Catholic Church of St. Peter & Paul Cemetery: The active Catholic cemetery has the last known Jewish burial in 1940-45. [Catholic Church of St. Peter & Paul, 87040 Tarsia, Consenza CS, Italty. Telephone from U.S. 011-39-981] 1940-45 internment of Jews occurred in Ferramonti, about 6 km from the town of Tarsia, or 20 minutes south on the A3 Autostrade, nearest the town of Cosenza where the Crati River and A3 cross. Ferramonti was a camp that existed from 1940 to 1945, used for Jews (apparently bound for Palestine but caught here during W.W.II) and many others, including US Citizens trapped when war broke out. There is a wall commemorating those who died at that camp. After the war, their families disinterred all but four of the Jewish people buried there from 1940-45. These four Jewish burials are in single, in-ground graves. The four burials include one illegible one. The wall reads "In memoria dei naufraghi del pentcho 'internati a Ferramonti e deceduti dal 1942-1944." Disinterred Jewish burials listed are Ungar Josef, Guen Erwin, Gross Ignatz, Halperin Fischer Zahava, Wald Schaghne-the "g" could be a "c", Weissberger Shmuel, Weil Paula, Neumann Strelinger Magoi, Furst Shraga, Freund Albert, Feller Eugen, and Rosinger Weiss Ghavna. On either side of the list are a few small plaques: 1. Richard Trostler, nato il 23/X 1878 a Vienna, morto il 23/III 1944; 2. Joseph Richard Goldstein, nato il 13/II or III 1874 a Coltbus, morto il 10/I/1943; 3. Hugo Meitner nato il 10/XI 1888 Ung Brod, morto il 13/X 1941; 4. Leo Wellesz, nato il 2/I 1943 a Ferramonti, morto il 4/4/1943.
BOOK: Capogreco, Carlo Spartaco. FERRAMONTI-La vita e gliuomini del piu grande campo d'internamento fascista . Via Ricasoli 26, 50122 FIRENZE, ITALIA: Editrice La Giuntina, 1987. The book describes the camp in Italian. Pictures were taken August 1977. Town population: 1000-5000 with no known current Jewish population. Cosenza, about 20 minutes south on Autostrade A3.I, is the nearest large city. No other towns or villages used this cemetery. (People who were born here are brought back for burial from other places.) There is a monument maker in Spezzano Albanese but people possibly used one in Bisignano or Cosenza, a little further away. A handwritten (Italian) list in chronological order in a notebook lists the burials in the cemetery. Cemetery Hours are posted outside gate: approx. 8:30am-5pm, but later in summer, about 7pm. Flower Policy: liberal with flowers & plants on many graves. The caretaker has the key. The cemetery location is rural (agricultural), on flat land, and about a mile or so from Crati River. A sign in Italian marks the cemetery reading: "Cimitero". This site is the only cemetery for town of Tarsia. The cemetery is reached off the Autostrade A3 at Tarsia exit, then north following sign to Tarsia. Access to the cemetery is open to all. A continuous masonry wall and two gates that lock surround the cemetery. The current size of the cemetery is approximately two acres. The four Jewish tombstones are from the 19th and 20th centuries. Inscriptions of the four Jewish tombstones are in Hebrew. The cemetery contains a special memorial monument to Jews who died at Ferramonti: Hebrew column next to each name on wall in Italian, some Hebrew on small plaques, and four Jewish graves. The present owner of the cemetery property is either the Catholic Church or possibly the diocese or the town-commune and as such is well cared for. Source: Ellen Barbieri, 1116 Akron St., San Diego, California USA 92106-2402, (619) 226-0803 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. visited the site and completed the survey on 12 Sep 1997.
UPDATE: Dr Mario Rende, author of book "Ferramonti Di Tarsia" (2009) by www.mursia.com cleaned the graves and memorial wall this summer. He was able to read the illegible stones. We have been jointly working on this data and have identified maiden name for one grave. We have compared the names on the graves & wall with names from death certificates. There are some inconsistencies but definitely additional info. Death certs give witnesses, sometimes relatives. Capogreco's book says graves were purchased in Tarsia and Cosenza, so perhaps there are some burials in Cosenza. Also, Capogreco and Bierman's books both say 4 were killed on 27 Aug 1943 when plane fired on camp mistaking it for a military site but there are only 3 death certs for that date. Maybe 4th person went to hospital & died later in Cosenza? I also have a death cert from the camp. I can send the lists. Ellen Barbieri - JewishGen Researcher 8682 San Diego, CA. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [October 2009]