Vipiteno
Bolzano Transit Camp
Bolzano Transit Camp, also known as Polizei- und Durchgangslager Bozen or Dulag Bozen, was a Nazi concentration camp active from 1944 until the end of World War II. Before becoming a concentration camp, it was a fascist camp for Allied prisoners of war during World War II. It was located in Bolzano, in the Gries-San Quirino district, at 80 Resia Street.
History of the Camp
After the Armistice of Cassibile, Bolzano was under the control of the Heer (Wehrmacht) and became operational in the summer of 1944 in old buildings of the Italian military engineering. During the approximately ten months of the camp's activity, between 9,000 and 9,500 people passed through its walls, mainly political opponents and Jewish deportees. A part of the deportees was transferred to the Reich's extermination camps, while others were used as slave labor in both the internal laboratories of the camp and the companies in the nearby industrial area and IMI.
During the history of the camp, 23 Italians who were captured and interned there were subsequently slaughtered in the massacre of the Mignone barracks on September 12, 1944. In total, approximately 48 killings in the camp have been documented, although up to 300 have been theorized.
As the Allies advanced, the deportees were released in waves between April 29 and May 3, 1945, when the camp was definitively dismantled.
Number of Prisoners
For decades, it was believed that the number of prisoners was higher because the highest assigned registration number in the camp was 11,115, and many prisoners, such as the approximately 400 Jews, were not registered. In reality, in Bolzano, the numbering did not start from 1 but from approximately 2979, continuing from where it had reached in Fossoli.
Victims of the Camp
Approximately 3500 people, including children, were transferred to the Reich's extermination camps such as Mauthausen, Flossenbürg, Dachau, Ravensbrück, and Auschwitz. Some people were used as slave labor in the camp and nearby industrial companies, but also as apple pickers. 48 killings in the camp have been documented.
Conclusions
Bolzano Transit Camp was a place of suffering and death for many people during World War II. Today, at the former camp, there is a memorial site called Passage der Erinnerung. It is important to remember what happened and preserve the memory of the victims to prevent such horrors from happening again.
