Festa: a party; used to describe both family gatherings and larger community celebrations

Fondamente: quay or bank

Gheto: the Venetian spelling of ghetto; the name is derived from the iron foundries that once occupied the islands where the historic Jewish ghetto was first established in Venice

Gondoliere: person who steers a traditional Venetian gondola

Grappa: a grape-based brandy

Guardia: the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana, or National Republican Guard, which partially replaced the Italian national police between December 1943 and the end of the war

Hauptsturmführer: a Nazi paramilitary rank roughly equivalent to that of captain

Il Duce: the nickname by which Benito Mussolini was known; translates as “the duke” but in his regard meant “the leader”

Kommando: a work detail or detachment in the Nazi camp system

Kübelwagen: a military vehicle similar in purpose though not design to a U.S. jeep; made by Volkswagen

La Befana: in Italian folklore, the figure who brings gifts to children on the eve of Epiphany; the following night she is welcomed home by the light of a large bonfire. In some regions, by contrast, her effigy is burned in the bonfire

Ladino: a form of Judeo-Spanish once widely spoken by Jews of Sephardic descent

Nonno/Nonna: the Italian terms for grandfather and grandmother

Novena: the Catholic custom of devotional prayers that extend most commonly over nine days

Oberaufseherin: a rank of female guard in the Nazi camp system; translates as senior overseer

Obersturmführer: a Nazi paramilitary rank approximating that of first lieutenant

Ospedale: the Italian term for hospital or, less commonly, orphanage

Osteria: a tavern that sells wine and simple food

Pastina: tiny pieces of pasta, typically cooked in broth; often served to children and invalids

Pinza della Befana: a polenta-based cake consumed at the feast of the Epiphany

Pippo bombers: the name given to the unseen airplanes, long thought to be apocryphal, heard at night in northern Italy in the final years of the war; some historians now believe they were De Havilland Mosquitos on Allied reconnaissance missions. (They are also the aircraft that appear on the cover of this book.)

Polpette di matza: the Italian term for matzo balls

“Polvere di Stelle”: title of the Italian translation of the classic song “Stardust”

Republic of Salò: informal name for the Italian Social Republic, the Italian puppet state established in September 1943 and controlled by Nazi Germany; its nominal head was Benito Mussolini

Riel: the local dialect term, peculiar to the region near Bassano del Grappa, for the large bonfire held at Epiphany; in other parts of the Veneto it is called a foghera

Sanpierota: a traditional fishing boat of the Venetian lagoon

Schutzstaffel (SS): a paramilitary force that eventually assumed responsibility for not only Third Reich security and intelligence but also the planning and direction of the coordinated Nazi effort to exterminate Europe’s Jews

Scola: the Judeo-Italian term for synagogue; Nina’s family attended the magnificent sixteenth-century Scola Espagnola

Sicherheitsdienst (SD): the intelligence agency for the Nazi party