The Assisi Underground

This is a true story based on a 1978 book of the same title by Alexander Ramati. In World War II, when the Nazis begin to round up Jews in Italy, Bishop Nicolini of Assisi tabs a Franciscan friar to organize an underground to hide and help Jews to escape to freedom. Father Rufino establishes one of the most successful large-scale Jewish rescue operations during the war. He enlists local people, including a printer to make fake documents. He establishes hideouts in convents, monasteries, and homes, and sets up a communication network. And, he helps Jews with fake IDs land jobs in German Army offices. By war's end, several thousand Jews have been saved through the Assisi underground. Years after the war, the government of Israel named Bishop Nicolini, Padre Rufino and Don Aldo Brunacci of Assisi Righteous Gentiles.