Far from home, from suffering. But even away from the battle, by adrenaline of the front. They were soldiers in the prime of youth, those between 1941 and 1947 found themselves Zonderwater exiled in South Africa. A generation locked up in the field that hosted the highest number of Italian prisoners of war, almost one hundred thousand out of a total of over six hundred thousand: a open-air prison, so remote as to have left few traces even in the history books. In a lunar landscape, arid and bombarded by lightning, the Italians had to invent a way to survive hunger, disease, boredom, nostalgia of his country (and the lack of women). He had accepted a barren plateau dotted with tents: their departure, six years later, they left a real town, with brick buildings, two hospitals, thirty kilometers of roads, schools, fifteen, twenty-two theaters, a monument. It was an enlightened leader, Colonel Fredrik Hendrik Prinsloo, to understand that these young men first had to restore a normal life. So he chose sport as an ally promoted races fencing, athletics, gymnastics, as well as a football league lived with such passion to turn into the brightest stars among the prisoners. (Foreword by Gian Antonio Stella)
Title Devils of Zonderwater. 1941-1947. The history of Italian prisoners in South Africa who survived the war through sport
Author Annese Carlo
Price € 18.50
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Year 2010
Publisher Sperling & Kupfer (series tests)
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