Gonars ( fur, Gonârs) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' near

Palmanova Palmanova ( fur, Palme) is a town and comune in northeast Italy. The town is an example of a star fort of the late Renaissance, built up by the Venetian Republic in 1593. The fortifications were included in UNESCO's World Heritage Site list a ...

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giul ...

, northeastern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

History

World War II

On 23 February 1942, the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

regime established a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

in the town, mostly for prisoners from present-day

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. The first transport of 5343 internees (1643 of whom were children) arrived two days later from the Province of

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

and from the Rab camp and the camp in

Monigo The Monigo concentration camp was a prison camp opened during World War II aimed at civilian prisoners (mostly Slovenes and Croats). It was located in Monigo, a suburb of the town of Treviso. The camp was active between 1942 and 1943. The total n ...

near

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

. The camp was disbanded on 8 September 1943, immediately after Italian capitulation. Every effort was made to erase any evidence of this black spot of Italian history. The camp's buildings were destroyed, the materials were used to build a nearby

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

and the site was turned into a

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artif ...

. Only in 1973 a

sacrarium A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman C ...

was created by

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

Miodrag Živković at the town's cemetery. Remains of 453 Slovenian and Croatian victims were transferred into its two underground

crypt A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a ...

s. It is believed that at least 50 additional persons died in the camp due to

starvation Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, dea ...

and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

. Apart from the sacrarium, no other evidence of the camp remains and even many locals are unaware of it. Among the people interned in the camp were scientist Aleš Strojnik, writer

Vitomil Zupan Vitomil Zupan (18 January 1914 – 14 May 1987) was a post-World War II modernist Slovene writer and Gonars concentration camp survivor. Because of his detailed descriptions of sex and violence, he was dubbed the Slovene HemingwayAlojz Gradnik Alojz Gradnik (August 3, 1882 – July 14, 1967) was a Slovenian poet and translator. Life Gradnik was born in the village of Medana in the Gorizia Hills region, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is today in the Municipality of ...

and France Balantič, historians

Bogo Grafenauer Bogo Grafenauer (16 March 1916 – 12 May 1995) was a Slovenian historian, who mostly wrote about medieval history in the Slovene Lands. Together with Milko Kos, Fran Zwitter, and Vasilij Melik, he was one of the founders of the so-called ...

and

Vasilij Melik Vasilij Melik (17 January 1921 – 28 January 2009) was a Slovenian historian, who mostly worked on political history of the Slovene Lands in the 19th century. Life He was born in Ljubljana as the only son of the renowned geographer Anton Meli ...

, sculptor Jakob Savinšek, playwright and essayist Bojan Štih, journalist

Ernest Petrin Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman ...

, and politicians

Anton Vratuša Anton Vratuša (born Vratussa Antal; 21 February 1915 – 30 July 2017) was a Slovenian politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from 1978 to 1980, and Yugoslavia's ambassador to the United Nations.http://www.sazu.si/en/members/a ...

Boris Kraigher Boris Kraigher (February 14, 1914 – January 4, 1967) was a Slovenian communist politician. Kraigher served as the president of the Executive Council of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia from December 15, 1953 to June 25, 1962. He was a member ...

and

France Bučar France Bučar (2 February 1923 – 21 October 2015) was a Slovenian politician, legal expert and author. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the first speaker of the freely elected Slovenian Parliament. He was the one to formally declare the ...

Twin cities

Vrhnika Vrhnika (; german: Oberlaibach;''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120. la, Nauportus) is a town in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Mun ...

References

External links

Official site of the concentration camp Memorial

Cities and towns in Friuli-Venezia Giulia Italian fascist internment camps in Italy World War II crimes World War II sites in Italy {{FriuliVeneziaGiulia-geo-stub

History

World War II

Twin cities

Further reading

References

External links