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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Oral history recording in English with Raffaele Quaglia. Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Part 5 of 7 (AV11453-11459)
00.01 As soon as they arrived in Scotland they were taken to a prisoner of war camp where 800 other soldiers had been talen prisoner by the British forces. They all lived in the same wooden barracks, but they were treated well and they were sent as a work force for local farms.
05.20 Raffaele explans that he stayed in Scotland for around two months, as the camp in Scotland was actually just a temporary camp. They were then transferred to other farms around Britain. Raffaele was taken to a camp in Wales where he started to work for local farms. He has positive memories of that period, because, he stresses, they were treated well and above all given enough food and water.
17.20 The relations between the prisoners and the farmers were also positive, apart from isolated cases. They weren’t paid very much, four shillings a week, but the camp gave prisoners 35 cigarettes a week. Raffaele had to work for four years without changing his job in order to acquire a residency, so he went to work in the tinplate industry and stayed there for thirteen years.
