El Shatt
El Shatt is a place on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt , on the east side and at the south end of the Suez Canal , opposite the city of Suez in the desert . There are different spellings, including El Schatt (German) and Ash Shatt .
railroad
During the Second World War El Shatt was a set up for railway terminal on the east side of the channel at that roughly parallel and north of the channel from the Sinai railway branching rail line . This should serve to better defend the canal and ensure an alternative transport route in the event of a breakdown in operations.
Refugee camp
Based on this, a complex of refugee camps was built in El Shatt . From February 2, 1944 to March 20, 1946, evacuated Dalmatian residents lived here , who had fled the offensive of the German Wehrmacht , which occupied all of Dalmatia at the end of 1943 / beginning of 1944. On the occasion of the occupation of Dalmatia, over 30,000 civilians fled to the island of Vis , the headquarters of the partisan army and the allied British army , for fear of punitive actions by the German army . Since not so many people could be accommodated and cared for there, the refugees and native residents of the island were evacuated to southern Italy , first to Bari and then on to Taranto . Most of the refugees came from Makarska (around 6000), others from Vodice , Hvar , Vis and Korčula . As Italy was still the scene of heavy fighting at the time, the refugees were sent on to Egypt, which was considered safe and under British administration.
The camp had a size of 260 km². It was divided into five smaller camps. The refugees were housed in tents (an average of one to two families per tent). Despite the poor conditions, the evacuees tried to maintain the illusion of normal life. They built schools, workshops, a shared laundry room and published a newspaper. The people of Dalmatia had great difficulty adapting to the conditions of the desert. Many children had bowel disease and many of them died. The British government made the camp subject to strict rules. B. leaving the facility was only possible with passports.
El Shatt was bombed several times, with many casualties. The refugees spent 18 months in the refugee camps before they were able to return to their homeland in 1946.
memorial
At the place of the refugee camp there is only a cemetery today. It was badly damaged in the Six Day War . In 2003 a memorial with a memorial was set up with the support of the Croatian government.
Web links
- EL SHATT - the Croatian Refugee Community in the Sinai Desert, Egypt (1944-1946) English
- The memorial
Coordinates: 29 ° 58 ' N , 32 ° 37' E
