PG 62 Grumello del Piano, Bergamo

Camp situated near Bergamo, in the Italian region of Lombardy.

PM 3200

A number of satellite work camps including Gamba, Cremona and Torbole (also refer undernoted Campi Fascisti information).

The camp was operational from August 1941 to September 1943.

More information can be discovered from the following link, including images of the camp and prisoners.

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=135

Translation for Campi Fascisti main page:

Grumello del Piano – Camp for prisoners of war n. 62
Grumello del Piano, a hamlet of Bergamo (Bergamo) – Italy
Camp type: Prisoner of war camp from August 1941 to 8 September 1943
Source: DPG27 GEL1
History: The PG camp No. 62 of Grumello del Piano was opened in the summer of 1941 in a locality a few kilometers from Bergamo to internee lower grade prisoners of war (non-commissioned officers and enlisted men). In December 1942 it had a declared capacity of 3,000 seats (see DPG28). The first data on the number of internees available from our research are those relating to March 1942, when 2,640 prisoners of war were present in the camp, all belonging to the dissolved Yugoslav army. The monthly schedule subdivides them according to the following ‘nationalities’: 1,046 Serbs, 666 Montenegrins, 720 Italians, Albanians and annexes, 208 Croats (see DPG04). The number of PCs Yugoslavs decreased in the following months, reaching 1,718 on 1 August 1942 (see DPG15). The lists of PCs of the following month report the arrival of more prisoners of war. These are 371 French degaullists, i.e. soldiers from French possessions transferred to Grumello almost certainly from prisoner of war camps in northern Africa (usually passing first through some prisoner of war camp in southern Italy). Another arrival of Degaullists took place in December 1942, when they totalled 523, thus bringing the total number of internees to 2,491 (see DPG29 and DPG30). In the months of January and February 1943, just over 900 Greek prisoners of war from the dissolved PG camp also arrived in Grumello del Piano. no. 95 of Cairo Montenotte, now destined for the internment of civilians from Venezia Giulia (see PGCM06 and PGCM01).

Finally, at least according to the documentation consulted by us, which however stops in March 1943, we point out the arrival of British prisoners of war which we find for the first time in the month of February 1943. At the end of that month the internees of the PG camp 62 are 3,104 of which: 1,380 ex Yugoslavs [divided as follows: 328 Serbs, 109 Croats, 759 Albanians, 88 Montenegrins 73 new Italians (Slovenes from the annexed territories), 23 of other nationalities], 877 Greeks, 165 English, 85 South Africans white, 2 Middle Eastern, 280 white Degaullists and 315 black Degaullists (see DPG33 and DPG34).

But the British prisoners of war are destined to increase in the following months. From a telegram dated 4 April we learn that 730 English officers have been transferred from the Gravina camp to that of Bergamo (see PGGP06). However, not all prisoners reside in the Grumello camp. Many of them are assigned to the different working detachments dependent on the PG Central Camp. No. 62.
This is the list of detachments that we found confirmation of in the documents:
Caravaggio detachment
Palosco detachment
Fontanella detachment
Passo Maniva detachment
Edolo detachment
Detachment of Buccinasco
Truccazzano detachment, Malombra farmhouse
Truccazzano detachment, Truccazzano farmhouse
Detachment of Villa D’Adda
Other detachments – whose effective existence we still have to verify – emerge from the requests made by companies and companies and approved by the Prisoners of War Office (but approval does not always correspond to the effective opening of a detachment). This is the case of the SNIA Viscosa plant in Cesano Maderno (see PGGR08), of the Falk plant in Sesto San Giovanni (see PGGR10) and of the company S.P.A.I. of Milan (see PGGR18).

In addition to being the base camp for many work detachments, Grumello del Piano is also a reservoir of manpower to be sent to other work camps for prisoners of war.

On March 15, 1942 they leave from the P.G. No. 62 100 prisoners of war for the PG labor camp No. 115 of Morgnano available to the Terni Anonymous Company (see PGGR02)2. On May 5, 1942, a nucleus of 200 prisoners of war from Grumello went to form the manpower of the PG camp. No. 113 of Avio, in the province of Trento (see PGAV01)2. And again, on May 22, 1942, the camp sends – with the usual recommendation to “choose elements that give confidence for conduct and discipline [so] as not to give rise to inconveniences”, 50 prisoners of war to the PG camp. No. 55 of Busseto (to be sent to an agricultural work detachment) (see PGGR03).

Finally, there are also links between the Grumello camp and the P.G. No. 110 of Carbonia (another labor camp where the majority of prisoners belong to the former Yugoslav army). Even if there is no official confirmation, almost certainly 150 PG leave Grumello. Serbs who are going to swell the ranks of prisoners at the disposal of the Ferrobeton company which is building a dam on the Flumendosa at Villagrande Strisaili (detachment of camp PG N. 110 of Carbonia ((see DST05). On the other hand, the assignment to the detachment of Mussolinia (the current Arborea), still dependent on the Carbonia camp, of 100 prisoners of war of Yugoslav nationality taken from the PG camp is certain. No. 62 (see DCB10 where Littoria is erroneously mentioned instead of Mussolinia). On the other hand, there is little information regarding the living conditions of prisoners of war interned in Grumello and in dependent detachments.

On May 28, 1942, over one hundred prisoners of war (at that time our data in the camp only resulted from Yugoslav internees) were admitted to the Piacenza hospital “due to organic wasting, the main cause of which could be attributed to the reduction in the food ration”. Not only that, but the document cited also mentions the sudden death of two prisoners of war in the camp (see PGGR05).

Most likely, Yugoslav prisoners of war do not receive aid from the International Red Cross, as they no longer have a country to protect them (but our research is still ongoing on this aspect).

It is certain instead that the Ministry of War with the circular letter n. 2064/2595 of 23 February 1942 reduced the bread ration for prisoners of war (see P065) (for previous rations see P011). Decision which is reiterated a few months later specifying that the reduction also applies to prisoners employed in manual work within the camps (see P067).

On the PG camp No. 62 by Grumello del Piano, one of the rare studies on Italian camps for prisoners of war during the Second World War is available: The Tower of Silence. Stories from a prison camp. Bergamo 1941 – 1945, by Mauro Guelfi, Giorgio Marcandelli, Alberto Scalzi and Francesco Sonzogni. It is an important research that tells the story of the camp with many documents and testimonies. It describes its structure in detail (in fact there were two distinct places, one for the Yugoslavs and Greeks and another for the allies), underlines the presence in the camp also of civilian internees, substantially integrates the list of detachments of work (describing the use of PGs, for example, in farmsteads), reconstructs the role played by the camp commander, Colonel Francesco Paolo Turco, and much more. The text also mentions the degree thesis (which we have not yet consulted) Imprisonment, internment and war crimes. The camp of Grumellina in Bergamo, by Lia Cornia (academic year 2007 – 2008).
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1. The prisoners of war office of the General Staff of the Royal Army issues summary reports of all the PG camps every fifteen days. in which the number of prisoners divided by nationality and rank is specified for each place. The total number of internees in each camp, in our opinion, also includes prisoners of war assigned to labor detachments. For example, in the case of Grumello del Piano, the data cited for the month of February 1943 (3,104 prisoners of war) includes the hundreds of prisoners assigned to the various work detachments, who do not reside in the camp but in the workplace or in the its immediate vicinity.

2. In these two documents reference is made to three camps of which we have found no other trace, and therefore probably never established. These are the PG camp N. 141 (Gavoranno mine), N. 142 (Niccioletta mine), and P.G. 143 (Ribolla mine), available to the Montecatini Anonymous Company (see PGGR01). To be verified.

Note: Research on Italian prisoner of war camps is still ongoing (November 2012). The information reported here is taken from some documents conserved in the Historical Office of the Army General Staff and concerns only the period from March 1942 to March 1943. The data on this sheet are therefore incomplete and still to be verified.

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PG abbreviation

The full title is ‘Campo Concentramento di Prigioniere di Guerra’ (prisoner of war concentration camp). They were not concentration camps in the normal sense of the word. Camps were normally prefixed PG, but could be referred to as CC, Campo or Campo PG. The exception was the 2 Dulags and 1 Stalag within Italy, which were German controlled transit centres for POWs being transferred to Germany. The camps were originally known by their place names, and numbers were not introduced until early 1942. There are some camps with no numbers, perhaps they closed before early 1942?

PM abbreviation

Camps in Italy were divided into postal areas, each area designated ‘PM [number]’. PM translates to ‘Posta Militare’, meaning ‘military mail’. The number indicated the central postal reception area for the camps’ mail.