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Danane camp commander Mazzucchetti

Bry

New Member
He was commandant of the Danane concentration camp near Mogadishu.This camp held about 6000 Ethiopians connected to Tekatik 12.Is there any further information available on this man?Wondering if he survived to return to Italy after the war.I suspect not.
 

Bry

New Member
Thank you.I will give it a read.No I didn't know.I only recently realized the scope of these camps.I will try to find the link to a civil engineer involved with the construction of the Strada Imperiale.I know that there was some forced labor involved.And deaths.He ended up in Fort Baldiserra in terrible conditions.A group of almost 80 men.Some of these men were older.My father in law was one of them.
 

DrG

Active Member
Col. Mazzucchetti was taken prisoner by the British on 18 March 1941, shortly detained in "Campo Locatelli" in Mogadiscio, then shipped to POW camps in India on 23 June 1941. He returned to Italy in 1946.
 

Bry

New Member
Wow.He wrote that diary and got off.Thank you very much.
Col. Mazzucchetti was taken prisoner by the British on 18 March 1941, shortly detained in "Campo Locatelli" in Mogadiscio, then shipped to POW camps in India on 23 June 1941. He returned to Italy in 1946.
Wow.How did you find this?Amazing that he wasn't charged with any crimes.
 

DrG

Active Member
These information come from Del Boca's article "Un lager del fascismo. Danane", which I have searched especially for you. This said, even an anti-Italian and rabid pro-African writer like Del Boca praises the honesty and effort of col. Mazzucchetti, who did his best to provide humane conditions to the prisoners in Danane. Therefore, I suggest you to stop claiming he was a criminal and, maybe, you should start to share something more than oblique half-truths, hints, riddles, etc. From your several questions on disparate matters I have got the impression that a late relative of yours told you about some very interesting matters, but you haven't a clue about the research you should make and you have been using insufficient and tendentious sources to fill the huge gaps in the information in your possession. PM me, please, if you don't feel to write publicly.
 

Bry

New Member
These information come from Del Boca's article "Un lager del fascismo. Danane", which I have searched especially for you. This said, even an anti-Italian and rabid pro-African writer like Del Boca praises the honesty and effort of col. Mazzucchetti, who did his best to provide humane conditions to the prisoners in Danane. Therefore, I suggest you to stop claiming he was a criminal and, maybe, you should start to share something more than oblique half-truths, hints, riddles, etc. From your several questions on disparate matters I have got the impression that a late relative of yours told you about some very interesting matters, but you haven't a clue about the research you should make and you have been using insufficient and tendentious sources to fill the huge gaps in the information in your possession. PM me, please, if you don't feel to write publicly.
Well I had hoped that nobody would be offended.He was in fact in command of this situation or were the Blackshirts?
A large number of European nations had colonial empires.Britain,France, Belgium,Germany.All were guilty of crimes.
 

Bry

New Member
Danane was the camp to which Tekatik 12 survivors were sent.
Yes he was at the massacre of Debra Libanos.
Yes he was connected to several camps.
Yes there are things which I cannot publicly state.
Yes my research skills need improving.
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
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DrG

Active Member
Well I had hoped that nobody would be offended.He was in fact in command of this situation or were the Blackshirts?
A large number of European nations had colonial empires.Britain,France, Belgium,Germany.All were guilty of crimes.
Of course I am not personally offended, but this habit, which has increased in the last couple of decades, of starting from the assumption that every colonialist was a criminal is something I don't like at all. Besides this, in Italy there is a law, often forgotten, that allows the heirs of a deceased person to sue people for having libelled their ancestor. It is very seldom applied (the most important time it was applied, several decades ago, was by the heirs of Pious XII against an American journalist who claimed that the late Pope had been a collaborationist of the Nazis), and today the Italian judiciary system is very skewed to the political left, but before claiming that somebody was a criminal I would be careful.

Anyway, the Blackshirts had no control upon any camp, be it a PoW camp or a concentration camp or a generic prison, everywhere in Italy and its colonies. PoW camps were managed by the Regio Esercito and other camps/prisons by Police.
 
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Bry

New Member
Of course I am not personally offended, but this habit, which has increased in the last couple of decades, of starting from the assumption that every colonialist was a criminal is something I don't like at all. Besides this, in Italy there is a law, often forgotten, that allows the heirs of a deceased person to sue people for having libelled their ancestor. It is very seldom applied (the most important time it was applied, several decades ago, was by the heirs of Pious XII against an American journalist who claimed that the late Pope had been a collaborationist of the Nazis), and today the Italian judiciary system is very skewed to the political left, but before claiming that somebody was a criminal I would be careful.

Anyway, the Blackshirts had no control upon any camp, be it a PoW camp or a concentration camp or a generic prison, everywhere in Italy and its colonies. PoW camps were managed by the Regio Esercito and other camps/prisons by Police.
Ok,so if Mazzucchetti talked about Captain Antonio injecting prisoners to kill them,why would nobody be charged,?
79 men were sent to to Forte Baldiserra and the conditions were not meant for them to survive.
 

DrG

Active Member
Honestly I don't know what you are talking about. The diary doesn't mention this instance, nor Forte Baldissera was any kind of death camp.
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
Bry

It would help other members if you present the information you have and their sources. Quoted material and cites would be great. Without offering that information, there isn't much more that can be said. If you wish some assistance, then you should provide a starting point. You have offered statements that you read, but don't provide the source for the material. One crumb leads to another.

Pista! Jeff
 

Bry

New Member
Ok ,so the AHF thread,
Italian Concentration Camps In East Africa Before And During WW2
I wrongly attributed the statement about Captain Antonio to Mazzucchetti.
The statement about the injections came from an inmate Michael Tessema.Although I am not sure how he would know the contents of the syringe.
Danane

"If the prisoners got sick Captain Antonio said it would be better for them to die.And he killed them with an injection of strychnine and arsenic.Others,who came for treatment,were tied to their beds and operated against their will."
So my question is,how could this go on in this camp without Mazzucchetti not being aware?
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
Can you provide a link?
 

DrG

Active Member
In practice we have the charge by an Ethiopian, without any way to check it (and, buried in Italian archives, there are the documents about the post-war inquiries, they have been available to researches for a couple of decades, but it's easier and more politically-correct to provide only the point of view of the winners of WW2), that an Italian physician allegedly practiced euthanasia on some ill inmates. Anyway, in 1936 even King George V of England was killed by an injection by his physician!
 
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jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
Let us stay away from the topic of whether euthanasia has a role/place in society (current of historical).

I have not been able to read the thread on AHF, so I am unaware of the nature of the issue at hand. It is very unlikely that anyone here at CS has done the research to examine such an issue.
 

jwsleser

Administrator
Staff member
I have found the AHF thread on this issue. I see that Bry has been posting in that thread.


From that thread.
DANANE CONCENTRATION CAMP This is probably the most well known of the camps in AOI. There is lots of info on it.
The original poster provided a list of links to support the information provided. For those that wish to pursue this matter, I recommend the AHF thread.
 
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