Museo della memoria

Three hundred Jews were saved thanks to the Franciscan spirit of hospitality in Assisi.
When you enter the halls of the Vescovado, where the Museum of Memory, Assisi 1943-1944 is housed, you actually get this feeling. A feeling that takes you back in time to the horrendous period of the Second World War, when displaced people from all over Italy and Europe flocked to the holy town in search of help.

The exhibition, designed and curated by Marina Rosati with texts by Annabella Donà, was created by Opera Casa Papa Giovanni, a foundation of the Curia of Assisi. It consists of unpublished documents, photos, awards, essays and objects from that historic period and of the various people who personally saved the Jews. The exhibition speaks of Father Aldo Brunacci, former founder of the Opera Casa Giovanni, which over the years kept the memories alive; of the Bishop Monsignor Giuseppe Placido Nicolini, who ran the clandestine organisation that was created spontaneously; of Father Rufino Niccacci, a Friar Minor, guardian father of the convent of St. Damiano; of the Podestà of Assisi, Arnaldo Fortini; of German Colonel Muller; of the religious orders; of the convent brother, Father Michele Todde and all the others who did their utmost to save the lives of so many people, who would otherwise have been deported. One important space is obviously dedicated to Luigi and Trento Brizi, the Assisi printers who printed the false documents for the Jews. Also on display with the pictures and awards is the old printing press with its chest of drawers, cutter and stamps.
These well-orchestrated goals and efforts made Assisi a major benchmark to reveal its true identity of Franciscan fraternity. The bi-lingual exhibition (Italian and English) not only displays the writings, but also a video area with details of the historic period and interviews with some of the protagonists collected before they died, in which they personally tell what they did to save the Jews.