Fossoli Police Transit Camp

Campo di concentramento di Fossoli

Prisoners of war, political opponents and Jews were held captive at the Fossoli camp - first by Italian fascists, and from 1943 on, by the German SS. The camp was the point of departure for deportations to concentration and extermination camps north of the Alps. A memorial is currently being constructed on the former camp premises. A museum in the nearby town of Carpi has commemorated the deportations since 1973.

History

In 1943, after Italy had ended its alliance with Germany and surrendered to the Allies, the »Italian Social Republic« was established in Northern Italy - a fascist puppet state occupied by the Germans. Beginning December 5, 1943, the regime used the Fossili camp as an internment camp for Jews. Located close to Carpi, 20 kilometres north of Modena, the camp was initially meant to hold Allied prisoners of war from the North African front. Jewish prisoners were incarcerated in a part of the camp referred to as the »new camp«, while Italian and foreign civilians were held as the »old camp«. From January 1944 on, political prisoners too were admitted into the »new camp«. On February 19 and 22, 1944, the first Jews were deported from Fossoli to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen, at a time when the camp was still under Italian administration. The deportations were organised by Friedrich Bosshammer, who operated from Verona and was responsible for implementing the »final solution« in Italy.
On March 15, 1944, the Germans took control of the camp, which was now officially a »police transit camp«. The main task of the camp now was to compile northbound transports from Fossoli. SS-Untersturmführer Karl Friedrich Titho was the camp commander. On July 12, 1944, 67 political prisoners were shot on the firing range in Cibeno in »retaliation measures«.
On August 2, 1944, the camp was dissolved as it was no longer deemed safe due to partisan activities in the region and the advancement of Allied troops. The guard personnel and prisoners were transferred to the newly established Bolzano police transit camp. Prior to this, Friedrich Bosshammer had all Jews deported who had hitherto been spared due to their status as »of mixed race« or who were part of a »mixed marriage«.

Fossoli, 1943, The »New Camp«, Archivio Storico e Sezione Etnografica del Comune di Carpi

Carpi, undated, Steles in front of the museum bearing the names of German concentration camps, Fondazione Fossoli

Victims

It is known today that at least eight transports carrying a total of 5,000 people, over half of them Jews, departed from Fossoli before the camp was dissolved and its remaining prisoners transferred to Bolzano in August 1944. Five transports were headed for the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, the others went to Mauthausen, Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen and Ravensbrück. The deportations were conducted by Italian Carabinieri and security police units from South Tyrol. The Jewish prisoners were mostly deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, only one transport of Jews from neutral countries set out for Bergen-Belsen.
Writer Primo Levi (1919-1987) was among those deported on the first transport from Fossoli to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He describes the camp and his deportation in »If This Is a Man«.

In 1922 the Kingdom of Italy became a dictatorship under the »Duce« (leader) Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) and his fascist party. Until the mid-1930s there was barely any evidence of public anti-semitism in Italy; discriminatory measures were not introduced until 1938. At the time, around 46,000 Jews were living in Italy. During this period, the Italian state also included the Istrian peninsula and a number of islands that are now part of Greece, such as Rhodes, which had a Jewish community rich in tradition. The Italian government was a close ally of the German Reich but was not involved in the mass deportations of Jews to German extermination camps until autumn 1943. It was only following the occupation of the north of the country by the German Wehrmacht (the south had already been liberated by American and British troops) that the German SS and police began to implement plans to systematically deport the Italian Jews. The Jews were initially held in detention camps and then transported halfway across Europe to Auschwitz, where many were killed in the gas chambers on arrival. Between 7,000 and 8,500 Jews from Italy (excluding Italian-occupied territory) were murdered or died as a result of brutality. Tens of thousands of Italian Jews and Jewish refugees were able to survive by emigrating or going into hiding with the help of non-Jews. The Allied liberation of southern Italy spared over 2,000 Jews from deportation by the German regime. The period 1943 to 1945 saw violent conflicts between the German occupation forces and Italian partisans from the communist-dominated resistance movement »Resistenza«. German troops responded with horrific reprisal measures and massacres, for example in Marzabotto and in the Ardeatine Caves near Rome. More than 400,000 Italians – soldiers, civilians and partisans – died during the Second World War. Once the war was over, the partisan campaign became a key feature of Italian national identity and the Italian culture of memory cultivated the myth that the country had liberated itself from fascism. There was barely any confrontation with the widespread Italian support for Mussolini. The best-known sites of memory such as the former concentration camp at Risiera di San Sabba near Trieste or the memorials at Marzabotto and the Ardeatine Caves are dedicated to the resistance, as are many museums. However, there are few memorial sites at former detention camps for Jews and where these do exist they tend to commemorate the liberators rather than the victims. One example is Villa Emma in Nonatola, where Jewish children were able to survive in hiding. One feature linking many of these sites is their focus on human rights education for the present and future. In recent years, the memory of the deported and murdered Jews has become more prominent. In 2013, the Memoriale de la Shoah di Milano opened in Milan’s central railway station, and in 2023, the decision has been made to create a central holocaust memorial in Rome.

Remembrance

The »old camp« fell into ruin soon after the war and became farmland, whereas the »new camp« was used as an internment camp for former henchmen of the »Italian Social Republic« in the first few months after the war. The premises were then used as a »displaced persons camp« for Jewish refugees, until the establishment of »Nomadelfia«, a living community for war orphans, on the site. After »Nomadelfia« had moved, the premises were used to accommodate Italian refugees from Istria and Venezia Giulia, which had been annexed by Yugoslavia in 1954, in the years 1954 to 1970.
Already in 1955, former prisoners, members of Jewish communities and politicians formed a committee whose aim it was to set up a memorial in the town of Carpi. In 1964, a design for the memorial by architects Belgiojoso, Peressuti and Rogers as well as painter Renato Guttuso was selected. Together with Gianluigi Banfi, the three architects became famous in the 1930s as the BBPR Group. Banfi and Belgiojoso had been deported to Mauthausen in 1944, where Banfi perished. The »Museum and Memorial to the Deportees« was inaugurated on October 14, 1973 with a commemorative service which 40,000 people took part in. The museum primarily displays contemporary art, which is meant to create an atmosphere of emotional encounter. The names of a total of 15,000 Italian deportees, among them many Jews, are listed in the »Room of Names«.
Since 1996, the museum has been run by the »Foundation Former Camp Fossoli«. The mission of the foundation and the affiliated »Study and Documentation Centre« is to preserve the remaining camp premises - of which only the wall of the barracks remain - and to remodel it to a memorial site. This was begun in 2002 according to a design by Tuscan architect Roberto Maestro and is gradually being realised.

Carpi, undated, »Room of Names« at the museum, Fondazione Fossoli

Carpi, 1973, Commemorative ceremony for the museum opening, Fondazione Fossoli

Possibilities

Free guided tours (Sundays), tours by appointment (fee required), publication »Quaderni di Fossoli« (Fossoli Magazine)

Open

Camp premises: appointment recommended
Museum in Carpi: Friday, Saturday and holidays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
June 21 to September 20: Friday, Saturday and holidays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Contact

http://www.fondazionefossoli.org/

fondazione.fossoli@carpidiem.it

+39 (0)59 688 272

Via Giulio Rovighi, 57
41012 Carpi

Fossoli, 2004, Only reconstructed barrack at the former camp, Marcello Pezzetti

Fossoli, 2004, One of the former barracks of the »New Camp«, Marcello Pezzetti

Stadtallendorf

Documentation and Information Centre Stadtallendorf

Between 1938 and 1945, over 17,000 forced labourers were deployed in the arms industry in what is today Stadtallendorf. The Documentation and Information Centre (DIZ) deals with this time period and c...

Nützen

Kaltenkirchen Concentration Camp Memorial in Springhirsch

In 2000, a memorial was opened in Springhirsch, a district of Nützen, on the premises of the former Kaltenkirchen satellite camp. Up to 1,000 prisoners were subjected to forced labour in this camp bet...

Dresden

Münchner Platz Dresden Memorial

Until 1956, political opponents of numerous regimes were put to trial and sentenced at the Dresden Regional Court: under National Socialism, during the Soviet occupation and under the dictatorship of...