Zappa: Italian POW held in the UK

[sulby]

Hello

I am looking for further information on an Italian POW held in the UK during WWII. We believe that his surname was Zappa and that he was probably held at a POW camp in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire or Warwickshire. During his time in the UK he worked at Watts Lodge Farm, Elkington Road, Welford, Northamptonshire.

He is believed to have been around 18 when he worked on the farm and so would have been born between 1921-1927.

Here is a photograph of him:


I would love to receive information on how I can possibly track down this man and re-establish contact with him or his relatives.

Many thanks

[johnnyonthespot]

You might find some useful tips for guiding your search at this site.

Also, the UK Archives has several items in its collection relating to prisoners of war held in Britain. See this page.

[sulby]

Sadly it seems that most Italian POW records were returned to Italy after the war and from there were redistributed on a regional basis. Without additional information, it is very difficult to make an application for the records. The Red Cross also hold records but again without a few more clues it makes the search very difficult.

I'm hoping that we may be able to find a relative or at least other Italian POWs who may also have been held in the area.

Thanks
Helen

[johnnyonthespot]

Unfortunately, Zappa is an incredibly common Italian surname (see http://www.gens.labo.net/en/cognomi/genera.html, a fact which makes your search all the more difficult.

Somewhere amongst the billions of web pages, one might think that there would be a message board dedicated to WWII prisoners who waited out the war in a UK camp. I'll keep my eyes open...