The following article ‘The Impact of the Second World War on the British Italian Community’ by Terri Colpi explores the Italian communities experiences throughout The Second World War within Britain. Colpi begins by examining the pre- War period by referring to the 1920s and 30s as the ‘Golden era’ for the Italians within Britain as she explains that this particular time was essential towards the growing success of Italian run businesses. Colpi also establishes throughout the pre-war period that although Italian communities had integrated within British society there was little association with Britishness within their culture as they continued to speak their Italian dialect and live a traditional Italian family centred way with ceremonies such as births, deaths and marriages conducted through the association with the church. Colpi also highlights the rise of fascism within Italy throughout the pre-war period as she established that one of the aims of fascism was to reunite into a brotherhood, Colpi establishes that the Italian community in Britain embraced fascism in a wholehearted manner, as British Italians who lived through this period explain that fascism to them was a form of patriotism. Colpi emphasises that many British Italians were not political however felt the need to embrace fascism throughout this time due to their attachment to their county and their involvement with the Italian community.  The importance of the fascist clubs was highlighted by Colpi as she emphasised that many were drawn to these clubs as they often only focused on the benefits of becoming members of the club as they would provide Italian teaching schools and free holidays to Italy for children.

The author then focused on the outbreak of War in 1939 by referring to this as a ‘stressful time’ for the Italian community by highlighting that many entire families mostly recently arrived families to Britain would often return back to Italy within this period. Colpi established that Italy’s involvement within the War was extremely stressful to the Italian community within Britain as she emphasises the chaos that is caused upon the announcement that Italy would no longer stay neutral within the War announcing that it had now become an allay of Britain. Colpi highlights that the Italian community dreaded the War as Italy was now a threat towards Britain which lead up to the hostility and targetted attacks on the Italians within Britain. Colpi then analyses the various different attacks upon the Italians by explaining that there were ransacking mobs attacking Italians from Soho in London. It was mentioned that many of the violent attacks were focused more upon properties and businesses rather than on individuals themselves, Colpi then emphasised that Edinburgh was the most affected city within the country however Glasgow was also badly targetted particularly within areas such as Govan, Tradeston and Maryhill. The author also mentions how taunting was commonly present within schools particularly for the Italian boys as they would be regularly beaten and picked upon. Colpi then establishes that it was this particular time when British Italians ‘learned’ it was not good to be Italian and that it was better for them to assimilate themselves particularly for those that had set up their own businesses as disguising themselves from their Italian roots would often better their chances at surviving.

Throughout the source, the importance of The Arandora Ship is often recognised with the targeting of Italians as this ship set sail from Liverpool for Canada on the 1st of July 1940 however the ship sank within 30 minutes with a loss of 700 lives, it was therefore emphasised that two-thirds of the deaths upon this ship were in fact Italian. Colpi highlights how the British Press tried to pinpoint the high death toll on other circumstances such as fighting and panic amongst internees. The figures of the men who died are presented by the author throughout this section of the source, it was highlighted that roughly out of 1564 men onboard that 712-754 were in fact Italians and the rest were either German, Austrian or British servicemen. Overall the author illustrates the hostility that was present towards the Italians during the outbreak of the Second World War.

Lastly, the author represents the major challenges and affects that the Italian community were faced with after the War as Colpi explains that many small Italian businesses majorly struggled to maintain a foothold in their local economy which remained in order several years after the War which clearly emphasised that the resentment and hostility towards the Italian community was indeed still present all those years after the Second World War.  Again Colpi emphasises how discrimination was still targetted towards the Italians which again resulted towards many Italians covering up their true Italian origins by using different names and refusing to speak to learn Italian and usually marrying local within the British community which gave them a better opportunity to merge into British society and not be discriminated against. Overall Terri Colpi does well to recognise and analyse the everyday challenges that the Italian Community in Britain had to endure during the outbreak of the Second World War.