Plaque to Prato deportees

In March 1944, the Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy called a national strike with the main objective of organising a mass opposition against Nazi-Fascism, effectively blocking industrial production. Textile workers in Prato also participated in large numbers.

The broad participation in the strike, also organised in collaboration with the emerging partisan movement, not only took the local fascist and German authorities by surprise, but irritated them to the point that on 7 March, after the tenth Allied air raid on the town, they launched a vast round-up operation.

During this action, many people were captured and imprisoned in the Fortress, which served as the headquarters of the Republican National Guard. Some women were also among the prisoners, but they were not deported. The following morning, as the number of prisoners was too small, a further round-up was carried out. The prisoners were then taken to Florence and on the morning of 8 March they were loaded onto the train bound for Mauthausen. A total of 152 people were sent to concentration camps during the war and of these only 24 returned home.