RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Europe => Topic started by: belfordian on Tuesday 11 March 25 18:30 GMT (UK)
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A member of our local group has inherited a beautiful piece of embroidery done by an Italian POW in a camp near Otterburn, Northumberland. The POW gave it to our members mother who donated silks to create it. Through the Red Cross the identity of the POW has become known - name, age, birthplace etc - but our member would dearly love to pass the embroidery on to the POWs descendants or nearest relatives.
Bearing in mind this event dates back to the 1940s, can anyone suggest how any descendants might be traced? Is there an Italian website for researching ancestry including BMD data from the 20th century?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
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BMFD data should of course read BMD dta!
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Unfortunately the UK National Archives do not hold many personal records pertaining to Italian prisoners of war as these were transferred to the Italian government after the end of the war, to form part of the man's service record. However quite a few Italian POWs opted to remain in Britain after the war and for men in this category, records are held in HO 405 and are searchable by surname.
Finally there are some interrogation records relating to Italian POWs, held in WO 208. That said many Italian soldiers were not interrogated unless they were fairly senior officers or were captured in circumstances which made them particularly interesting to British Intelligence. The records in WO 208 have not been digitised by name and so you would need to visit Kew to check if your man was interrogated. And even if he was, it seems unlikely that the reports would go into much detail about his family or his life before he joined the Italian Armed Services, so probably not worth the effort.
There is a TNA research guide (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/prisoners-of-war-british-hands/) on the subject, and also a video explanation of what is held here on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WvD_mI9CvU). Skip forward to 11 minutes 16 seconds.
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As you know his name & where & when he was born, if it is a smallish place would it be worth writing to the town hall or whatever the main administrative centre is called. It might cross the desk of someone interested in history, or someone who has a grandma…..
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Thank you for your suggestion, Mckha489. Worth a try!
Belfordian
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Thank you for your suggestion, Mckha489. Worth a try!
Belfordian
In a similar vein to Mckha489's suggestion, I have had excellent experiences posting on local community Facebook groups. Most towns/villages seem to have a "history of..." / "memories of ..." type group. One example is my great-grandfather had a butcher's business in a village. I found their "memories of" page and asked if anyone remembered it. Within a day I was talking to the grandson of one of his apprentices, who could furnish me with personal anecdotes about my great-grandfather, that had been passed down that family!
If you don't have Facebook, I'm sure a member here (myself included!) would be more than willing to try this avenue on your behalf.
I have a relative who I'm sure wouldn't mind translating into Italian if that would help ... I'm sure he would find this project very interesting. He's done much research in Italy.
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Thank you, Aguella. Good suggestions which I’ll try.
Belfordian