Dear Readers,
Una Storia Segreta, the largely unknown secret history or story of the internment and evacuation of Italian Americans in 1942 was finally brought to light to the general public in 1994 when (A.I.H.A.) American Italian Historical Association sponsored exhibit opened at the Museo Italo Americano in San Francisco.
The exhibit then traveled to the Rotunda of the State Capitol in Sacramento, California and continued to be exhibited throughout our state and the East Coast, for appearances in New York, Washington D.C., and other major cities eager to host it.
The “Una Storia Segreta” exhibit generated much ink in newspapers and publications throughout the U.S.A. for years; therefore I was surprised the other day when in conversation with an Italian American who lived in San Francisco during WWII, played with neighbor Rita Francesconi, younger daughter of Nereo Francesconi, popular Northern California radio host, and whose parents listened faithfully to Francesconi’s Italian Radio Hour, he told me that although she was aware that Japanese Americans were interned during WWII, she did not know anything about the evacuation and internment of Italian Americans or what had happened to disrupt the life of her little friend and family in 1942.
My father Vincenzo was a big Francesconi fan too, and many years later he still remembered how “la voce di Francesconi” was suddenly silenced. In his book “The Unknown Internment”, An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans during World War II, author Stephen Fox (published in 1990 by Twayne Publishers, 70 Lincoln St., Boston, Ma 02111) the author stated that although the internment and evacuation of Italian Americans did not compare in magnitude with Japanese internment, both resulted from wartime hysteria and impacted thousands of American lives.
Among the people interviewed by the author was Joe Cervetto, who came to California in 1933 and became president of the S.F. Window Cleaners Association in 1941. He later was well known for his annual reenactment, as Christopher Columbus (embarking for Aquatic Park in San Francisco) of the landing in San Salvador in 1492.
Joe Cervetto, a native of Genoa, portrayed the discoverer in the annual rite from 1957 to 1989, when his son took over the role. I am printing an excerpt of the Cervetto interview, because it mentions Nereo Francesconi, his sudden departure from the air waves and subsequent internment in Missoula, Montana.
His wife, Lia Francesconi, continued her husband popular radio program during his internment. Incidentally, the same person who notified police that Joe was out after curfew told them Joe had joined the Fascist party as a youth. Joe had no black shirt. “They sent me a letter.
They said, “You got to buy yourself a black shirt and a hat.” Jeez. I thought they gave it to you! You had to buy the shirt, a black shirt and a hat, and come to Genoa. “We gonna swear you into the Fascist party.” What you gonna do? So, what did I do then? I was supposed to swear on the twenty-first of April 1933, and that’s the day I left Genoa for the United States.”
In San Francisco, 1942, addressing Mrs. Cervetto: “Where’s your husband?” “He’s having dinner.” I was in the kitchen listening to an Italian program on the radio. And all of a sudden, a funny thing happened. This Italian program quit, and they put on music. My wife came and said, “These people here, they want to see you.” I hadn’t finished my dinner, but I went out to meet them, and they said, “You Joe Cervetto?” There were three of them.
“Yes, sir,” I said. “Come with us.” “Can I get my coat?” “No, no, come the way you are.” And I said, “God, it’s cold outside, you know?” So my wife went to get my coat, and they said to the wife, really rough, “All right, you get the coat,” and they took me away. I was in the civil defense at the time, a fire marshal, and I thought, “Maybe they want to drill me for something.” I never thought it had anything to do with my (past curfew) being out late. So I said, “Can I get my little civil defense sack, too?” “Forget about that, just get the jacket and don’t talk too much.
Let’s go.” I thought, “My golly, they kidnap me!” I didn’t know anything; I couldn’t say anything. And they took me to this place out on Silver Avenue, the old Salvation building. I told the guy, “I didn’t have any dinner’ I was just starting to eat.” “Well,” he said, “forget it. Tomorrow you get a breakfast.”
They gave me nothing, just one blanket. In the morning when they picked us up I thought, “Hey, this is something serious.” They used to pick up those guys and send them to Missoula (Montana). They picked up one guy that was a window washer; he was in the First World War, in Italy.
One was a very prominent attorney. I remember they picked up this guy (Francesconi) that I was listening to on the radio when they grabbed me. He was talking about cigars, then all of a sudden music. And you never heard his name again. That was the end of his program. They snatched him when he was playing music. They put about fifty of us in a big truck and loaded us onto a boat. I thought, “Oh, oh, this is not good.” They took us to Angel Island (in San Francisco Bay).
There were some other guys on the boat, some Germans. Some were sailors, others were officers. Later we played soccer with them on the island. There were only Italians and Germans there, no Japanese. The Germans were on one side and we were on the other. Altogether there were fifty, sixty, maybe a hundred people there. They used to have a boat come in every day, back and forth.
I guess they brought water and food, too. We had our own kitchen, our own place to eat. I was lucky that I had a good man who worked with me, named Delvecchio. He didn’t see me at work in the morning so he told my wife. Delvecchio must have read about my being picked up, or heard it by way of rumor, I don’t know, but no official came to my wife and told her where I had been taken.
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On the night of December 7, 1941 some Japanese, German and Italian aliens were arrested by the FBI. The U.S. had not declared war by that date. The story actually began in September 1939, when Britain and France declared war against the Axis nations of Germany and Italy (later to include Japan).
President Roosevelt at that time asked FBI Director Hoover to compile a list of persons to be arrested in case of national emergency. Names placed on this Custodial Detention List eventually included pro-communists, anti-fascists, pro-fascists and pro-Nazis. Hundreds of Italians were arrested in the months immediately after Pearl Harbor.
About 250 individuals were interned for up to two years in military camps in Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. By June of 1942, the total reached 1,521 Italian aliens arrested by the FBI, many for curfew violations alone. Though most of the latter were released after short periods of detention, the effects on them and others in the community are not hard to imagine.
The arrest and internment procedure in San Francisco followed this pattern: FBI officers arrived at night, searched the home, and took the individual to an Immigration Service detention facility at Silver and Yale Avenues. The family was not informed why the arrest was made or what would happen. In January of 1942, all enemy aliens, including little old ladies who had not yet become naturalized citizens, were required to register at local post offices around the country.
All resident aliens had already registered in 1940 under the Smith Act, now as ‘enemy’ aliens they would be required to be fingerprinted, photographed, and carry their photo-bearing ‘enemy alien registration cards’ at all times.
Then came a series of Army proclamations, some directed at all enemy aliens, some only for those on the West Coast. The impact of these restrictions was widespread. In places like Monterey, Santa Cruz, Pittsburgh and San Francisco – where the Italians, many of them long-term residents without final citizenship papers, constituted a majority of the fishermen, scavengers, restaurant workers and janitors – the restrictions created serious employments and food-supply problems.
Many of the men arrested were shipped by train to Fort Missoula, Montana, where over 1,000 Italian nationals had been interned since May, 1941. These Italians were merchant marines whose ships had been impounded at Atlantic ports after the European war began in 1939.
In Montana, the interned aliens were given pro forma hearings before boards consisting of military officers and lay citizens. They were not informed of the charges against them. The information before the boards consisted entirely of FBI reports. Researchers have often noted, on examining FBI files, the many errors, the misinterpretation of innocent acts, and the lack of rumor verification – all of which are found in these aliens’ files.
Italy’s surrender on September 8, 1943 brought about the release of most of the Italian American internees by year’s end. Some had been paroled months earlier after “exoneration” by a second hearing board appealed for by their families. Nonetheless, most of the men had spent two years as prisoners. Neither they nor their families would ever forget it.
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