Mussolini's Camps: Civilian Internment in Fascist Italy (1940-1943)

315 Pages·2019·11.877 MB·English

by  Carlo Spartaco Capogreco

“A book that presents irrefutable documentary evidence and is of key
importance for any assessment and historical judgment of Italian Fascism
and its nature.”
—Simon Levis Sullam, University of Venice, Italy
“Mussolini’s Camps is first and foremost a historical essay, yet laudably writ-
ten so as to reach a wider audience … At the same time, it is a tale of
research, discovery and denunciation.”
—Michele Sarfatti, Foundation Jewish Contemporary
Documentation Center, Milan, Italy
“Capogreco painstakingly reconstructs the map of Italy’s concentration camp
system, thus turning the existence of such a system, the rules governing it, the
discriminatory logic buttressing it into an inescapable issue.”
—David Bidussa, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation, Milan, Italy
“Mussolini’s Camps is crucial for a full understanding of Fascism.”
—Bruno Bongiovanni, University of Turin, Italy
“The author’s merit rests especially on his having brought to light a topic
almost entirely absent from Italy’s public awareness and which has mostly
been neglected by historical research as well.”
—Ruth Nattermann, Bundeswehr University Munich, Germany
“Capogreco has provided the clearest, most precise and most effective over-
viewtodateof Fascist civilianinternment... Hiswork setsagood exampleon
howtowriteobjectivelyabout delicateand tragicchapters inhuman history.”
—Petar Strcˇic´, Society for Croatian History and
University of Zagreb, Croatia
“We will find in Capogreco the kind of sound, comprehensive overview of
Fascist civilian internment that was missing until now.”
—Damijan Guštin, Institute of Contemporary History,
Ljubljana, Slovenia
“After Mussolini’s Camps, our understanding and our mental map of the
Fascist regime’s policy and practice of internment – of its very existence as a
system,aswellas its vastscope and multiplefunctioning –wastransformed.”
—Robert S.C. Gordon, University of Cambridge, UK

’
Mussolini s Camps
This book—which is based on vast archival research and on avariety of pri-
mary sources—has filled a gap in Italy’s historiography on Fascism, and in
European andworld history about concentration camps in our contemporary
world. It provides, for the first time, a survey of the different types of intern-
ment practiced by fascist Italy during the war and a historical map of its
concentration camps.
Published in Italian (I campi del duce, Turin: Einaudi, 2004), in Croatian
(MussolinijeviLogori,Zagreb:GoldenMarketing–Tehnicˇkaknjiga,2007),in
Slovenian (Fašisticˇna taborišcˇa, Ljubljana: Publicisticˇno društvo ZAK, 2011),
and now in English, Mussolini’s Camps is both an excellent product of aca-
demic research and a narrative easily accessible to readers who are not pro-
fessional historians. It undermines the myth that concentration camps were
established in Italy only after the creation of the Republic of Salò and the
Nazi occupation of Italy’s northern regions in 1943, and questions the per-
sistent and traditional image of Italians as brava gente (good people), show-
ing how Fascism made extensive use of the camps (even in the occupied
territories) as an instrument of coercion and political control.
Carlo Spartaco Capogreco is considered one of the foremost international
experts on the historyof Civilian Internment during Fascism. Currently, he is
ProfessorofContemporaryHistoryattheUniversityofCalabriaandScientific
Advisor for the Foundation Jewish Contemporary Documentation Center in
Milan. Among his other writings of note are Il piombo e l’argento (Rome:
Donzelli, 2007); Renicci (Milan: Mursia, 2003); Ferramonti (Florence: La
Giuntina, 1987). He has contributed entries and essays to the Encyclopedia of
Camps and Ghettos (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2018); La
Shoah in Italia (Turin: Utet, 2010); Dizionario dell’Olocausto (Turin: Einaudi,
2004); Dizionario del Fascismo (Turin: Einaudi, 2002); Dizionario della Resis-
tenza (Turin: Einaudi, 2001); and has also edited and annotated the critical
editionofMariaEisenstein’sL’internatanumero6(Milan:Mimesis,2014).
Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Italy
Edited by Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti (University College London), Marco
Mondini (University of Padua and Italian German Historical Institute-FBK
Trent),SilvanaPatriarca(FordhamUniversity)andGuriSchwarz(University
of Genoa)
The history of modern Italy from the late 18th to the 21st centuries offers a
wealthof dramatic changesamidst importantcontinuities. Fromoccupyinga
semi-peripheral location in the European Mediterranean to becoming one of
the major economies of the continent, the Peninsula has experienced major
transformationswhilealsofacingcontinuingstructuralchallenges. Socialand
regional conflicts, revolts and revolutions, regime changes, world wars and
military defeats have defined its turbulent political history, while changing
identities and social movements have intersected with the weight of family
and other structures in new international environments.
Theseriesfocusesonthepublicationoforiginalresearchmonographs,from
both established academics and junior researchers. It is intended as an
instrument to promote fresh perspectives and as bridge, connecting scholarly
traditions within and outside Italy. Occasionally, it may also publish edited
volumes. The sole criteria for selection will be intellectual rigour and the
innovative character of the books.
It will cover abroad range of themes and methods - ranging from political
to cultural to socio-economic history – with the aim of becoming a reference
point for groundbreaking scholarship covering Italian history from the
Napoleonic era to the present.
Recent titles in this series
Mussolini’s Camps
Civilian Internment in Fascist Italy (1940–1943)
CarloSpartacoCaprogreco,translatedbyNormaBouchardandValerioFerme
’
Mussolini s Camps
Civilian Internment in Fascist Italy
–
(1940 1943)
Carlo Spartaco Capogreco
Translated by
Norma Bouchard and Valerio Ferme
Firstpublished2019
byRoutledge
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©2019CarloSpartacoCaprogreco;translation,NormaBouchardand
ValerioFerme
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byTaylor&FrancisBooks
To Donatella
“Fascism has proved that its roots are deep, it changes its name
and style and methods, but is not dead.”
Primo Levi
“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolu-
tionary act.”
George Orwell
Contents
List of figures x
Preface xi
List of abbreviations xvi
Note on the text xviii
Introduction 1
1 Preliminary survey 12
1 The “police confinement” 12
2 Deportation and internment 21
3 The camps 30
2 The bureaucratic machine 47
1 “Regulatory” civilian internment 47
2 “Parallel” civilian internment 53
3 Conditions of internment 59
3 The internees 71
1 Foreign internees 71
2 Italian internees 80
4 Life in the camps and care of the internees 105
1 The camps of the “regulatory” civilian internment 105
2 The camps of “parallel” civilian internment 112
3 Operations for the protection and assistance of internees 123