1941 Italian passport used for the US
Swiss representation of Italian interests.
During World War Two several countries took upon the part of representing various states and governments abroad who could not maintain diplomatic relations due to the state of war that existed, meaning that neutral governments where now acting on behalf of nations that had to close down their legations and consulates and had to have a third party act on their behalf.
We thus can find the following countries representing Axis nations in Allied countries:
- Sweden
- Brazil
- Chile
- Switzerland
For example, Brazilian legation in Beirut was representing Italian interest in the colony, Swiss government was representing British and US interests in the Far East, Chile was representing, for a brief period of time, Polish interests in Romania. I am sure other examples exist but I thought some examples, as mentioned above, were sufficient for the article here.
The US was active in Europe during the outbreak of WW2, and we can locate various consulates or legations in Axis countries as well, such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Italy and even Germany up to Pearl Harbor, were shortly afterwards the government in Berlin declared war on the US.
The article here is a fine example of a neutral state representing Axis interests in an Allied country, thus being a mixture of all 3 types of parties existing during the war all “working” together to ensure the smooth interaction between the countries when in normal conditions none of this would be needed at all in the first place. Oddly, in order to maintain the normal balance that would exists in times of peace, all three sides needed to come together in this “game of chairs” in order to maintain what could not be maintained anymore due to the state of war that now existed. What a bizarre world we live in.
The passport here is an Axis issued Italian passport form late 1941 used for traveling to now Allied United States and extended by neutral Switzerland in order to prevent the internment of the holder who would be now deemed as an enemy civilian living in an Allied country.
Italian passport number 867174 was issued to 37 year old Maria at Firenze on November 6th, a month before Japan would attack the US and a state of war existing between Rome and Washington.
Though the passport was used at the end to enter the US on June 19th 1942, clearly in a time that a state of war between the two countries existed, its visas that enabled the holder to enter in the first place are rather interesting and can demonstrate the routes that were used in order to fulfill successfully the journey of the holder.
The way west to the US was preferred via a neutral country, this would ensure the chance of an attack on a ship or convoy traveling in hostile waters rather slim or minimal at best, so the journey west would normally start from neutral Portugal, after reaching the country by land either from France, before or even after its occupation by Germany, or even from Spain. This would explain the Spanish visas issued at Genoa and Rome of 1942. The Liberian issued visa from late 1941 is a puzzle indeed; I am still not sure for what purpose it was even obtained in the first place. It just “appears” inside the passport. I have been collecting travel documents for over 10 years already and I am baffled at the sight of this odd destination visa and have no clue, honestly for the reason of it being issued. Clearly, further research is needed.
I am not surely comprehensive to the reasons why the holder of the document was not interned and rather allowed to have her passport extended up to the point where diplomatic relations were re-established between Rome and Washington. Or maybe I am wrong, and she was indeed interned as an enemy civilian and her passport was extended as a form of formality at the time. As mentioned above, further research is required and I would appreciate it very much if others could contact me and clarify these open questions…
Thank you for reading “Our Passports”.
