Refugees across the channel

Frank Bezzina, Charles Bezzina: Ir-Refuġjati Maltin f’Għawdex fi Żmien il-GwerraMalta, 2017
When safely protected by the thick glass screens of our televisions, we daily witness the regular migration of thousands of miserable refugees who had to forcibly leave their homes, little do we imagine that, there but for fortune, they could very well be us.

Indeed, just a couple of generations ago, scores of Maltese had to leave the security of their home towns and seek shelter in safer places away from the harbour area which was being regularly poun­ded by enemy bombs. A good number, generally those with sufficient means or connections, even made their way across the channel to the relative safety of Gozo.
This large-scale evacuation of people would contribute to the greatest demographic and social changes in Malta and in Gozo, exposing people of different cultures to others of completely dissimilar lifestyles. As a result, the islands would never be the same again, for better or for worse.
The story of these refugees has never been treated in any depth. The latest book by the late Frank Bezzina (1925-96) and his son Charles is indeed a valuable record of an episode that saw about...