San Vittore Prison in Milan

The San Vittore prison in Milan, built on the former Capuchin convent of San Vittore agli Olmi, played a central role in political repression and deportation to Nazi concentration camps during the Nazi-Fascist occupation (September 1943-April 1945). Located in Filangieri Square, it became one of the main places of detention for political prisoners, partisans, strikers and Jews destined for extermination camps.After the German occupation on September 12, 1943, the SS requisitioned three rays of the prison: rays IV and VI for political prisoners and ray V, known as the “cursed ray,” for Jews. San Vittore became a provincial concentration camp, collecting Jews arrested in Milan, nearby cities such as Genoa and Turin, or on the Swiss border. From here departed transports to Nazi concentration camps or transit camps at Fossoli and Bolzano.Those in charge of the German section of the prison were Helmuth Klemm, then Leander Klimsa, and finally Franz Staltmayer, nicknamed “the beast” for his brutality. Staltmayer roamed the rays armed with a riding crop and accompanied by a wolfdog that he sicced on the inmates. Working alongside the SS were Italian agents such as Manlio Melli and Dante Colombo of the Political Investigative Office of the Republican National Guard, who practiced torture and ill-treatment on the arrested.Jews held at San Vittore were initially confined to frigid cells on the top floor of the IV ray, where ice formed on the floors in the winter of 1943-44. As arrests increased, they were transferred to Ray V, to overcrowded dormitories of twenty people each. Living conditions were dramatic: Jews were denied the few rights granted to other detainees, such as air time, health care, and the ability to receive packages or letters. Interrogations, often conducted in the “refectory” on the ground floor, included physical and psychological violence to extort information about hidden relatives.Fifteen transports to the extermination camps departed from the San Vittore prison, the first heading to Auschwitz on December 6, 1943, and the last to Bolzano on January 15, 1945. Many workers from the industrial area of Sesto San Giovanni were deported for political reasons. Even figures like Liliana Segre and her father Alberto passed through San Vittore before deportation to Auschwitz.Despite the harsh conditions, there was no shortage of episodes of solidarity and resistance. Sister Enrichetta Alfieri, nicknamed the “angel of San Vittore,” helped political prisoners and Jews, acting as a liaison with the outside and facilitating escapes. Doctors like Gatti and Giardina also saved inmates from deportation. The prison eventually saw an uprising of political prisoners during the April 25, 1945, uprising, which ended with the prisoners’ liberation thanks to the partisans of the Matteotti Brigades.San Vittore was the scene of countless atrocities, but also of extraordinary humanity. The inmates, even amidst a thousand difficulties, showed solidarity with the Jews destined for the concentration camps, as Liliana Segre recalls, “The inmates seeing us leave greeted us by throwing us what little they had: oranges, apples, a few scarves and above all their blessings.” Even figures like Andrea Schivo, a prison guard honored as a Righteous Among the Nations, chose to oppose the Nazi-Fascist regime, often at the cost of their own lives.