Don Raimondo Viale (1907 – 25 September 1984) was an Italian

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest, whose name is entered among the

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

for his work on behalf of the

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

.Raimondo Viale
– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

websiteIsrael Gutman, Bracha Rivlin, e Liliana Picciotto, I giusti d'Italia: i non-ebrei che salvarono gli ebrei, 1943-45 (Milano: Mondadori, 2006), pp. 235-36

Biography

Raimondo Viale was born in 1907 in

Limone Piemonte Limone Piemonte ( Vivaro-Alpine: ''Limon'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about south of Turin and about south of Cuneo, on the border with France. As of September 2017, it had a p ...

Province of Cuneo The province of Cuneo (; ) is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west, it borders the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes), to the north the ...

. After being ordained a priest, he was assigned to

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

in the parish of

Borgo San Dalmazzo Borgo San Dalmazzo () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about south of Turin and about southwest of Cuneo. Borgo San Dalmazzo takes its name from Saint Dalmatius of Pavia. Sights ...

. In the 1930s, his cultural and social commitments lead him into conflict with the fascist authorities. Already a victim of intimidation and beatings, in 1940 Viale was arrested and convicted for having delivered a sermon against the entrance into the war against France. He spent 15 months in confinement at

Agnone Agnone ( Neapolitan: ''Agnèune'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Isernia, in the Molise region of southern Italy, some northwest of Campobasso. Agnone is known for the manufacture of bells by the Marinelli Bell Foundry. The town of Agnone ...

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

before he returned to Borgo San Dalmazzo. On 18 September 1943, he witnessed the arrival of a thousand Jewish refugees from neighbouring

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

through the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. Of the refugees, 349 of them were captured by the German military authorities at Valdieri and confined in a former barracks in

, the

Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp Borgo San Dalmazzo was an internment camp operated by Nazi Germany in Borgo San Dalmazzo, Piedmont, Italy. The camp operated under German control from September to November 1943 and, following that, under the control of the Italian Social Republ ...

. On the morning of 21 November, the 349 prisoners began their journey to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

(only nine of them survived). In close touch with Don

Francesco Repetto Monsignor Francesco Repetto (Genoa, 1914–1984) was an Italians, Italian priest and librarian. He is honoured by Jews as a Righteous Among the Nations for his leading role in the clandestine DELASEM organization, which contributed to the saving ...

and DELASEM (Delegazione Assistenza Emigranti Ebrei - "Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants") of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, Don Viale then dedicated his life to the hundreds of Jews scattered, hiding in the valleys of

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

in mountain huts, materially and emotionally assisting them. Don Viale helped Jews reach

where Don Repetto was able to help them escape to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Honours

On 7 August 2000, he received the honour

from the

Institute in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. A square is named after him in Borgo San Dalmazzo. He was featured as the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

Nuto Revelli Benvenuto "Nuto" Revelli (21 July 1919, Cuneo, Piedmont – 5 February 2004) was an Italian author, historian and Italian partisans, partisan. A Second World War veteran who survived Italy's disastrous foray into Russian territory and its subsequ ...

’s book ''The Just Priest''.

References

External links

Raimondo Viale
– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Viale, Raimondo 1907 births 1984 deaths Catholic Righteous Among the Nations Italian anti-war activists Italian prisoners and detainees Italian Righteous Among the Nations People from Limone Piemonte 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests