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Rai 1 Miniseries Revives "Morbo K," the Fake Disease That Saved Jews in 1943 Rome

The broadcast uses a dramatized retelling to spotlight a documented rescue operation at Rome’s Fatebenefratelli hospital.

Overview

  • Rai 1 is airing the two‑part Morbo K – Chi salva una vita salva il mondo intero on January 27–28, directed by Francesco Patierno and produced by Fabula Pictures with RaiFiction.
  • The series is inspired by real events but changes names and compresses episodes, with Vincenzo Ferrera as the lead doctor and Giacomo Giorgio as his assistant.
  • In 1943, physicians Giovanni Borromeo, Vittorio Emanuele Sacerdoti and Adriano Ossicini created a fictitious diagnosis and a dedicated ward to shelter persecuted Jews.
  • Borromeo, fluent in German, convinced Nazi inspectors that the invented illness was lethal and highly contagious as patients feigned symptoms to avoid searches.
  • Hidden patients waited for forged documents from Resistance-linked print shops to escape deportation, a network supported by Fatebenefratelli friars; Borromeo was later recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.