JUGOSLOVENI U KONCENTRACIONIM LOGORIMA I ZATVORIMA FAŠISTIĆKE ITALIJE U TOKU DRUGOG SVETSKOG RATA
YUGOSLAVS IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND PRISONS IN FASCISTIC ITALY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Summary/Abstract: During the Second World War more than a hundred thousand Yugoslavs had been kept in fascistic concentration camps, prisons and places of „free internment”. The prisoners mostly came from the areas occupied by Italian forces. The group of Yugoslav internees was made both from the War-prisoners of the Yugoslav Royal Army and the members of the People’s Liberation Movement. According to the former research, the Yugoslavs had been kept in about two hundred different places throughout Italy. The conditions of living varied from place to place. In the camps of „free internment” they were almost acceptable. The prisoners lived in rented village houses and were allowed a small sum of money for food to buy, although this sum was too scanty for words. They were not allowed to move around freely and were closely watched by the Carabiniers. They did not enjoy health care and never got any supplies of new clothes. Many of them saw the end of the War in the same garments in which they had been taken into captivity. Living in the concentration camps and prisons was much harder. The prisoners often suffered physical and mental torture for the smallest violation of the camp discipline. Death rate among the Yugoslav prisoners was much higher in the camps in Northern Italy than in other parts of the country, which was partly due to the specific climate of this area. According to the records of the camp Sonars, deaths of dozens of Yugoslavs were reported every month. After the fall of the Fascistic Government and capitulation of Italy Yugoslav internees met different fates, Many of the camps were taken over by the Nazis so that Yugoslavs continued living in captivity in Germany. Some of them managed to get free and return to Yugoslavia where they joined the People’s Liberation Movement, but there were many who joined the Italian Resistance Movement.

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