Bojano is located in the central-southern Apennines, in the province of Campobasso, Italy. A concentration camp (campo di concentramento) was set up on the site of a former tobacco factory just outside the town on 15 October 1940. The camp consisted of five factory halls grouped around a courtyard and was surrounded by a two-metre-high fence.
Initially, six detached Carabinieri guarded the camp, but later additional guards were called in, and in December 1940 five police officers were also deployed. While the guards numbered up to twelve people, some of them Carabinieri and some police officers, the number of internees never exceeded 90. The camp’s poor infrastructure caused numerous problems, as there was no running water, sewerage or heating. Both political internees and foreign Jews were interned in the camp.
Internment of Roma
On 19 December 1940, the first families of foreign Roma who had been arrested in the province of Ferrara arrived. These were 17 Roma with Spanish citizenship who had been living in Italy for many years and who could not be deported as they had no identity papers with them.
In January 1941, heavy rainfall had made the condition of the buildings increasingly precarious, and it was decided to transfer all the internees to other camps. Only the Roma were left behind, and all of them were housed in the factory hall whose roof was least prone to rainwater seepage. On 13 March 1941, after the repair work had been completed, the police inspector wrote to the Chief of Police Carmine Senise (1883–1958) and claimed that it would be problematic to house them together with other internees.
It was therefore decided to use Bojano only for ‘Gypsies’;1Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS) [Central State Archives], Ministero degli Interni (MI) [Ministry of the Interior], Direzione Generale Pubblica Sicurezza (DGPS) [Directorate General of Public Security], Divisione Affari Generali e Riservati (DAGER) [General and Secret Affairs Division], Massime, b. 117, Fasc. Campi di concentramento – Campobasso, Relazione n. 79, 13 marzo 1941, da Ispettore Panariello a MI, DGPS, Oggetto: Boiano – Campo di concentramento [Report no. 79, 13 March 1941, from Inspector Panariello to MI, DGPS, subject: Bojano – Concentration Camp]. a total of 66 people were interned in Bojano. In July 1941, the Saim Company, owner of the factory buildings, applied for their return, and between 16 and 24 August 1941 all Sinti and Roma were transferred to the Agnone camp, which was also located in the province of Campobasso.
There is still no memorial plaque at the former site of the Bojano camp.
