A recently rediscovered footage shows the liberation of the Ferramonti camp on Sept 14, 1943. youtube/watch?v=2BxviE9jUsE Built in mid-June 1940 near Cosenza, Calabria, Ferramonti di Tarsia was the largest of numerous internment camps in Fascist Italy during WW2. More than 3,600 foreign Jews were confined there, along with hundreds of (Jewish and non-Jewish) anti-fascists and other groups of foreigners (Chinese Italians, Greeks, refugees from the Balcans, etc.). Ferramonti was neither a death camp nor a labor camp, nor a concentration camp for deportations. The final solution was implemented in Italy by Mussolini only after Nazi direct occupation in 1943, and the location in Southern Italy meant that the camp was liberated before analogous camps in central and northern Italy were made part of the Nazi death machine. Life was hard in the malaria-infested region, food was scarce, lodging and sanitary condition were precarious. The inmates however were allowed to a certain degree of freedom and self-determination in organizing a school for the children, communal and religious services, even cultural and sport events. Aids came from the Red Cross and the Union of the Israelite Italian Communities, through members of the DELASEM ((Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants). The Chief Rabbi of Genova, Riccardo Pacifici, went several times to Ferramonti, while the Vatican sent to the camp the Capuchin Callisto Lopinot as chaplain for the Catholic internees. The summer of 1943 was the hardest because of the difficulties in the provisions and the food restrictions. On August 27th an aerial combat between Deutsch and American Air forces even ended in a tragic way with setting fire to one hut and killing or injuring some prisoners. But in September the camp was liberated. About 1,000 of the refugees were shipped to the United States, interned at Camp Oswego, New York and eventually allowed to remain in the country. Others went to Israel and other countries or remained in Italy. The camp was dismantled and abandoned. By the 1970s almost no visible trace remained, and with the buildings even the memory seemed to fade away. In 1985 a book by Francesco Follino rediscovered the importance of the site and an effort at the preservation of what remained of the camp began. Eventually, the Ferramonti Musem was inaugurated on site on April 25, 2004. youtube/watch?v=LYOUKw0YRh8
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:17:10 +0000
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