Introduction
Cinzia Venturoli (historian)
Colle Ameno was used as a concentration and transit camp between October 6th and December 23rd, 1944. Its inmates were men aged between 17 and 55, imprisoned here and made to work as forced labour, regardless of their class, religion or political beliefs. We know that a large number of prisoners passed through this well-run camp, but the exact number remains a mystery. So it was that a village built as a sort of Utopian Model in the 18th century by a member of Bologna’s ruling class was turned into a theatre of segregation, violence and murder.
Colle Ameno was part of the Nazi strategy of exploiting Italian resources for the war effort, which included men, industry, raw materials and agriculture. It was part of an organisation that combed the area and sent prisoners either to Germany, to the front or to places where forced labour was needed to supply provisions for the war. Ghisiliere is one example of the small camps scattered all over the north of Italy specifically for this reason but there were also larger sites, such as Caserme Rosse and the camp at Fossoli.
Colle Ameno has every right to be considered a place of remembrance but to date it has been enshrouded by a veil of oblivion, in a certain sense, so what went on at the time still really has to be acknowledged by the general public. In the complex dialectic between remembering and forgetting, what happened at Colle Ameno seems relegated to the private memories of those who were directly involved and their families: those who were witness to events or heard stories about what went on there, almost as if the anguish caused here has been locked away on private record.
Therefore, the idea of dedicating a memorial to remember Colle Ameno camp suggested by the town of Sasso Marconi, should lift this veil of oblivion. The Classroom of Remembrance aims to be a place where historical research, remembrance and education are woven together.
In the past, the recollection of events was passed down from father to son, depending on word of mouth and ritual for them to be remembered. Nowadays, however, events tend to be replayed and related through different channels or otherwise they die away: mass media has become the main organizers of our collective identity, although schools still play a central role. So, calling this a Classroom of Remembrance aims to underline its usefulness in education and the importance of remembrance for education. It does not want to be considered a dusty, torpid museum, but a living teaching laboratory: a place that triggers questions and provides the tools for consolidating memories. It aims to help children and adults alike make the link between their normal life and the collective fabric of history, which includes them as a living element. It is not meant to be a place where grown-ups are banned: being aware of history and understanding past events is equally important for us all.
This publication is associated with the start of work in the Classroom, firstly by relating the history of Colle Ameno and then linking directly to the items on display in the Classroom, suggesting several different ways for putting them into context.
In chapter one, Francesca Pellegrini shows how Marquis Filippo Carlo Ghisilieri, a rich young man from Bologna, came to nurture the dream of making Colle Ameno, called Ghisiliere after him, a sort of “perfect city” and the ideas that lay behind this idea.
Chapter two relates Colle Ameno’s 75 days as a camp: reconstructing this period was beset with difficulty as there were no registers kept at the time, or at any rate no documents have ever been found. In such circumstances, spoken resources are critical, as the thread of events unfolds through the tales of eye witnesses. However, very few of those directly involved or who witnessed events at the time have been traced,[1] even if the camp was always quite crowded, as the limited time spent by prisoners at the camp before they were moved elsewhere limits the facts that people are able to recall.
An important core of testimonies used for drafting the research was gathered together and recorded on film by Roberto Greco as part of the documentary produced in association with the Classroom of Remembrance project. The second part of this work focuses on the Classroom and its role in teaching and reporting what happened. Four display cases have been installed showing several objects whose intention is to bring back memories and hopefully stimulate in-depth discussion of some of the associated topics that put Colle Ameno into context. There is information on the Gothic Line, details about the system of work camps and the Caserme Rosse at Bologna, reports relating how life was during the Second World War and immediately afterwards, when peace and collaboration between all Nations was regarded as paramount. Attempts have been made to illustrate the link between what happened at a local and national level, without claiming to be totally comprehensive. Several associations were active for quite some time in the local area and they were asked for contributions with the aim of offering a different perspective and posing new questions about the past[2] by cross-referencing details, in the hope that these pages may become a starting point for school workshops and further discussion.