Under Seige! The War on Italian Americans in 1942
Under Seige! The War on Italian Americans in 1942
By Stephen Fox. Original published as The Unknown Internment and Uncivil Liberties. Between February and June 1942, the U.S. Army relocated thousands of West Coast Italian and German aliens to so-called safe zones. The aliens were law-abiding people who had lived in the U.S. for decades. Some had sons in the armed forces, and, for a few families, Pearl Harbor casualties. The author combines interviews, government records and newspaper accounts to reveal this untold chapter in American history. Although the book is not limited to Humboldt County, local Italian-American families are strongly represented. “Outstanding Book.” Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in the United States.
Researched through government documents, newspapers and oral histories, Under Siege tells the often forgotten history of how Italian Americans were relocated, interned or otherwise restricted by American law in World War II.
Though the issue was nation-wide, many of the personal accounts are from residents of Humboldt, stories that are quite moving and, literally, close to home. They record how radios, guns and even fishing boats were confiscated, how jobs and homes were lost, and how curfews kept families indoors at night or kept them from living, working or shopping across certain streets. Reputedly this was so they couldn't signal enemy subs off the coast!
The WWII internment of Japanese Americans is more recognized, in part due to racism of the time and the fact that German and Italians had been assimilating longer and in larger numbers here. But it all is part of what history keeps teaching us and why historical societies and their bookstores remain important. If ignored, history can keep repeating itself.
