After the Allies signed the Armistice with Italy on September 8, 1943, Bolzano became the headquarters of the Prealpine Operations Zone and came under the control of the Nazi army.
When the internment camp in Fossoli became vulnerable to Allied attack, it was dismantled, and a transit camp for prisoners headed for Mauthausen, Flossenbürg, Dachau, Ravensbrück and Auschwitz was set up in Bolzano.

Operational from the summer of 1944 and located in buildings previously occupied by the Italian Army, the transit camp hosted about 11,000 prisoners from middle and northern Italy in its ten months of activity.
Although the camp's population consisted mostly of political opponents, Jewish and gypsy deportees also passed through its barracks.

A portion of the prisoners—approximately 3,500 people Lagers, while the rest were assigned to work in loco as free labour, either in the camp workshops and labs, in local firms, or in the apple orchards.


The interned prisoners were freed between April 29 and May 3, 1945, when the camp was closed to prevent the advancing Allied troops from witnessing its living conditions and (presumably) to eliminate evidence.
The SS troops destroyed all documentation relating to camp activities before withdrawing, following the standing order that no trace be left behind.
After the Allies signed the Armistice with Italy on September 8, 1943, Bolzano became the headquarters of the Prealpine Operations Zone and came under the control of the Nazi army. When the internment camp in Fossoli became vulnerable to Allied attack, it was dismantled, and a transit camp for prisoners headed for Mauthausen, Flossenbürg, Dachau, Ravensbrück and Auschwitz was set up in Bolzano.
Operational from the summer of 1944 and located in buildings previously occupied by the Italian Army, the transit camp hosted about 11,000 prisoners from middle and northern Italy in its ten months of activity. Although the camp's population consisted mostly of political opponents, Jewish and gypsy deportees also passed through its barracks.
A portion of the prisoners—approximately 3,500 people Lagers, while the rest were assigned to work in loco as free labour, either in the camp workshops and labs, in local firms, or in the apple orchards.

The interned prisoners were freed between April 29 and May 3, 1945, when the camp was closed to prevent the advancing Allied troops from witnessing its living conditions and (presumably) to eliminate evidence. The SS troops destroyed all documentation relating to camp activities before withdrawing, following the standing order that no trace be left behind.
Bolzano Transit Camp