Description: This beautifully descriptive narrative tells the story of Giuseppe Pardo Roques, parnas (lay leader) of the Sephardic Jewish community of Pisa, and of his death at the hands of the Nazis. In 1994, the German army was making a vicious and fierce retreat through northern Italy, and despite the obvious danger to himself and his guests, Pardo remained in his home in hopes that the respect he had gained with the leaders of Pisa would provide sanctuary from the coming menace. Without sermonizing or assigning an easy explanation to a mysterious drama, the author gives an overview of Italian-Jewish history, a description of war-torn Italy, and a dramatic account of the process of self-understanding in the face of death itself.

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