Forced Labour Camp GBI No. 40

Italian military internees in Berlin 1943-1945

Aerial view, 12 May 1944

In the centre – area B – the camp of the General Building Inspector (GBI) No. 40, to the right side – area C – the camp of the German Labour Front (DAF) and left – area A – the site of the GBI camp under construction with the number 643.

Between 1941 and 1945 the forced labour camp no. 40 of the special authority “General Building Inspector for the Capital of the Reich” (GBI) was located here. From the autumn of 1943 on, the camp housed Italian military internees. Companies of Berlin used the former allies as forced labourers.

In September 1943 Italy withdrew from the war. The Wehrmacht captured all Italian soldiers after that. They were brought to Germany and declared military internees. Thus their labour could be exploited without any regards to the Geneva Convention and the political situation in Italy. Over 30,000 of a total of 650,000 Italian prisoners of war were sent to Berlin and distributed to various camps.

GBI camp No. 40 was hit on May 7, 1944 during an Allied air raid. Over 50 Italian military internees died in the protective trenches of the camp. Foreign forced labourers and prisoners of war had no access to air raid shelters.

Ugo Brilli survived the air raid and was able to witness the death of the others:
“The dead of the bombing of the camp were the only thing that made us cry, all of us who were left. Our friends, our comrades, to see them torn apart like that . . . a massacre.”
_{Ugo Brilli, former Italian military internee in the camps GBI No. 40 and GBI No. 75/76, which is the Documentation Centre on NS Forced Labour today.}

Source: Documentation Centre on NS Forced Labour

Ugo Brilli initiated this plaque to commemorate his deceased fellow prisoners.

_{English translation: Oliver Schmitt}