July 2015 marked 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.

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

Publication of a Commemorative Book called The Arandora Star Tragedy - 75 Years On, London’s Italian Community Remembers;

Presentation of the Commemorative Book at London’s Italian Cultural Institute;

Mass at St Peter’s Italian Church, Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1 on the evening of the anniversary;

A touring exhibition, beginning at Holborn Library from July to October (poster above right).

Click below for poster

Follow us on Twitter (@AS75YRS or click above) for further information and events.

The London Italians Who Died

Click the image on the right for a 2-page PDF listing the names of the 241 London Italians who died in the Arandora Star tragedy.

The London Memorial

Click the image on the left for a short article in Rivista magazine about the unveiling of the unveiling of the Arandora Star London Memorial in St Peter's Church. There is a picture of the memorial at the foot of this page.

Maria Serena Balestracci

Many of the photographs in the presentation above are reproduced from Maria Serena Balestracci's book, Arandora Star - Dall'oblio alla memoria - From Oblivion to Memory. Click the image on the right for further details and a link to the publisher's website.

Anna Chiappa

The remarkable photograph of the wreck in the presentation above is reproduced by kind permission of Anna Chiappa, Keyhart Productions Inc, Ottawa, Canada. Click left for a trailer of the documentary film, SOS Arandora Star, produced by Anna Chiappa and directed with James Blondeau for OMNI Rogers TV Canada.

Olive Besagni

Click right for further details of Olive Besagni's book, A Better Life, which includes family histories of several victims and survivors of the Arandora Star tragedy, including the families of Victor Menozzi and Domenic Pini, whose voices may be heard in the audio-visual presentation above.

National Archive

Click left for official documents about the Arandora Star in the UK Government's National Archive.

You Tube

Click right for films about the Arandora Star on You Tube.

Wikipedia

Click left for the Arandora Star page on Wikipedia.

History Today

Click right for articles about the Arandora Star tragedy in the History Today archive.

The Mazzini-Garibaldi Club led the campaign for the London memorial to victims of the Arandora Star tragedy. The memorial, which commemorates 241 named London Italians who died aboard the ship, was unveiled in St Peter's Italian Church, Clerkenwell, London, on 2nd July 2012, the 72nd anniversary of the tragedy.