PG 59 camp

(Servigliano, Marche)
;

Credits: Luca Antonelli

Where are we?

We are at the PG 59 camp in Servigliano

Abandoned and restored only in 2001 by the Associazione Casa della Memoria, it was used by the Nazi-Fascists as a concentration and transit camp for Italian and foreign prisoners of war and Jews.

The camp was built in 1915 for prisoners of the First World War. Located just outside the town of Servigliano, in the province of Fermo, near the railway station, it could hold up to 4,000 prisoners. At the end of the war, the camp was decommissioned and the prisoners, mostly Austro-Hungarians, released.

Later, the area was partly used for other purposes, but after Italy’s entry into the war in 1940, the camp was reopened with a reduced capacity of 2,000 people. Under the control of the IX Army Corps, prisoners of war, Greeks and allied soldiers were initially held there, and maximum capacity was reached in 1942. Following the armistice, the prisoners managed to escape on 14th September 1943. The camp then came under the direct control of the Germans, who used it to intern Italian and foreign Jews rounded up from the surrounding areas. In May 1944, the Jews were transferred to the Fossoli camp, and from there to Auschwitz. After the war the camp housed refugees from Venezia-Giulia, Dalmatia, and the former colonies. In 1955, it was permanently closed and abandoned.

In 2001, the association Casa della Memoria (House of Memory) was founded with the aim of recovering the memory of the site. Based in the former railway station near the camp, the Casa della Memoria features a permanent photographic exhibition on the camp and organises events, conferences, and educational activities.

Photo: The entrance of the camp

USEFUL INFORMATION

Facility or museum: yes

Website: www.lacasadellamemoria.com

Geographic location: Servigliano (FM), Marche

Photo gallery