91福利社

On 10 June 1940, Italians living in Britain received the news they had long feared. Ten months into the Second World War, Mussolini鈥檚 Italy entered the conflict on the side of Hitler鈥檚 Germany and declared war on Britain. Overnight, Italians across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were classified as enemy aliens.

In cities such as London, Leeds, Cardiff, and Glasgow, Italian shops, caf茅s, and restaurants were attacked, looted, and destroyed. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, acted swiftly against what was perceived as a potential internal threat, issuing orders for the arrest without charge and detention without trial of Italian men across the country.

For thousands of first and second generation Italian men, this marked the beginning of years spent in internment camps in the Isle of Man, Canada, and Australia, lasting until the end of the war. For hundreds, it was the start of a chain of events that would lead to them being declared 鈥渕issing, presumed drowned鈥� after their transport ship, the Arandora Star, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean on 2 July 1940 while en route to Canada.

The Arandora Star, a recently converted passenger liner, was carrying around 1300 foreign nationals away from the UK.

Missing Presumed Drowned brings to the listener the real voices of internees and their families who experienced the tragedy and its aftermath first-hand. These testimonies are heard for the first time since they were recorded a decade ago by Stefano Paolini, during research for his book of the same name.

The exact death toll from the Arandora Star was difficult to ascertain, with different government departments giving different figures, but at least 838 men perished in the disaster, among them the captain, 12 officers, 42 crewmen, 94 guards, 243 Germans and 446 Italians. Of the 446 Italians lost, most were men who called Britain home.

The drama follows the story through the experience of an Italian family living in London. As the father is arrested, the son - born in the UK - becomes part of the battalion responsible for enforcing his internment. Their journey continues aboard the Arandora Star, where the torpedo strike forces a reckoning that leads to both survival and reconciliation.

Meanwhile, the wives and mothers of these men, as was common at the time, received no communication about their fate - only the devastating notification that their loved ones were 鈥渕issing, presumed drowned.鈥�

A key theme explores the complexities of being born in Britain to immigrant parents - the tension between assimilation and cultural identity, and the generational mistrust that can arise from differing relationships to heritage.

Ultimately, this is an immigrant鈥檚 story asking the enduring question, how English can one ever truly be?

Italy is establishing a National Day of Remembrance on 11 October 2026 to honour the Italian victims of the Arandora Star tragedy. This will be a national day of commemoration with public events and ceremonies, rather than an official public holiday.

The Italian Parliament has been advancing this legislation to commemorate the 446 Italian citizens who died when the Arandora Star was torpedoed in 1940. The date, October 11, was specifically chosen as it marks the anniversary of the death in 2013 of Rando Bertoia, a Glasgow shopkeeper who was the last surviving Italian from the tragedy.

Missing Presumed Drowned
by Nicholas McInerny

Alfredo...........Vincenzo Nicoli
Roberto..........Enzo Benvenuti
Raffaella.........Eugenia Caruso

Producer/Director Marina Caldarone
Sound Design by David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Nina Semple and Dawn Williams

Based on the book "Missing Presumed Drowned" by Stefano Paolini

A Pier production for 91福利社 Radio 4

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