy in 2000.
Today, teachers all over Italy – at every grade level – are engaging their students in special projects to commemorate awareness of the Shoah – and racism and intolerance in general. As long as he was alive, Don Aldo Brunacci – the Assisi priest who helped hide Jewish refugees in Assisi – was asked to speak in the schools and for civic meetings. He died in late 2007.
When Don Aldo was alive, I took many people to visit him. The encounters were always very moving (some guests were holocaust survivors, others had lost family in the holocaust). Each encounter with Don Aldo was unique and each was most moving as Don Aldo answered visitors’ questions about the “Assisi Underground.” Here are a few dialogues I remember:
Q: “Why, Don Aldo, did you take the risk to help our people?”
Don Aldo: “Because my bishop asked me to do so – and as Christians, our task is to extend assistance to those who need it”
Q: “Did anyone ever die during the year or so that the Jews were hidden here in Assisi?”
Don Aldo: “Yes, one woman, Edith Weiss – an elderly Austrian. She died of a heart attack. She was hiding in the convent of San Quirico and one of the nuns came to tell me. We arranged a funeral – and I went to the municipality and purchased a funeral plot – and she is still buried there in the plot in my name. I led the funeral procession – Catholic, of course – out the Porta San Giacomo gate to the cemetery. As we passed, a German guard at the gate saluted the procession!” (If I remember correctly, Don Aldo also told us that a rabbi was in the procession and when at a distance outside the gate, murmured prayers in Hebrew. Note: Edith Weiss was buried with the surname of “Bianchi” – which like Weiss means “white”. Her son came to Assisi in the 1950′s from Argentina to visit his mother’s tomb – and now her tombstone bears the Star of David).
Q: “Did the Jewish children attend school here in Assisi during the year they were hidden here (note: 1943-1944)?
Don Aldo: “No, we felt it better not to run that risk. They studied on their own and I myself tutored some of the older students from northern Italy in Greek and Latin – so that they would be ready for their state exams. The young people also had ‘work’ to do at home – they had to study about the area in which they had once ‘lived’. You see, we provided them with false ID cards and false ration cards. We located their place of residency in a city south of Rome – as that part of Italy had been liberated by the Allies, so we knew that if a suspicious German or Italian fascist soldier tried to check the documents, that they would hit a dead end.”
*Note – The Italian Jewish refugees in Assisi came principally from the North, for example, from Ferrara, Padua and so forth. Signora Graziella Viterbi, from Padua, was hidden here in Assisi at the age of 18 with her family. They were “assigned” Lecce (in Puglia, the “heel” of the boot) as their provenance – as she told me that – curiously – the Leccese accent was fairly similar to that of Padua. Graziella and her family therefore had to “study” Lecce so as to be prepared if interrogated. She told me that she spent hours daily working with her younger sister Miriam, quizzing her on the locations of various places in Lecce.
Graziella also told me that those instrumental in the Assisi Underground (i.e., Padre Rufino Niccacci, Don Aldo Brunacci), decided that the false names should start with the same syllable as the true surname in order to (hopefully) give one a second to think and use the “right” name in time of questioning. For example, the Viterbi family (an Italian Jewish surname) became “Visconti”.
Graziella lives in Rome now but she tells me that her heart remains in Assisi, where she – and all the Jewish refugees hidden here – were saved. She once told me that her father decided to bring the family here, “knowing we would be safe in the town of San Francesco.”
Read more about Don Aldo Brunacci here.
In a world full of hatred and killings, thank you for reminding us of the many good, selfless people who still care about their fellow human beings no matter what their religion! Loved the story.
What a courageous and good man – thank you for sharing his story. It restores one’s faith in the basic decency of mankind, especially when headlines always tell of the more sordid side of life.
Such an interesting story. I have to Assisi on several occasions and did not realize this part of it’s history. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story.
We are in Florence and there are memorial concerts everywhere for the Shoah. All the childen are learning about it at school and the teachers are trying to find ways to tell the children what happened, as in a few years there will be no one left who witnessed that terrible time.
In 2006 my family and I (moglie, zio, cugini, padre, sorelle, fratello, etc) were in Assisi for festival of San Francesco. Don Aldo would have still been alive. We could not get into the church to hear the mass but we were able to hear it outside through speakers. I suppose he was involved in the mass. I only wish I would have known this about Don Aldo while I was there. It would have given the experience a different level of meaning. I will get this article to my family. They will greatly enjoy it. Grazie! Benissimo!
Arrivederci
I’ve heard various stories of the nuns and priests who hid Italian Jews in their convents and monasteries during WWII. In fact, I’m still in contact with an elderly Mercedarian nun (89 yrs. old) who lived nearby Assisi and personally helped hide women and children in her convent. Thank you for sharing this story of bravery!
A very moving post – and one for our time in history when intolerance is still often tolerated.
What a beautiful and heartwarming story. Thank you for sharing.
What a beautiful story, it was so moving!
There is a very good book “The Assisi Underground” The Priests Who Rescued Jews, by Alexander Ramati…Published 1978……worth while reading.
I just e-mailed the information about the book “The Assisi Undergroung” by Alexander Ramati….Published 1978….that is worth while reading.
Thanks to all for comments – and a word on Don Aldo Brunacci’s thoughts on Ramati’s book: “alot of fiction – he came here after the war and went back to write a book that would sell. Many of his stories are invented”.
I do not wish to be polemical – just wanted to be true to the memory of Don Aldo.
In any case, the thoughts of each of you are appreciated!
I cried today reading the notebook today. Your story makes me so proud to hear stories of Italian heroics. God Bless you Don Brunacci ever and ever in our hearts….Thank you again ItalianNotebook a wonderful story for us…
Thank you for the article Anne. I have an Italian Jewish friend who along with her sister and two brothers was taken into a convent during the War. Being that no one knew how long the madness would last (months, years, decades, forever?) she and her siblings were taught Catholic rituals. In order for the children to retain their Jewish identity when the nuns made bread they would enlist the childrens’ aid which would give the nuns the chance to draw a Star of David on the floured table without comment hoping that subliminally it just might keep the young ones identity alive. All the siblings and their families are now practicing Jews. Before it’s too late stories as such must be told…
Thanks, Vincent and Gian for your notes.
Gian- another “convent” story: Don Aldo told me that there were come Jews hidden in the convent, San Quirico, of the cloistered Poor Clares. Yom Kipper arrive: the Clares cooked a feast and served it to their Jewish “guests”. Another one: other Jews were hidden in the convent of the French-speaking Poor Clares here in Assisi (le Collettine). A Belgian Jew asked the sisters if he could do out in the garden to get some fresh air. He was told “only if you wear a veil – safer”. He put one on!…and went out for a garden stroll
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This story brought tears to my eyes-not only because of the injustice but also for the compassion.
Verifies that there are good people in this world. Why don’t we hear about them more often?
Thank you Anne. We had the privilege of attending two of what must have been among Don Aldo’s last masses the Fall before he died. Such a humble and persevering man, who received the Medal of the Righteous Gentiles in 1977 in Jerusalem. THREE HEROES OF ASSISI IN WORLD WAR II is a unique collection of Don Aldo’s speeches and other writings about the true Assisi underground. It is available at the Libreria on Via S. Paolo in Assisi. It is worth a stop for travelers.
Wonderfully written, informative, intriguing article. Thank you!
Do you know an older American movie in black and white on the story of Jews sheltered in Italian convents?
I don’t know if it portrays Don Aldo’s work or not…
janet, yes, book you mention is a good one,”fact-full” one..also available in the Zubboli bookshop on the main square opposite the Roman temple………(and where the stunning handmade diaries, journals of my brother-in-law, Gianfranco, are sold!)
Hi Annie,
Thank you so much for such a lovely and moving article.
I remember fondly attending a talk by Don Aldo that you set up for one of your tours we attended. He was such a gentle man. I keep the signed copy of his book I purchased that day in with my other Italian treasures.
We must come back to Umbria and have you give us one of your “special” guided tours… even though we get much more with all the impromptu meetings of people you know along the way.
You must write about Spello. I remember we were on our way to meet the priest who helps decorate for the Inforiate (?spelling), but along the way you were stopped by this charming old man who insisted we accompany him to his nearby “workshop” where we joined him for some of his home-made wine and some poetry. It’s those little moments that make Italy so special.
Thank you for sharing your life and thoughts with all of us.
Thanks, Sandi, for your note…and give my best to Jerry. Come back soon to see us in Umbria! ps Infiorate in Spello on June 26th this year: want to join in?
Last May I came across an exhibition on these brave people of Assisi. I was so moved that I decided to make a little presentation for my Italian class.(We are encouraged to give short presentations in Italian – no so easy).