• Book Review - Bad Times, Good People

“Bad Times, Good People” By Walter Wolff
A Holocaust Survivor Recounts His Life in Italy During World War II
Paper Back 192 pages - Published December 1999
  Book Review by Peter R. Zuzolo


        Walter Wolff tells about the very neglected saga of how, despite the Nazi threat, the Italian people courageously assisted the Jews during WW II. Eighty-five percent of Italian Jewry survived the Holocaust because these people expressed their goodness and love for their fellow human beings. This chilling narrative will surprise the reader of how tenuous life was in that era. The book is marvelously illustrated with many supporting documents that Walter managed to collect and save from all his travel and experiences. It was translated into Italian and is used in Italian schools. The book has a Prologue written in 1999 by Stanley B. Klein. Stan is now the president of our Arturo Toscanini Lodge #2107. Walter served as Co-Chair of the CSJ Holocaust Committee with Vincent Marmorale whom he met in 1995. Walter received the L. Yarney Award from the NYS Education Department.  The Italian government awarded him the title of Cavaliere. Edith and I were very fortunate to have meet Walter on the many occasions that he narrated his exploits for the CSJ. His autograph to us  is shown below.

Walter was born in Aachen, Germany in 1917. After his father died, in 1920, they moved to Frankfurt am Main. At that time the German government, known as the Weimer Republic, gave all citizens equal rights and freedom of speech. But as the Nazis took control, there was a marked increase in anti-Semitism. Walter recalls his grandfather, Kalman, setting aside a portion of each day for him and his brother Bruno. He treasured those times together, listening to him telling them a Bible story and relating it to a personal experience, or simply conversing with him. Walter is shown in the rear of the photo with Bruno on the right and his cousin, Carlo, on the left with his grandfather.


After Kristallnach (Night of Broken Glass) on November 9 – 10, 1938, Walter and his brother were arrested and taken to the Dachau concentration camp. His mother had received letters of acceptance for Walter to enter the Hebrew College in the USA and also permission to enter Palestine after his studies. Therefore, she made a plea to the Dachau Commandant, and they released the two brothers with the condition that they leave Germany within six months. Refused USA visas, they went to Italy were families were permitted to enter without visas. They entered Italy one week before WW II started.

Life in Italy was difficult but not dangerous until June 1940 when Mussolini declared war on the Allies. They were sent to different interment camps but were allowed to live in Italian communities since the Italian government reunited refugee families.  Walter read a notice that Mussolini had issued a decree that any deserters who turned themselves in would be given amnesty and given ration cards. He talked to a priest whose nephew was in the Italian army and missing in action in France. The priest provided him with information about his nephew’s unit that Walter used to obtain an ID (Carta D’Identita - shown below) with the name Valter Monti and his ration cards. This help was very typical of the type that Walter received throughout his many ventures in Italy until the war ended.

In November 1945, Walter attended a victory party in Milan hosted by the Jewish Brigade of the British Army. There he met his future wife, Victoria Fubini who was the niece of the synagogue administrator. A civil judge married them. Due to the limited yearly immigrants quota, Victoria could not go to America until the following year. Walter, his mother, and his brother traveled to America aboard the Italian freighter Grifone. They settled in the Bronx, and when he was united with Victoria they were married in a religious ceremony.  They had a daughter, Doris and four years later, twin boys, Joel and Jay. He established a career in the artist supply from which he earned a comfortable living.

Walter enjoyed speaking about his ventures, so he and Vincent Marmorale traveled throughout the USA telling this remarkable story. Walter feels that he owed his life to the brave Italian people who risked their own lives to save his! This remarkable man passed away a few weeks after appearing for the CSJ/B’nai B’rith Breakfast at the Coral House in Baldwin on May 20, 2007 at the age of 90.