Memories of Jewish Life
From Italy to Jerusalem, 1918-1960
Augusto Segre (Author), Steve Siporin (Translated by), Daniel Segre (Foreword by), Tamar Segre (Foreword by), Steve Siporin (Introduction by)
9780803213784
Hardback, published 1 September 2008
542 pages, 28 photographs, 4 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.93 kg
"In this beautifully written book, newly translated into English, Augusto Segre recounts his life experiences with insight, philosophy, and gracefully told anecdotes. . . . The traditional religious and vibrant working-class Jewish community that Segre describes, alas, no longer exists but will live forever in the pages of this wonderful book."—Jewish Book World
"Segre's fascinating narrative enables us to understand some things about the Italian Jewish community, especially its horrible experiences just before and during World War II. Our understanding of and appreciation for Italian Jews are greatly enhanced by this fine book."—Morton I. Teicher, National Jewish Post & Opinion
"The oral, conversational style of the original Italian has been masterfully rendered by Siporin's translated prose, and readers will delight in the discovery that this important book, which sheds light on a little known community and a very dark chapter in Italy's past, proves moreover to be a most enjoyable reading experience as the memoirs of an individual become the collective history of an entire community."—Rachele Longo Lavorato, Shofar
In this lyrical memoir, translated for the first time into English, noted Jewish historian, author, translator, and activist Augusto Segre not only recounts his rich life experiences but also evokes the changing world of Italian Jewry in the twentieth century. Raised in the traditional Jewish community of Casale Monferrato in the former ghetto, Segre depicts the changes wrought on his people by emancipation, fascism, world wars, and the Holocaust.
Segre was a vocal opponent of Italian fascism and a combatant in Italy's partisan war against the Nazis. With the help of Italian peasants, he and his family spent eighteen months evading German and Italian fascist soldiers during the German occupation of Italy. Segre also was an ardent Zionist who helped refugees escape to Israel and ultimately immigrated himself in 1979. He spent three months in Israel in 1948, chronicling Israel's War of Independence.
With an ethnographic eye, Segre interweaves his own memories with those of his rabbi father and uses newspapers, public documents, and letters to reveal the shared emotions and moods of a people and the impact the greatest events in European and Jewish history had on them all. The trend of Italian Jews toward assimilation was evident in Segre's time, and an awareness of it pervades this work. Memories of Jewish Life provides a rare glimpse into a traditional, religious and vibrant working-class Jewish community that no longer exists.
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Once Upon a Time
2. The Rabbi's Family
3. It's Not Always Easy to Become a Rabbi
4. The Community Council
5. First Experiences
6. Casalese Anti-Zionism
7. Jewish Festivals and Solemnities
8. Community and Family Life
9. Farewell Visit
10. Rome, Friends, and Teachers
11. Jewish Rome
12. Students and Politicians
13. From Police Stations to the Secretaryship of the Union
14. The Racial Campaign Breaks Out
15. Dante Lattes Leaves
16. Working with Raffaele Cantoni
17. Who Leaves and Who Stays
18. I Return Home
19. Asti and Moncalvo
20. Commuter
21. The Nazi Invasion
22. Partisan Life
23. April 25
24. The Prisoner Emerling
25. Toward a Normal Life
26. Return to Rome
27. The State of Israel Is Reborn
28. New Activities of the Zionist Federation
29. Sailing for Israel
30. Israel at War
31. A Happy Encounter
32. The Slansky Case
33. Life Goes On
Notes
Glossary
References
Index
