Eternal

by Lisa Scottoline

Ghetto, which was the oldest living Jewish community in Western Civilization.

Hx of ghetto

Fascists follow Mussolini as if he were Christ himself, calling him Il Duce and replacing the Ten Commandments with the ten Decalogues.

Sandro was proud of having a mother who was also a doctor,

profession as a tax lawyer.

Sandro's father

National Socialism has nothing to do with us. We’re Italian Fascists, and there’s no anti-Semitism in Italian Fascism.

The Decalogue of the Young Fascist was a set of ten Fascist precepts modeled on the Ten Commandments,

Decalogue

Grazia Deledda,

He had never heard Il Duce say such a thing before, suggesting that Jews were a hostile force.

Geneva Sanhedrin

“Nothing about our families matters.” Sandro shifted to look down at her, a frown buckling his forehead. “It only matters who we are. They’re the past, and we’re the future.”

Modern view

Emedio frowned. “Can you imagine Elisabetta at our table for Sunday lunch? How do you think Mamma would feel, serving the daughter of her husband’s mistress?

paragraph nine, ‘Jews do not belong to the Italian race.’”

with the stroke of a pen, some so-called racial scientists would arbitrarily decide that Italian Jews would no longer be considered Italian.

cirrhosis

Eliz father

She had used her savings to bury her father,

All of a sudden, he had no future at all.

Sandro Jewish student

“Listen to me, one last time.” Rosa leaned over. “What worries me is that at some point, you will not be permitted to emigrate.

And in his last moment, he felt the deepest anguish, for now he could no longer protect his beloved Marco.

Aldo on a gun run

His father was deeply ashamed that Aldo had died as an anti-Fascist.

“In other words, no intermarriage.”

exemption for exceptional merits applies to both of you. You both served in the Great War, and I believe one of you even received a medal for valor, didn’t you?”

“Marco, you’re fired. You can’t continue at fascio headquarters, now that we know you had a subversive for a brother.”

experiencing an odd sort of grief that mourned even the living.

Italian citizens who, according to the laws, are considered as belonging to the Jewish race are excluded from the PNF, the Partito Nazionale Fascista.

“purge” of Jews.

The Fascist barrage of discriminatory laws, intended to exclude Jews from daily life and drive them from Italy, was doing its dirty work.

Now, because I’m Jewish, I’m not Italian. It changes everything.”

Sandro

Now I feel inferior, less than others. Apart. Officially.”

the woman was her mother. The books being sold were her own.

Rosa back from London

Pietisti were those who were compassionate toward Jews.

From now on, if you help the Simone family, you risk your own.”

It terrified him to think that the three of them were sliding toward war, into the gaping maw of a monster that could swallow them whole, like Jonah into the whale.

Sandro at midpoint of book

Fiorella was a beautiful girl, and there were so many desserts he had been passing up, to no end. From now on, he was going to eat everything.

Metaphor

“Don’t you think it’s hypocritical to ask Papa to keep helping the Jews when the Vatican doesn’t lift a finger? Why should my career be harmed for the Simones?”

Marco at family Easter dinner

“Elisabetta, this is none of your business. You’re only a freeloader.”

Paolo relatives after Ninna dies

It horrified him to think that his old friend, who was a bona fide genius, was digging like a common laborer.

Race laws

Everyone blamed Mussolini for leading the country into war.

Tide turned w allied bombing

He didn’t know what his fellow Italians had died for. Everyone had believed in the same tragic delusion.

Marco regrets

We fight for freedom and our magnificent city. We will hold Rome. Viva l’Italia! Viva Roma!”

Partisans rise to fight Nazi takeover of Rome

The Nazis invaded the Eternal City, turning their fury on its citizens and looting stores. Rome was lost.

Chief Rabbi Zolli shifted forward. “Roman Jews are under grave threat since the Nazi occupation. I have studied the matter, and it is my considered opinion that we need to encourage them to evacuate and emigrate. We need to disperse and disband Italian Jewry.”

“Chief Rabbi Zolli, if you must know, we have had assurances there will be no trouble,

The Nazi had presented his extortionate demand as if it were a mere business transaction, as if gold could be traded for human beings.

Kappler

“The names, addresses, and genealogy information of our members.”

Synagogue

tonight was Rosh Hashanah,

“We’re Ghetto Jews. This is where we belong, with our Community.”

the Nazis were arresting the entire police force.

Sandro showed her tenderness and passion and comfort when he made love to her, and Elisabetta accepted the gift she was being offered,

Reunion

Twenty minutes after presentation of this card, the family must be ready to depart.

Nazis rfound up families

“I think the Nazis are taking all the Jews. I think they’re emptying the entire Ghetto, like they do in Germany.

a roundup, of the Ghetto Jews.