September 1943. Italian prisoner Giuseppe Toselli expected rock quarries and hard labor when he arrived in California. Instead, American guards handed him an assignment that made him furious: vineyard work. He thought it was mockery. Degrading “peasant work” designed to humiliate trained craftsmen.
He had no idea that within 18 months, he’d own part of that vineyard. That his fellow prisoners—sent to restaurant kitchens and farms—would become some of California’s most successful businessmen. That the “punishment” they feared would become the opportunity that made them wealthy.
This is the true story of 5,000 Italian POWs who arrived in California expecting degradation and found prosperity instead. The men who thought they were being mocked. Who waited for the “real” punishment to begin. Who couldn’t understand why Americans treated prisoners like valued workers instead of captives.
The men who built California’s wine industry from prison camps. Who stayed after the war and became millionaires. Whose confusion turned into fortune.
Giuseppe Toselli. Carlo Mancini. And thousands of Italian prisoners who discovered that sometimes the worst thing that happens to you becomes the best thing—if you’re willing to see it.
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⚠️ Note: This narrative is based on historical events and archival sources. Some details have been dramatized for storytelling. For academic research, consult professional historical archives.
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42 Comments
If I recall correctly the ones that were really watched were the die hard loyalists and most of those were Germany. Anyways lots of things I’ve learned about the pows brought to the US was that it varied from place to place but generally things were rather good. Most pows did return home but many liked the US so much they stayed as mentioned here.
I grew up in Napa. During that time, there was still stonework in Napa. Look at the original wineries from that Era. Stone. He could have worked stone.
Not . . . today's . . . America. 😪
We have absolutely destroyed what was good about America when I was a child. We are a shadow of that.
Lodi is pronounced Low die
There was never a Croft vineyard in Napa, CA. There is a Croft vineyard in Oregon founded in 1983.
I grew up in the valley. Lodi (load-eye) not Load-ee. It's the same Lodi from the Credence Clearwater Revival song. East of Napa towards the Sacramento River.
Ah yes, the banana farms of California.
Ok, one thing you have wrong is the rate of pay POWs received in the US. According to the Geneva Conventions, they had to be paid an amount similar to what the same labor was worth back home.
US Labor was not going to allow the government to replace them with prisoners paid a small fraction.
So an odd compromise was worked out. A farmer would pay the US government the local rate if pay. The government then paid the POWs what they could expect back home, and pocket the difference.
You said "lucky to be sent to California and not Texas. Hey. I agree, because he would have adapted to California's Mediterranean climate overnight. Getting used to Texas heat would have taken longer.
"Some details have been dramatized for storytelling. For academic research, consult professional historical archives.."
Paid the equivalent of approximately $15.90 per day. That's more than many people make in 3rd world countries currently.
This story is B.S.
German POWs arrived in Napa Valley in August 1945. Yes, after the war in Europe was over but before it ended in the Pacific.
"Chen" – used in how many other POW videos? 20? 15? Ridiculous.
Watching from
America was a place after war #2 was a place where human kindness and respect were commonplace.
My father was a POW guard in Marseille in 1945. He made a huge number of friends he kept through the rest of his life. My father took us to visit a couple of these friends in the late 60s'. One friend made pear brandy from a huge grove of pear trees.
Calling vineyard work an insult and then ending up owning part of it… life really has a twisted sense of humor
At 4:51, are those the elusive and rare California Napa Vallet tropical Banana grapes? My Dad worked with a former Italian POW at the City Parks & Recreation Dept. Mario worked and retired from the City.
I delivered the Denver post on my bike in the Craig Morton years… and I'm more surprised they still print a paper than I am that Perna made the cover😂 If someone is willing to mail me one it's going on my Broncos wall👍🇺🇸 with my elway elway manning and tebow Jerseys.
Poor ai narration
It's a nice story but totally made up.
We need to go back to the great generations mindset of life at work and family. Stop importing foreign destructive ideologies into our country.Please😢
THIS IS ALL FAKE BULLSHIT. AI PHOTOS, FAKE DETAILS. ALL COMPUTER GENERATED CRAP. DISGUSTING.
The math does work out. Went from 80 cents a month to 80 cents per week. Then $150 per month as an employee
We treated WHITE POWS better thatn Japanese citizens. Sounds just like the racist USA!
not any more
The beautiful stonework throughout New York's Letchworth State Park really should be seen and walked…. the falls and gorge are spectacular.
Excellent. He should be stoked to be sent to Angel Island which is now a state Park and really nice. The same with Napa.
“Beware of the rattlesnakes”
I'm sipping California Moscato while listening to this.
I'd rather watch a video with a human narrator, not an AI voice.
My step father told about guarding prisoners in Washington picking apples 🍎, he would lean his rifle against a tree and pic apples with the prisoners receiving the extra pay for picking apples.
You know you’re doing something right when POWs refuse to go home.
Wish we treated people this way today
Meanwhile we treated our own people as prisoners. ( Japanese Americans)
AI, the dates don't work
Working on grape vineyards was what low class people did in Italy, slaves used to do that in Roman times. Many Italian soldiers came from the rural peasant class worked in vineyards owned by rich landowners and the old nobility, they joined the military to escape from that ancient drudgery only to be captured as POWs and sent to work in California vineyards. Good thing that the US had a sensible POW policy back then.
It was nice that the POW’s all got to be millionaires. All my dad got for fighting the Germans and getting wounded was two years in hospital. Joe Biden would have been proud of the disparate outcomes for the foreigners.
"We're going to send you to work for this wonderful family in New York. The Corleones…"
Robert Mondavi Vineyards put California on the world wine map. Today provides very good wines.
👍👍
It's a lovely story. I wish I could believe it was true. But I can not find any information on a vintner named Giuseppi Toselli in Napa, California. I can not find any long obituary or dedication by Robert Mondavi. It's a real name, but not associated with California wine making. At least not that I can find. Can anyone else come up with some credible source (other than a YouTube storyteller)?