Arandora Star

events

Thursday, 2 July 2015 - Thursday, 6 August 2015

July 2015 marks the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the Arandora Star. This converted cruise ship was carrying around 1500 Italian, Austrian and German internees and ‘enemy aliens’ to Canada when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland on the 2nd of July 1940. Over 800 people lost their lives, the majority of whom were Italians.

Despite an official enquiry at the time, many of the facts surrounding this controversial incident have not yet come to light and are still classified - to many it is seen as a forgotten tragedy and the impact on the Italian community across the UK was profound.

In 1939 the British Government had introduced Defence Regulation 18B which suspended the right to habeas corpus for individuals suspected of posing a threat to national security. Detainees were selected according to categories A, B or C – A being the most ‘dangerous characters’. Unlike the selection process of Austrians and Germans, the Italians were never classified and were rounded up en masse in a chaotic fashion; names were confused, anti-fascists were lumped together with known sympathisers and elderly civilians who had never taken up British citizenship were arrested despite the fact that they had sons fighting in the British army. Many of these men ended up on board the Arandora Star. Conditions on board also meant that the evacuation process was hampered, leading to large loss of life. The Canadian ship HMCS St Laurent rescued survivors.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the ship, the Arandora Star London Memorial Trust and the London Italian community will organise a number of commemorative events, including:

Publication of a Commemorative Book called The Arandora Star Tragedy - 75 Years On, London’s Italian Community Remembers with details of the London Italians on board the Arandora Star. The book will include biographies and pictures of those who lost their lives, those who were saved but subsequently sent to Australia or re-interned on the Isle of Man. The book will have a print run of 1000 and will be distributed free upon request in return for donations to the Arandora Star London Memorial Trust. The book will also contain a number of essays and articles from the time that put the disaster into context.

Presentation of the Commemorative Book at London’s Italian Cultural Institute, 39 Belgrave Square SW1 on Friday 26th June 2015 at 6.30pm with a talk by historian Rachel Pistol of Royal Holloway, University of London on The Tragic Story of the Sinking of the Arandora Star.

Mass at St Peter’s Italian Church, Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1 on Thursday 2nd July 2015 at 7pm in the presence of the First Minster at the Italian Embassy, Vincenzo Celeste; the Italian Consul General, Massimiliano Mazzanti; the Assistant Naval Attaché of the Canadian High Commission, Commander Larry Trim; the Mayor of Islington, Cllr Richard Greening; the Mayor of Camden (tbc); Sir Keir Starmer, KCB, QC, MP for Holborn and St Pancras, and representatives of the Italian community in the UK. All the relatives of the deceased and survivors will be invited.

An exhibition at Holborn Library, Theobalds Road, London, WC1 from 6th July 2015 including archive photographs and precious artefacts from survivors and those who perished. The exhibition will run for 4 weeks

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