Bolzano Transit Camp
Encyclopedia
The Bolzano transit camp was a Nazi
concentration camp active in Bolzano between 1944 and the end of the Second World War
. It was one of the largest Nazi Lager on Italian soil, along with those of Fossoli, Borgo San Dalmazzo
and Trieste
.
signed the Armistice with Italy
on September 8, 1943, Bolzano became the headquarters of the Prealpine Operations Zone and came under the control of the Nazi army
. When the internment camp in Fossoli became vulnerable to Allied attack, it was dismantled, and a transit camp for prisoners headed for Mauthausen, Flossenbürg
, Dachau, Ravensbrück and Auschwitz was set up in Bolzano.
Operative as of the summer of 1944 and located in buildings previously occupied by the Italian Army
, the transit camp hosted about 11,000 prisoners from middle and northern Italy in its ten months of activity. Although the camp's population consisted mostly of political opponents
, Jewish and gypsy deportees also passed through its barracks.
A portion of the prisoners—approximately 3,500 people of all ages—was transferred to one of the Lagers, while the rest were assigned to work in loco as free labour, either in the camp workshops and labs, in local firms, or in the apple orchards.
The interned prisoners were freed between April 29 and May 3, 1945, when the camp was closed to prevent the advancing Allied troops from witnessing its living conditions and (presumably) to eliminate evidence. The SS troops destroyed all documentation relating to camp activities before withdrawing, following the standing order that no trace be left behind.
As was customary in Nazi internment camps, each block was assigned a letter and a specific "type" of prisoner. In block A lived permanent residents, who were treated somewhat better than the others because of their involvement in essential camp activities (especially administration); in blocks D and E were kept political prisoners, regarded by the Nazis as the greatest danger and therefore kept segregated from other prisoners; block F was reserved for women and the occasional child.
Jewish male deportees, whose transit was often short-lived, were crammed in block L. There also was a prison block
hosting approximately 50 inmates.
The camp was directed by the Verona
SS, whose chief was the Brigadeführer (brigade general) of Gestapo
Wilhelm Harster
; the camp's executive directors were lieutenant Titho and marshal Haage, who headed a garrison
of German, Swiss and Ukrainian soldiers.
, Sarntal
, Moos in Passeier
and Sterzing
.
arose, organized along three axes:
sentenced Michael Seifert
, a Ukrainian SS known in the camp as "Misha", to life in prison for the atrocities he committed against deportees, particularly those held in the jail block.
The relative recency of this trial is due to the fact that the case had remained hidden for decades and resurfaced with the discovery of the so-called armadio della vergogna
(lit., "the wardrobe of shame") in 1994. Among the prisoners that Seifert and his accomplice Otto Sein tortured was a young Mike Bongiorno
, an American POW
who would go on to become one of Italy's most beloved TV figures after war.
Seifert, who had emigrated to Canada
after the war, had to face 18 counts of murder
and 15 additional counts of misconduct. He was tracked down in Vancouver
, only days before the trial was to begin, by a reporter working for the Vancouver Sun, who acted upon information provided by the Associazione nazionale ex deportati politici nei campi nazisti (ANED) (National Association of former political deportees to Nazi internment camps).
His story was reconstructed by the Italian historians Giorgio Mezzalira and Carlo Romeo in the book entitled Mischa, jailer of the Bolzano lager.
A separate trial of the camp directors, Titho and Haage, had taken place in 1999, with a different outcome: Titho was absolved for lack of evidence, while Haage was sentenced posthumously.
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
concentration camp active in Bolzano between 1944 and the end of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was one of the largest Nazi Lager on Italian soil, along with those of Fossoli, Borgo San Dalmazzo
Borgo San Dalmazzo
Borgo San Dalmazzo is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km south of Turin and about 8 km southwest of Cuneo...
and Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
.
History
After the AlliesAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
signed the Armistice with Italy
Armistice with Italy
The Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy...
on September 8, 1943, Bolzano became the headquarters of the Prealpine Operations Zone and came under the control of the Nazi army
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
. When the internment camp in Fossoli became vulnerable to Allied attack, it was dismantled, and a transit camp for prisoners headed for Mauthausen, Flossenbürg
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
, Dachau, Ravensbrück and Auschwitz was set up in Bolzano.
Operative as of the summer of 1944 and located in buildings previously occupied by the Italian Army
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
, the transit camp hosted about 11,000 prisoners from middle and northern Italy in its ten months of activity. Although the camp's population consisted mostly of political opponents
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
, Jewish and gypsy deportees also passed through its barracks.
A portion of the prisoners—approximately 3,500 people of all ages—was transferred to one of the Lagers, while the rest were assigned to work in loco as free labour, either in the camp workshops and labs, in local firms, or in the apple orchards.
The interned prisoners were freed between April 29 and May 3, 1945, when the camp was closed to prevent the advancing Allied troops from witnessing its living conditions and (presumably) to eliminate evidence. The SS troops destroyed all documentation relating to camp activities before withdrawing, following the standing order that no trace be left behind.
The camp
The camp was originally set to host 1,500 people. For this purpose, two sheds were divided into six blocks, one of which was reserved for women. The camp was then progressively enlarged until it reached a stated capacity of 4,000 prisoners.As was customary in Nazi internment camps, each block was assigned a letter and a specific "type" of prisoner. In block A lived permanent residents, who were treated somewhat better than the others because of their involvement in essential camp activities (especially administration); in blocks D and E were kept political prisoners, regarded by the Nazis as the greatest danger and therefore kept segregated from other prisoners; block F was reserved for women and the occasional child.
Jewish male deportees, whose transit was often short-lived, were crammed in block L. There also was a prison block
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
hosting approximately 50 inmates.
The camp was directed by the Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
SS, whose chief was the Brigadeführer (brigade general) of Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
Wilhelm Harster
Wilhelm Harster
Wilhelm Harster was an SS and Police Leader. He was twice convicted of war crimes, by the Dutch and later by West Germany...
; the camp's executive directors were lieutenant Titho and marshal Haage, who headed a garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
of German, Swiss and Ukrainian soldiers.
Sub-camps
Bolzano camp was the only one, in Italy, to have attached forced-labour camps. Of these, the most important ones were in Meran, SchnalsSchnals
Schnals is a valley and comune in the province of South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 70 km north of the city of Trento and about 40 km northwest of the city of Bolzano, on the border with Austria.-Geography:As of 30 November 2010, it had a...
, Sarntal
Sarntal
Sarntal is a valley and a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 70 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 15 km north of the city of Bolzano....
, Moos in Passeier
Moos in Passeier
Moos in Passeier is a comune in the Passeier Valley, in South Tyrol in the Northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol...
and Sterzing
Sterzing
Sterzing is a comune in South Tyrol in the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy. It is the main village of the southern Wipptal, and the Eisack River flows through the medieval town.-Origin:...
.
Resistance
As in most camps where political prisoners abounded, a resistance movementItalian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...
arose, organized along three axes:
- a political wing, organized by the CLNNational Liberation CommitteeThe National Liberation Committee was the underground political entity of Italian Partisans during the German occupation of Italy in the last years of the Second World War. It was a multi-party entity, whose members were united by their anti-fascism...
and some partigianiPartisan (military)A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
; - a movement spearheaded by priests (most of them, accused of having helped wanted civilians, were imprisoned along with those they had sought to protect);
- spontaneous acts of civil resistance by citizens who sought to prevent deportation of others, protected escaped prisoners, or attempted to organize escapes from the camp.
Trials
In November 2000, the military court of VeronaVerona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
sentenced Michael Seifert
Michael Seifert (SS guard)
Michael Seifert was an SS guard in Italy during World War II.He was an ethnic German born in Landau...
, a Ukrainian SS known in the camp as "Misha", to life in prison for the atrocities he committed against deportees, particularly those held in the jail block.
The relative recency of this trial is due to the fact that the case had remained hidden for decades and resurfaced with the discovery of the so-called armadio della vergogna
Armadio della vergogna
The armoire of shame is a wooden cabinet discovered in 1994 inside a large storage room in Palazzo Cesi-Gaddi, Rome which, at the time, housed the chancellery of the military attorney's office...
(lit., "the wardrobe of shame") in 1994. Among the prisoners that Seifert and his accomplice Otto Sein tortured was a young Mike Bongiorno
Mike Bongiorno
Michael Nicholas Salvatore Bongiorno , known as Mike Bongiorno, was an American-born Italian television host. He started his career on Italian TV in the 1950s and was considered to be the most popular host in Italy...
, an American POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
who would go on to become one of Italy's most beloved TV figures after war.
Seifert, who had emigrated to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
after the war, had to face 18 counts of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
and 15 additional counts of misconduct. He was tracked down in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, only days before the trial was to begin, by a reporter working for the Vancouver Sun, who acted upon information provided by the Associazione nazionale ex deportati politici nei campi nazisti (ANED) (National Association of former political deportees to Nazi internment camps).
His story was reconstructed by the Italian historians Giorgio Mezzalira and Carlo Romeo in the book entitled Mischa, jailer of the Bolzano lager.
A separate trial of the camp directors, Titho and Haage, had taken place in 1999, with a different outcome: Titho was absolved for lack of evidence, while Haage was sentenced posthumously.