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In order to support the growth of a culture of peace and peaceful coexistence among peoples, with the aim of recalling and honoring the military and civilian victims of each division and nationality, the Sicilian Parliament (Sicilian Regional Assembly) with law no.5 on 20th March 2015 designated the Castle of Milazzo among the 28 "places of the memory of the Great War in Sicily".
The choice of the Sicilian legislator was not casual, infact the fortified citadel of Milazzo hosted during the First World War a prison camp of Austro-Hungarian officers and, a few years before, in the ancient Duomo, military barracks of the Italian Army were settled next to the the Mastio which was used as a prison since the end of the nineteenth century.
This exhibition intends to recall that prison camp and one of its detainees, Lieutenant Otto Jank, died in Milazzo. It also means to commemorate the contribution and sacrifice of the Milazzese people to the Great War. Especially the heroic figure of Luigi Rizzo, symbol of the Italian Navy who stands out amongst all for having sunk two Austro-Hungarian armored vessels the Wien and the Szent István.
On board of the latter, almost all of the thousands of crewmen survived. However unfortunately 85 sailors and 4 officers died, taken away from their families by a long and evil war that should us think - today more than ever - on the values of 'peace and peaceful coexistence among peoples'
Castle of Milazzo: prison camp of Austro-Hungarian officers, 1918
Letters from prison
Lieutenent Netolitzky
Browsing the correspondence between Lieutenant Netolitzky - who writes from the Milazzo Castle Prison Camp - and his family, it turns out that the prisoner is in better conditions than his family. Sufficient food, the possibility to take baths with nice and warm weather and furthermore news of repatriation at least for German-Boems.
In contrast with his parents' letter telling him of despair and shame they feel having enough food for them, while Vienna is starving. Positive notes: the snow has melted and the sun favors the growth of the crop; not least the good news coming from him even if he complains about ten family postcards which were not delivered since January 1st.
Letters from prison
Captain Wagner
Also from letters sent to Salzburg by Captain Wagner (probably a teacher) it turns out that the treatment reserved to Austro-Hungarian prisoners in Milazzo Castle was pretty good. He is not talking about repatriation yet and It seems, from one of the letters that the prisoners did not know about the new political and geographical situation of the former Austro-Hungarian empire. For the rest, nothing really significant except worries about the job left in Austria and his father’health. A thought also to his friend Otto Jank, who had died in Milazzo of Spanish fever.
In memory of Otto Jank
There were several Austro-Hungarian officers who, taken to the front by the Italian Army, spent a long period of imprisonment in the Castle of Milazzo. Among them, lieutenant Otto Jank who was born in Vienna and died at the Vaccarella Civil Hospital on June 11, 1919 after having contracted the Spanish fever. He rests in Milazzo Cemetery where a bronze plaque was posed by his fellow soldiers.
