UNITED STATE’S CONGRESS APOLOGIZES FOR MISTREATMENT OF ITALIAN RESIDENTS DURING WWII

 

On the seventh of December, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a wake-up call to the realization that the two large oceans between the United States, Europe and Asia, were not insurmountable walls of defense. Shortly after the attack against Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy on the eleventh of that December, declared war on the United States. The United States went into a state of fear, as we did after the attack on The World Trade Center on the eleventh September, 2001. There was a scramble to protect the nation and it took many forms, some rightly so and some not.

Out of fear and concern for the safety of our country, the U.S. Government made decisions that were quite questionable regarding aliens and natural born citizens (Japanese Americans) residing in the United States. To protect our country the United States government interned many Italians as well as others in camps or placed them under significant restriction. Some even had their property confiscated, with never receiving reparations.

 Most Italian Americans are only aware of the internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese aliens and of the restrictions placed on their movement and location of residence. The same occurred to Italian and German Americans and aliens. At the beginning of World War II, there were 600,000 Italian aliens in the United States. All of them at the time of the declaration of war, by Benito Mussolini, became enemy aliens. Unlike the Japanese, the population of Italians was overwhelming. Government officials were in a dilemma asking; what are we going to do? We can’t intern them all. That was out of the question, so they developed a criterion of elimination to seek out those who were a threat to the U.S. and intern them. This was an awesome task, and injustices were going to occur.

All Italian aliens had to register within four months of the declaration of war at identified registration locations. Thousands of Italians came under various restrictions, if their livelihood involved using a boat they had to leave it, sell it or have it impounded by the government. If they lived near any oceanic coast, they were required to move inland.  They had to hand over to the local police such things as radios, telephones and flashlights, and were subject to surprise house visits and searches by federal agents. These usually occurred at night after 11:00 p.m. Many had lived in the United States for thirty or more years and had children that were born in America, who were fighting against our enemies on both fronts. Yet, the government interned or restricted their parents in their movements. One individual account tells of an Italian women having to relocate on the same day she received news of her son’s death while fighting in the war, (see: http://www.amazon.com/Internment-History-Relocation-Italian-Americans/ by Stephen C. Fox,).

In their unannounced searches of residences, if they found anything they thought were prohibited items, they confiscated them, along with any reading material that was suspect. The violator then faced a hearing before a civilian tribunal. These tribunals had the power to intern. Many brought before the panels had curfews imposed on them and had to be at home by 8:00 p.m. These things were done even if their children were Americans and/or a spouse was American. The parents of the baseball fame DiMaggio brothers could no longer work their fishing boat and had to move five miles inland from the coast. The government officials seized and impounded their father’s boat for the duration of the war. Mr. and Mrs. DiMaggio could not visit one of their sons’ restaurants on one of the San Francisco wharves.

The amount of Italian aliens interned was 228.  On the East coast they sent them to Ellis Island for processing and then every three or four months moved them from military base to military base throughout the U.S. They most often ended at Fort Missoula, Montana.  Here the government maintained one thousand Italian citizens and six hundred and fifty Japanese citizens. For complete procedures of moving and interning the Italians see: (http://www.amazon.com/Road-Missoula-Laurence-Amuso-ebook/)

On the Monday the twelfth of October, 1942, Attorney General Biddle during a Columbus Day speech at Carnegie Hall issued a proclamation ending wartime restrictions against Italians. He stated, “Italians will not be considered enemy aliens after October 19, 1942. We have carefully checked the 600,000 Italian aliens and there has been cause to intern only 228 of them.” He further announced on the radio, “I will recommend a bill to Congress that will grant to any alien, who is eligible for citizenship without taking the literacy test, provided he or she is fifty years old or older and came to the United States before July 1, 1942, and has been living in the country continuously since then.”  The Germans and the Japanese did not fare so well for those two countries remained at war with the U.S. until conquered in 1945.

The mistakes that occurred during the war, have not been forgotten, they may have lain in secret for many years and finally came to light such that from 1980 to 2000, attempts have been made to rectify those errors of judgment through compensation and/or apology. As a result in 1999, under the strong leadership of Congressman Eliot Engel along with Congressman Rick Lazio, House Rule.2442, The War Time Violation of Italian Civil Liberty the House passed the act and on the seventh of November, 2000, Congress passed Public Law 106-451. Please see https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr2442. The act begins with the findings, “The freedom of more than 600,000Italian born immigrants in the United States and their families were restricted during WWII, by government measures that branded them enemy aliens, and included carrying an identifications, travel restrictions, and seizure of personal property. It continues, reporting the removal of people from their homes, prohibitions of where they could live, imposition of curfews, arrests and internment, in military camps.”

In light of the above, Mike Maiorana a boy during WW II clearly remembered when officials came to his house in Monterey, Ca. and searched, more than once, for guns, flashlights, cameras, shortwave radios and anything else that could be used to signal the enemy.  His father was a naturalized citizen, and yet forced to move from Monterey to Salinas and lose his livelihood by having his fishing boat confiscated.

Chet Campanella, who experienced similar disenfranchisement, entered an annual, “There ought to be law,” contest and cited, “The treatment of Italians in California was horrible and there wasn’t one tiny bit of evidence to indicate that any Italians were responsible for any type of spying or sabotage.”

Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) sponsored bill.  Senate Resolution SCR95 2009-10 Apology to Italian Americans. Consequently, the California legislature passed the resolution expressing “deepest regret” for the wartime internment, curfews, confiscations and other indignities that thousands of Italian and Italian American families faced.  The Grand Council of Fascism deposed Benito Mussolini on July 25, 1943 and on September 3, 1943 Italy became an ally of the U.S.  For historical novel of these events please see http://www.amazon.com/Road-Missoula-Laurence-Amuso-ebook/.

Below are photographs of Italian internees at Ft. Missoula, Montana.