The Foundation "Museum and Documentation Centre of Deportation and Resistance – Memorial Sites in Tuscany” was founded on 26 January 2007 by the City of Prato and all the other towns of the Prato area – Cantagallo, Carmignano, Montemurlo, Poggio a Caiano, Vaiano, Vernio -, by the Prato sections of ANED and ANPI, and by the Jewish Community of Florence.
The Prato-Ebensee Twinning Association is a supporting member. On 19 February 2008 the Region of Tuscany declared the Foundation a "legal entity of regional relevance". In 2010 the Province of Prato also became part of the Foundation with the status of a founding member.
The purpose of the Foundation is to further the knowledge of contemporary memorial sites and promote research into the processes through which Fascism and Nazism arose and spread through Europe, as well as on persecution for racial, political and religious reasons, on deportation and daily life in concentration and extermination camps, on resistance and on the struggle for liberation.
The Foundation also aims to increase the knowledge of local history, both with regards to opposition to Fascism and the fight for liberation, and to the history of deportation from the Prato area.
The Foundation collects, preserves and gives prominence to witness accounts on deportation and on the people’s resistance to Nazism and Fascism. By engaging also in an extensive educational activity aimed at young people, the Foundation intends to promote the remembrance of historical events and to foster a culture of peace and solidarity among peoples against all kinds of intolerance, racism, discrimination and totalitarianism.