Travel permit for Caterina Cardinale. Even though she was forced to move by government order, Cardinale still had to obtain this travel permit to move from her home in Pittsburg to Centreville farther south.

The pink ID Booklet, showing the inside—with birth date, birth place, current address and alien registration number—and the outside, with the name, address, and jurisdiction place where issued. The inside back cover contained instructions as to allowable and prohibited behavior. The booklet had to be carried at all times by enemy aliens.

The map at top shows both the prohibited zones (in black) and the curfew zones (in crosshatch) for enemy aliens. The letter to its left reprints the message from Attorney General Biddle to L’Italia requiring the newspaper to print the orders restricting the possession of “contraband” by enemy aliens. The curfew (or ‘restricted’) zones covered what is commonly known as the Pacific Slope, the area from the Pacific ocean to the Sierra foothills. In this zone, the 8PM to 6AM curfew was in effect, as well as travel and residence restrictions. The copy of the Pittsburg Post-Dispatch is headlined with the news of the 9 PM (the original curfew was 9PM; in March, General DeWitt increased the curfew hours to start at 8 PM) curfew for enemy aliens about to go into effect on February 24.

Beginning in late December 1941, Italian aliens were hit by a series of federal regulations of increasing severity. Posters like the one shown ordered them to register and be photographed; the resulting I.D. booklets had to be carried at all times. Any travel of more than 5 miles from home had to be preceded by applications for travel permits like those shown. On the West Coast, an 8PM to 6AM curfew was imposed, which led to widespread fear of being reported.

One family remembered returning from the movies later in their car and covering their Nonna, an enemy alien in violation of curfew, with a blanket. Latent effects could cut deeper and last longer. Frances Cardinalli reported that ever afterwards, her father, upon hearing the 8 o’clock factory whistle in Pittsburg, would remember the curfew and silently go to bed.