Between 1942 and 1943, the Italian occupying forces ran a concentration camp near the village of Kampor on the western coast of the island. At its peak the camp held over ten thousand prisoners — Slovenes, Croats, Jews, and political detainees — in conditions of severe deprivation. Several thousand died of hunger, disease, and violence before the Italian capitulation in September 1943.
The camp site is now a memorial park. A large stone monument stands over a mass grave, surrounded by rows of individual grave markers in an open field of grass and pines. It is a quietly devastating place — modest in scale, sombre in atmosphere, and almost entirely overlooked by the tourists a few kilometres away at Rajska Plaža.
The village of Kampor is a pleasant 7-kilometre cycle ride from Rab town along a quiet road through pine forest. The memorial is open year-round and there is no admission charge.