Una Storia Segreta

By: Brenda Wells


The United States of America has centuries worth of interesting history. This history has been researched, analyzed, and has been made known to the public if individuals choose to inform themselves. Recently, historians have come upon a significant occurrence that took place during World War II. It is an incident that has been quietly kept out of public knowledge because of the embarrassment it had caused. During World War II, it was widely known that the Japanese were placed in internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. American Germans were placed in these internment camps too. Italians in America also experienced the injustice the United States government had placed on these ethnic groups during World War II. Una Storia Segreta provides vivid accounts of Italians’ during the internment and provides much historical information to go along with the accounts too.

Italians in America had come to the country like most immigrants to make something of their lives. Most had left Italy for economical reasons and hoped to gain a living in the United States. Which is what most Italians were able to accomplish and were very proud of it. The United States had become home to them just as Italy had been. A lot of Italians were able to feel more comfortable by surrounding themselves with other Italians though. Italians were able to maintain their vibrant culture by living in neighborhoods made up of Italian ancestry. Ethnic groups surrounding themselves with others like themselves is a fairly common phenomenon in the U.S.. It is so common that no one ever thought there was much of a problem with it until after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, the United States wanted to protect itself in every possible way from the possibility of any more attacks. Not only did the United States protect itself from outside harm but they also wanted to protect the people from within the country too. Japan, Germany and Italy were the enemies that the United States had proclaimed war to during World War II. Since the U.S. was warring against these countries, anyone in the States from there were subject to the self-defense mode that the U.S. had succumbed to. The government focused itself on these small Italian communities. The F.B.I had made a list of individuals that were considered dangerous and needed to be arrested immediately. Many of these individuals were just normal Italian men who owned successful businesses in their Italian communities. Some of them did not have their citizenship so they were considered dangerous because they still might have allegiance to Italy since they never obtained citizenship. All the individuals that were arrested were placed in internment/concentration camps for no viable reasons.

The internment and discrimination of Italian Americans hurt their lives significantly. The groups that were affected the most were the Italian Americans living on the coast of California. Italians living on the coast of California were part of the big fishing industry. Actually, Italians are credited for starting the fishing industry on the California coast because most Italians were fishermen. Fishing was a way of life and a time for families to bond together. Most Italian fishing crews were all related, thus fishing was family oriented. Not all Italians were placed in internment/concentration camps, but they were subjected to the regulations the government had set up. The U.S. government had created 68 zones in California that were restricted to the access of Italians without citizenship. Many Italian families had to move out of their homes in order not to be in trouble with the regulations that were in place. Some of these restriction zones were along the coast of California which disrupted the ability for many Italian men to go fishing. They were not able to go near their boats and their boats were even used by the army. Taking away fishing from the Italians left them without a job for couple years. It disrupted the way of life for many and it also hurt the fishing industry significantly.

All the injustices that the American government had done to the Italian Americans were kept quiet. Throughout this time of injustice, the Italians were embarrassed as a community. Many had come to the country like most immigrants to make a better life than they had previously in their own country. Most tried to assimilate into the American culture yet wanted to hang on to the few strings they had to their native culture. Many Italians resonated with being American instead of being native Italian. They were part of the American life just as Mexicans, Irish, African Americans, Japanese and others were. So when they were singled out along with the Japanese and Germans they felt like utter failures. Italians had tried so hard to be part of America and honestly were, yet the government made them outsiders. Being rejected by the country one had made their home is hard to take in. The injustice that the government had done was unforgivable. The fascinating part to this was Italians wanted this part of their history in American not to be spoken about. It is a memory that many wanted to forget and wanted to go on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened. And many Italian Americans were able to do just that when the war ended.

This event in history had shaken the lives of Italians in the United States. It had disrupted their lives by relocating and physically arresting some. The government never had good reasons to arrest these people besides just knowing they were Italian. The actions that were taken by the government hurt this group so much that many chose to be silent for years about what had happened to their ethnic group. With the writing of this book, it should be finally known what ordeals the Italians went through when they were placed in concentration/internment camps during World War II. Italians should not be ashamed anymore of the injustice that occurred and should receive a formal apology from the U.S. government still even if its years later.