A border between poverty and persecution

“World War II: Emergency”

1 Why was the movement of people and goods between Italy and Switzerland more intense than ever during the Second World War, despite very tight security?

2 Object captions

The smugglers always carried a sharp knife “roncola” within easy reach: this allowed them to quickly cut the straps of the sack and flee when they were intercepted by customs officers. The sack and the footwear were made of jute and sewn with a large needle.

3 Switzerland in difficulty

During the Second World War, Switzerland was a neutral island in the middle of a storm. Importing from abroad was difficult. Attempts were made to increase the degree of food self-sufficiency by expanding the amount of land used for cultivation. Rationing was introduced to ensure fair and orderly distribution, and indigenous foodstuffs, such as potatoes, dominate the table, while imports, such as rice, are scarce.

  • Ploughing even the steepest slopes in Capriasca; in the background, Monte San Salvatore and Lugano
  • Ration cards and coupons
  • Recycling is the watchword
  • Advertisements at the time of rationing
  • Potato harvest for own consumption in Rovio, 1939

4 Object captions

  • During the war, numerous publications were promoted to teach housewives how to make rational use of the food available, how to store it, how to save laundry soap and heating fuel, etc.
  • Ration card from July 1941
  • Rationing was controlled by the communes with ration cards

5 The effects of the armistice: every man for himself!

After the proclamation of the armistice on 8 September 1943, the Wehrmacht occupied the centre-north of Italy. Left without orders, the Italian army disbanded. Many soldiers initially took refuge in Switzerland, where Allied prisoners of war, political opponents and Jews also sought asylum. Swiss asylum policy was strict: not everyone was granted protection.

  • Italian soldiers amassed at the sports ground in Via Comacini in Chiasso at the peak of the influx on 17 September 1943
  • Illegally crossing the border at the Tresa River; in the background, the border fence
  • Disbanded Italian soldiers cross into Switzerland; behind them, the border fence and an unguarded sentry box, 1943
  • A thorough shower as a prophylactic measure
  • Medical examination

6 The rice boom

The war economy put an end to Switzerland's tolerance of smuggling. Smugglers were now being pursued from both sides. Yet, from the summer of 1943, smuggling resumed on an unprecedented scale. However, the direction of travel changed and goods were no longer moved from Switzerland to Italy, but from Italy to Switzerland; contraband included a wide variety of goods and, above all, rice, in enormous quantities.

  • During the war, the Swiss border guards were also on the lookout for smugglers
  • Rice confiscated by Swiss border guards on Monte Brè, 1946
  • Main goods confiscated by the Swiss border guards, 1945 (kg) - Rice/flour/butter/cold meats/cheese - Shoes, rubber soles, tyres, inner tubes, socks, wool, silk… - Source: Swiss Directorate General of Customs, Die Zollverwaltung während der Kriegsjahre 1939/1945, Bern 1946, p. 178
  • Goods exported to Switzerland were varied; pictured are tea bags seized in August 1944 in Val Poschiavo (GR)
  • Confiscated goods

7 The great paradox

Starving Italian men, women and even children flocked to Switzerland in order to smuggle. The enormous devaluation of the lira triggered this, rather than a demand for goods on the Swiss side, particularly rice. The smugglers were paid in much sought-after Swiss francs, which they exchanged for large amounts of inflated lira when they returned to Italy. The paradox is clear: the country reduced to starvation, Italy, supplies the much better-off neighbour, Switzerland.

  • Staging of the arrest of a gang of smugglers
  • Types of smugglers; arrested male smugglers were shaved clean for prophylactic reasons
  • Arrested smugglers were often hungry and dirty, and had worn-out clothes and shoes
  • Two Italian smugglers escorted by a soldier; arrested smugglers were detained for a few days in internment camps and then escorted back to the border: a rather light punishment

8 Smugglers' ingenuity

In November 1948, the Italian Guardia di Finanza discovered a handcrafted wooden submarine covered in metal in Lake Lugano just outside Porto Ceresio (I). It was three metres long and had a carrying capacity of 450 kg. The “pocket-sized submarine of Ceresio” was powered by pedals!

  • Porto Ceresio (I), 1948 (State archives of the canton of Ticino, C. Schiefer)
  • Internal pedal mechanism to operate the propeller
  • Diagram showing how the “pocket-sized submarine” worked
  • Porto Ceresio (I), 1948
  • Illustrazione ticinese, 27.11.1948

9 Object captions

Sack

The “bricolla” was a type of sack made of jute that normally went over the smuggler's head. They weighed between 25kg and 35kg and their shape varied depending on the goods they contained. The bricolla was the ultimate symbol of smuggling.

Footwear

“Peduli” were a special type of footwear made of jute or leftover strong cloth sewn together with twine. They were designed to minimise the impact of trampling on ground and not leave traces. They wore out after one journey and then had to be replaced.

Billhook

The billhook is a curved knife used for various purposes by farmers. Smugglers always had one to hand and would use it to quickly cut off the bricolla shoulder straps and escape if intercepted by border guards.

Walking stick

Canes were used for support and to alleviate the burden of the heavy bricolla they carried on their shoulders. They were usually made by slicing off straight and sturdy hazel shoots with a billhook.

Goods

Tobacco, coffee and sugar were by far the most smuggled goods. These goods were much more expensive in Italy because they were subject to a monopoly or were heavily taxed.

10 Object captions

  • The mules brought huge quantities of rice to Switzerland. But there was also a great demand for tyres and inner tubes. Due to the chronic shortage of fuel, the bicycle was the primary means of transport during the war, and rubber was scarce

11 Object captions

  • Register of customs contraventions compiled by Swiss border guards, 1946
  • Ovidio Maggi, centre, with two fellow soldiers
  • Card announcing the birth of Nora, which Ovidio probably did not even have time to see
  • Map of the site of the shooting of a smuggler by Swiss border guards in the mountains above the museum

12 Violent episodes

The “rice years” were full of drama. If the smugglers did not comply with the order “Halt, Swiss guard, hands up!” and instead ran away, the guards were obliged to shoot. Dozens of smugglers were killed or wounded, but some guards were also killed by criminal traffickers.

  • The upsurge in violence at the Italian border causes a sensation and becomes an issue of national importance
  • Smugglers were aware of the dangers they faced and carried holy cards in their pockets
  • Border guards' tribute in the fight against smuggling
  • Smuggler Rinaldo Fiumberti killed in the mountains above Caprino while trying to smuggle 40kg of rice

13 A family tragedy

Ovidio and Nives were the same age. They grew up in the same village, Cabbio, in the Valle di Muggio and at school they were in the same class. A photograph from 1921 shows them as children in the arms of their mothers, Ovidio on the left, Nives on the right. Is their love written in destiny? They grew up together, got engaged and, in December 1944, married. Ovidio became a border guard, a demanding but secure job. On 22 October 1945, Nives gave birth to Nora, their first child, at the hospital in Mendrisio. On 31 October, Ovidio was to collect Nives and little Nora from the hospital. So he changed shifts with a colleague, meaning he would work the evening before instead. On that ill-fated 30 October, when he was not supposed to be working, he tried to stop some smugglers in Vacallo, and they shot him with submachine guns. Ovidio was transported to Mendrisio hospital, where he died the same evening. The next day, as planned, Nives and Nora were discharged. They set off for Cabbio accompanied by the doctor from the valley: Nives and little Nora were in the car in front, while Ovidio was in the hearse behind.

  • In the back row, in the middle, Ovidio in his mother Maria's arms, on the right, Nives in her mother Maddalena's arms, Cabbio, 1921 (private collection Di Noia family)
  • Nora (1945) and Nives (1919-2014) Maggi
  • Plaque in memory of the border guard Ovidio Maggi in Vacallo (TI)
  • Ovidio Maggi, centre, in a carefree moment with two fellow soldiers

14 Object captions

  • Water bottle in which CHF 800 was hidden, 1945
  • The innovative bricolla for transporting salami
  • During the war, it was forbidden to wander around the border area