Abramo Giuseppe Pardo Roques (1875 – 1944) was President of the Jewish Community of Pisa from 1907 to 1910 and again from the early 1920s until his tragic death in 1944. On the morning of August 1st, a squadron of German soldiers burst into the house at 22, Via Sant’Andrea. Having seized valuables, they barbarically murdered Giuseppe Pardo along with eleven other people who were present: six other Jews, seeking refuge, three servants and two neighbours. Given that the break-in was made to look like a robbery, it is strongly suspected that an informer had collaborated, someone who knew that Pardo was Jewish; it was probably a neighbour who had recently moved elsewhere, and was known for having been friendly with German soldiers.
Giuseppe Pardo Roques was a prominent, well-respected figure in the city of Pisa. He was a descendant of a Sephardic family which had arrived in Livorno in the late nineteenth century; he had been deputy mayor of Pisa and his name was associated with numerous philanthropic acts of civic interest. The massacre is commemorated by a plaque on the façade of the building.
Via Sant’Andrea 56
