Cory Holt

In the rainy darkness, a group of German SS security police surrounded several blocks of Rome's Jewish ghetto. Some four thousand of the city's twelve thousand Jews lived in the ghetto, adjacent to the ancient Theater of Marcellus and just across the Tiber River from Trastevere (home of another three thousand Jews). After blocking all passages into and out of the ghetto, the SS struck. It was five-thirty on the Saturday morning of October 16, 1943. Most people were still asleep.
Guards outside every building began firing randomly in order to keep residents inside. Meanwhile, two or three guards entered each building and began pounding on doors. Upon entering apartments, they immediately cut any existing telephone lines, then ordered inhabitants into the streets. Groggy with sleep and many still in their nightclothes, the residents had no alternative than to obey. Despite the darkness and confusion, few were able to escape. The victims were then marched to the ruins of the Theater of Marcellus, where they stood and waited in the rain and cold.
Meanwhile, in a third floor tenement above Via del Portico d'Ottavia, the Levi family had scarcely sufficient time to react. Having been awakened by the commotion and firing in the streets, the family of four managed to barricade the door with a heavy marble table and crouch behind it. There they waited in silent terror as the SS tried to break into their home. Convinced that no one was at home, the guards left, and the Levis were safe.
Yet they continued to wait. They waited for hours that morning. They waited until trucks had carried off the last of the groups from the Theater of Marcellus, until the deserted streets were silent. Then they fled.