Genealogy Chat

Just came across this sad story.

The Arandora Star was a ship torpedoed in the Atlantic during WWII. It was taking interned Germans and Italians from the UK to Canada. These weren't PoWs, but civilians who'd emigrated to the UK before the war. 486 Italian and 175 German internees died. http://www.scotsitalian*com/internment.htm

Hi All, The Italians on board. I believe what was even sader was because they were reportedly locked below deck, many, who could have been saved were drowned. They had travelled to Britain prior to the war due to the great depression in Italy at the time, many from small villages in Northern Italy, places like Grezzo, Bardi and the surrounding countryside, to build a new life for themselves and their families. Often they arrived with only the shirt on their backs. South Wales seemed to attract them. They settled and opened corner Cafe's which were open from dawn to dusk. Some are still in existance today in our valley towns. The second, third generation of these families often return to their ancestral homes each summer (now out-numbering the locals) and many have said how the places still appear to be stuck in a time warp looking not that much different to when their grandfathers or great grandfathers once lived there. It is a story that occassionaly comes up in conversation which still causes upset to the older generation of Italians who I know. I'm not Italian. Paul