Who is Jo's Father from Waiting for Anya and what is their importance?

Jo's father is prisoner-of-war who suddenly returns to the village when he contracts tuberculosis. This illness makes it impossible for Jo's father to be of use to the Germans. Jo's father is an angry man when he returns, refusing to accept the German soldiers in his village. Jo's father nearly gets into a fight with one of the soldiers. In the end, however, when Jo's father learns about the Jewish children Grandpere and Jo have been trying to help, he becomes a hero himself by helping to lead them into Spain. Unfortunately, Benjamin is caught afterward and Jo's father feels like a coward because he did nothing to stop it.