The Fermo Camp (
Italian: ''Campo Fermo'',
Croatian: ''Logor Fermo'') was a post-
World War II displaced persons camp
A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...
near
Fermo,
Italy whose inhabitants were
Croats displaced from
Yugoslavia.
The first Croats arrived in June 1945.
The majority arrived at the camp on August 15, 1945. The inhabitants formed a theatre company at the camp to perform classic Croatian dramatic works. A printing press was established by
Dominik Mandić Dominik Mandić (2 December 1889 – 23 August 1973) was a Herzegovinian Croat Franciscan and historian.
Biography
Mandić was born in Lise near Široki Brijeg in Herzegovina. He completed his primary education in Široki Brijeg, where he atte ...
which printed magazines and books at the camp.
[''Hrvatski iseljenički zbornik: 2005''. ]Croatian Heritage Foundation The Croatian Heritage Foundation ( hr, Hrvatska matica iseljenika) is an organization which works with Croatian emigrants. It helps connect diaspora groups back to the country. The foundation organizes several programs within Croatia and around the ...
. Zagreb, 2004. (pg. 93)
Most of the about 2000 inhabitants who were living inside the camp, which was situated on the premises of a former textile factory, were of
Ustaše background. In 1947 the camp was repeatedly raided by British military personnel in a search for war criminals hiding among the population.
In late 1947 and early 1948, representatives from
Argentina, the
United States,
Canada, and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
came to the camp to offer the inhabitants a chance to immigrate to their perspective countries.
On one trip, the
USS ''General W. M. Black'' (AP-135) transported 626 people from the camp to
Peru.
The camp was closed in 1948.
Upon independence,
Croatia tried to entice its displaced persons to return through
tax exemptions and monetary aid.
[Mark Wyman. ''DPs: Europe's Displaced Persons, 1945-1951''. Cornell University Press, 1998. (pg. 9)]
References
{{coord missing, Italy
Displaced persons camps in the aftermath of World War II
Province of Fermo
Croatia in World War II