18. The number of Jews sheltered by the K Syndrome ruse is disputed
Exactly how many Jews and other refugees from the Nazis were saved by the doctors and priests of Fatebenefratelli is disputed. Some have put the number in the “hundreds” while others have placed it in the dozens. Borromeo estimated about 65, Ossicini gave several numbers over the years, as did Sacerdoti. The truth is that the space available for the ruse in the hospital was limited. It is known that some were sheltered for a time and then fled using false documents, prepared for them while they were in the treatment wards. Sacerdoti was himself possessed of false documents, which did not identify him as Jewish, though he was.
Throughout Italy, the convents, monasteries, churches, and offices and sanctuaries of the Vatican were opened to Jewish refugees, and priests of the Church provided false documents and identification papers. By the time the Germans moved on the Jewish Ghetto in Rome nearly 500 were sheltered inside the Vatican Walls. Pope Pius XII also provided gold to Jewish leaders as part of the ransom demanded by Kappler prior to the crackdown. Approximately 2,000 of Rome’s Jews were deported to the camps during the time of German occupation of the city, the rest managed to evade the Germans and survived. Exactly how many could attribute their survival to K Syndrome is unknown.