- CHILDREN'S AUTHOR -
ELLEN SCHWARTZ
What Inspired Friends to the Rescue?
I was in Philadelphia, visiting my dad, and stopped in at a café called the L’Aquila Café. My husband and I had recently been to Italy so, while waiting for my espresso, I asked the barista if this café had anything to do with L’Aquila, Italy. Yes, he told me, the owner was from there, and went on to tell me that, following a terrible earthquake in 2009, the owner had raised thousands of dollars and had returned to Italy to distribute the money. Back at my dad’s apartment, I googled the earthquake—and that’s when I discovered the Jewish connection: the fact that many Jewish families had been sheltered in the mountain towns of Tuscany during World War II and that, after the 2009 earthquake, those who were still alive traveled back to Italy to help with the recovery and repay the favour.
What a stirring story! Of course I had to write it as a children’s book. And so the three main characters were born: Luca, a child of ten who lives with his grandfather, Nonno Roberto, in Fossa; Roberto, whose family took in a Jewish family and hid them during the war; and Sara, the child whose family Roberto sheltered and who later returns to Fossa to assist after the earthquake and to be reunited with her old friend Roberto.
I hope that the story sheds light on a valiant chapter of history and honours the brave villagers who risked their own lives to protect their fellow citizens—villagers who were later given the title “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Holocaust remembrance centre in Israel.