• Borgo San Dalmazzo Concentration Camp
During the Second World War, Borgo San Dalmazzo was the site of a transit camp, which was first run by the SS, then by the Italian police. At least 354 Jews were deported from here, mostly to Auschwitz - at least 336 of them perished. In 2006, a memorial was dedicated to the deportees on the Borgo San Dalmazzo train station.
Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, beginning of the 1980s, The camp building, Istituto Storico Resistenza Cuneo
Borgo San Dalmazzo, beginning of the 1980s, The camp building, Istituto Storico Resistenza Cuneo

Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo
Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo
In November 1942, part of Southern France was occupied by the Italian army. The occupiers introduced a residence obligation for Jews, but they did not hand them over to the Germans. This made the region a safe haven for thousands of Jewish refugees, who felt relatively protected there. When the Italian army retreated from France following the armistice signed with the Allies on September 8, 1943, between 800 and 1,100 Jews followed. They reached the area of Borgo San Dalmazzo, a small town at the foot of the Alps, by foot. When German troops invaded on September 12 and established a fascist puppet state in northern Italy, the »Italian Social Republic«, the refugees were no longer safe.
A company of the 2nd battalion of the »SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler«, commanded by Joachim Peiper, set up headquarters in abandoned barracks of Italian mountain troops in Borgo San Dalmazzo. On September 18, the SS ordered all »foreigners« (meaning Jewish refugees) to gather there. 349 refugees were held in a temporary police prison camp. Ten days later, almost all of the Jewish residents of Cuneo were brought to Borgo San Dalmazzo; they were later released. At least 328 of the refugees from the south of France were deported to the Drancy transit camp and from there to Auschwitz. 12 days later, the Italian authorities incarcerated the Jews of Saluzzo at Borgo San Dalmazzo, implementing »prefect order no. 5«, which entailed the expropriation and internment of all Jews. In total, 26 prisoners were transferred to the Fossoli transit camp on February 15, 1944, and most of them were deported from there to Auschwitz. Only between 10 and 18 of the deportees survived.
Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, beginning of the 1980s, The camp building, Istituto Storico Resistenza Cuneo
Borgo San Dalmazzo, beginning of the 1980s, The camp building, Istituto Storico Resistenza Cuneo

Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo
Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo
The 349 Jewish refugees held at Borgo San Dalmazzo came from all over Europe: Poland, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Greece, Belgium, France, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. They had crossed two alpine passes at an altitude of of 2,400 metres from Saint-Martin-Vésubie in the south of France to the province of Cuneo, in which Borgo San Dalmazzo lies. Those who remained in France - for whom the crossing the Alps would have been too difficult - were arrested by the Germans on September 22, 1943 and deported.
In Italy, some of the refugees were given shelter by local families or found assistance in travelling on to safer regions. A rescue network was organised by the clergy. Only a few escaped the deportations to Drancy on November 21, mostly ill people who were hospitalized in Cuneo and were hidden by the medical staff there.
Liliana Picciotto Fargon was able to trace the fates of 326 deportees: They left the Drancy transit camp in three transports, on December 7 and 17, 1943, and on January 20, 1944, headed for Auschwitz. Probably only ten of them survived.
The fates of the 26 prisoners of the Italian police have also been documented. One thing is certain: 23 of them left the Fossoli police camp for Auschwitz on February 22, 1944, with the same transport as the author Primo Levi who later became famous for his reflections on Auschwitz. Only two of the 26 deportees from Borgo San Dalmazzo are known to have survived.
Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, beginning of the 1980s, Entrance to the camp, Istituto Storico Resistenza Cuneo
Borgo San Dalmazzo, beginning of the 1980s, Entrance to the camp, Istituto Storico Resistenza Cuneo

Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2009, Borgo San Dalmazzo train station, Maurizio Boi
Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2009, Borgo San Dalmazzo train station, Maurizio Boi
The actual camp premises remained unchanged for 20 years after the war; only between 1964 and 1974 were two wings torn down and a school erected on the site. In the 1970s, pupils painted a picture on the former camp wall, however, it wrongly depicted political prisoners. Later, a further building was constructed on the premises. Today, this building houses public authority offices and an exhibition on the camp's history. The square on which these buildings stand is called »Piazza Don Raimondo Viale« in honour of the priest of Borgo San Dalmazzo who led the rescue network for Jewish refugees. Furthermore, a memorial plaque and a stele honour him and the deportees.
Of the original camp only the gateway and the courtyard remain. The camp was located on the outskirts of the town, not far from the train station. On April 30, 2006, a »memorial to the deportations« was unveiled at the train station - the site from which the transports departed. It consists of a symbolic concrete platform bearing the names of survivors in upright letters. Inscribed on the floor in steel plates are the names, ages and nationalities of the 335 deportees who were murdered. The arrangement of the names conveys relations between the deportees. Three walkable historic freight cars are also part of the memorial site.
It is possible to retrace the path taken by the refugees across the Alps thanks to the »Memory of the Alps« project, which has marked two trails in the mountains. Further educational trails integrating the train station and the former camp premises present information about Jewish life and political resistance in the region.
The small town of Boves is about 5 kilometres outside of Borgo San Dalmazzo. There, German troops murdered a total of 112 partisans and civilians between 1943 and 1945. The »Boves peace school« does commemorative and educational work.
Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Detailed view of the memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo
Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Detailed view of the memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo

Image: Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Detailed view of the memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo
Borgo San Dalmazzo, 2007, Detailed view of the memorial to the deportations at the train station, Comune di Borgo San Dalmazzo
Name
Campo di Concentramento di Borgo San Dalmazzo
Address
Piazza Don Raimondo Viale
12011 Borgo San Dalmazzo
Phone
+39 0 171 266 080
Fax
+ 30 0 171 262 054
Web
http://www.comune.borgosandalmazzo.cn.it/citta/campo_ebrei.html
E-Mail
luisa.giorda@comune.borgosandalmazzo.cn.it
Open
By appointment,
please call at the following times:
Monday 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday to Friday 9 a.m. till noon and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. till noon and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Possibilities
Guided tours of the camp premises and the memorial, guided hikes on the historical educational trail, photo exhibition, seminar room for meetings, book presentations, conferences