Spazzacamini (Italian language for chimney sweep) was the term for child laborers in 19th- and early 20th-century Italy and Switzerland, where they were also known as Kaminfegerkinder in German-speaking areas.
History and origin
Most of the boys, usually 8 to 12 years old, were from the canton of Ticino, coveted by their
padroni because they were small and slim and therefore able to climb the narrow chimneys and to clean them. When the boys had reached the top of the chimneys, they had to shout "
Spazzacamini!" to prove that they actually had climbed up the dark, stuffy fireplaces. The working conditions were catastrophic. For lunch, the children often had nothing to eat and had to go begging for bread, and they had often to sleep in stables. The boys were hired in the winter, so at the family tables in the badly developed valleys of Ticino one mouth less had to be fed. At that time, bitter poverty and hunger was widely spread in Ticino during the winter months. Many children came from the
Valle Verzasca, the
Centovalli and also from the Italian
Val Vigezzo valleys,
and frequently worked in northern Italy.
In culture
Every autumn in
Valle Vigezzo chimney sweeps from all over the world meet in memory of the chimney sweep child slaves.
The children's book
Die schwarzen Brüder ("The Black Brothers") was first published in two volumes in 1940–41, telling the story of Giorgio, a little boy from
Sonogno in the Verzasca Valley, based on facts, who had been used as
Kaminfegerjunge.
Lisa Tetzner had read in ancient chronicles about the fate of such small boys from the Verzasca Valley and other valleys of the Ticino. The book is popular and, amongst others, a film, a television serial, a musical and a radio play have been based on the novel, as well as naming a hiking route starting in Sonogno in the Verzasca Valley.
Literature
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Elisabeth Wenger: Als lebender Besen im Kamin: Einer vergessenen Vergangenheit auf der Spur. Books on demand, 2010.
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Lisa Tetzner and Kurt Kläber: Die Schwarzen Brüder. Erlebnisse und Abenteuer eines kleinen Tessiners. First published in 1940–41, Sauerländer, Aarau/Mannheim 2010, .
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Lisa Tetzner and Hannes Binder (illustrations): Die Schwarzen Brüder – Roman in Bildern. Patmos Verlagshaus, Düsseldorf 2002, .
See also
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Child labour in Switzerland
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Chimney sweeps' carcinoma
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Die schwarzen Brüder
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Kinder der Landstrasse
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Verdingkinder
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Wiedergutmachungsinitiative
External links
