Page 84 - A Talk with Dominic Nardocchio

ISSUE : Issue 53

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1990/1/1

(And you were interned because someone....) Well, someone went ahead and said that I liked Mussolini. But I never went back to Italy since I came here. Local people went to visit Mussolini, and they came back and they said he was a wonderful man. He was praised by everybody. The only time they didn't like him, when he aligned himself with Hitler. Because Mussolini did more for Italy in 20 years than all the other gov? ernments in 200 years. But then the war came, you see, and everything got sour. But I was never in Italy. I never went back to Italy. I had no correspondence with anybody in Italy. Nobody'd say that. (Were the other Italians as bold as you, though, at that time?) Oh, yeah--well, I was 36. Some of them were older. Some of them were way older. They're all dead. I was young, compared to the others. (And how were they acting?) They just kept quiet. They just didn't say anything, they just--I Your Nova Scotia Government Bookstore Outlet in Cape Breton Cape Breton Books First-Rate Literature A Wide Range of Books from Popular to Scholarly and 361 Charlotte St. ''' Parker Cards: Sydney B1P1E1 portrait of R'l o • 'APE BRETON ooa-oooi HISTORY BOOKS ARE A GREA T GIFT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR did most of the talking for them most of the time. (Were you the youngest?) Yeah, about the youngest. They were all workers. They were all working men from Cape Breton. (Were any of them involved in politics?) Oh, no. One of them--no--one of them--they were just members of the club, and none of them really knew anything about politics. (What did we call the club, by the way?) Well, the club was most for sporting groups, eh?--for the sport, and playing cards, things like that. They'd have danc? es, you know. (Did it have a name?) "Dopo La Voro." It means "After Work." It's a club--sporting club. (Take me back--at Petawawa itself. Were you treated badly there?) No, no. no, no, no. No, no, we were treated good in Peta? wawa Concentration Camp. No, we were treated just like the military. We were given the same ration, the same meal. But of course, there was the Red Cross used to come in there every 3 months--International Red Cross. And if there was any complaint, make it to them, and they'll report it to Germany and Italy, and they'll retal? iate against the others. Oh, yeah. They treated them in the camp well. There was no question about it. (Were you able to maintain contact with your family?) Oh, yes. Well, letters were censored. I think you wrote once a month--I forgot. But, to WANT The Inside Stort on EXTRA! EXTRA! Available right in Sydney" • Industrial Cape Breton facts & statistics. • Delicious recipes featuring Nova Scotia Products • Nova Scotia and how it looked in the 17th and 18th centuries through the Mapmaker's Eye. • A young sailor's account of the seafaring life in the mid-1800s. • Our common and more interesting land mammals and birds. • The history of making lumber in the sawmills of Nova Scotia • Struggles of the Loyalists to rebuild their shattered lives in the town of Shelburne. These and many more stories are under cover at Pages, The Downtown Bookstore, in Sydney. Come in and browse: we're located at 361 Charlotte Street, or phone us at 539-8551. A catalogue listing other government titles is available free upon request from the Nova Scotia Government Bookstore, P.O. Box 637, Halifax, N.S., B3J 2T3, or by phone toll free 1-424-7580. Nova Scotia '[Sl' Information '''%' Service

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