Colonel Valentin Müller
Commander of Assisi till June 1944
Bernadette’s grandfather was Dr. Valentin Müller, a general practitioner. In 1944, as the city commandant of Assisi, he courageously stood up for the city and its people.
An Eichstätt physician as the savior of Assisi – Francesco Santucci’s monograph is now available in German translation from the Italian.
Assisi in June 1944:
The city of Saint Francis and Saint Clare was in great danger. The Allies were pushing the Germans back to the north. A scorched-earth policy was implemented – priceless monuments of art went up in flames, including the famous Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino. That Assisi, which had been under German military control since September 1943, survived unscathed is thanks to the Eichstätt physician Dr. Valentin Müller.
It is bishop Nicolini and the „Colonello“ Valentin Müller, the German commander of Assisi, who deserve credit for saving Assisi from destruction.
Müller came from Zeilitzheim in Lower Franconia and had been practicing medicine in Eichstätt since 1933.
Given the dire military situation, both the city commander and the bishop recognized that only expanding the city’s military hospital and officially declaring Assisi a „hospital city“ could save the city.
Müller enjoyed high esteem among both Germans and Italians; even the partisans issued the order that „not a hair on his head“ should be harmed.
To this day, Assisi expresses its deep gratitude to its savior from Eichstätt: A street has been named after Valentin Müller, and a commemorative plaque has been installed on Viale Vittori Emanuele II.
In 1982, to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Saint Francis, a delegation from Assisi had come to Eichstätt to lay a bundle of olive branches from Assisi at the tomb of the „Colonello.“
Watch the Story
Movie based on historical facts and interviewing testimonies by Jona R. André Raischl
2015
in English: God´s Instrument
in German: Mein Assisi
in Italian: Uomo di provvidenza
