A rural Franciscan monk in Italy was credited today with saving the lives of 5,000 Jews in Italy during World War II. The previously untold story of Padre Rufino Niccacci and his underground escape route was revealed in the current issue of Look magazine.
Padre Niccacci’s underground, based in Assisi, grew to include 500 priests and half of the townspeople, the Look article stated. None of the refugees who passed through were ever captured. The escape began operation in the summer of 1943.
After the end of World War II, the friar founded and currently supervises an orphanage in Assisi. Many of the thousands of Jews he helped are regular contributors to the maintenance of the project, the article reported.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
