Three Heroes of Assisi
in World War II
ISBN 88-87021-73-2:
Raischl, Cirino, Editrice Minerva, Assisi, 2005
 

In 1943-44, amidst the horrors of war, Assisi had another time of true glory. While the Allies had just landed in Sicily, Assisi was occupied by German troops. There, three men worked together to do something constructive rather than destructive:
Bishop Giuseppe Nicolini, the German commander, a medical doctor, Col. Valentin Müller and Don Aldo Brunacci.

Divided by the war, they remained nevertheless united by their Christian faith and its mandate of unconditional love. They obtained that Assisi be made a hospital city, a city for medical care, not for military confrontation; a city for healing, not for fighting. The anthology highlights the heroic efforts of Nicolini and Brunacci by which many Jewish refugees survived, correcting the distorted historical account of the book and film “Assisi Underground.”

 

Presentations at the Award Ceremony for Col. Valentin Müller, St. Bonaventure University 2005

In German: Lebensbild von Dr. Valentin Müller

 

First published under:
The Strategy That Saved Assisi
by Josef Raischl, SFO,
Editrice Minerva, Assisi, 1999.