Santa Maria al Bagno

(or formerly Bagni di Santa Maria)

Displaced Persons Camp in Italy


    Hi all,
      On July 19, 2005, in Santa Maria al Bagno (Nardo`), Lecce, Italy, at the conference center of the "Quattro Colonne" (Lungomare Alfonso Lamarmora) a conference organized by the Nardo`s City Hall will take place to officially inform the public about the concession (on January 2005) of a golden medal to the Nardo`s community by the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

      The reason for this important aknowledgement is the fact that the local community hosted from 1944 to 1948 the displaced people arriving from the freed territories of Germany/Austria/Poland under the flags of the US/UK Governments and UNRRA.

      Some former guests of the DP Camp of Santa Maria al Bagno as well as some personalities are expected to participate.

      To further verify through the web of any further useful information: the Comune di Nardo at http://www.comune.nardo.le.it.

      Please note that Massimiliano Boccardo, active info-center in Santa Maria al Bagno could perhaps provide some useful information. His email address: info@inprimis.net.

      The end of July in Salento is notoriously very hot and dry, so be sure to find good and confortable accomodations as well as any necessary information in advance.

      Very truly yours, Pierluigi Congedo,
      London
      pierluigi.congedo@kcl.ac.uk Hi Olga,

        I'm so grateful for your site, I thought I was going crazy trying to find Santa Maria Di Bagni until I saw it on your site. My father is 79 years old, a holocaust survivor from Poland who lost his entire family and then lived in Italy at the DP camp from 1945 - 1950. I am writing his biography and planning on visiting the site this August 2004. The problem is I can't find it anywhere on the map. Could you please help! Any information or contacts that you know of would be incredible. I promise when I return I will write you all about it and send you photographs for the site. Many thanks, Helen Blatt Phone 212.229.2487 / Fax 212.647.1868

        9/29/04 Hello Helen (and Olga)
        I have just read your lines regarding the DP Camp of Santa Maria al Bagno (Nardo, Lecce). My grandparents owned an old house in Santa Maria al Bagno that was seized by the US / UK governments between 1944 and 1947 in order to provide a location to the DP Persons who arrived in Santa Maria pursuant to a UNRRA project. In Sept. 2004, my parents and I guested for a week Mr. Ottfried Weisz, from Bedford, Mass., 74, a former guest of the DP camp, with his wife Gennie. It was very emotional for him to be back there after 60 years, to be received by the vice-Mayor of the town, to speak on regional television and to be interviewed by a local newspaper, and to be guest of an high school for a touching conference.

        Please do not hesitate to inform your father that with a group of friends, we are trying to collect any oral/written witnesess of that period and that we would be grateful to him if he could send us any written/recorded memory of the period he spent in that village.

        I am glad if you can cooperate with my attempt to save any witnesess of that time over there, I do believe that we have a duty to do it, since at least we have understood what happened! Here the picture I have of our house (1940):

        "DP Camp nr. 34" (1944-1947) - the correct name is Santa Maria al Bagno (borough of Nardo, province of Lecce, region: Puglia, Italy). It can be also found as "Bagni di Santa Maria", but it is less frequent.

        I thank you for you admirable activity, that provides an unreplaceable source of information and contacts. Pierluigi Congedo Rome Italy vienneseotto@juno.com

      Photo at left submitted by Elie Lewinger.

      10/23/04 Dear Olga,

        We found your site and we are interested in getting and giving information about displaced people after WW2. My parents, Polish Jews from Cracovie were lucky to survive Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen and Mathausen. They decided to go to Palestine. At the end of 1945, they stayed in a refugee camp called either Santa Maria di Bagni (where I have the address and maybe the photo I have correponds to it) or Santa Maria di Leuca. In 1946 my parents were waiting for a ship, but their plans were changed and they left Italy to go to France in 1948, where I was raised. My parents are dead and they left me some photos of that period without saying who the people were and we never met them afterwards. If anyone wants to contact me, it will be with pleasure.Thank you in advance. Elie Lewinger / France


      1/10/05 Hi Olga
        I've seen your site...it's very interesting. Don't forget the past is the priority to make better our world! I'm in Santa Maria al Bagno and I work in the tourism sector. In 2004, in Santa Maria al Bagno is born an association and a little museum about the DP Camp of Santa Maria al Bagno. If someone wants some information to reach S. Maria al Bagno or wants to come here, my email is info@inprimis.net. I have also a site http://www.inprimis.net/public/catalog where you can find some B&B or different solutions to stay here.

        I send you the photos of three murales made in Santa Maria al Bagno by Zivi Miller, a holocaust survivor from Rumania. I think they are a very important memories about the dp camp of S. Maria al Bagno. These three murales are still here (...they are almost decadent) and we are tring to save them! But it's not simple because the local administration doesn't believe that they can have a touristic interesting!! So there is not money to save them!!!! It's a very sad story!!! Look at the photos and tell me what do you think! Thank you. Massimiliano Boccardo Inprimis sas - servizi al territorio

    Santa Maria di Leuca

    Tricase

    Turin

      I just came across your wonderful web site. My wife is a second generation holocaust survivor and we are members of the Melbourne [Australian] group, Descendants of the Shoah. I'm trying to find more details on:
        Kibbutz Ichud near Dachau [after 1945]
        Camp Grugliasco near Turin, Italy [after 1945]
        Camp Barletta near Trani Italy [after 1945]
      Rod Hartman / Australia
    Villa Faraggiano, Northern Italy near Mina, Genoa and La Specia
      1/10/05 Dear Olga
        My husband was training with the Irgun to go fight in Palestine and had to get out of South Africa under an assumed name as had given his passport to Irgun member imprisoned by the British in the concentration camp at Gilgil in Kenya. He was sent to the Villa Faraggiano, which was ostensibly a convalescent camp, but in reality a traing camp and they worked with the DPs and transported guns to La Spezia with the DPs secretly for Palestine. This was a clandestine operation under the guise of a convalescent home. Any info you havewould be appreciated. Sincerely Dr Naomi, clandestinely

    3/25/07 Dear Olga,

    My father, Henry P. Gerber, worked for UNRRA at Santa Maria al Bagno
    from early January 1945 until November 1945. He was Activities Director.
    In this position his main work was in establishing and running shops
    of various types; such carpentry, sewing, etc. During his time in
    Italy he wrote home almost daily (sometimes two letters in a day) and
    included many details of his work and travels in the immediate region
    to obtain equipment, and supplies for the camp. He was 58 years old
    at the time and his usual job was that of Professor of Industrial
    Arts at a Teachers College here in Aberdeen,South Dakota. I recently
    came into possession of these when one of my older brothers died. I
    am now 80 and in very good health but am concerned about the future
    of these letters, many of which were 3 and 4 pages long
    (handwritten). My plan is to transcribe them (which will be a
    significant task) so they can be easily read by my father's
    grandchildren (35), great grandchildren and great great gandchildren,
    plus others who may have use, or interest in them.

    My mother and father had a family of 8 children and during 1945 five
    of us were in the armed forces scattered over the globe, with only my
    younger brother at home, one older brother who was 4-F due to a heart
    condition was working in a naval shell-loading plant in Hastings, NE
    and my only sister was in Texas where here husband was an engineer in
    an aircraft factory.

    I am wondering if you have any suggestions that would be helpful in
    making something useful of these letters. We also have some photos
    from the camps. Some of these are of personnel running the camp and
    some are of refugees. My father was most affected by the many children
    (orphans) in the camp.
    I would be most grateful for any suggestions or help.
    Sincerely,
    Bernard C. Gerber, MD gerbbc@nvc.net

    		  
       
       
       

     

    The Nazis left many scars on the children of Europe. Tattooed numbers were physical -- shown here by former concentration camp inmates housed in a center for stateless children at Vallombrosa, Italy. Liberators discovered that these children had emotional scars as well. Photo: UNRRA & M. Wyman

    Italian search engine: http://search.virgilio.it/

    Italia camp
      Dear Ms. Kaczmar:
      Do you or does anyone know of a DP camp that housed Polish Jews after the war that was known simply as "Italia"? It's not clear if the camp was actually in Italy or if this was the name of a camp located somewhere else, e.g. in Bavaria. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, Yale J. Reisner, Warsaw, email: laudergen@jewish.org.pl

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