Sunday, October 08, 2006

When Italians Lost Their Rights During World War II: "Una Storia Segreta"

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Executive Order 1066, [issued by Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942].in conjunction with the Enemy Alien Act affected 600,00 Italian Americans, 300,000 German Americans, and 120,000 Japanese Americans.

 

This resulted in Confiscation of Property, Travel Restrictions, Curfews, Relocations, Jailings, Internments, etc.  In some cases, authorities detained Italians whose sons were serving in World War II.

 

For the Italians, the three basic profiles on an FBI-compiled list of potentially "dangerous" foreign residents were: people who worked for an Italian-language newspaper or radio station; teachers of Italian in a school sponsored by the Italian consulate; or members of the Federation of Italian War Veterans, a social group for those who had fought in the Italian military in World War I as U.S. allies.

 

The traveling Exhibit "Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment During World War II." documenting those events, was first shown in 1994 at the Museo Italo-Americano in San Francisco, and has been on tour ever since with Lawrence DiStasi, as founder, curator, and  project director.

 

WHEN ITALIANS LOST THEIR RIGHTS


Marist College talk centers on World War II

 

Poughkeepsie Journal

Thursday, October 5, 2006

University of California at Berkeley professor Lawrence DiStasi, curator of the Western Regional Chapter of the American-Italian Historical Association, will speak at Marist College.

His topic will be "Una Storia Segreta: When Italian Americans Were Enemy Aliens."

The talk will be in the Nelly Goletti Theatre, in the Student Center on the Poughkeepsie campus.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

DiStasi is the project director of the traveling exhibit "Una Storia Segreta" ("A Secret Story/History"), a photographic exhibition that will be displayed on the first floor of the college's Fontaine Hall through Oct. 30. Fontaine Hall is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

A "secret history"

DiStasi is the editor of the scholarly collection of essays "Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment During World War II." The exhibit, documenting those events, was first shown in 1994 at the Museo Italo-Americano in San Francisco.

DiStasi is also the author of "Mal Occhio: The Underside of Vision and Dream Streets: The Big Book of Italian American Culture."

At 11 p.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, a man in bedroom slippers answered his door. Three policemen were out front, another two around back. The man was told, by order of the President of the United States, that he must immediately go with these officers.

He was not allowed to put on shoes and was escorted to jail. He was not allowed to contact his family, could not consult an attorney, and was never told the specific charges against him, or even what evidence, if any, made him a possible threat to national security.

After a brief hearing, he was quickly put on a train and shipped to Missoula, Mont., where he was escorted to a remote camp ringed with barbed-wire fences. It was 17 degrees below zero outside, and he had no coat or warm clothing. He was still wearing his slippers.

Worked for newspaper

The suspect was Filippo Molinari, a sales representative for L'Italia newspaper in San Jose, Calif. He never learned exactly why he was arrested, but he fit one of three basic profiles on an FBI-compiled list of potentially "dangerous" foreign residents: people who worked for an Italian-language newspaper or radio station; teachers of Italian in a school sponsored by the Italian consulate; or members of the Federation of Italian War Veterans, a social group for those who had fought in the Italian military in World War I as U.S. allies. In addition, about 600,000 legal Italian immigrants were subjected to travel restrictions. In some cases, authorities detained Italians whose sons were serving in World War II.

For information: Rose De Angelis, associate professor of English, director of the Marist College Honors Program: 845-575-3000 ext. 2316.

 

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