FASCIST HOARDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 276, 22 November 1943, Page 3

FASCIST HOARDS

FINDS IN SICILY SHOES, SILKS AND LIQUOR. Messina. Evidence of wholesale hoarding of food and clothing by leading Fascists officials was unearthed daily in Sicily by members of the British Field Security Section. One huge haul made by Field Security officers was a stock of 40,000 pairs of shoes, mostly woman’s shoe.) of the more expensive type. These were found hidden in a room of a villa owned by a prominent Fascist, and an attempt had been made to disguise the door leading into the room to make it appear part of the wall. Townspeople quickly got to hear of the discovery, and demonstrated what they would have done to the hoarder had he not fled to the mainland. Practically all the women among the demonstrators wore rough wooden sabots of a most uncomfortable type, the only kind of footwear they can get. Dilapidated Footwear.

Men not wearing army boots wandered around in incredibly ancient civilian boots or shoes, most of which were tied around with rags. They too, were among the crowd which saw the footwear hoard taken from the Fascist’s villa and transferred to the care of Amgot, which will decide what is to be done with it. Silk of all kinds has not been seen in Sicily since Italy entered the war, but already many hundreds of pairs of silk, stockings and a lot of women’s silk underwear have been found. The more expensive and rare cognacs and liqueurs have also been discovered tucked away in three luxury villas on the coast, where Fascist leaders had, up to quite recently, been able to live in peace and comfort away from the war which they had forced the peasants to fight for them. Bedrooms have been discovered stocked with the most expensive silk sheets and soft luxury blankets. This is in striking contrast to the abject poverty of the Sicilian peasants, who often have only a single room In which the whole family sleeps on the filthy straw-covered floor.