Within two weeks the group’s arrival at Tatura Camp 2B, Giovanni Baldelli, school master, made a suggestion on the 15th September 1940 for a ‘camp paper’ to be written and a committee of six was formed from the younger internees to write and publish Gioventu.
Giorgio Scola, a student of architecture, was a committee member who wrote in his diary:
Monday 23 September
“At the Assembly, our Camp Leader commends the Youth of the Camp for its initiative in producing a camp paper and hands back the first copy of "Gioventu" duly passed by the Military Authorities. The editorial staff including myself are quite elated to find that our paper is in great
demand within the camp” (Scola, G.E. 2024).
The only known surviving copy of Gioventu is Issue No. 14 25 December 1940. In the right corner you will see XIX.*
The paper was published weekly but as to how long the camp paper continued is unknown. Did its production stop when the group was transferred to Loveday Camps 9 and 10 in December 1941? It is with special thanks to Giovanni Baldelli's daughter Giovanna for the safe keeping of Numero di Natale and sharing it to the Arandora Star community. IN 2023, Giovanna kindly donated Gioventu to Museo Nazionale dell'Emigrazione Italiana, Genoa, Italy.
The Christmas Edition was beautifully decorated with articles written in Italian and English on a range of subjects: Sports News (PV Tolaini), La Riviere (E Bianchi), Christmas Wedding (L Beschizza), Due Natali (P Beshizza), Port of Call (G Scola) and L’Industria delle Paste Alimentari (GVL). It is a poignant, personal and invaluable insight into December 1940 in Tatura Camp 2B for this group of 200 Italians.
*Era Fascista was a calendar era used in Italy under the fascist regime. The March on Rome, or more precisely the accession of Mussolini as prime minister on 29 October 1922, is day 1 of Anno I of the Era Fascista. The calendar was introduced in 1926 and became official in Anno V (1927). Intelligence Office in Tatura Camp took note of who amongst the group used the Fascist date on their letters as an indication of political allegiances.
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