John Tedeschi Book Talk and Signing

Italian Jews Under Fascism, 1939-1945: A Personal and Historical Narrative 

Thursday, March 17
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
University Club, 803 State St, Madison

The Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries will be hosting a book talk, signing, and reception in celebration of the publication of John Tedeschi’s new book, Italian Jews Under Fascism, 1938-1945: A Personal and Historical Narrative. This event will include speakers John Tortorice of the George Mosse Program, Department of History, and Giuliana Chamedes, a UW-Madison assistant professor specializing in Italian history.

Tedeschi’s  heavily investigative work is both a family and political history that recounts the persecution and flight of Italy’s Jewish community, starting with Fascist oppression in 1938 and continuing through the German occupation in 1943. Tedeschi uses a variety of first-hand sources to document and illuminate the compelling and often tragic stories of the individuals and families who endured the tyranny of Fascism.

Adriano Prosperi, Professor Emeritus, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, notes that, “With the racist laws of 1938 and the anti-Semitic persecution unleashed alongside that of Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Fascist regime sundered in two Italian history and culture by attacking one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, older even than Christianity itself. Now John Tedeschi, after a lifetime of research and writing… recounts the entire story of that betrayal of which he himself and his family were victims. He has written a book where the sentiments of memory are filtered through the historian’s scholarly rigor and the only vendetta consists of a thoroughly scrupulous attempt to reconstruct the truth of the historical record.”

About John Tedeschi

John Tedeschi is a former Curator for Special Collections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1995, he was awarded the title of Distinguished Academic Librarian, the first academic staff librarian given this recognition on UW-Madison campus.He was also a  member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries from 1997-2004. Tedeschi is author, editor, and translator of a number of works on the history of religious intolerance and persecution in Europe during the Renaissance and Reformation.

Copies of the book are available for purchase at the event and online through Parallel Press. This talk is free to attend and open to the public, but registration is encouraged. To RSVP contact the Friends at (608)265-2505 or using our Contact Form.