The ANNOTICO Report

I am trying to figure this out. Perhaps one of  our Subscribers can shed
some light.

These New Hampshire State Representatives seem to be requesting a Report,
that my  records show was already released by F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Chairman, the Judiciary Committee of the US Congress,
on Nov 27, 2001

It was the Federal Dep't of Justice (DOJ) Report # 508 on the WWII
Treatment of Italian Americans, which had been submitted to Congress on
November 8, 2001.  This satisfied  Public Law 51 Wartime Violations of
Italian American Civil Liberties Act, enacted Nov 7, 2000.

However, I have Not seen availability of a copy of that Report, nor have I
seen any distribution of any Summary, Analysis, or Commentary of that
Report.....by any Sociologists,  or Members of the Community.    ?????

While we are on the subject: During WWII, 600,000 Italian Americans,
300,000 German Americans, and 120,000 Japanese Americans were required to
Register as Enemy Aliens.

The Japanese Americans received  $ 2 BILLION in Restitution. Italian
Americans ZERO!!!!

Currently, when Indignities are being heaped on Muslim Americans, the
Japanese Americans are quick to exploit it as an opportunity to refer to
the WWII Japanese Experience, BUT they NEVER mention even in passing, the
Italian and German experience, and the journalists being historically
limited are unable to make the their report accurate.

And I dare you to point out anything other than the Japanese Experience in
WWII in the US to be found in school books, K-12, and Universities and
colleges.

During that same time, this article says 500,000, I've seen figures as high
as 800,000 Italian Americans fought for the USA in WWII.

Many of them while their parents were being subjected to all kinds of
indignities, and property losses.

Many of  those same 500-800k Italian Americans, were also called upon to
fight in Italy, against  those sharing ancestral blood, and they did it
without hesitation, and valiantly.

Japanese American served in the 442nd Regimental "Go for Broke" Combat Team
(approximately 1300), the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, and the100th
Infantry Battalion (2500), all who fought ONLY in Europe, far from their
ancestry. 6,000 Japanese Americans did serve as NON combat interpreters in
the Pacific.

So,when you compare the degree of Indignities, the amount of Reparations,
the Sacrifices given, the Continued Empathies and Apologies elicited, we
Italian Americans are Not being fairly seen or heard.

Portsmouth Herald News
By Kathleen D. Bailey
February 20, 2005

The N.H. House and Senate are dealing with some serious issues this year.
While legislators grapple with how to fund education, again, and other
big-ticket items, several bills with narrower focuses have quietly
gone to committee. They encompass the good, the bad, the ugly ... And the
overdue.

ABOUT TIME

Leo Pepino doesn’t want cash, and neither do his fellow Italian-Americans,
he said in a phone interview.
But an apology would be nice.

Pepino, R-Manchester, and Rep. Anthony DiFruscia, R-Windham, are two of the
sponsors of HCR 3, a resolution "urging Congress to require the Department
of Justice to conduct a review and release information to the public
regarding mistreatment and restrictions placed on Italian-American citizens
of the United States during World War II."

Congress mandated a review in 1990 [RAA: I believe this was 2000] to
document and release information to the public regarding wartime
mistreatment and restrictions placed on Italian-Americans in World War II.
According to the bill, more than 500,000 Italians served in World War II
representing the United States, while up to 600,000 Italian-Americans on
the home front were subject to random arrests and searches, curfews, forced
relocation and internment camps.

The U.S. government has acknowledged its wartime harassment of
Japanese-Americans and enacted a reparations law in 1988 that awarded more
than $1 billion to Japanese-Americans interned or evacuated. But the
Federal Bureau of Investigation has refused to declassify World War II
documents describing the nature of these events, according to the bill.

While many Americans are not aware of this chapter in their history, Pepino
remembers.

"I was a kid in the first part of the war," he said. "Some men knocked on
our door, and they took my father’s radio. I had a shotgun, and they took
that."

While this kind of harassment occurred on the East Coast, he noted that in
the Midwest and West, Italian-Americans were actually put in camps similar
to the internment camps for Japanese.

"The funny part is, we weren’t harming anybody," said Pepino, who later
fought in the war.

"The Italian population was looked down upon," DiFruscia contributed in a
phone interview. "They were considered as part of the Axis. But during that
same time, Italian people were off fighting in the war."

DiFruscia, who was born in 1940, escaped the worst of it. He said his
biggest concern was trying to get bubble gum with ration stamps. But his
father kept his citizenship papers in his pocket at all times, he said.....
http://www.seacoastonline.com/
news/02202005/news/65582.htm    2-20-2005

kbailey@seacoastonline.com

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