10 September 1943 Summary

Young Angelo Soncini's baby sister died in an accident with a coal stove, but Angelo feels no sadness for her. Angelo's mother, the wife of a rabbi, is tired and irritable and Angelo's only friend was his grandfather, who was sent away to live with an aunt. His mother, Mirella, who is pregnant again, tries to finagle ration cards from Serafino Brizzolari, a public official whose sympathies lie with Mussolini after having been scorned as a wounded war veteran. Brizzolari gives Mirella a large envelope of ration cards, knowing the Germans are coming and that she and her husband are aiding Jewish refugees passing through on their flight from the Germans. He tells her to sell them on the black market. The visiting refugees are from Germany and Poland and their cultural and religious customs are quite different from the Soncinis', but Iacopo...