The new year opens with two new titles presented by Il Sole 24 Ore to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day: two books-accounts for adults and children alike.
The first volume, available in bookstores, is the first Italian edition of Salo Muller's “See You Tonight and Promise to be a Good Boy”, Dutch journalist and writer who tells his story and how he saved himself from the Nazi roundups that would have taken him to Auschwitz, only to become known later as the physiotherapist of Johan Cruijff's Ajax.
The book, now translated for the first time into Italian, was published in 2005 after three years of writing: for years, Salo had been telling the story of his scarred childhood in schools and at public meetings.
As the author himself explains in the preface, the book follows no chronological order. As the story unfolds, all the memories are neatly sorted, arranged not so much by date, as recalled whenever they serve the narrative. And this is how Salo Muller remembers, more than seventy years after the extermination.
The title "See You Tonight and Promise to be a Good Boy" originates in an episode that remains forever etched into the author's memory.
Amsterdam, a Saturday morning in November 1942. Mother Lena kisses Salo on the forehead as he steps into school and tells him: "See you tonight and promise to be a good boy." At the age of six, those words represent the end credits of the happy life of Salo Muller, whose book tells the story of his own hell and the hazy outlines of such an experience at that age, perhaps even more painful for this very reason. Mother Lena and father Louis are victims of one of the many roundups ordered by the SS in Holland: they end up being deported to Auschwitz and Salo is orphaned. The Dutch resistance hides him, helps him find makeshift shelter, and families take care of him. At the end of the war, a new beginning in a free world awaits him: his aunt and uncle take him in and after some health problems and adaptation, he finally finds his way becoming a physiotherapist for Johan Cruijff's Ajax, in the golden years from 1960 to 1972. But the fullness of his life becomes the testimony: "How could this have possibly happened? It's a question that has been bugging me to this very day.… But now, it's time to share this story, the story of my life. Will it do any good? There’s no answer to that, but the time has come for me to share it."
“See You Tonight and Promise to be a Good Boy” is available in bookstores at €14.90.
The second volume presented by Il Sole 24 Ore is “Tana libera tutti”, the children's book written by Walter Veltroni, out on newsstands concurrent to the release in bookstores by Feltrinelli Editore: it is a fictional account fit for both young and adult readers - of the tragic events of the deportation to Auschwitz of one of the last great witnesses of the Shoah, Sami Modiano, who found the strength to devote his whole life to bringing his experience to schools, so that the children of today - the adults of tomorrow - could learn - and therefore not forget - the horror of this moment of our history.
Veltroni collected the touching testimony of the horror of deportation experienced by Sami Modiano when he was thirteen; and then the strength to narrate such horror to children. "What kept me alive were my father’s words”, he explained: “You must live, Sami. Don’t give up”.
In 2005, Sami found the strength to return to Auschwitz, along with a group of young people. Walter Veltroni was mayor of Rome at the time. Since then, Sami has never stopped meeting students. "I was the only one in my family to have survived and for years I wondered: 'Why?' I only came to realize it when I decided to tell my story: I have survived to bear witness."
The volume is available at newsstands until the end of February for €12.90 in addition to the price of the newspaper.
Also on newsstands from Tuesday 2 February “Brexit. Istruzioni per l’uso”: written by Alessandro Umberto Belluzzo, from 2019 President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom, as well as Knight of the Star of Italy appointed by the Italian Ambassador in London for his merits in fostering dialogue between the Italian and British business communities, the book is a true manual of self help, available to businesses and individuals, to navigate through the rules and red tape of the "new" United Kingdom, and to understand the impacts of Brexit on finance, work, family, and business.
The book is meant to be a practical guide for entrepreneurs, students and families who are moving to the UK.
A must-have guide to understand the many requirements, but also to build new ties and relationships and take advantage of all the opportunities that Brexit can offer.
From transferring residence to the UK to basic information to understand the country's tax system, from the requirements to work or study in the UK from January 2021 onwards to how the healthcare system works for foreign nationals. Plus all the information to set up a company in the UK or to trade safely. Lastly, an intriguing chapter on the so-called BREXODUS, namely the return of Italian brains and businesses who wish to return to Italy after their experience in Great Britain.
The book is available at newsstands with Il Sole 24 Ore starting at €12.90 in addition to the price of the newspaper and will be in bookstores from mid-February at €14.90.
All the books published by Il Sole 24 Ore are also available in e-book format on www.shopping24.it