Casoli, Fascist Concentration Camp Casoli (CH), Italy

Concentration camps in
the fascist environment denote a space limited within the perimeter, within
which different categories of prisoners are separated in existing or new
structures. These are almost always single-sex areas, that is, male or female
and rarely mixed.

Sites of free internment are
communities of forced residence for interned persons, who can rejoin their
family units. It is clear that the conditions of "internment" in the fascist
concentration camp are more unpleasant and harsh than others: promiscuity
limited freedom of movement, strict rules, separation from the family unit
surveillance, punishments, prohibition of work, limited communication, etc.

Based on these
considerations, the Casoli camp, due to its structure and function, was a
concentration camp for interned persons (shortened to "fascist camp"). The
decision to establish the camp in Casoli was also dependent on the geographical
location.

In the report
of Inspector of Public Security Robert Falcone dated April 27, 1940, we read:

 

"The most dangerous
groups of interned persons or imprisoned individuals can be sent, if possible
to the municipalities of Casoli and Lama dei Peligni, which are located in a
mountainous area of the province, far from the most important communication
routes and state railway lines."

The fascist camp of Casoli had two
different periods of internment due to two different categories of interned
persons. We have the first "Jewish" period of the camp, which lasted from July
9, 1940, the date of entry of the first group of 51 foreign Jews from the
Trieste prison, to May 3, 1942, the date of entry of the group of political
interned persons, antifascists, "former Yugoslavs", transferred from the
concentration camp of Corropoli (region Teramo). All the Jews from the Casoli
camp were moved to the camp of Campagna in the province of Salerno. This second
phase lasted until February 2, 1944, the date recorded in the document, which
still confirms the presence of 18 Slavic interned persons, which testifies to
the fact that the camp was still operating despite the armistice of September
8, 1943. Between 1940 and 1944, a total of 218 interned persons passed through
the Casoli camp: 108 foreign Jews, mostly Austrians, Germans, Croats and
Macedonians, and 110 "former Yugoslavs", mostly Croats and Slovenes, "Julians
who speak Slovene and/or Croatian".

Source: campofascisti.it