Places play a central role in the recognition of history. The many places associated with the persecution and deportation of Sinti and Roma people have not preserved any trace of the painful passage of these communities during the period of Nazism and Fascism. This has allowed events to be erased that have survived only in testimonies and archival documents, but have struggled to be constructed as a public and shared memory. Reclaiming places therefore means recognising full rights to memory and inclusion in the narrative of history.

The map indicates the places in the Kingdom of Italy where Roma and Sinti people were imprisoned, confined, deported and interned between 1922 and 1943.

CategorY

fascist concentration camp

Archival documents and testimonies confirm the presence of a fascist concentration camp for the civilian population to which Roma and Sinti people were deported and interned. In some cases they were concentration camps set up only for ‘gypsies’.

place of confinement

A police operation consisting of an obligation imposed to reside in a place far from one’s habitual place of residence, in particular because one is considered to be dangerous to society. In the case of Roma and Sinti people, the motivation for such an operation was related to the idea that ‘gypsies’ were dangerous.

place of imprisonment or forced stay

These are places where archived documentation confirms the presence of Sinti and Roma people in prisons or in fenced-off camps, set up temporarily after the incarceration of the caravans, to then send the arrested onto fascist concentration camps.

place of imprisonment/confinement reported by oral testimony but as yet unverified

These are places that are identified within current research, on the basis of oral testimony by a direct witness of Roma or Sinti deportation, which require further documentary confirmation.

Deportation to the SS camps. Knowing and recognising it

CategorY

NAZI CAMPS

Nazi camps in which there were Sinti and Roma people who had been deported from Italy.

BOLZANO, ITALIA
BERGEN BELSEN, GERMANIA
BUCHENWALD, GERMANIA
DACHAU, GERMANIA
FLOSSENBÜRG, GERMANIA
MAUTHAUSEN, AUSTRIA
NATZWEILER, FRANCIA
SACHSENHAUSEN, GERMANIA
RAVENSBRÜCK, GERMANIA

Auschwitz

A Nazi camp which was a symbol of the extermination of Sinti and Roma people. There were no Italian Sinti and Roma people in this camp.

AUSCHWITZ, POLONIA