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Buq Buq (Bug Bug) Labor Camp, Egypt

Buq Buq (Bug Bug) , Egypt

During World War II, the allied and axis forces fought in North Africa. Much of the fighting centered around the border between Libya and Egypt. In fact, the area changed hands five times between December 1940 and January 1943 [1]. In 1942, the axis powers regained control of Libya and part of Egypt [2]. They forcibly moved some of the Liberian Jewish population into the newly-created labor camp Buq Buq, located in the middle of the harsh Egyptian desert.

Description

Buq Buq Labor Camp

Buq Buq was located in the desert east of the Egyptian-Libyan border. The site was 101 miles east of Tobruk and 99 miles west of Mersa Matruh in the Matruh province of Egypt [2]. It was established in June of 1942. Unlike other more established camps in the area, Buq Buq did not have a permanent guard force or a surrounding fence. It also did not have many officials working at it [2]. An Italian military doctor was the only permanent official [2]. The camp’s only marker was a sign outside that read “God Almighty” in Hebrew [2].

Due to the absence of major oversight, the camp did not have a defined prison culture [2]. The resistance which took place among the prisoners took the form of work slowdowns [2]. Despite the lack of security, escape from the camp was impossible. The only exits were through the scorching desert or roads that were heavily trafficked by Axis forces [2]. Inside, inmates lived in four-to-eight-man tents. The population consisted entirely of Jewish men aged 18-45 from Tripoli [2]. Mussolini was determined to rid Libya of its Jewish population as soon as it recaptured the area from the Allied forces.

In 1942, approximately 3000 Jews from the Tripolitania area were sent to Buq Buq and other camps in the vicinity [1]. Jews holding French or British citizenship were sent to the infamous Jado concentration camp, while Jews with Libyan citizenship were sent to Buq Buq and similar work camps [1]. The prisoners at Buq Buq spent their days crushing boulders for the building of roads. They also dug trenches for inmate protection against RAF bombings [2]. This backbreaking slavery in the deadly desert heat left many inmates in incredible physical pain. They became ill from water shortages, lack of food, and the hot climate [2]. Many developed painful skin conditions. Sick inmates were returned to Tripoli and as a result, the camp dwindled to just 200 inmates after only two months of operation [2]. The camp was dissolved on November 6th 1942, after the British victory in the battle of El Alamein [2]. The Axis troops once again retreated to the west, vacating their positions around the camp. The remaining prisoners were sent back to Tripoli, though they were forced to find their own way back to the city [2]. For five grueling months, the Buq Buq labor camp had forced the Jews of Tripoli to work in horrific conditions for Italian troops.

Buq Buq (Bug Bug) , Egypt

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Sources

Notes:


1. Sheryl Ochayon, “The Jews of Libya,” Vad Vashem, accessed June 27, 2018. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/25/jews_libya.asp#03


2. Jeffrey P. Magargee, Joseph R. White, Mel Hecker, eds, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945, Vol. 3, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2018, accessed June 27, 2018.


Works Cited:


Magargee, Jeffery P., Joseph R. White, and Mel Hecker, eds. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. Vol. 3. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2018. Accessed June 27, 2018.


Ochayon, Sheryl. “The Jews of Libya,” Vad Vashem. Accessed June 207, 2018. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/25/jews_libya.asp#03