Map, References / Sources found on intro.
1943: Italy: During World War II, Sicily was the scene of heavy fighting. The Allies launched an invasion from North African bases on July 9-10, 1943. Patton landed forces at Licata and Gela and Montgomery landed at several places south of Syracuse. By the end of the year, the Fascists (those who supported Mussolini between 1922-1943) were overthrown and Italy joined the Allies. The Nazis still held central and northern Italy.

1945: New nation of Italy is formed. Sicily becomes one of five autonomous regions (1946). A new constitution adopted in 1947.

1949: Italy joins the NATO alliance.


Displaced Persons -

DP Camps in Italy

25 camps in 1948, some listed here. If you have any camps or information to add, e-mail me.

Adriatica

Acerra

Bagnoli - Hungarians

    http://www.italyworldclub.com/campania/avellino/bagnoliirpino.htm

    http://www.italyworldclub.com/genealogy/index.html

    http://www.abruzzo2000.com/genealogy/start.htm

    http://www.surnamesbytown.com/Italy/Towns/avbagnol.html

    Hi Olga
    Just found your site! I bookmarked it. My husband was born in the above Camp in 1948. I have all his records-immunizations, etc. But I can't find anything anywhere. Even the guys at NARA can't find anything in their own archives about who was there. I can't wait to explore your site. Just had to let you know. Thanks for hope, Laura

    -------------------

    9, April 2009 Hi Olga

    I'm trying to locate the family of Nandor (documents below). He was a displaced person under the IRO and has a Displaced Person number. Where are the IRO records and who do I contact? I gather maybe French archives but don't know where.

    Best
    Geoff geoff.plunkett@gmail.com
    Sydney, Australia

    Click to enlarge photos
    Bagnoli document
     
    Nandor3
    Nandor 2  
Bari Transit
    Photo at left submitted by Elie Lewinger

    ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI BARI
    Via L. Bissolati 3
    70125 Bari
    ITALIA
    phone: 080 502 4860
    fax: 080 502 4870
    http://www.teseo.it/archiviodistato/patrimon.htm









Barletta near Trani - See Bari archives above.
    Lt Proczka, another of Warsaw's men in Italy, wrote to his superiors complaining about the treatment of possible repatriates in DP camps at Barletta and Trani that were run by the Polish 2nd Corps. Men from the Corps were using pressure to discourage return. In particular, posters had been put up all over the camp showing a mouse in Italy looking at a mousetrap in Poland. Since the camp had been "hermetically sealed off" by Anders' men, so only their views were being put forward. Proczka also complained that the UNRRA camp at Bari and the repatriation camp at Regio Emilia were also under the influence of Anders. He complained that special hit squads were coming from Bologna and Modena to work on those who might be wavering. [32] History of the Polish Army

    10/6/04 Dear Olga,
    I'm looking for news about DP CAMP in Barletta (Bari) during Second World War. Can you help me? thank you Angelo Torre

    11/3/04 Hello Olga,
    My parents and grandparents weren't in a DP camp in Judenburg. They were actually living with farmers whose sons were fighting the war for the Nazis. It is fascinating, however, to know that there were DP camps there. When my parents were "freed" from Judenburg in 1945 they were taken to Italy, eventually ending up in a DP camp in Barletta. My father enlisted in the Polish army under British command (Anders army), while my mother and her family lived in the DP camp. We have photos from that period. My parents were married in Barletta in 1945 and I was born in Trani in an army hospital in 1946. My grandfather was the head representative for the camp. His name was Stanislaw Czurylo. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to find your website. Thank you so much for suggesting the Austrian Archives. I will let you know what I find out. I am researching my family's WW II history with the objective of writing a book. Jane Hikel Coordinator, Writing Center, English Department, Central Connecticut State University

Bologna
    DP Univ. of Slavs, Balts, converted railroad workers' building housed student DPs BOLOGNA, IMOLA
    Archivio di Stato di Bologna
    Piazza Celestini 4
    40123 Bologna
    ITALIA
    phone: 051 22 3891 or 051 23 9590
    fax: 051 22 0474
Cinecittà
    I am trying to find out a missing piece of my history. My family and I were housed in 2 DP Camps in Italy after WW2. My father was Hungarian and my mother Bulgarian, and I was born in Bulgaria in 1939. We had to leave Bulgaria at the end of the war, and ended in Italy, under the auspices of IRO, the International Refugee Organization, which was named UNRRA before that....We stayed at Cinecitta DP Camp, then were sent to Bagnioli DP Camp, from there we were sent to a camp in Germany, the name of which I am trying to find out.

    We stayed at that DP Camp for a short time, and then boarded the US NS GENERAL M.B. STEWART, from Bremenhaven, Germany, on Dec. 20th 1951, and arrived in N.Y., N.Y. on Jan. 2, 1952, The escort Officer was Lt. Crl. (Ret) A. Duncan Johnstone, MBE. ED....is there anyway to find out the name of the German DP Camp? I have the entire ship manifest of all the passengers (all DP's) my family is listed as "stateless", any info you can help me with would be appreciated. Thank you Anna Lewis Soldotna, Alaska

Cremona
    was one of the largest DP camps in Northern Italy and house 1,000 - 1,200 refugees in 1945-7. It closed in 1947. DPs lived in a schoolhouse.
Fermo near Ancona, Croatians
    Archivio di Stato di Ascoli Piceno
    Via S. Serafino da Montegranaro 8c
    63100 Ascoli Piceno
    ITALIA
    phone: 073 625 3881
    fax: 073 625 3881
Ferramonte
    "When the Nazis marched into Zagreb, where we lived, I was five and a half years old. The Nazis had a big celebration where people threw flowers at them. It wasn't long before we found out that this was not a parade and this was not going to be a good time. So my father arranged our escape through Dalmatia, which was at that time part of Italy, and then through northern Italy. We spent time in some villages until we were rounded up by the Germans. They came down through Italy. We were sent to southern Italy and interned in a camp in the region of Calabria for about a year and a half. (The concentration camp was called Ferramonte.) It was behind barbed wires, and that's what causes the same feeling about the barbed wire here (at Fort Ontario). The Americans advanced from the south. It's a long story about how we were liberated. Because of the fighting, the Italians just opened the camp, and we fled to the mountains." - RENA ROMANO BLOCK http://www.syracuse.com/features/safehaven/escape2.html
Forli, former Italian Air Force academy

    See Rimini (Italy page 2) for archives address.

 

Grugliasco near Turin
    3/7/07 Dear Ms. Olga Kaczmar My respects to you. I started to look up the internet for information, I found you. I see you are doing a "mitzvah" . My parents (now deceased) were in DP 17 Grugliasco, I was born in 1946. We emigrated to Uruguay, South America. I'm trying to find people born around 1946, actually I live in Israel. Hope to receive some information. Shalom, email to: waxfeli@gmail.com
Jesi near Ancona
    2/7/05 Dear Olga;
    I just found your page. I was born in Camp Jesi near Ancona in Italy. My father was the Yugoslavian commandant and my mother was a dp from Yugoslavia. My father never speaks about his life and I can't obtain information about these place. Now I am trying to complete my history. My name is Vinka Kohn and my father's name was Antun Kohn from Dubrovnik. Thank you. VINKA KOHN
Leghorn
    Hi Olga,
    I was surfing the web and came across your website, a good one I might add! What I am mailing you about is to find out whether or not you have any information on a P.O.W. camp for Greman and Italian soldiers run by the U.S. in WW2 in Leghorn, Italy? And what the name of it was? My father PFC Clifford E. Hutchison, was stationed there from 1945 to 1946. But he cannot remember the name of the camp or the Ice Cream factory that the prisoners worked in. My father was a U.S. soldier with the 80th Quartermaster Co. that was tranferred to Italy from Africa, that guarded the prisoners at that camp.

    Any information you can come up with would be a GREAT help! I am trying to put the pieces together for him since he cannot remember too much about his time there. Thank You in advance for any help! Sincerely, Jo Ann Hutchison

Milan
    Archivio di Stato di Milano
    Via Senato 10
    20121 Milano
    ITALIA
    phone:027 600 0369
    fax: 027 600 0986
Modena, former military academy
    Archivio di Stato di Modena
    Corso Cavour 21
    41100 Modena
    ITALIA
    phone: 059 23 0549
    fax: 059 24 4240
Naples, Resettlement area;
    Yugoslav, Serbs, Croatians, Slovenians, Lithuanians, Polish, Ukrainian

    Archivio di Stato di Napoli
    Piazzetta Grande Archivio 5
    80138 Napoli
    ITALIA
    phone: 081 20 4594 or 081 20 4491
    fax: 081 20 4046

    Dear Olga,
    Months ago I asked you for help in finding relatives of my parents Mykola Jemeljanenko and Weronika Alpina and I am very grateful to you for your advice. I have finally received information from the archives that you suggested. They were Ukrainian but living in Poland before WW2. My father lived in Maciejew and my mother in Lipno. During the war they were sent to Germany. My father was sent to Duisburg in 1943 then Nordhurn in 1945 then in 1946 to Bathurn Lingen DP Camp until 1948. My mother was in Datel Recklinghausen then Haltern, Muenster DP camps then worked at 18DPACS in Muenchen-Gladbach until 1948. I would appreciate it if you could give more information on those places. They migrated to Australia separately in 1950, My mother from Naples in Italy my father from Bremen, Germany so there is 2 years that they do not account for. Could you please place this on your web site again please Olga? Thank you in anticipation. Yours Sincerely, Anna McClure nee Jameljanenko. Contact me at pmcclure@iprimus.com.au. / Australia

    2/25/05 Dear Olga,
    I am currently researching my family history, but l am not having much luck and have just struck your fantastic website. My wife's grandparents were born in Poland and during WW2 ended up in concentration camps, l do know that they went to Naples, Italy and boarded a ship for Australia known as the USAT "Gen.C.C.Ballou" and that the port of Disembarkation was Sydney on the 29 April 1949, and that their intended address in N.S.W was to be Bathurst. Could you please help me find some more information on this couple as we would really like to know what concentration camps they were in during the war, and where they were when they first came to Australia.

      Their names are:
      MATUK, Jozef John
      MATUK, Janina (nee Brzozowska)
    I you would like more information or have information you could help me find l would love to hear from you my email address is jjking@aapt.net.au Kindest Regards, Jordan King / Australia

    Photos of Naples: http://bob.ucsc.edu/slides/decou/naples1.html

    World War II POW MIA: http://darbysrangers.tripod.com/id67.htm

    Photos available at Weisenthal museum: http://darbysrangers.tripod.com/id67.htm

    "...the Germans took occupancy from 1940 to 1943. As the fortunes of war changed, so did the residents, and the Allied Armies used the facilities from 1943 to 1945. After the war, from 1945, the post was used by various refugee organizations to house displaced persons until 1952 when it was returned to the Foundation Bank of Naples. CINCSOUTH's Headquarters moved into the post in 1953." http://www.afsouth.nato.int/releases/1999releases.htm

Praglia, Slovenian Catholic seminary

Reggio,

    Hungarians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles; some stayed at Black Shirt barracks

    Archivio di Stato di Reggio Calabria
    Argine destro Annunziata 59,61
    89100 Reggio Calabria
    ITALIA
    phone: 096 54 2056
    fax: 096 533 0239

Riccione

Rimini, has its own page.


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