About this Book

Describes, in popular form, the fate of the Jews of Rome in the first two months after the German occupation of the city on 10 September 1943. Dwells on the two main events: the extortion of 50 kg of gold by the occupiers (on the order of Kappler, the head of the Gestapo in Rome) on 26 September, and the deportation of 1,051 Jews of Rome to Auschwitz on 16 October. Of the deported, 850 were killed immediately after a selection in Birkenau, with the rest sent to labor. Only 15 people survived the war. Stresses that virtually none of the actors of the deportation - neither the Jewish leadership, nor the Germans, nor the Italians (both anti-fascists and fascists) - wanted the deportation. Two top Nazis, Kappler and Moellhausen, even attempted to thwart it, but it took place. Reflects on the responsibility of the Italian and Roman Jewish leadership for the success of the Nazi "action". The top priority of the Jewish leaders was the rescue of the Jewish institutions in Rome, thus they had allied themselves with the fascists before the war and compromised with the Nazis under the occupation. Dwells on the personalities of the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Zolli, and the president of the Jewish community of Rome, Ugo Foa. Describes the conflict between Zolli and the Jewish leaders Foa and Almansi. The former wanted to alert the Jews of Rome to the imminent catastrophe, while the latter wanted to remain loyal to the system.