Memorial to the Museo della Shoah Roma

The Casina dei Vallati is currently home to the Shoah Museum.
On the façade of the Vallati House in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome, two plaques recall the tragedy of October 16, 1943:

Top: (translated)
"On October 16, 1943,
the merciless hunt for Jews
and 2,091 Roman citizens began here.
They were sent to a cruel death
in the Nazi extermination camps,
where, together with
another 6,000 Italians,
they fell victim to the infamous racial hatred.

The few who escaped the massacre
were very supportive,
they appealed to people for
love and peace,
they called on God
for forgiveness and hope.

The National Committee
for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary
of the Resistance.
October 25, 1964"

Bottom:
"And they did not even begin to live.
In memory of the newborns
exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps.
Placed by the municipality on the day of remembrance
January 2001"

On October 16, 1943, 200 Nazis went door to door in the 26 districts of the city with an order for all Jews. The "SS" was provided with lists, with names and addresses, of Jewish families. None were to escape deportation.
The action took place in the early hours. Entire families were arrested, without exception, most were captured while they were still asleep.
The old Jewish quarter of Rome was the epicentre of the entire operation. Here the Jews were forced to take their belongings, leave their homes and gather in an open space just beyond the Portico d’ Ottavia (the open space is still visible today, later named "Largo 16 October 1943").
At 2 p.m. the great round-up ended. Initially 1,259 Jews were arrested, after checking identity cards and other documents 235 people were released.
The men, women, children and even old and sick people were loaded into grey trucks and housed in a large classroom of the Military University.
On 18 October, after about 30 hours, the prisoners were put on trucks and taken to the Rome-Tiburtina freight station. There they were loaded into a convoy of eighteen cattle wagons. In this station some deportees were able to escape.
On Friday 22 October, after six days and six nights, the train arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau where death awaited them. Of the hundreds of Jews deported, barely 16 were said to have survived. return to Rome.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Rik De Coninck