[3] Milan served as central deportation place for the Jews of northern Italy, who were brought there from other cities like Genoa and Turin as well as rural regions like the Aosta Valley.

The loading of deportees onto carriages took place in the early mornings to ensure secrecy and also prevent disruption of the vital daily mail and freight services.

[5] A second train left on 30 January 1944, carrying 600 deportees, 40 of them children including Liliana Segre, who were taken on a seven-day journey to Auschwitz.

While the project did not encounter active opposition, it was hampered by a certain disinterest and embarrassment in Italy, where the Italian contribution to the Holocaust in the country is still a controversial subject.

[4] On 27 January 2013, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the memorial was inaugurated in the presence of Prime Minister Mario Monti, officials from Italian State Railways and other institutional and religious dignitaries and guests.

[10] In recent times, the memorial has also served as a shelter for refugees from Syria and Eritrea, who have travelled through Libya to reach Italy.