23. The K Syndrome plan was part of widespread resistance to the Germans in Italy
Since the entire plan regarding K Syndrome was revealed, it has been presented as a plot developed for the aid of the Jewish refugees in Rome. It was never limited to the Jews. Borromeo used his ploy to shelter virtually anyone who showed up at his door, supported by the underground efforts of the Vatican and the networks established under the Church. Borromeo also, through the hidden radio until it had to be destroyed, remained in contact with his personal friend Roberto Lordi, a general in the Italian Air Force who joined the resistance in the fall of 1943. Lordi was arrested and tortured by the Nazis in January, 1944.
Lordi may have been the means by which the Germans learned of the radio hidden in the hospital, or he may not have been. How much the former general knew of the K Syndrome ruse is unknown, and it is likely that he knew nothing, since it wasn’t revealed to the Germans following his arrest. After submitting to torture by the Germans for a month, he was one of the prisoners executed in the Ardeatine Massacre.