On the right side

The Incredible Story of K Disease. When Good Wins ...

A disease as terrible as the symptoms: in the first stage, convulsions and episodes of dementia, then a degenerative phase with paralysis of the limbs and finally death. The K disease spread in a few days in Rome, in the autumn of 1943. From the Jewish ghetto to the Tiber Island, that concentration of history that surrounds the basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola and the Fatebenefratelli. It was this hospital that welcomed the first patients: many Jews and several Poles entrusted to the care of the head physician Giovanni Borromeo and a young volunteer, still a student, Adriano Ossicini. They were the ones to interface with the outside world, to give information about that disease never seen, but above all very contagious. A real misfortune, almost a persistence in those months of desperation. As if the German occupation, the October roundup and the deportation of Jews to the death camps, hunger and deprivation of war were not enough. No, even that mysterious virus. The news also reached the SS who, however, realized the gravity of the situation only when they presented themselves to the Fatebenefratelli. They knew of the hospitalization of many Jews and the orders from above were clear: sick or healthy, the final solution would not have provided for exceptions. Deportation or death. Giovanni Borromeo did not lose courage. He was a credible doctor and knew German very well. He merely explained to the soldiers in great detail how serious the K disease was. Man warned, half saved. As if to say: this is the state of things, if you want to enter, you will do it at your own risk. No SS clearly decided to do so and the inmates thus avoided the concentration camps. At the Fatebenefratelli, the treatments continued unabated. Some patients died, others arrived, still others passed the test after weeks of hospitalization. The case history of each disease. Fortunately, the doctors managed to keep the epidemic under control and at the end of spring the disease regressed on its own. Precisely in conjunction with the liberation of Rome which took place between 4 and 5 June 1944.

Fatebenefratelli had also won his battle. Before, doctors couldn't tell, now they can. K disease was actually a brilliant invention of Borromeo and the young Ossicini with the unconditional support of the then Polish prior, Fra Maurizio Bialek. A non-existent disease designed to save lives by making fun of the torturers. K was none other than the initial of the Nazi officers Kesselring and Kappler, thus the terrible effects of the disease, a deterrent to seal the unit and not let anyone in.

In a few weeks, dozens and dozens of medical records, as false as death certificates that allowed Jews to change identities and save their lives. Not only that, a clandestine radio was installed in the basement of the hospital, in constant contact with the Lazio partisans. All in secret, thanks to the courage of a handful of doctors and religious who took care of every detail, without fear of being reported or discovered. If so, there would have been certain death for them. The history of K disease has been hidden for a long time. It came back to the fore only a few years ago when the Fatebenefratelli was awarded the title of "House of life" by the Raoul Wallenberg International Foundation. The protagonists themselves did not want to talk about it, as if to shield themselves. Adriano Ossicini once limited himself to saying a sentence that expresses a world without rhetoric. Of ideals, of good, of boundless commitment. He simply said, "Always try to be on the right side."

Matteo Spicuglia
NP may 2020