Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Borgo San Dalmazzo was an internment camp operated by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in
Borgo San Dalmazzo Borgo San Dalmazzo ( oc, Lo Borg Sant Dalmatz) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about south of Turin and about southwest of Cuneo. Borgo San Dalmazzo takes its name from Saint Dalm ...
,
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
, Italy. The camp operated under German control from September to November 1943 and, following that, under the control of the
Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...
from December 1943 to February 1944. Approximately 375 Jewish Italians and 349 refugees from other countries (119 from Poland as well as refugees from France, the Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Greece), were held at Borgo San Dalmazzo until deported to
Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
and other German camps where all but a few were murdered.


Camp history


German period

The camp was established on 18 September 1943, ten days after the
surrender of Italy The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brigad ...
to the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
, in a former
Alpini The Alpini are the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry. Part of the army's infantry corps, the speciality distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. Currently the active Alpini units are organized in two operatio ...
barracks of the
Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...
near the railway station of Borgo. Up to the Italian surrender, Jews of Italian nationality and
refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.
from other European nations had lived in relative safety in Italy and the parts of Southern France occupied by Italy. After the Italian surrender, German forces already in the country began an occupation and ordered all non-Italian nationals in the area to present themselves to the occupation authorities. With local assistance, a large number of the Jewish refugees managed to hide, but 349 people (201 men and 148 women) either presented to the authorities or were captured and moved to Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp. Many were caught by the
1st SS Panzer Division The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, (german: 1. SS-Panzerdivision "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler") began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guardin ...
while trying to cross the French border into Italy at
Ventimiglia Ventimiglia (; lij, label=Intemelio, Ventemiglia , lij, label= Genoese, Vintimiggia; french: Vintimille ; oc, label= Provençal, Ventemilha ) is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located southwest of ...
. Conditions in the camp were far less severe than in other, similar camps, and medical assistance was available to the inmates at the hospitals of Borgo and, for more severe cases,
Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...
. Despite a number of successful escapes from the camp, conditions did not worsen much for the inmates. On 9 November 1943, most of the Jews of Italian nationality were released for reasons unknown. On 21 November, the 328 non-Italian Jews remaining in the camp were, on orders from the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
office in
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, taken to the nearby train station, put in freight cars, and taken to either Fossoli di Carpi or
Drancy Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris. History Toponymy The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...
, France. These included the 41 inmates that were, at the time, recovering in the hospital of Borgo. Inmates who were at Cuneo hospital were protected and hidden by the hospital staff and were not removed. Many of those saved from deportation were helped by a local Catholic priest, Don
Raimondo Viale Don Raimondo Viale (1907 – 25 September 1984) was an Italian Catholic priest, whose name is entered among the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem for his work on behalf of the Jews during the Holocaust.Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
in August 2000.Raimondo Viale
– his activity to save Jews' lives during the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, at
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
website
In three stages, on 7 December, 17 December and 27 January, the prisoners at Fossoli di Carpi and Drancy were deported to
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. It is estimated that no more than twelve of the people formerly kept at the camp survived to see liberation at the end of the war. Following the deportations of 21 November, the camp was shut down for a short period.


Italian period

The former German camp was taken over by the Cuneo Police Department a few days after its closure. Under German orders, the local authorities continued to arrest Jewish refugees in the area. A total of 26 people were arrested and held at the camp, mostly women. On 13 January 1944, these prisoners were sent to Fossoli di Carpi and were deported from there on 22 February 1944, mostly to Auschwitz. Following this final deportation, the Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp was permanently closed, although Jews continued to be arrested and executed in the area up to the end of the war. Jews captured after the closure were usually held in prison in
Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
until deported via Fossoli di Carpi. Six Jewish refugees were found and captured in March and April 1945 were executed near Cuneo by soldiers of the Fascist Italian
Black Brigades The ''Corpo Ausiliario delle Squadre d'azione di Camicie Nere'' (Italian: Auxiliary Corps of the Black Shirts' Action Squads), most widely known as the Black Brigades ( it, Brigate Nere), was one of the Fascist paramilitary groups, organized ...
on 25 April 1945, shortly before the town was liberated by partisans.


Victims

Of the approximately 375 inmates at Borgo, only a small number survived the Holocaust. Most were deported to Auschwitz where they were exterminated. A few were also sent to Buchenwald where they were also killed. The victims were refugees from Poland (119 persons), France, Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Greece. The Italian nationals held at Borgo were mostly released, although 23 Italians were also deported. The names, ages and nationality of the victims are well documented. There were slightly more male (209) than female (166) inmates. The victims included both the very young and the very old. There were 78 inmates under the age of 21 (with the youngest being less than a year old). There were 76 inmates over the age of 70. It is estimated that only between 12 and 18 of the inmates survived the Holocaust, less than five percent.


Aftermath

No trace now remains of the former Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp, but two
epitaphs An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
were erected to mark the events that took place in Borgo San Dalmazzo. In 2006 a memorial was erected at the Borgo San Dalmazzo railway station to honor the victims of the deportations. The memorial contains the name, age and country of origin of each of the victims as well as those of the few survivors. Freight cars similar to those used in the deportation are preserved nearby.


References

{{Coord, 44, 19, 36, N, 07, 29, 12, E, type:landmark, display=title Italian fascist internment camps in Italy Buildings and structures in Piedmont Nazi concentration camps in Italy 1940s in Italy History of Piedmont 1943 establishments in Italy 1944 disestablishments in Italy Borgo San Dalmazzo