Ferramonti di Tarsia internment camp

After Italy entered the war in June 1940, the fascist regime set up the largest internment camp (campo di concentramento) for Jewish internees in a malaria-infested area, 35 km from Cosenza and in the municipality of Tarsia. Barracks were erected on a total area of 16 hectares, housing an average of 900 inmates every day. In July 1940, there were only 100 Italian Jews from northern Italy in Ferramonti di Tarsia. However, the number of internees increased rapidly and peaked in August 1943 with 2016 internees, 75% of whom were of Jewish origin. They mostly arrived in groups: e.g. 494 emigrants who had survived the sinking of the refugee ship Pentcho (1940) and were initially interned in the Rhodes concentration camp (1942), 156 Jews from Leibach [today: Ljubljana in Slovenia] who had come from German-occupied territories (1941), 194 Jews from a camp in Albania (1941), several hundred internees from other camps (1942-1943). However, non-Jewish internees were also transferred to Ferramonti: Greeks, Chinese, Yugoslavs and French from Corsica as well as Italian anti-fascists.

The camp management was generally relatively sympathetic towards Jewish internees, who were also supported by the aid organization DELASEM (Delegazione per l'Assistenza degli Emigranti Ebrei). Canteens, a library, an outpatient clinic and three synagogues were set up in specially provided rooms. The children received schooling. The local population also supported the camp inmates.

The war-related supply shortages and food rationing made life increasingly difficult for the inmates; in the winter of 1942/43, they went hungry.In September 1943, Ferramonti di Tarsia was liberated by the VIII. British Army, which immediately opened a camp for displaced persons. On October 1, 1943, 1854 people were being cared for in the camp, three quarters of whom must have been Jews. In April 1944, there were still 930 people in the camp and 213 at the end of the war. The camp was officially closed on September 6, 1945.