Prison of the Abbey of Sulmona (AQ)

The Badia Prison in Sulmona, located in the ancient abbey of Santo Spirito al Morrone, represents one of the symbolic places of Nazi-Fascist repression in Abruzzo during World War II. Its history is closely linked to the events of political detention and deportations, culminating in the tragic transfer of hundreds of prisoners to Nazi concentration camps.

Before the German occupation, the Badia Prison was also used by the fascist regime as a place of detention for Italian antifascists and opponents of the regime. As early as the 1920s, a number of Yugoslav prisoners from the areas of Dalmatia, Slovenia and Montenegro, which were annexed by Italy after World War I, who had been convicted of anti-fascist activities, were imprisoned there. During World War II, the prison also housed inmates from the territories occupied by Yugoslavia and Greece, many of whom were charged with armed resistance against Italian forces.

After the fall of fascism, while some Italian political prisoners began to be gradually released, Yugoslav and Greek anti-fascists remained in prison, considered “dangerous” elements. Escape attempts, such as the one in the fall of 1943, were harshly repressed: guards fired on the prisoners, causing deaths and injuries, and the Germans quickly took control of the facility.

On October 8, 1943, the Badia prison was requisitioned by the German authorities, who took control of the facility. At the time of the requisition, some 380 prisoners were incarcerated there: most were from Yugoslavia, with smaller numbers of Greeks, Italians and Croats. Among them, nine citizens from the nearby town of Roccacasale had been imprisoned on charges of aiding allied prisoners who had escaped from the nearby Fonte d’Amore prisoner-of-war camp.

On the morning of October 8, the prisoners were assembled in the prison yard at gunpoint and transferred to the Sulmona train station. Loaded onto cattle cars, they were deported to Dachau, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps. The journey lasted five days and six nights, during which the prisoners endured inhumane conditions: crammed into wagons with no sanitary facilities and very little food and water. The convoy arrived in Dachau on October 13, 1943.

Conditions in the Badia prison were extremely harsh even before the Nazi occupation. The prisoners, often starving, received insufficient meals and lived in poor hygienic conditions. Despite this, Yugoslav prisoners organized an internal political network, maintaining strong moral and ideological resistance. Political collectives and communist cells continued to operate within the prison, planning actions and escape attempts, although these frequently ended in failure due to the intervention of prison guards or German forces.

That of October 8, 1943 represents one of the first mass deportations from Italy to the Nazi concentration system. Upon arrival at Dachau, the prisoners were subjected to violence, mistreatment and grueling working conditions. About half of the deportees were later transferred to other camps, such as Buchenwald, where they suffered further deprivation and harassment. Of that transport, only about 100 prisoners survived the war. Among the victims were the two youngest deportees in the convoy, Michele Scarpone and Angelo De Simone, both 16 years old.

The detainees also included Italian antifascists convicted by the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State. Among them was socialist Giovanni Melodia, a major figure in the Resistance and author of numerous writings on deportation. Melodia had been arrested for his anti-fascist activities and, after being transferred to Sulmona prison, became a point of reference for the internal organization of political prisoners. After the armistice of Sept. 8, 1943, Melodia was handed over to the Germans and deported to Nazi camps, where he survived and returned to devote himself to remembering and recounting the atrocities he suffered.