1. Ferramonti and the Museum of
Memory
The internment camp Ferramonti, in the
municipality ofTarsia in the province of
Cosenza, was the principal (in terms of
numerical strength) between the many
places of internment for the Jews, stateless
persons, foreign enemies and Slavs, opened
by the fascist regime between June and
September 1940, following the entry of
Italy into world War II.The camp was
liberated by the British Army in September
1943, but many former internees remained
in Ferramonti the following years and the
camp Ferramonti was officially closed on
11 December 1945.Thus from the point of
view of the chronological events of the
Second World War, it has a peculiar record:
it was the very first concentration camp
for Jews to be released and also the last to
be formally closed.
2. The concentration camp Ferramonti ofTarsia was built in May
1940 by the firm Parrini of Rome, which was later responsible for
the maintenance of the whole camp. It, unlike the other Italian
camps, was built on a model of a Nazi concentration camp: it
had in fact long sheds and was very close to the railway line
Sybaris-Cosenza. Inside, there were an average of over 2000
prisoners who reached a peak of 2,700 people in the 'summer of
1943. It was also the largest and most important Italian fascist
concentration camp.
3. On its territory of about
160,000 square meters.
92 barracks stood.The
monitoring carried out
by a Fascist militia
(locals or neighboring
countries), was made
from 'outside the
barbed wire fence that
surrounded the
building, while a
commissioner of public
safety, a sergeant and a
group of agents,
guarded the inside.
4. Ferramonti camp,
located in the valley
of the crater, 6 km
from the town of
Tarsia, was inserted
into a marshy and
swampy area, so that
malaria was
widespread.The
company Parrini was
already reclaiming
the area before the
construction of the
camp but, after all,
during the period of
captivity there were
many prisoners who
contracted malaria
and died.
5. The camp became operation on
June 20, 1940.
It was between June and July of that
year that one hundred Jews (men
only) came to Ferramonti from
many central-northern Italy cities.
As the prisoners were increasing
more and more they were not
only Jews, but also people of
various cultures, languages and
traditions, so the high number
and the unfavorable economic
conditions created many
difficulties for internees.
6. In the field of Ferramonti shackled internees arrived, accompanied by police or security
officials and they were made to go down to the train station or at the exit of
Mongrassano rail site near the entrance of the camp. Paul Salvatore, former
Commissioner of Public Safety was appointed director of the camp and 10 July of the
same year it was introduced a disciplinary regulations for the inmates.The latter provided
that they could not get out of the barracks after the first of 7.00 and 21.00, were
subjected to 3 calls a day, they could not escape from the field without a special permit;
should not also involved in politics, read foreign publications, write or receive mail
without the control of the boardroom; were finally banned the use of cameras, radio and
playing cards.
7. Among the internees there
were doctors, musicians,
professors, many graduate
and undergraduate students.
In the autumn of 1940 Erich
Wittenberg founded a
school, directed by Hans
Benda, which had been
enriched with various
courses and had been
accompanied by a nursery.
8. The artistic and cultural debates
were frequent in Ferramonti:
culture was expressed through
theatre performances, art
exhibitions, sports
competitions, literary
competitions and conferences
and was also drawn up a
newspaper.
The musical life was taken care
of thanks to the teacher Lav
Mirski, who before the war had
been the conductor of the
opera Osijek (Yugoslavia).
Sport also had great
importance and it excelled in
football.
They were also well attended
tournaments of chess
9. On December 11, 1945,
after a survey conducted
by the prefecture of
Cosenza in the premises
and materials, the camp
was closed.After the
barracks were not
guarded by a prefecture
or municipality and this
had resulted in looting
and destruction.At the
end of the 60s the area
of the field was crossed
by the route of the A3
Salerno - Reggio
Calabria.
10. Today the camp of Ferramonti little remains: only a few shacks used during the
war years by the management offices of the administration, no one spoke more
of the Ferramonti concentration camp until the end of the '70s,when the
Professor Francesco Folino did some researches on this issue, based on the
testimonies of people who had experienced first hand .
At the end of the 80s institutions realized the importance of this historical memory
and restructured municipal funds with two cabins, creating a museum in the first
and in the other a conference room that will be before a documentation
center and then a library.
The museum opened on 25 April 2004, it was visited by the great personalities of
the world of culture and politics.
The memory re-has emerged from the dark past and proposes opening of new
hope and peace.
