Rab concentration camp

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The Rab concentration camp (Croatian, Serbian: Koncentracijski/Koncentracioni logor Rab) was one of the many Italian concentration and internment camps during World War II ^[1]. It opened in July 1942 near the village of Kampor, on the Adriatic island of Rab (Italian: Arbe). The camp was liberated after the armistice with Italy in September 1943 ^[2].

Contents 1 Prisoners and camp conditions 2 After the war 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links

[edit] Prisoners and camp conditions

Period	Men	Women	Children	Total
July 27-July 31, 1942	1061	111	53	1225
August 1-August 15, 1942	3992	0	1029	5021
August 16-August 31, 1942	5333	1076	1209	7618
September 1-September 15, 1942	6787	1563	1296	9646
September 16-September 30, 1942	7327	1804	1392	10 523
October 1-October 15, 1942	7387	1854	1392	10 633
October 16-October 31, 1942	7206	1991	1422	10 619
November 1-November 15, 1942	7207	2062	1463	10 732
November 16-November 27, 1942	6647	1560	926	9133
Estimates on the number of prisoners: Davide Rodogno Il nuovo ordine mediterraneo (Turin: Bollati Boringhieri, 2003)

The camp, whose official title was Campo di concentramento per internati civili di Guerra – Arbe (Camp for the concentration and internment of war civilians - Rab) ^[3] held about 15,000 prisoners ^[4] housed in tents^[5] and barracks with Croats and Slovenes in one section, and Jews in another. Some of the Croats and Slovenes were suspected members of local resistance groups, mainly the Yugoslav Partisans. Approximately 1,400 prisoners died ^[6] from starvation and inhospitable winter and summer weather conditions. Another 800 prisoners from Rab died later when they were relocated to other Italian concentration camps such as Gonars and Padua.

Conditions experienced by Jews in the camp were considerably better than those endured by the Slavic inmates. There is extensive evidence ^[7] that the Italians were resistant to constant demands by their German allies - including Siegfried Kasche, the German consul in Zagreb - regarding the Jews and that General Mario Roatta, the Italian 2nd Army commander, who was otherwise known for seeking "to intimidate the Slav populations into silence by means of summary executions, hostage-taking, reprisals, internments and the burning of houses and villages" ^[8] regarded discrimination against the Jews as "incompatible with the honour of the Italian army" ^[9]. On the other hand, Yugoslav men, women and children were held in conditions that led to a death rate in some sectors of 19% - higher than the 15% death rate at Buchenwald ^[10].

Upon liberation of the camp the former inmates were evacuated to the mainland by the Partisans, and about 245 Jewish survivors formed the Partisans' Rab battalion ^[11][12] which fought the Nazi German occupying forces. For his actions in saving Jews evacuated from Rab in September 1943, Ivan Vranetić was honoured as one of the Croatian Righteous Among the Nations ^[13].

[edit] After the war

In 1953, a memorial was built to Edvard Ravnikar's plans ^{[14] [15]} - ironically by prisoners of a Yugoslav camp from the nearby island of Goli Otok. The site has also been given explanatory memorial notices in Croatian, Slovene, English and Italian to inform visitors of the camp's history ^[16].

It has been said that "By the murderous standards of the second world war, Rab was only a footnote of evil" ^[17] and due to Italian "amnesia" ^[17] and their role on the Allied side in the last years of the World War II, not much is known about this camp outside the borders of the former Yugoslavia. In 2003 the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told Italian newspaper La Voce di Rimini that the fascist government of Benito Mussolini "never killed anyone" and "Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile" ^[17].

Survivors of the camp include Anton Vratuša, who went on to be Yugoslavia's ambassador at the United Nations (1967-69) and was Prime Minister of Slovenia (1978-80), and Elvira Kohn, who described her experiences at the camp in some detail ^[18].

[edit] References

1. ^ Elenco Dei Campi Di Concentramento Italiani
2. ^ http://igs.cla.umn.edu/research/borderlands/Korb.pdf
3. ^ See p35 http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%204803.pdf
4. ^ Kampor 1942-1943: Hrvati, Slovenci i Zidovi u koncentracijskom logoru Kampor na otoku Rabu (Kampor 1942-1943: Croats, Slovenes, and Jews in the Kampor concentration camp on the island of Rab) (Rijeka: Adamic, 1998) See http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6324/1/E-Croatian-Partisans--Italian-ethnic-cleansing-of-Istria.html
5. ^ A photo of the camp: http://ww2panorama.org/images/96.jpg
6. ^ Kampor 1942-1943: Hrvati, Slovenci i Zidovi u koncentracijskom logoru Kampor na otoku Rabu (Kampor 1942-1943: Croats, Slovenes, and Jews in the Kampor concentration camp on the island of Rab) (Rijeka: Adamic, 1998) See http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/6324/1/E-Croatian-Partisans--Italian-ethnic-cleansing-of-Istria.html
7. ^ http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%204803.pdf
8. ^ IngentaConnect Content Not Found
9. ^ The Public Eye : Website of Political Research Associates
10. ^ http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.cgi?path=280511187193317
11. ^ Croatian partisans get together - JTA, Jewish & Israel News
12. ^ http://emperors-clothes.com/croatia/rab.jpg
13. ^ Massua | Holocaust Martyt's and Heroes' Remembrance Day ceremony
14. ^ TEKST 02
15. ^ The Croatian Island of Rab
16. ^ Kampor - concentration camp sur Flickr : partage de photos !
17. ^ ^{a b c} Survivors of war camp lament Italy's amnesia - International Herald Tribune
18. ^ Centropa

[edit] Further reading

• Campi Italiani d Internamento e di Deportazione (in Italian)
• Survivors of war camp lament Italy's amnesia
• Survivors mark passage from prisoners to fighters
• Concentration camp memorial complex
• Report on the Jews who escaped the holocaust via the Adriatic coast
• Slovenian Children in the Italian Concentration Camps (1942-1943) (in Italian; abstract in English)
• Milač, Metod M.: Resistance, imprisonment and forced labor : A Slovene student in World War II. ISBN 0-8204-5781-7

[edit] External links

• Oris, magazine for the architecture and culture A memorial plaque for the victims of fascism in Kampor on the island of Rab