Platform 21 at Milan’s Central Station was originally used for postal service trains. From the end of 1943 to 1945, 23 convoys containing thousands of deportees departed from the platform. Here, Jews, partisans, and political opponents, mainly from the San Vittore Prison, began their journey to German concentration and extermination camps or prison camps on Italian territory, such as Fossoli and Bolzano. Its hidden location below the main station floor meant transportation and departure could be completed as discreetly as possible. Crammed onto railway wagons, prisoners reached the underground platform via a wagon lift.

In 2013, Platform 21 became the site of the Holocaust Memorial, a place of remembrance, knowledge, study, research and discussion on the deportations of Jews and other persecuted groups during the Second World War. It now hosts exhibitions, meetings, and debates.

The names and stories of known deportees can be found in the Hall of Testimonies and on the Wall of Names, but unfortunately, it has not been possible to piece together the exact number of deportees. One of the documented convoys left on 30^th January 1944, transporting 605 Jews, of which only 22 survived, including the then 14-year-old Liliana Segre, later appointed Senator for Life.

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