The story of a „Fiumano“ born in a refugee camp
He was born in 1952 in a refugee camp in southern Italy, from a family coming from Rijeka (Fiume). The town was shortly autonomous in 1921, but later it was annexed by Italy. From 1943 it was occupied by Nazi Germany. In May of 1945 it was taken over by the Yugoslav resistance. Today, Rijeka belongs to Croatia. Andor is from a family of „Fiumani“, people of Italian culture in Rijeka . His family include Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Jews. When the town became part of Yugoslavia after the war, Italians were subject to a loss of rights and property. Andor’s young mother tried to escape, but she was captured. Her punishment was forced labour, three months of hard work building a railway in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After her return, she got married. It wasn’t until 1952 that the family could leave Rijeka for Italy. His mother undertook the long train journey while eight months pregnant and Andor was born shortly thereafter in a refugee camp near Bari. Today he lives in Turin and spends his holidays in Rijeka. His son married a Croat woman.