Spring 1944
As Dr. Borromeo opened the door to the hospital’s isolation ward, he explained to the SS soldiers
that the Jewish patients were isolated here because they had a horrific, extremely contagious,
and highly fatal disease. A few of the patients began coughing, a wet, nasty sound. The Germans
backed away, terrified that they had been exposed to Syndrome K. The doctors’ plan worked perfectly.
The 450-year-old Fatebenefratelli Hospital is in the heart of Rome, on a small island in the
middle of Tiber River, just across from the Jewish Ghetto. Founded by monks, Fatebenefratelli has a
long history of rising to the challenge to address the current needs of the local community. During
the 1656 plague outbreak, the hospital focused on care for plague patients. In 1832 during cholera
outbreaks, the Fatebenefratelli Hospital was recognized by the Special Commission of Health
for its treatment of patients. In 1943, under the guidance of some very brave and honorable doctors
the hospital once again rose to the challenge and served the local community as best it knew how.
Founded in 1555, Rome has one of the oldest Jewish Ghettos outside the Middle East.
The area consists of a few narrow streets. The Ghetto is walled in, with 3 gates, and backs up
to the Tiber River on the far side. The Ghetto was created with the idea of limiting Jewish influence
in Rome. However, many inhabitants liked the idea of a special Jewish community where neighbors had
the same customs. Throughout the centuries, though the Jewish population was only a small
part of the overall Rome population, they were a culturally integral part of Italian society
and for the most part, lived in harmony with non-Jewish neighbors. Around the time of World
War II the majority of Rome’s approximately 12,000 Jewish citizens live in the Ghetto.
During the 1930s as Italy fell into fascism, antisemitism increased. In November of 1938,
Mussolini's fascist government implemented the Italian racial laws. Basically, these laws stated
that Jews were a separate, inferior race and restricted their civil rights. Among other rules,
Jews were banned from public office and prominent positions. More antisemitic laws quickly followed.
In the town of Ancona, a young Jewish doctor Vittorio Sacerdoti loses his job at a public
hospital. Upset, he turns to his uncle Marco Almagià, who’s a medical professor.
Marco contacts one of his former students, Giovanni Borromeo who’s now the head
physician at the Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Rome. Dr. Borromeo is a strict Catholic,
but also anti-fascist. He hires Dr. Sacerdoti, treating him with great respect.
Dr. Sacerdoti moves to Rome and begins working at the Fatebenefratelli under false papers. He
becomes well known in the Ghetto and Dr. Borromeo is considered a friend to the Jewish community.
On June 10, 1940, Italy declares war on France and Great Britain and enters World War II.
Italy will go on to sign allegiance agreements with Germany. Nationalism
is on the rise and antisemitism continues to grow.
At the Fatebenefratelli, three doctors Dr. Borromeo, Dr. Sacerdoti, amd Dr. Adriano Ossicini
worry about facism, antisemitism and the growing threat of war. As doctors they feel they have the
crucial calling to save lives and are committed to serving anyone who walks into the hospital.
Dr. Ossicini becomes involved with a secret alliance of anti-facist doctors and monks.
The doctors also develop ties to a network of resistance fighters. They are supported and
encouraged by Father Maurizio Bialek, a patron of and the church liaison for Fatebenefratelli.
In July of 1943, the Allies invade Sicily, with plans to advance to mainland Italy.
The same month Mussolini is voted out of power and the Italian Racial laws are suppressed.
Several weeks later in September, Italy signs an armistice with the Allies. As a result,
a furious Germany invades Italy. In the regions of Italy that come to be occupied by the Wehrmacht,
the Racial laws are heavily enforced and made worse.
Germany overruns the Italian countryside. Larger cities, including Rome are not quite so easy to
take. On September 10th, 1943 citizens, including members of the Jewish community, fight back when
Germany advances to Rome. The clash comes to be called the Battle of Porta San Paolo
because the majority of the fighting takes place near the Gate of Saint Paul. It’s an unfair fight,
mainly ordinary citizens and limited militia with guns and homemade weapons against German tanks
and artillery. While citizens are sacrificing their lives to save their city from occupation,
the king, the royal family, and high ranking government officials abandon the city. Sadly,
the citizens fail and by the evening Rome is overrun with SS soldiers.
The wounded come to the Fatebenefratelli for treatment. By this time the hospital
has become involved in the resistance; the doctors install an illegal radio transmitter
in the basement and pass along information. Also a resistance group is printing leaflets
and the hospital is used to smuggle the fliers and disseminate them to the public.
Nazis begin occupying Rome. A few weeks later, Herbert Kappler,
commander of the SS and the Gestapo in Rome, threatens the city’s Jewish community. Unless
they hand over 50 kilograms (110 lb) of gold, 200 Jewish family heads will be deported.
For a while the Jewish community has heard rumors of concentration camps and other physical dangers
Jews in other parts of Europe are facing, but that seems far away. They conclude that as long
as they come up with the gold there won’t be a problem. With the help of concerned non Jews,
the Jewish community scrape together the gold and pay the blackmail by the deadline.
Many hope that paying the gold will be the end of it. Meanwhile,
Dr. Sacedoti and other community members implore people not to trust the Nazis.
For the most part, the Vatican has kept silent about the treatment of Jews. Pope Pius, has
political ambitions and plays both sides of the field even hosting diplomatic events for Nazis.
Around 6:00 am in the morning on Oct 16, 1943,
a woman runs door to door in the Ghetto warning her neighbors that the Nazis are coming. Soon,
some 365 German security and police forces show up and block the exits,
sealing the Ghetto off from the rest of Rome. They are implementing the Final Solution.
They systematically sweep the Ghetto with machine guns and dogs. They round up residents, men,
women, and children alike. They force everyone onto huge trucks with tarps covering the back.
Those who try to refuse or beg are beaten with machine guns and dragged through the streets.
Some Jews are able to escape or hide before the Nazis arrived. Others escape as the Ghetto
is being sealed off, they climb over the rooftops of Ghetto buildings into
Rome. The escapees seek refuge with neighbors, friends, and family that live elsewhere in Rome.
The Nazis end up detaining 1,259 people-363 men,
689 women, and 207 children. Shortly thereafter, the non Jews are released. The remaining prisoners
are held for a few days and then loaded onto Holocaust trains and deported to
Auschwitz. Of the about 1,035 prisoners sent to the concentration camp, 16 will survive.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Dr. Sacedoti is alerted by a Friar as to what’s happening.
He runs to the Analysis lab which looks out onto the hospital's square,
Piazza San Bartolomeo. Across the square, on the far side of the river,
Dr. Sacedoti can see an SS soldier dragging a little boy and a woman carrying a small suitcase,
they are loaded onto a truck. Dr. Sacedoti is upset, but there’s nothing he can do.
Midmorning a man comes into the hospital looking for Dr. Sacedoti. He’s escaped
from the Ghetto and thought Dr. Sacedoti could help him hide. Dr. Sacedoti quickly admits him
to the hospital as a patient. A few more Jews showed up, Dr. Sacedoti admits them too. His
reasoning is that he can keep them safe at the hospital by hiding them among regular patients.
A quick staff meeting expands the idea. Dr. Borromeo suggests that Jews
be admitted having contracted a highly contagious disease.
That way they could be kept isolated, away from other patients, who may be suspicious.
They name the disease Syndrome K. Herbert Kappler is the Nazi Police Chief overseeing
Rome while Albert Kesselring is a Nazi commander who led troops into the city. It’s a way to poke
fun and bring a little humor to the situation. Also in German Syndrome K sounds like existing
conditions “Krebs” or “ Morbus Koch” which were the German names for cancer and Tuberculosis.
The doctors decide that the symptoms of Syndrome K are headaches, vomiting and a
nasty cough. It’s 100% fatal and those who suffer from it will die a painful death.
They also come up with a credible progression and medical description of the disease.
Word of mouth spreads that the hospital is a sanctuary. Dr. Sacedoti personally admits 27
patients and the other doctors admit even more. Mainly Jewish patients, but also some memebers
of the resistance on the run from the Nazis. Soon they have close to 50 patients with Syndrome K.
Dr. Sacedoti spends hours typing up case files to add credibility to the patients’ conditions.
As he works, he listens to a banned transistor radio tuned to the
resistance broadcasting from an illegal channel.
Pope Pius is disturbed when he hears that the Nazi have rampaged through the ghetto. However,
he declines to make a public statement condemning the raid of the ghetto.
Soon the Nazis become aware that the hospital has Jewish patients. When they inquire,
Syndrome K is mentioned and it’s explained that the doctors are studying these patients.
The Nazi have no trouble believe that Jewish people whom they think are dirty
and somehow less than human would catch such a disease.
The hospital is beginning to run out of space for admitting new patients. The Doctors, members of
the resistance and members of the clergy hatch a crazy plan. The Fatebenefratelli will continue to
admit Jews, resistance fighters anyone or anyone else under threat from Nazis. Using their printing
resources, a resistance network will falsify documents, giving patients new identities that
hide their background. Then the patient will be moved to another sanctuary, be it the home of a
good samaritan, a convent, a monastery or out of Rome entirely to hide in the countryside.
Patients only stay at the hospital as long as it takes the network to move them to another
sanctuary. This system is entirely based on trust. The Nazis offer a bounty of 5,000 lira
for turning in people. This is a good sum of money for an individual living in a city ravaged by war.
The hospital also continues to smuggle leaflets as well as guns and other supplies.
The Nazi suspect something’s going on at the Fatebenefratelli, but they aren’t sure what.
Dr. Osiccini is arrested and held in prison a few times. He refuses to answer questions. They
beat him with bags of sand so as to not leave bruises. However he comes from an aristocratic
family and has strong connections to the Vatican which quickly gets him released.
Dr. Sacerdoti at this point is living at the hospital; it affords him a measure of safety.
He doesn’t dare venture off the island. There are rumors of a bounty on his head. Dr. Borromeo stays
at the hospital too, but sometimes goes home to his family. He carries with him paperwork that
bears the seal of the Vatican. Showing his documents to SS soldiers is generally enough
to make them back off and let Dr. Borromeo go about his business. However the documents are
questionable, they are signed by a high official Giovanni Batista Motini,
the secretary of State who has limited powers and doesn’t directly represent the Vatican.
Interestingly, in the future, Motini will become Pope Paul VI.
Time passed. By early spring of 1944 Rome is beginning to starve.
The Nazis requisition supplies. The Allies are fighting their way through the Italian countryside
and sometimes from the Fatebenefratelli they can hear the sound of distant bombing.
The hospital rooms become full again, as it grows more dangerous to smuggle people.
Supplies begin to run low. Staff is dispirited. The Nazi are becoming more and
more suspicious that something is going on at the Fatebenefratelli, but they can’t figure out what.
One day Dr. Sacedoti is alerted by a child that two trucks full of Nazi soldiers are
heading towards the hospital. Dr. Sacedoti runs up to the analysis lab to look out.
Sure enough two trucks are coming.
He springs into action hiding and destroying contraband. Dr. Sacedoti
disassembles his illegal radio and throws it in the river. If he is caught with the radio,
the Nazi would link him to the freedom fighters, a likely death sentence.
As it turns out, God is on Dr. Sacedoti’s side. Just before the turn off for the
bridge to the hospital, the first Nazi truck turns around and doubles back.
The 2nd truck wasn’t behind them anymore and they went back to see what happened to it.
This give the doctors an extra half hour to hide items and prepare for the Nazis’ arrival.
When they finally arrive, several SS soldiers march in along with a German
doctor and a translator. The lead soldier politely but forcefully demands to see medical records,
it’s clear they are not going to take no for an answer. Dr. Borromeo comes out and welcomes
them as head physician. He treats the Nazis as if they are visiting colleagues and takes them
on a tour throughout the hospital wards, explaining why various patients are there.
Soon the tour arrives at the isolated ward where the Jews are kept. Before they go in,
Dr. Borromeo warns them that Syndrome K, the disease these patients have
causes neurological degeneration with dramatic consequences. It is extremely
contagious and highly fatal. Anyone can catch it but Jewish people are more susceptible.
Even before Dr. Borromeo opens the door, they can hear some of the patients inside coughing.
The lead soldier forces the German doctor into the room and follows him.
The other soldiers mill about in the entryway, unwilling to enter. Even more patients start
coughing and the Germans quickly back out of the room. No one wants to catch Syndrome
K. The Germans depart the Fatebenefratelli still suspicious but cowed and terrified of Syndrome K.
The plan has worked like a charm,
including the doctors teaching Syndrome K patients to mimic a tuberculous cough.
Hospital supplies continue to be stretched thin. Rome is near its breaking point.
Citizens are barely surviving. There’s no mail. All information is word of mouth.
Buses and streetcars cease to function. There are long bread lines, people gather dandelion greens
and other edible plants to eat. At one point, an explosion kills a horse and people come to strip
meat from the carcass. Planes fly overhead and the bombing gets closer. The distinctive sound
of the US B-29 can be heard. Sometimes there are air raid signals, resulting in long stays
in shelters. The smell of smoke along with the oppressive weight of dread lingers in the air.
After resistance fighters set off an explosion resulting in German police deaths,
German security forces come down hard. They arrest a leader of the resistance
and torture him. Dr. Borromeo is worried that the leader will crack and give up the hospital.
The Nazis begin to unravel the plot, in May of 1944, SS soldiers raid the hospital and detain
5 Jewish patients. They also destroy Dr. Sacedoti’s office and arrest Dr. Borromeo.
This time friends in high places aren’t enough to get him out of jail.
But the Nazis have bigger problems than the Fatebenefratelli. The Allies are pushing towards
Rome so many begin to retreat. After several skirmishes which leave German legions in wreckage,
the Nazis abandon the city. On June 4th, 1944 American troops finally march into Rome.
Everyone comes out to celebrate. The soldiers throw chocolate and gum to the cheering citizens.
Some cheering Jewish citizens publicly shed their robes, they have been hiding as Catholic monks.
About 80% of the Jewish citizens of Rome survived due to the efforts of the Doctors
at the Fatebenefratelli, members of the clergy, resistance fighters and many kind,
non Jewish citizens. It is not known exactly how many Syndrome
K patients passed through the hospital, but historians estimate over 100 people.
Dr. Borromeo, who died in 1961, was recognized as "The Righteous Among the Nations" on October 13,
2004 by the Yad Vashem memorial. This honoric is used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews
who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis for
altruistic reasons. The three doctors, Dr. Borromeo, Dr. Sacerdoti, and Dr. Ossicini
as well as the Fatebenefratelli Hospital have received other awards and tributes as well.
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