How the Second World War and Its Aftermath Shaped a Sense of Identity Amongst Older Italians in the North East of England

ABSTRACT

Italian migrants’ experiences of hostility in the UK have remained on the margins of history. However, several older members of Italian communities live with memories of trauma and injustice experienced during their youth or in the early years of migration. Through an ethnographic approach, this study explores the impact of the Second World War amongst members of the Italian community living in the North East of England: those who lived during the war, as well as those who migrated during the following decades (1950–1970). The interpretations of historical events transmitted both down and across generations of migrants reveal how this group of people forged a process of self-definition and everyday construction of identity and belonging. This paper sheds light on how the trope of ‘enemy aliens’ has been absorbed and reiterated over time, by bringing to view the historical and political nature of identification.

KEYWORDS:

• Discrimination
• identification
• Italians
• migration
• Second World War

Acknowledgements

This journal article reflects parts of my Ph.D. research. I wish to thank my supervisors at Newcastle University, Prof. Degnen, Prof. Brittain and Prof. Moffatt, who guided me throughout the doctoral degree and the Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre - MyPlace (EPSRC) for funding my study. Moreover, I wish to express my profound gratitude to the anonymous Readers of Immigrants and Minorities Journal, for their dedication and helpful comments that significantly improved this manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Kushner, ‘Colin Holmes and Anti-Migrant Historiography,’ 22–32.

2. See Walvin, ‘White Images of Black Life,’ 118–140; Holmes, John Bull’s Island; Mayall, Gypsy-travellers in Nineteenth-century Society; Panayi, An Immigration History of Britain; and MacRaild and Mayall, ‘Historical Studies in Ethnicity,’ 1–8.

3. See note 1 above.

4. Goulbourne, Race Relations in Britain since 1945.

5. Schaffer and Saima, ‘The White Essential Subject,’ 159.

6. Lucassen, The Immigrant Threat; Perks, ‘“A Feeling of Not Belonging”: Interviewing European Immigrants in Bradford,’ 64.

7. Mavroudi and Nagel, Global Migration: Patterns, Processes, and Politics, 44.

8. Schaffer and Saima, ‘The White Essential Subject: Race, Ethnicity, and the Irish in Post-war Britain,’ 154.

9. Hoffmann, ‘Class vs. Ethnicity: Concepts of Migrant Historiographies,’ 44–54.

10. King, ‘Italian Migration to Great Britain,’ 176–186; and Giudici, ‘Immigrant Narratives and Nation-building,’1409–26.

11. Fortier, Migrant Belongings: Memory, Space, Identity; Ugolini, ‘Weaving Italian Experience into the British Immigration Narrative,’ 117–27.

12. Ugolini, ‘Weaving Italian Experience into the British Immigration Narrative,’ 117–27.

13. The pre-war Italian community, including British-born generations, was estimated to number around 30,000 (Colpi, 1991; Sponza, 2000; 2005; Fortier, 2000), while the British census enumerated 24,000 Italian-born in 1931. Shankland (2014, p. 184, 327) puts numbers of Italians in the North East of England at 3,000 in 1935, the largest concentration of Italians outside London and the central Scotland belt.

14. Colpi, ‘The Impact of the Second World War on the British Italian Community,’ 167.

15. Fortier, Migrant Belongings, 91.

16. Colpi, Italians’ Count in Scotland.

17. Ibid. 147.

18. Colpi, ‘The Impact of the Second World War on the British Italian Community,’ 167–187; Colpi, ‘Chaff in the Winds of War?,’ 389–410; Sponza, ‘The British Government and the Internment of Italians,’ 125–144; Sponza, ‘The Anti-Italian Riots, June 1940,’131–149; Sponza, Divided loyalties: Italians in Britain During the Second World War; Ugolini, Experiencing War as the ‘Enemy Other’; Ugolini, ‘‘Spaghetti Lengths in a Bowl?,’ 214–234; Chezzi, ‘Wales Breaks its Silence: From Memory to Memorial and Beyond,’ 376–393; and Pistol, ‘Enemy Alien and Refugee: Conflicting Identities in Great Britain during the Second World War,’ 37–52.

19. Ship deporting Italian and other internees to Canada.

20. The historical detail provided in the narratives relies on oral histories and personal testimonies, so that the accuracy of information has not been compared with ‘official’ history.

21. Garigue and Raymond, Two Studies of Kinship in London.

22. Marin, Italiani in Gran Bretagna; Palmer, ‘The Italians: Patterns of Migration to London,’ 242–268.

23. Colpi, ‘The Impact of the Second World War on the British Italian Community,’ 168. ‘Old’ community Colpi (1992) refers to migrants and their descendants who had long been settled in Britain from the nineteenth century and until the nineteen-thirties, and argues that they were generally well-integrated into local society.

24. Sponza, Divided loyalties: Italians in Britain During the Second World War.

25. Tognini, A Mind at War: An Autobiography.

26. Fortier, Migrant Belongings: Memory, Space, Identity.

27. Ugolini, Experiencing War as the ‘Enemy Other’; Ugolini, ‘Spaghetti Lengths in a Bowl,’ 214–234.

28. Ugolini, ‘Spaghetti Lengths in a Bowl,’ 214–234.

29. Ugolini, Experiencing War as the ‘Enemy Other,’ 2.

30. Ugolini, ‘Spaghetti Lengths in a Bowl?,’214–234.

31. Cesarani, ‘An Alien Concept? The Continuity of Anti‐Alienism in British Society before 1940,’ 24–52; Lunn, ‘Uncovering Traditions of Intolerance,’ 11–21.

32. Chezzi, ‘Wales Breaks its Silence: From Memory to Memorial and Beyond,’ 376–393.

33. Haworth and Rorato, ‘Memory, Identity and Migrant Generations,’ 1–19.

34. Halbwachs, On Collective Memory.

35. Ibid.

36. Thompson, ‘Family Models, Myths and Memories,’ 13–38.

37. Hirsch, ‘The Generation of Postmemory,’ 103–128.

38. Sponza, ‘Italians in War and Post-War Britain,’ 185–200; Colucci, Emigrazione e Ricostruzione: Italiani in Gran Bretagna dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale. The Post-war Ministry of Labour and other schemes brought large numbers of Italians to Britain. In combination with reactivation of pre-war ‘chains of migration’, by 1971 the Italian-born population in the UK numbered almost 109, 000 (King, 1977; Colpi, 1991).

39. John and Leatrice Macdonald (1964, cited in Colpi 1992) define chain migration as a process by which first generation migrants incentivise the migration of their relatives, providing a job offer and assisting them on arrival.

40. Palladino, ‘Older migrants reflecting on aging,’ 100,788.

41. Amongst the twenty-seven participants, five were third generation Italians, two were second generation, and twenty were first generation migrants who arrived after the War.

42. Ormston et al. ‘The Foundations of Qualitative Research,’ 52–55.

43. Amongst these, four participants are third generation Italians, one is second generation and four are first generation migrants.

44. Shankland, Out of Italy: The Story of Italians in North East England.

45. Ashington is a town in Northumberland, 15 miles north of Newcastle. Ashington is not the place of residence of this participant.

46. Rowles, ‘Place and Personal Identity in Old Age,’ 299–313.

47. Chezzi, ‘Wales Breaks its Silence: From Memory to Memorial and Beyond,’ 376–393; Haworth and Rorato, ‘Memory, Identity and Migrant Generations,’ 1–19.

48. Naturalisation: the admittance of a foreigner to citizenship through formal practises of belonging, which necessitated giving up former nationality.

49. As their father was an Italian-born, it is more likely that he served to the Pioneer Corp rather than to the British Army. This can be considered as a historical inaccuracy from the participants’ perspective, so that in this case, clarification was needed.

50. Shankland, Out of Italy: The Story of Italians in North East England, 196–200.

51. The use of the term ‘choice’ is inaccurate here, as historical accounts on deportation of Italians during the War (see for example, Pistol, 2015) do not mention the opportunity to choose where to go. However, in agreement with subjective 
narratives in oral history traditions, this participant’s statement should be kept as it is.

52. For the political use of the expression ‘Italiani brava gente’, see Fogu (2006).

53. Colpi, ‘The Impact of the Second World War on the British Italian Community,’ 167–187; Chezzi, “Wales Breaks its Silence: From Memory to Memorial and Beyond, 376–393.

54. Colpi, ‘Chaff in the Winds of War? The Arandora Star,’ 391.

55. Ugolini, Experiencing War as the ‘Enemy Other’.

56. See note 33 above.

57. Colpi, The Italian Factor. The Italian Community in Great Britain; Ugolini, Experiencing War as the ‘Enemy Other’.

58. Colpi, ‘The Impact of the Second World War on the British Italian Community,’ 175.

59. Fortier, Migrant Belongings: Memory, Space, Identity, 23.

60. Haworth and Rorato, ‘Memory, Identity and Migrant Generations,’ 13.

61. See note 55 above.

62. Marino, Intergenerational Ethnic Identity Construction.

63. Colpi, Italians’ Count in Scotland, 147.

64. Foucault (1975) illustrated experience according to degree of visibility in a concentric prison. Peters (1997), drawing on this metaphor of place, explored the concept of the public sphere, arguing that inhabitants who think they are acting under public gaze, internalise the gaze and become guardians of their own behaviour.

65. Chezzi, ‘Wales Breaks its Silence: From Memory to Memorial and Beyond,’ 376–393.

66. The interview took place above the participant’s restaurant in a private area.

67. Colpi, ‘The Impact of the Second World War on the British Italian Community,’ 185.

68. See note 59 above.

69. This could be translated as working-class people.

70. Proshansky et al. ‘Place-identity: Physical World Socialization of the Self,’ 57–83.

71. Despite Domenico’s family members not being defined as participants, they both agreed to join in the interview, and signed informed consent.

72. Translation: Yes, but I always had to show my identity paperscard to the police.

73. I add here an observation by a proofreader who wishes to remain anonymous: ‘It was still called the “Aliens Office” in the 1990s. I worked with international students then and remember how bad it sounded.’ I believe this comment can be considered as further evidence of the social and historical context in which this project was conducted.

74. See note 46 above.

75. Winslow, ‘Polish Migration to Britain: War, Exile and Mental Health,’ 57–64; Winslow, ‘Forget? no, I never … ’: Polish Reflections on the Impact of the Second World War,’ 33–44.

76. Winslow, ‘Forget? no, I never … ’: Polish Reflections on the Impact of the Second World War,’ 33.

77. Winslow, ‘Polish Migration to Britain: War, Exile and Mental Health,’ 57–64.

78. Victor and Yang, ‘The Prevalence of Loneliness among Adults,’ 85–104.

79. Walsh et al. ‘Social Exclusion of Older Persons,’ 81–98.

80. see Zontini, ‘Growing Old in a Transnational Social Field,’ 326–341.

81. in Bedford and Peterborough, see Perks, ‘‘A Feeling of Not Belonging,’ 64–67; Colpi, ‘Origins and Campanilismo in Bedford’s Italian Community,’ 59–77; Colucci, Emigrazione e Ricostruzione: Italiani in Gran Bretagna dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale; and Guzzo, ‘Immigrazione Italiana nel Regno Unito,’127–140.

82. Sprio, Migrant Memories: Cultural History, Cinema and the Italian Post-War Diaspora in Britain.