By Tom Brodersen
“My parents were immigrants,” Fiorello La Guardia wrote. “My mother was born in Trieste, and father was born in Foggia, Italy.” His mother, Irene Coen Luzzatto, was a descendant of a prominent family of Italian-Jewish scholars and rabbis. His father, Achille LaGuardia, was raised Catholic but declared his religion to be “none.” Achille had been an Italian army musician, a military band leader in India, an Austrian band leader, and a hotel entertainer in New York before returning to Trieste. Irene & Achille met in Trieste and were married in a civil ceremony. They sailed for America on their wedding day, in 1880.
Irene and Achille LaGuardia settled in Greenwich Village. Their daughter Gemma was born there in 1881 and Fiorello followed in 1882. In 1885 Achille enlisted in the Army and was stationed in South Dakota as a member of the 11th U.S. Infantry Band & Orchestra. Their third child, Richard, was born in 1887. They were transferred to Fort Huachuca in Arizona Territory just 15 miles from the Mexican border, in 1890. In 1892, the LaGuardia family was transferred to Whipple Barracks near Prescott where Achille was the bandmaster.
Although Fiorello was born in New York City he said, “Prescott was really my hometown. It was there that I grew up. My sister and brother and I went to school there.” Fiorello was 10 years old when he arrived in Prescott, his sister Gemma was 11 and Richard was 5. Gemma wrote, “We had to trudge to school on a rough road. On the way we would sometimes meet Indians, Chinese workers, and most glamorous of all– the cowboys.”
Gemma recalled, “My father formed a musical club for his pupils. Fiorello played the cornet, Richard the piano, and I played the violin. The club was most successful, and we played for many benefit programs. The six years that we spent in Prescott were the happiest years of our youth.”
In 1898 those happy years were ended by the Spanish-American War. The 11th Regiment was sent east on their way to Cuba. In Tampa, Florida before he could sail with the regimental band, Achille La Guardia became ill from contaminated canned meat supplied by corrupt contractors. Achille was discharged for medical reasons. The family had little choice but to return to Europe and live with Fiorello’s maternal grandmother. Achille died in 1904 from the lingering effects of contaminated Army food.
Two years later, Fiorello decided to return to America where he was born. He told his mother, “I want to study and get somewhere in my own country. I want to have a career. I want to be somebody and do something really worthwhile.” Fiorello went to night school and earned a law degree. He achieved his dream and was elected mayor of New York City three times from 1934-1946.
Gemma remained in Europe and married Herman Gluck, a Hungarian Jew. They moved to Budapest and Achille’s widow Irene went to live with them. Irene died in 1915 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery. Gemma and Herman had two daughters and loved life in Budapest. Her serene existence was again shattered by war when Nazi Germany invaded Hungary in 1944.
Gemma and her family were arrested by the Gestapo. The Nazis knew she was Fiorello La Guardia’s sister. Fiorello was an outspoken critic of Hitler long before the war. Gemma was imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She survived in part because Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler thought they could use her in a prisoner exchange.
After WWII ended Gemma lived for two years as a displaced person and refugee. She sailed into New York Harbor “as a weary, shattered survivor of the Holocaust” and gazed at the Statue of Liberty with tears in her eyes.
“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1 The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.