Document on the deportation of Greeks in Italian East Africa to concentration camps by Italian forces

1 November 1940-XIX

TO THE HIGH COMMAND OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE A.O.I. - General Staff

- ADDIS ABABA -

Greek communities in A.O.I-

Following the recent European events, culminated with the beginning of the advance of Italian troops in the Hellenic territory, the relations between the two nations - although they have not yet had the open character of a declared war - lead us to believe that in the next few days they could even lead to a complete breakup.

In this forecast it is necessary to study carefully the problem of the various Greek colonies located in the Empire and amounting to about a thousand elements.

The mental characteristics and the particular attitudes of the Greeks transplanted abroad are well known: thirst for gain, ineptitude for any work other than trade, sometimes, almost always, conducted by illegal means, are the most salient aspects of their character in general.

In particular, the Greeks residing in the Empire, almost all of them for many years, respond fully to this common denominator of their moral character, characterized by absolute lack of any scruple, which makes them even forget any sentimental ties with the motherland.

At this particular time, the general fear of material damage that could be caused by possible internment is added to lorb, and it can be said that this fear currently dominates all other considerations. Watchful, reserved, fearful of everything, many of them, especially the wealthiest ones, have gone so far as to express publicly and cynically that Italy should hurry up and wipe out their king and government, so that they can resume their lucrative commercial activities in peace.

If all this is to be referred to the great masses, it cannot be excluded that there are still numerous elements that are truly dangerous for the political and military purposes of our security. A small minority, tries to stay away from the same remnant for fear of compromise.

In order to avoid any surprises on this side, it is appropriate to divide Greek citizens residing in the various territories of the Empire into three categories according to their danger:

Category 1: political or military suspects

a) - already interned in concentration camps in June last year and simulated there;

b) - already interned in concentration camps in June last year and then released;

c) - elements for which no action has been taken to date.

2 category: immune from unfavorable precedents.

3 category: immune from precedents and to be considered useful to the economic ends of the Empire

According to the territory of respected residence, the Greek colony of the Empire is then subdivided in the following figures:

                 ( Scioa................. no. 580

                 ( Eritrea............... " 300

Governments ( Somalia.............. " 10

                 ( Harar................... " 160

                 ( Amara................. " 10

                 ( Gimma .............. " 40

                                       Total n.1100

These figures should not be understood as absolute, since the lists of police stations do not always include minors under 16 years of age, who are not required by law to have residence permits. However, it can be roughly estimated that the number of Greeks under the age of 16 residing in the Empire does not exceed 300. Adults would amount to 800.

In view of the above and considering that even apparently harmless elements can assume - given the prevailing and future circumstances - a dangerous character, it is considered the duty of the High Command to consider the appropriateness of internment in the third category, in free, albeit restricted, movement.

Bearing in mind that most of those belonging to the first category are already interned in the various existing concentration camps, it is believed that the number of those who will have to be interned ex-novo will not exceed one hundred, we have the honor to propose that they be distributed among the concentration camps already established and functioning in Quoram (those of Eritrea and Amara) and in Sarcama - Dire Daua (those of Harar, Scioa and Somalia) and in Abalti (those of Galla and Sidama).

The Greek citizens of the second category, about 600 adults and 300 minors under the age of 16, could all be concentrated in a new camp, which could, for example, be set up in Mai Habar, in the workers' accommodation camp, whose existing equipment would lend itself well to hosting families, women and children. Or they could be divided between Mai Habar, Dire Daua and Addis Ababa, always in existing camps and suitably prepared.

There are in total about a thousand individuals for whom it is necessary to arrange transportation to the designated location and food and lodging for the duration of the war.

With regard to the complex economic activities owned and carried out by individual Greek citizens in the Empire, the same criteria could be adopted as those that informed the protection and preservation of the activities and assets owned by the citizens who left the A.O.I. in September of last year:

- 1) movables and liquid assets: entrusted to credit institutions;

- 2) real estate: entrusted to the Residence or to proxies of the interested party's choice.

This Inspectorate is preparing a complete list, divided by Government and according to the above-mentioned categories, which will be sent to you as soon as possible.

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL 

f. to Magg.Gen.P.A.I. Renzo Mambrini

P.C.C.

THE HEAD OF OFFICE II

(Lt.Col.P.A.I. V.D'Ajutolo)

The document pretty much speaks for itself, but in conclusion, the document speaks of the deportation of Greeks to various concentration camps in A.O.I (Italian East Africa).

The Sarcama camp which was mentioned in the document was first populated with 11 Greeks in November 1940 (along with a couple of other individuals, all foreign) but this number grew to 77 in January 1942.

Sources:

Source for this document

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=1245

 

Libyan Genocide, 1930-33

When people think of Axis Atrocities, many will instantly think of the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's genocide against the Jews in Europe. Others will recall the horrible atrocities which the Japanese committed in East Asia before and during World War 2, such as the Rape of Nanking, Comfort Women, and many other crimes. Little attention is given to the crimes and atrocities of the third Axis power, Italy. This leads many to believe that Fascist Italy's only crime was allying with Hitler.

But did you know that Fascist Italy initiated a genocide against Libya? Did you know that this genocide murdered almost half of the population of Cyrenaica? Likely not. 

This article is about the genocide which Fascist generals Rodolfo Graziani and Pietro Badoglio waged against the Libyan population during the "Pacification" of Libya.

Background - The Second Italo-Senussi War

In 1922, leader of the National Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini, rose to power as the unopposed dictator of Italy. Mussolini had an envisionment of a grand fascist Roman Empire, and sought to consolidate aswell as expand the Italian Empire. 

The Italians had very little control over their colony in Libya when the Fascists came to power. The Senussis, a Muslim political-religious group in Libya, controlled most of the colony. The Italians had fought against Senussi rebels in the past but many of their efforts to gain control over Libya ended in failure.

But in 1923, Mussolini came to power, he initiated a campaign to gain full control over Libya once and for all in accordance with Fascist foreign policy.

At first, Mussolini's campaign was successful. By 1926, Italian forces under Governor-General Emilio De Bono had seized Tripolitania. But in the late 1920s, the Italian war effort in Libya became extremely difficult.

Senussi forces under the command of Omar Mukhtar, the Lion of the Desert, still controlled Cyrenaica. Mukhtar and his men utilized Guerilla warfare. They were able to attack Italian positions and then quickly dissapear due to good knowledge of the terrain. The Italians struggled to suppress the Senussi revolt due to their utilization of Guerrila warfare.

Omar al-Mukhtar

The Governor of Cyrenaica, Attilio Tenuzzi, had a plan. He wanted to use the superior Italian weapons like tanks and aircraft to combat the Senussis. Although some of these measures were somewhat successful, by 1929, the Italian Minister of Colonies, Emilio De Bono, wanted to use more drastic measures to finally "pacify" Libya.

In March 1930, General Rodolfo Graziani became Vice Governor of Cyrenaica. 

Rodolfo Graziani was determined to end the Senussi revolt once and for all and finally conquer Libya. He was willing to go to any extremes to "pacify" Libya and capture Mukhtar. 

And that meant Genocide.

Begginning of the Genocide - Mass Deportations

Rodolfo Graziani was a dedicated Fascist and Italian general. He is most known for his disastrous attempted Invasion of Egypt in 1940, where his forces were crushed by the British Army during Operation Compass.

Most historians agree that the mass deportation of Libyans began in Spring 1930. The Italians had been deporting some Libyans as early as a year before Graziani was proclaimed Vice-Governor of Italian Cyrenaica. 

But in Spring 1930, Graziani began the mass deportation of Libyans in Cyrenaica. 

In June 1930, Badoglio issued an order for the deportation of semi-nomadic and nomadic tribespeople in Cyrenaica to concentration camps. These people made up possibly over half of Cyrenaica's entire population.

Libyans were taken by Italian forces in brutal death marches to the camps. Italian and Libyan sources both confirm that many of the people who were taken to the camps did not even arrive at the camps. Graziani recorded that, out of the 130,000 Libyans who were supposed to arrive at internment camps, only 80,000 even made it.

Survivors of the Mersa Brega Concentration camp state that Italian soldiers used whips and guns to make sure the Libyans were moving at a satisfactory pace during the death march, and anyone who went too slow or passed out due to exhaustion were shot dead.

The Concentration Camps

The Concentration Camps were organized into a grid system by the Italian officials. Individual families were assigned to tents in each grid.

Photo of El Abiar Concentration Camp. About 8,000 Libyans were sent to this camp.

 

Soldiers in the camps issued very harsh punishments. Victims in the camps could be beaten, insulted, whipped, or even hanged for different crimes. Victims who insulted Italy as a country were given very harsh punishments. A man at Agaila concentration camp refused to salute the commander and refused to say "Long Live the King of Italy" and he was whipped 800 times. 

Forced Labor

The Italians obviously used forced labor in the concentration camps. But the methods in which the Italians used forced labor differentiated by camp.

At el-Agheila Concentration Camp, inmates were forced to do work in mines, and build railways and roads. 

At Mersa Brega Concentration Camp, inmates were forced to work from 7 to 12, recieving almost nothing in return.

At Agedabia Concentration Camp, inmates were forced to work on railways and other building projects in the town of Agedabia, recieving almost nothing in return.

At Sidi Ahmed el-Magrun Concentration Camp, inmates were forced to do road and construction works for 5 hours, recieving almost nothing in return. 

At el-Abiar Concentration Camp, inmates were forced to help with the construction of a road in Benghazi.

Inmates at the Soluch Concentration Camp

Punishments and Torture

Punishments in Camps were very harsh. Inmates were commonly executed and sometimes even tortured.

As we stated before, inmates could find themselves beaten, whipped, and hanged for disobeying camp orders.

Different forms of torture include, but are likely not limited to:

-Standing in the sun with stretched arms raised with large stones or tied to a pole

-Getting Flogged

-Imprisonment to sand pits for up to 4 days

-Being hung from the wrist or foot to beams

-Being buried in the sand with only their head out

-Getting their hand cut off

-Getting their feet and tongue cut off

-Being killed

Furthermore, at el-Agheila, prisoners were subject to especially cruel torture.

Torture methods at el-Agheila Concentration Camp included:

-Burning of the feet by use of hot irons

-Putting insects inside of body cavities

-Cutting off the nails and destroying them

-Suspension from hair beams with weights on the ankles

-Forcing inmates to drink large amounts of salt water

Punishments would happen in front of everyone at the center of the camps after all inmates returned from work.

Food Rations 

At the camps, the daily food consisted of pasta or rice with sauce, bread, two cups of tea or barley with sugar, an onion, and two liters of water, along with meat twice a week.

Breakfast was provided at 6 am, lunch at 12 pm, and dinner at 8 pm.

Inmates could have food and water taken away or less rationed as a punishment. 

Rape and Sexual abuse

Rape and forced prostitution were common punishments at all the camps.

At el-Agheila, a brothel existed in a hut where Italian soldiers could rape female prisoners.

"Re-education institutes for Minors"

During the Libyan Genocide, the Italians constructed 4 internment camps for minors; Mersa Brega, Agedabia, Sidi Ahmed el Magrun, and Soluch. 

600 young Libyans were interned at Mersa Brega. All of them were boys.

190 young Libyans, boys and girls, were interned at Agedabia. The youngest kids at Agedabia Re-education Camp were just six years old.

230 young Libyans were interned at Sidi Ahmed el-Magrun. 30 of them were girls.

560 young Libyans were interned at Soluch. 60 of them were girls.

The kids from these camps came from families who were at the aforementioned concentration camps. The inmates would first attend classes in the morning, and then were permitted to take a 30-minute break. At 9:30 PM, a curfew would go into effect. The inmates could engage in activities such as sports and dancing at the camp.

However, some of the punishments at these camps were still incredibly brutal. Some punishments, like not allowing inmates to play sports or forcing them to stay alone in their room, are more light, but others were essentially torture. These included:

-Deprivation of food and water

-Imprisonment in "punishment chambers" with little to no nutrition or water

-Getting whipped

-Being forced to sit in boiling or extremely cold water

-Having to stand in the sun carrying stones or having arms stretched

-Getting feet or hands binded together

-Being forced to take drugs which can make you vomit

End of the Genocide

The genocide ended when Libya was fully pacified in 1933. Omar al-Mukhtar had been captured and executed in Soluch concentration camp in 1931. As such, there was no reason to continue the persecution. By the end of 1933, the genocide was over, and all the camps were shut down, and either unoccupied or transformed into different facilities.

About 60,000-70,000 people died in the Libyan genocide.. Cyrenaica's population had plummeted.

Was it really a "genocide"?

The Libyan Genocide was, in fact, not just a series of mass murder, but a genocide.

Raphael Lemkin, the man who created the term "Genocide", defines it as:

"[G]enocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: 

a. Killing members of the group; 

b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 

c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 

d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; 

e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

The Italians had mass murdered the Libyan Bedouin population with intent to destroy them, as evidenced by Badoglio's order for the deportation of the population of Cyrenaica which was shown before.

Christopher Mingo explains this in even more detail in "Hidden in Plain Sight: Italian Concentration Camps in Cyrenaica: 1930-1933".

Sources:

https://history.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/Mingo-Senior-Thesis-Final-Draft_REDUCED.pdf

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=106

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=104

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=105

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=196

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=103

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=209

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=208

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=210

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=207

https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-11/raphael-lemkin-and-genocide-convention

Giado Concentration Camp in Italian Libya

Giado concentration camp was mentioned here in my article about the Afrika Korps. However, this article will be specifically about the camp, and the role which both the Germans and Italians played in it.

In late 1941 and early 1942, Allied forces had successfully pushed the Axis forces in Libya out of Cyrenaica in what is known as Operation Crusader. However, this would not last for long, as on January 21, 1942, Rommel would launch a counter-offensive, retaking Cyrenaica.

The Jews of Cyrenaica preferred to be under Allied occupation, mainly due to the Axis racial laws and killing of civilians. As such, some Jews decided to join the British Army. 

Because of this, on February 7, 1942, Mussolini ordered for the Jewish population of Cyrenaica to be deported into concentration camps in Tripolitania and other locations.

The most famous camp was Giado, located south of Tripoli.

Throughout 1942, German and Italian authorities would deport 2,600 Jews to Giado. In total, (including the Giado numbers), 3,000 Jews would be deported to Tripolitania. 

Food rations were poor. The book The Holocaust and North Africa writes:

"The living conditions in Giado were extremely bad, because there was neither adequate room for the internees nor sufficient food."

There were 10 buildings in the camp, with 400 people living in each building, meaning that conditions were extremely cramped in Giado. Except for a bed, there was no furniture at any of the barracks in the camp, and there were not even enough for all the prisoners. Hygiene and health was incredibly bad at Giado, and in December 1942, a typhus epidemic broke out in the camp. A considerable amount of prisoners would die due to this epidemic. 

Men at the camp had to work for 12 hour shifts. Work at the camp included hoeing and transporting dirt. A survivor of Giado named Ofek states:

"After an exhausting day's work, we did work for the Arab villagers, such as sewing clothes."

Giado was run by Ettore Bastico, Governor-General of Italian Libya, and other officers aswell. The camp was guarded by both Italian and Arab guards. The guards of the camp regularly harassed the prisoners. Punishments at the camp included whipping and beating of Jews, and forcing them into dungeons. 

In 1943, Giado was liberated by the British. The guards of the camp had fled a few weeks before in fear of a mass escape by prisoners. 562 Jews died at Giado due to poor conditions.

SOURCES:

http://archive.diarna.org/site/detail/public/1061/

http://www.musiques-regenerees.fr/GhettosCamps/Camps/Italie/Giado_LibyanJewishExperience.html

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=264

Debunking Holocaust Denial - Denier Argument #3: All extermination camps found by the Soviets?

In this post, a denier tries to claim that the extermination camps are a hoax since they were all found by the Soviets.

Yet again, deniers are continuing their usual habit of misrepresenting Holocaust history and failing to do basic research on the Holocaust. By doing this, they show the world how stupid they really are.

First off, there is no evidence that the documentation and evidence of the extermination camps had anything to do with the liberators of said camp. Even before the camps were liberated, there was already (albeit limited) documentation of the camps. Take, for example, an aerial photo of Auschwitz-Birkenau from 25 August 1944 (Before the camp was liberated):

Documentation of the extermination camps before their liberation essentially makes the possibility of the Soviets building the extermination camps impossible, as the locations of these camps were in enemy territory yet photos of them existed.

Research and documentation on the Holocaust was not done solely by the Red Army and Soviet government as the denier suggests; rather, it comes from multiple other sources. The Nazis themselves documented their own genocide by taking photos and sending telegrams and other messages regarding the Holocaust. There are thousands upon thousands of testimonies regarding the Holocaust by its victims. Most notably, historians are responsible for lots of documentation and research about the Holocaust, including non-Russian and non-Soviet historians. 

I'm not sure why the denier believes that every single piece of documentation on the extermination camps was done by the Soviets. I guess deniers lied, again.

Secondly, the denier's claim that the Soviets specifically would have faked mass murder of Jews is false. The Soviet Union actively censored and left out the fact that majority or all victims were Jewish in their reports of the Holocaust. The book "Black Book of Soviet Jewry" was censored in the Soviet Union after it specifically focused on Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The Soviet report about Auschwitz did not mention Jewish victims. 

It is worthy to note that the Soviet Union was also somewhat anti-semitic. Beginning in late 1948, the Soviets launched a campaign known as the "anti-cosmopolitan campaign" in which they accused the Jews of being "rootless cosmopolitans" and persecuted them. 

Sources:

The Case for Auschwitz by Robert Jan van Pelt, 2002, Indiana University Press, p. 175

http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2019/08/nazi-document-on-mass-extermination-of.html

http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2015/10/contemporary-german-documents-on.html

https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-reflections-testimonies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Book_of_Soviet_Jewry

http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2017/05/rebutting-twitter-denial-most-popular.html#auschwitzplaque

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-cosmopolitan_campaign

Debunking Holocaust Denial - Denier Argument #2: "Baking 6 million Cookies"

A Holocaust denier by the name of Nicholas Fuentes was holding some sort of stream, when one of his fans denied the Holocaust by trying to use a mathematical argument.

He stated:

"If I take one hour to cook a batch of cookies and cookie monster has 15 ovens working 24 hours a day every day for 5 years, how long does it take cookie monster to make 6 million batches of cookies?"

Obviously, the fan is referring to the Holocaust. By cookies, he means Jews, by cookie monster, he means Nazis, by ovens, he means concentration camps.

Now, this is one of the worst attempts at presenting an argument which "disproves" the Holocaust. This argument ignores basic facts about the Holocaust which can be found in a literal google search.

First of all, there were far more than 15 ovens. I'm not going to list every single concentration camp, extermination camp, and slave labor camp, but here is a map of the camp locations.

As you can see, there are far, far more than 15 "ovens". Not only that, but this argument straight up ignores the shootings and massacres by the Einsatzgruppen, SS, Wehrmacht, and Order Police, the starvation of Jews in ghettos, the deportation of Jews, and other methods used by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Deniers lied once again. A common misconception about the Holocaust is that 6 million Jews were killed solely in camps alone, but this is not the case, as concentration camps and extermination camps were not the only ways the Nazis persecuted Jews. 

But, the most ridiculous and outright hilarious part of this argument, is that his own math leads to more than 6 million Jews killed.

1 batch of cookies (12 cookies) x 15 ovens = 180 

180 cookies baked per hour x 24 hours in a day = 4320

4320 cookies baked per day x 365 days in a year = 1,576,800

1576800 cookies baked per year x 5 years = 7,488,000 

So the denier, in his attempt to lie about the Holocaust and try to use false methods to "debunk" it, ended up using a formula which literally goes against his own point, thus making himself look like a clown. Did you really expect a person who unironically believes that the Holocaust never happened to be smart?

The truth is, you cannot prove how many people died in the Holocaust, or any genocide for that matter, using the denier's statistic. The Nazis did not have a specific pace in which they killed the Jews. Historians don't use this false formula to calculate Holocaust deaths, they use official documents, memoirs, population loss, letters, and plenty of other primary sources to calculate the amount of people who died in the Holocaust.

SOURCES:

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/image/main-nazi-camps-and-killing-sites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsatzgruppen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel#The_Holocaust

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnungspolizei

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_of_the_Wehrmacht#Reprisals_and_the_Holocaust

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_ghettos

Lerman, Anthony (1989), The Jewish Communities of the World, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 100–101

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_and_documentation_for_the_Holocaust

Holocaust Denial - Index

 This is an index for my "Debunking Holocaust Denial" series.

What is Holocaust Denial?

Debunking Holocaust Denial - Denier Argument #1: No Jewish population decrease?

Debunking Holocaust Denial - Denier Argument #2: "Baking 6 million Cookies"

Debunking Holocaust Denial - Denier Argument #3: All extermination camps found by the Soviets?

Debunking Holocaust Denial - Denier Argument #1: No Jewish population decrease?

On July 16, 2008, infamous Holocaust denier David Irving held a meeting in New York with some of his supporters and fellow Holocaust deniers.

Some individuals who were not Holocaust deniers came to document the meeting and ask questions. During the meeting, an un-named Holocaust denier approaches one of the interviewers and says:

"How could 6 Million Jews be murdered in gas chambers, and not be a decrease in the world's Jewish population?"

This is a common argument used by Holocaust deniers to try and claim that the Holocaust didn't happen. However, there is one crucial flaw in this argument: It is completely false. There was a massive decrease in the Jewish population during and after the Holocaust, and this is just one part of the mountains of evidence that the Holocaust happened.

As you can see right here, there was a massive decrease in the global Jewish population from 1939-45. This was due to the Holocaust. Deniers lied once again.

SOURCES:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-population-of-the-world#A