Verona was also touched by the Shoah. There are still tangible traces of one of the darkest periods of the last century. On Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th March, free guided tours will be held at La Colombara, “Verona’s little Auschwitz” (at 10 and 11.30 am).
La Colombara was built during the Second World War to house the soldiers of an anti-aircraft post for the defence of Verona against enemy air raids. From the end of 1943 it was transformed into a detention centre for political prisoners and a concentration camp for Jews.
Today, the passage of time and the aggression of the vegetation have left the building in a state of decay. A place of memory, hidden in the countryside between Montorio and San Michele Extra, forgotten by history and civil memory for more than 70 years. The discovery of a document attesting to the existence of a camp in the area east of Verona led to the identification of the Montorio concentration camp. The letter of 21 June 1945 from the Office for the Evaluation and Administration of Jewish Property to the Prefect of Verona was a request for confirmation of the costs of the Jewish concentration camp in Montorio. With the help of this document, Roberto Rubele and Cristian Albrigi, volunteers of the association montorioveronese.it, identified the building in July 2017.
Following this step, the Figli della Shoah and Montorioveronese.it associations signed a pact with the Municipality to continue the work of restoring the site. A fundraising campaign was launched to finance the securing of the building. With the signing of the “Pact of Subsidiarity”, a programme of free guided tours began in September 2022. The tours are open to all citizens, with obligatory reservation.
Reservations must be made using the forms available on the following link in order to take part in the visits:
www.montorioveronese.it/campo-di-concentramento-di-montorio
