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{{short description|Concentration camp run by the Ustaše in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II}} | |||
{{Redirect|Jasenovac||Jasenovac (disambiguation)}} | |||
{{Redirect|Jasenovac}} | |||
{{pp|small=yes}} | |||
{{Infobox concentration camp | {{Infobox concentration camp | ||
| type = ] and ] | | type = ] and ] | ||
| name = Jasenovac concentration camp | | name = Jasenovac concentration camp | ||
| image |
| image = Jasenovac prisoners enter the camp.jpg | ||
| image size = |
| image size = | ||
| caption |
| caption = Arriving prisoners being robbed by ] guards | ||
| alt = | | alt = | ||
| location map = |
| location map = NDH | ||
| map alt = | | map alt = | ||
| map caption = | | map caption = | ||
| other names = {{lang|sh|Logor Jasenovac}} / {{lang|sh-Cyrl|Логор Јасеновац}}, {{IPA|sh|lôːgor jasěnoʋat͡s|pron}} | |||
| latd = 45 | latm = 16 | lats = 54 | latNS = N | |||
| |
| known for = | ||
| location = ], ] | |||
| coordinates type = region:HR-03_type:landmark_source:dewiki | |||
| operated by = Ustaše Supervisory Service (UNS) | |||
| coordinates display = inline,title | |||
| |
| original use = | ||
| |
| construction = August 1941 | ||
| in operation = 21 August 1941 – 22 April 1945 | |||
| location = ], ] | |||
| prisoner type = Mainly ], ], and ]; also ] and ] political dissidents | |||
| built by = | |||
| killed = 83,000–100,000{{sfn|Kolstø|2011|pp=226–241}}<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Kužnar |editor1-first=Andriana |editor2-last=Odak |editor2-first=Stipe |editor3-last=Lucić |editor3-first=Danijela |title=Jasenovac Concentration Camp: An Unfinished Past |date=2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781000867114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBywEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT115 |quote=The latest amended and revised list of victims of the Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška camps, compiled by the Jasenovac Memorial Site in 2013, provides data for 83,145 persons who lost their lives in the Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška camps. |access-date=2024-05-19 |archive-date=2024-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519172517/https://books.google.com/books?id=JBywEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT115 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="balcanicaucaso">{{cite web |last1=Vale |first1=Giovanni |title=The truth about Jasenovac |url=https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Croatia/The-truth-about-Jasenovac-194127 |website=balcanicaucaso.org |publisher=Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa |date=23 April 2019 |quote=The list at the Jasenovac camp reports 83,811 names, the one in the Belgrade genocide museum 84,000. In my opinion, 10-20% may still be missing, also considering that moderate Belgrade historians speak of 120,000 possible victims. In short, we will get to about 100,000 victims |access-date=10 June 2020 |archive-date=10 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610185728/https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Croatia/The-truth-about-Jasenovac-194127 |url-status=live }}</ref> consisting of:{{sfn|USHMM}}{{sfn|Byford|2020|p=7 ps: According to current estimates, around 83,000 inmates were killed there, of whom 47,000 Serbs, 16,000 Roma, 13,000 Jews, 4,000 Croats and 2,000 victims of other nationalities}}<br />Serbs 45,000–52,000<br />Roma 15,000–27,000<br />Jews 12,000–20,000<br />Croats and Bosnian Muslims 5,000–12,000 | |||
| operated by = Ustashe Supervisory Service (UNS) | |||
| liberated by = ] | |||
| original use = | |||
| notable inmates = ] | |||
| construction = August 1941 | |||
| website = {{URL|jusp-jasenovac.hr}} | |||
| in operation = August 1941 - 21 April 1945 | |||
| gas chambers = | |||
| prisoner type= | |||
| inmates = | |||
| killed = between 82,600 to 700,000.<ref name="www1.yadvashem.org"> ]</ref> | |||
| liberated by = ] | |||
| notable inmates = ] | |||
| notable books = | |||
| website = {{Official website|http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/}} | |||
| box width = | |||
| color = | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{The Holocaust}} | {{The Holocaust sidebar}} | ||
'''Jasenovac''' ({{IPA|sh|jasěnoʋat͡s|pron}})<ref>{{Cite web|last=Logos|first=Aleksandar A.|title=Jasenovac in Croatia or a short story about a war and mass killing in it|page=28 with footnote 86. In Croatian and Serbian language word "jasen" means ash tree and the name Jasenovac means "ashen, or made of ash tree"|url=https://www.academia.edu/83102584|access-date=2022-09-28|archive-date=2022-10-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016095048/https://www.academia.edu/83102584|url-status=live}}</ref> was a ] and ] established in the ] by the authorities of the ] (NDH) in ] during ]. The concentration camp, one of the ten largest in ], was established and operated by the governing ] regime, Europe's only ] regime that operated its own extermination camps, for ], ], ], and political dissidents.{{sfn|Radonić|2009|p=179}} It quickly grew into the third largest concentration camp in Europe.{{sfn|McCormick|2014|p=77}} | |||
] | |||
'''Jasenovac concentration camp''' (], ]: ''Logor Jasenovac''; ]: ''Логор Јасеновац''. Yiddish: יאסענאוואץ, Hebrew: יסנובץ, sometimes spelled "Yasenovatz") was the largest ] in the ] (NDH) and occupied ] during ]. The camp was established by the ] ] (Ustasha) regime in August 1941 and dismantled in April 1945. In Jasenovac, the largest number of victims were ethnic ], whom ] considered the main racial opponents of ], alongside the ] and ] peoples.<ref name="holocaustresearchproject.org">http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/jasenovac.html</ref> | |||
The camp was established in August 1941, in marshland at the confluence of the ] and ] rivers near the village of Jasenovac, and was dismantled in April 1945. It was "notorious for its barbaric practices and the large number of victims".{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=399}} Unlike ] ], Jasenovac lacked the infrastructure for mass murder on an industrial scale, such as gas chambers. Instead, it "specialized in one-on-one violence of a particularly brutal kind",{{sfn|Crowe|2013|p=71}} and prisoners were primarily murdered with the use of knives, hammers, and axes, or shot.{{sfn|Freund|2016}} | |||
Jasenovac was a complex of five subcamps<ref></ref> spread over {{convert|240|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} on the banks of the ]. The largest camp was at ], about {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of ]. The complex also included large grounds at ] directly across the Sava River, a ] in ] to the northwest, and a ] to the southeast. | |||
In Jasenovac, the majority of victims were Serbs (as part of the ]); others were Romani (]), Jews (]), and socialists. Jasenovac was a complex of five subcamps{{sfn|Breitman|2005|p=204}} spread over {{convert|210|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} on both banks of the Sava and Una rivers. The largest camp was the "Brickworks" camp at Jasenovac, about {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of ]. The overall complex included the ], the killing grounds across the Sava river at ], five work farms, and the ] Roma camp.{{sfn|Jasenovac Memorial Site}} | |||
== Background == | |||
=== NDH "legislation" === | |||
Some of the first "legal" orders issued by the NDH reflected the acceptance of the ideology of ] and ]. The "Legal order for the defense of the people and the state" dated 17 April 1941 ordered the ] for "infringement of the honour and vital interests of the Croatian people and the survival of the Independent State of Croatia". It was soon followed by the "Legal order of races" and the "Legal order of the protection of Aryan blood and the honour of the Croatian people" dated 30 April 1941, as well as the "Order of the creation and definition of the racial-political committee" dated 4 June 1941. These decrees were enforced not only through the regular court system, but also through new special courts and mobile courts-martial with extended jurisdiction. In July, 1941, when existing jails could no longer contain the growing number of new inmates, the Ustasha government began clearing ground for what would become the Jasenovac concentration camp.<ref>For Ustase regulations and legislations, lo scanned documents in here: http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/materijali/eng/index.html and translation herein: http://pavelic-papers.com/documents/isc/index.html</ref> | |||
There has been much debate and controversy regarding the number of victims killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp complex during its more than three-and-a-half years of operation. Over the last few decades, a consensus has formed in support of estimates of the Ustaše regime having murdered somewhere near 100,000 people in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945.{{sfn|USHMM}}{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2008|p=34}}{{sfn|Higham|2001}}{{sfn|Hawton|Kovac|2005}}{{sfn|Dulić|2005}}{{sfn|Stone|2013}}{{sfn|Bartrop|Dickerman|2017}}{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2018}} | |||
=== Nazi Germany === | |||
On 10 April 1941, the Independent State of Croatia was established, supported by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. It adopted their racial and political doctrines. Jasenovac's role in the Nazi "final solution" was as the ethnic cleansing of the ]ian, Romany and ]ish inhabitants.<ref>Genocide and Fascism; The Eliminationist Drive in Fascist Europe by Aristotle Kallis, Routledge, New York, NY 2009 pages 236-244</ref> | |||
==Background== | |||
The Ustashe's death camps were directed by numerous Nazi sources: | |||
The ] (NDH) was founded on 10 April 1941, after the ] by the ]. The NDH consisted of the present-day ] and modern-day ] together with ] in modern-day ]. It was essentially an Italo–German quasi-], as it owed its existence to the ], who maintained occupation forces within the ] throughout its existence.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=233–241}} However, its day-to-day administration was composed almost exclusively of Croatians, including monks and nuns, under the leadership of the ]. {{citation needed|date=March 2023}} | |||
*The office of foreign affairs, represented in Croatia by ]. | |||
*The S.S., represented by a Gestapo official whose identity has not been fully established, but whom Jewish witnesses knew as "Miller". | |||
Before the war, the Ustaše were an ], ], ], and ] organization, fighting for an independent Croatia. In 1932, Ustaše leader ] proclaimed: "The knife, revolver, machine gun and time bomb; these are the idols, these are bells that will announce the dawning and the resurrection of the independent state of Croatia".{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016|p=92}} Ustaše terrorists set off bombs on international trains bound for the ],{{sfn|Tomasevich|1975|p=33}} and Pavelić and other Ustaše leaders were sentenced to death in absentia by French courts, for organising the assassination of ] and French Foreign Minister ] in 1934 in Marseilles.{{sfn|Tomasevich|1975|p=34}} The Ustaše were virulently ] and ]. In their ''17 Principles'', they proclaimed that those who were not "of Croat blood" (i.e. Serbs and Jews) would not have any political role in the future Croat state. In 1936, in ''The Croat Question'', Pavelić called Jews "the enemy of the Croat people".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://chnm.gmu.edu/history/faculty/kelly/blogs/h312/wp-content/sources/pavelic.pdf | title = Ante Pavelic: Excerpts from The Croat Question (1936) | first = Hugh | last = Agnew | publisher = Department of History, George Washington University | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211229011658/https://chnm.gmu.edu/history/faculty/kelly/blogs/h312/wp-content/sources/pavelic.pdf | archive-date = 2021-12-29 | url-status = dead }}</ref> | |||
*The Reichsfuhrung and the Wehrmacht. | |||
The competition between the different authorities would not usually benefit the Jews, but actually caused each to try and excel past its competitors in maltreatment of Jews and others. | |||
===NDH legislation=== | |||
The Nazis encouraged the Ustashe's anti-Jewish and anti-Roma actions and showed support for the intended extermination of the Serb people. Soon, the Nazis began to make clear their genocidal goals, as shown by the speech Hitler gave to ], at their meeting on 21 July 1941: | |||
{{See also|The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia}} | |||
<blockquote> | |||
The Jews are the bane of mankind. If the Jews will be allowed to do as they will, like they are permitted in their Soviet heaven, then they will fulfill their most insane plans. And thus Russia became the center to the world's illness... if for any reason, one nation would endure the existence of a single Jewish family, that family would eventually become the center of a new plot. If there are no more Jews in Europe, nothing will hold the unification of the European nations... this sort of people cannot be integrated in the social order or into an organized nation. They are parasites on the body of a healthy society, that live off of expulsion of decent people. One cannot expect them to fit into a state that requires order and discipline. There is only one thing to be done with them: '''To exterminate them'''. The state holds this right since, while precious men die on the battlefront, it would be nothing less than criminal to spare these bastards. They must be expelled, or – if they pose no threat to the public – to be imprisoned inside concentration camps and never be released."<ref>Hilgruber, Staatsmanner und Diplomaten bei Hitler, p. 611.</ref> | |||
], signed legal provisions on racial affiliation and the protection of Aryan blood and honor of the Croatian people]] | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Some of the first decrees issued by the leader of the NDH ] reflected the Ustaše adoption of the racist ideology of ]. The regime rapidly issued a decree restricting the activities of ] and seizing their property.{{sfn|Lemkin|2008|pp=259, 625–626}} These laws were followed by a decree for "the Protection of the Nation and the State" of 17 April 1941, which mandated the ] for the offence of high treason if a person did or had done "harm to the honor and vital interests of the Croatian nation or endangered the existence of the Independent State of Croatia".{{sfn|Lemkin|2008|pp=259, 613}} This was a retroactive law, and arrests and trials started immediately. It was soon followed by a decree prohibiting the use of the ], which was an integral part of the rites of the ].{{sfn|Lemkin|2008|pp=260, 626}} | |||
On April 30, 1941, the Ustaše proclaimed the main race laws, patterned after Nazi race laws – the "Legal Decree on Racial Origins", the "Legal Decree on the Protection of Aryan Blood and the Honor of the Croatian People", and the "Legal Provision on Citizenship".{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016|p=115}} These decrees defined who was a Jew, and took away the citizenship rights of all non-Aryans, i.e. Jews and Roma. By the end of April 1941, months before the Nazis implemented similar measures in Germany, the Ustaše required all Jews to wear insignia, typically a yellow Star of David.{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016|p=121}} The Ustaše declared the "Legal Provision on the Nationalization of the Property of Jews and Jewish Companies", on 10 October 1941, and with it they confiscated all Jewish property.{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016|p=170}} | |||
The Ustaše enacted many other decrees against Jews, Roma and Serbs, which became the basis for Ustaše policies of genocide against Jews and Roma, while against Serbs – as proclaimed by an Ustaše leader, ] – the policy was to kill a third, expel a third, and forcefully convert to Catholicism a third,{{sfn|Alexander|1987|p=71}} which many historians also describe as genocide. The decrees were enforced not only through the regular court system, but also through new special courts and mobile courts-martial with extended jurisdiction.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=383–384}} Almost immediately the first concentration camps were set up, and in July 1941 the Ustaše government began clearing ground for what would become the Jasenovac concentration camp. | |||
===Start of mass terror=== | |||
In the ], Germany offered the Croatian government transportation of its Jews southwards, but questioned the importance of the offer, saying that: "the enactment of the final solution of the Jewish question is not crucial, since the key aspects of this problem were already solved by radical actions these governments took".<ref>Wansee, Nuremberg trail documents, NG-2568-G</ref> | |||
Actions against Jews began immediately after the ] was founded. On 10–11 April 1941, ] arrested a group of prominent Zagreb Jews and held them for ransom. On 13 April the same was done in Osijek, where Ustaše and Volksdeutscher mobs also destroyed the synagogue and Jewish graveyard.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jewish Virtual Library|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_15241.html|access-date=2020-03-07|archive-date=2016-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305042342/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_15241.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This process was repeated multiple times in 1941 with groups of Jews. Simultaneously, the Ustaše initiated extensive antisemitic propaganda, with Ustaše papers writing that Croatians must "be more alert than any other ethnic group to protect their racial purity, ... We need to keep our blood clean of the Jews". They also wrote that Jews are synonymous with "treachery, cheating, greed, immorality and foreigness", and therefore "wide swaths of the Croatian people always despised the Jews and felt towards them natural revulsion".{{sfn|Zuckerman|2010}} | |||
The first mass killing of Serbs was carried out on April 30, when the Ustaše rounded up and killed 196 Serbs at ]. Many other mass killings soon followed. Here is how the Croatian Catholic Bishop of Mostar, ], described the mass killings of Serbs just in one small area of ], just during the first 6 months of the war:{{sfn|Vukušić|2006}} | |||
In addition to specifying the means of extermination, the Nazis often arranged the imprisonment or transfer of inmates to Jasenovac.<ref>M. Shelach, p. 166-169, 171, 185-189, 192, 194-196, 208, 442-443</ref><ref>Tibor Lovrencic testimony, trail of Dinko Sakic</ref><ref>Djuro Schwartz, "in the Jasenovac camps of death". (ג'ורו שווארץ, "במחנות המוות של יאסנובאץ", קובץ מחקרים כ"ה, יד-ושם)p. 301</ref> Kasche's emissary, Major Knehe, visited the camp in 6 February 1942. Kasche thereafter reported to his superiors: | |||
<blockquote>People were captured like beasts. Slaughtered, killed, thrown live into the abyss. Women, mothers with children, young women, girls and boys were thrown into pits. The vice-mayor of Mostar, Mr. Baljić, a Mohammedan, publicly states, although as an official he should be silent and not talk, that in Ljubinje alone 700 schismatics were thrown into one pit. Six full train carriages of women, mothers and girls, children under age 10, were taken from Mostar and Čapljina to the Šurmanci station, where they were unloaded and taken into the hills, with live mothers and their children tossed down the cliffs. Everyone was tossed and killed. In the Klepci parish, from the surrounding villages, 3,700 schismatics were killed. Poor souls, they were calm. I will not enumerate further. I would go too far. In the city of Mostar, hundreds were tied up, taken outside the city and killed like animals. | |||
<blockquote> | |||
Capitan Luburic, the commander-in-action of the camp, explained the construction plans of the camp. It turns out that he made these plans while in exile. These plans he modified after visiting concentration-camps installments in Germany.<ref>Menachem Shelach (ed.)"History of the holocaust: Yugoslavia". (רמנחם שלח (עו'),"תולדות השואה: יוגוסלביה". חלק שני: פרק חמישי, "יאסנובאץ"), p. 195.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
It thus appears that the Nazis inspected Jasenovac, possibly due to doubts they had about the Ustashe's devotion to the extermination of the Jews. Kasche wrote the following: "The Poglavnik asks General Bader to realize that the Jasenovac camp cannot receive the refugees from Kožara. I agreed since the camp is also required to solve the problem in deporting the Jews to the east. Minister Turina can deport the Jews to Jasenovac".<ref>A.A. Nachlass Kasche- 105</ref> | |||
====First concentration camps==== | |||
It is unclear whether Jasenovac was to be used primarily as a death camp in its own right, like ], or more as a collection depot from which Jews would be transported to ]. Stara-Gradiška was the primary site from which Jews were transported to Auschwitz, but Kashe's letter refers specifically to the subcamp Ciglana in this regard.<ref>In all documentation, The term "Jasenovac" relates to either the complex at large. or, when referring to a specific camp, to camp nr. III, which was the main camp since November 1941. and compare with the following article: www.jasenovac.org/whatwasjasenovac.php</ref> | |||
The extermination of Serbs at Jasenovac was precipitated by General Bader, who ordered that refugees be taken to Jasenovac. Although Jasenovac was expanded, officials were told that "Jasenovac concentration and labor camp cannot hold an infinite number of prisoners".<ref>Dinko Sakic indictment, case file p- 1603</ref> | |||
On April 15, only 5 days after the creation of the NDH, the Ustaše established the first concentration camp, ], at Koprivnica.{{sfn|Despot|2012}} In May 1941, they rounded up 165 Jewish youth in Zagreb, members of the Jewish sports club Makabi, and sent them to Danica (all but 3 were later killed by the Ustaše). The Croatian historian, Zdravko Dizdar, estimates that some 5,600 inmates passed through the Danica camp, mostly Serbs but also Jews and Croat Communists. Of the 3,358 Danica inmates Dizdar was able to trace by name, he found that 2,862, i.e. 85%, were later killed by the Ustaše at the Jadovno and Jasenovac concentration camps, the vast majority Serbs, but also hundreds of Jews and some Croats.{{sfn|Despot|2012}} | |||
Soon thereafter, German suspicions were renewed that the Ustashe was more concerned with the extermination of the Serb people than Jews, and that Italian and Catholic pressure was dissuading the Ustashe from killing Jews.<ref>Lo Menachem Shelach (ed.), Yossef Lewinger & Alexander Matkovski: "History of the holocaust: Yugoslavia (מנחם שלח (עו' ), "תולדות השואה: יוגוסלביה", יד ושם, תש"ן. ) pp. 207-339"</ref> | |||
In June 1941, the Ustaše established a new system of concentration camps, stretching from Gospič to the Velebit mountains, to the island of Pag. Ustaše sources state that they sent 28,700 people to these camps in the summer of 1941.{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016|p=265}} Of these, Ustaše records show only 4,000 returned, after the Ustaše were forced by the Italians to shut down the camps and withdraw from the area, because of the strong resistance their mass killings had sparked. Thus the likely death toll for these camps is around 24,000, although some sources put it as high as 40,000.{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016|p=265}} After residents reported the contamination of drinking water due to large numbers of corpses rotting across Velebit, the Italians sent medical officers to investigate. They found multiple death pits and mass graves, in which they estimated some 12,000 victims were killed. At ] on the island of Pag they dug up one mass grave, with nearly 800 corpses, of whom half were women and children, the youngest being 5 months old.{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|p=280}} | |||
The Nazis revisited the possibility of transporting Jews to Auschwitz, not only because extermination was easier there, but also because the profits produced from the victims could be kept in German hands, rather than being left for the Croats or Italians.<ref>Ibidem, p. 153, n' 20</ref> Instead Jasenovac remained a place where Jews who could not be deported would be interned and killed: In this way, while Jews were deported from Tenje, two deportations were also made to Jasenovac.<ref>M. Shelach, "History of the holocaust: Yugoslavia"</ref> It is also illustrated by the report sent by Hans Helm to ], in which it is stated that the Jews will first be collected in Stara-Gradiška, and that "Jews would be employed in 'forced labor' in Ustashe camps", mentioning only Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška," will not be deported".<ref>Eichmann crimes in Yugoslavia: facts and views, p. 8-9</ref> The Nazis also found interest in the Jews that remained inside the camp, even in June 1944, after the visit of a ] delegation. Kasche wrote: "Schmidllin showed a special interest in the Jews... Luburic told me that Schmidllin told him that the Jews must be treated in the finest manner, and that they must survive, no matter what happens... Luburic suspected Schmidllin is an English agent and therefore prevented all contact between him and the Jews"<ref>M. Persen,"Ustaski Logori", p. 97</ref> | |||
The majority of these victims were Serbs, but among them were also 2,000–3,000 Jews. Thus the Ustaše initiated the mass killing of Jews at approximately the same time as Nazi ] in Eastern Europe, and months before the Nazis started the mass killings of German Jews.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} | |||
== Creation and operation of Jasenovac concentration camp == | |||
The Jasenovac complex was built between August 1941 and February 1942. The first two camps, ] and Bročica, were closed in November 1941.<ref>Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (1990) Israel Gutman edition, page 739-740)</ref> | |||
===The influence of Nazi Germany=== | |||
The three newer camps continued to function until the end of the war: | |||
On 10 April 1941, the Independent State of Croatia was established, supported by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, and it adopted similar racial and political doctrines. Jasenovac contributed to the Nazi "final solution" to the "Jewish problem", the killing of Roma people and the elimination of political opponents, but its most significant purpose for the Ustaše was as a means to achieve the destruction of Serbs inside the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).{{sfn|Kallis|2009|pp=236–244}} | |||
Jasenovac was located in the ]. The Nazis encouraged Ustaše anti-Jewish and anti-Roma actions and showed support for the intended extermination of the Serb people.{{sfn|Shah|Bazyler|Lee Boyd|Nelson|2019|pp=83–85}} Soon, the Nazis began to make clear their genocidal goals, as in the speech Hitler gave to ] at a meeting on 21 July 1941:<blockquote>The Jews are the bane of mankind. If the Jews will be allowed to do as they will, like they are permitted in their Soviet heaven,{{clarify|reason=heaven or haven??|date=June 2022}} then they will fulfill their most insane plans. And thus Russia became the center to the world's illness ... if for any reason, one nation would endure the existence of a single Jewish family, that family would eventually become the center of a new plot. If there are no more Jews in Europe, nothing will hold the unification of the European nations ... this sort of people cannot be integrated in the social order or into an organized nation. They are parasites on the body of a healthy society, that live off of expulsion of decent people. One cannot expect them to fit into a state that requires order and discipline. There is only one thing to be done with them: To exterminate them. The state holds this right since, while precious men die on the battlefront, it would be nothing less than criminal to spare these bastards. They must be expelled, or{{spaced ndash}}if they pose no threat to the public{{spaced ndash}}to be imprisoned inside concentration camps and never be released.<ref>Hilgruber, Staatsmanner und Diplomaten bei Hitler, p. 611.{{publisher missing}} {{ISBN missing}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
At the ], Germany offered the Croatian government transportation of its Jews southward, but questioned the importance of the offer as ''"the enactment of the final solution of the Jewish question is not crucial, since the key aspects of this problem were already solved by radical actions these governments took."''<ref>Wannsee, Nuremberg trial documents, NG-2568-G.</ref> | |||
In addition to specifying the means of extermination, the Nazis often arranged the imprisonment or transfer of inmates to Jasenovac.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=166–171, 185–189, 192, 194–196, 208, 442–443}} Kasche's emissary, Major Knehe, visited the camp on 6 February 1942. Kasche thereafter reported to his superiors: | |||
<blockquote>Capitan Luburic, the commander-in-action of the camp, explained the construction plans of the camp. It turns out that he made these plans while in exile. These plans he modified after visiting concentration-camps installments in Germany.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|p=195}}</blockquote> | |||
Kasche wrote the following:<blockquote>The Poglavnik asks General Bader to realize that the Jasenovac camp cannot receive the refugees from Kozara. I agreed since the camp is also required to solve the problem in deporting the Jews to the east. Minister Turina can deport the Jews to Jasenovac.<ref>A.A. Nachlass Kasche, p. 105{{publisher missing|date=June 2022}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}}</ref>{{verify source|date=May 2022}}</blockquote> | |||
Stara-Gradiška was the primary site from which Jews were transported to Auschwitz, but Kashe's letter refers specifically to the subcamp Ciglana in this regard. In all documentation, the term "Jasenovac" relates to either the complex at large or, when referring to a specific camp, to camp nr. III, which was the main camp since November 1941. The extermination of Serbs at Jasenovac was precipitated by General ], who ordered that refugees be taken to Jasenovac. Although Jasenovac was expanded, officials were told that "Jasenovac concentration and labor camp cannot hold an infinite number of prisoners". Soon thereafter, German suspicions were renewed that the Ustaše were more concerned with the extermination of Serbs than Jews, and that Italian and Catholic pressure was dissuading the Ustaše from killing Jews.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=207–339}} | |||
The Nazis revisited the possibility of transporting Jews to Auschwitz, not only because extermination was easier there, but also because the profits produced from the victims could be kept in German hands, rather than being left for the Croats or Italians.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|p=153, n. 20}} Instead Jasenovac remained a place where Jews who could not be deported would be interned and killed: In this way, while Jews were deported from Tenje, two deportations were also made to Jasenovac.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990}} | |||
It is also illustrated by the report sent by ] to ], in which it is stated that the Jews will first be collected in Stara-Gradiška, and that "Jews would be employed in 'forced labor' in Ustaše camps", mentioning only Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška, "will not be deported".<ref>''Adolf Eichmann's Crimes in Yugoslavia: Facts and Views'', pp. 8–9.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}}{{publisher missing|date=June 2022}}</ref>{{verify source|date=June 2022}} The Nazis found interest in the Jews that remained inside the camp, even in June 1944, after the visit of a ] delegation. Kasche wrote: "Schmidllin showed a special interest in the Jews. ... Luburic told me that Schmidllin told him that the Jews must be treated in the finest manner, and that they must survive, no matter what happens. ... Luburic suspected Schmidllin is an English agent and therefore prevented all contact between him and the Jews".<ref>M. Persen, ''Ustaski Logori'', p. 97</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2015}} | |||
Hans Helm was in charge of deporting Jews to concentration camps. He was tried in Belgrade in December 1946, along with other SS and Gestapo officials, and was sentenced to death by hanging, along with ], ], Josef Hahn, Ludwig Teichmann, Josef Eckert, Ernst Weimann, Richard Kaserer and Friedrich Polte.{{sfn|Božović|2003|p=89}} | |||
==Creation and operation== | |||
{{primary sources|section|date=June 2022}} | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] was the first camp used for extermination by the Ustaše. Jadovno was operational from May 1941 but was closed in August of the same year, coinciding with the formation of the camp at Jasenovac in the same month. The Jasenovac complex was built between August 1941 and February 1942. The first two camps, ] and Bročice, were closed in November 1941.{{sfn|EotH|1990|pp=739–740}} | |||
Three newer camps continued to function until the end of the war: | |||
* Ciglana (Jasenovac III) | * Ciglana (Jasenovac III) | ||
* |
* Kožara (Jasenovac IV) | ||
* ] (Jasenovac V) | * ] (Jasenovac V) | ||
] | |||
<!-- Deleted image removed: ] defence / Collection camp no. 3"]] --> | |||
The camp was constructed, managed and supervised by Department III of the ''] Nadzorna Služba'' or ''UNS'' (lit. "Ustashe Supervisory Service"), a special police force of the NDH. ] was head of the UNS. Individuals managing the camp at different times included ] and ].<ref>For the administrative structure of the command, lo here: www.jasenovac.org/whatwasjasenovac.php | |||
and in the testimony of witness Milijenko Bobanac, Dinko Sakic indictment</ref> The camp administration in times used other Ustashe battalions, police units, ''Domobrani'' units, auxiliary units made up of Bosnian-Muslims, and even the aid of German and Hungarian Nazis.<ref>See: Cadik Dannon, "Smell of human flesh". Cf. State-commission, ep. D, section IV and ep. E.</ref> | |||
=== Camp Command === | |||
The Ustashe interned, tortured and executed men, women and children in Jasenovac. The largest number of victims were ], but victims also included ]s,<ref>*—Congress of Bos Intellectuals, Sarajevo. ISBN 978-9958-47-102-5. October 2006. (Holocaust Studies) | |||
] executing people over a mass grave near Jasenovac concentration camp]] | |||
</ref> and ], as well as ] and ] resistance members opposed to the regime (i.e., ] or their sympathizers, categorized by the Ustashe as "communists"). Upon arrival at the camp, the prisoners were marked with colors, similar to the use of ]: blue for Serbs, and red for communists (non-Serbian resistance members), while Roma had no marks. (This practice was later abandoned.)<ref>Djuro Schwartz,"in the death camps of Jasenovac"(במחנות המוות של יאסנובץ, קובץ מחקרים כ"ה של יד-ושם), p. 329</ref> Most victims were killed at execution sites near the camp: Granik, Gradina, and other places. Those kept alive were mostly skilled at needed professions and trades (doctors, pharmacists, electricians, shoemakers, goldsmiths, and so on) and were employed in services and workshops at Jasenovac.<ref>See: Encyclopedia of the holocaust, "Jasenovac"</ref> <!-- Deleted image removed: ] --> | |||
At the top of the Jasenovac command chain was the Ustaše leader, ],{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=297}} who signed the Nazi-style Race Laws, and led the Ustaše genocides against Jews, Serbs and Roma.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2002|pp=381, 404}} Jasenovac inmate, ], wrote that “Jasenovac was the original 'Balkan' creation of Ante Pavelić. Hitler's camps were only…the starting point”.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=303}} Pavelić entrusted the organization of mass killing in the camps to the ] (UNS), placing at its head his close associate, ].{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=35}} Giuseppe Masucci, secretary to the Vatican's representative in the NDH, considered Kvaternik the worst of Ustaše, noting he told him Croatian Jews committed "300,000 abortions, rapes and deflorations of young girls."{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=299}} As the Ustaše terror against Serbs and others, of which Jasenovac was the apogee, ignited wider Partisan resistance, the Germans in October 1942 pressured Pavelić to remove and exile Dido Kvaternik.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2002|p=440}} Kvaternik later blamed Pavelić for Ustaše crimes, claiming he merely executed Pavelić's orders.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=301}} | |||
The camp was constructed, managed and supervised by Department III of the "Ustaše Supervisory Service" (''Ustaška nadzorna služba'', ''UNS''), a special police force of the NDH. Among the main Jasenovac commanders were the following: | |||
=== The population of inmates in Jasenovac === | |||
==== Serbs ==== | |||
] | |||
Serbs constituted the majority of inmates in Jasenovac.<ref name="holocaustresearchproject.org"/><ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=R8d2409V9tEC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=tomislav+dulic+ndh&source=bl&ots=O1bws0hBZN&sig=Wm0_ewM1kWh7g8lgybfZJlDB4m4&hl=en&ei=qIIzS6HRL4uInQPF5p3PBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=jasenovac&f=false Hitler's new disorder, page 34, reference 6</ref><ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org">http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Jasenovac.html</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">https://cp13.heritagewebdesign.com/~lituchy/whatwasjasenovac.php</ref> In several instances, inmates were immediately killed for confessing their Serbian ethnicity and most considered it to be the only reason for their imprisonment.<ref>Lo State-commission, pp. 30, 40-41</ref> The Serbs were predominantly brought from the ] region, where the Ustashe captured areas that were held by Partisan guerrillas.<ref>See: Secanja jevreja na logor Jasenovac, pp. 40-41, 98, 131, 171</ref> These were brought to the camp without sentence, almost destined for immediate execution, accelerated via the use of ]s.<ref>See: Trail of Dinko Sakic, testimony of Gabrijel Winter, a former choachmen of Gradina, and also in the documentary: "Jasenovac: blood and ashes" or "Jasenovac: The cruellest death camp of all times".</ref> The estimated number of killed Serb inmates range up to over 1,300,000 depending on sources.<ref name = "Bosniak">Bošnjački Institut. ''Jasenovac: Žrtve rata prema podacima statističkog zavoda Jugoslavije''. Bošnjački Institut Sarajevo, Sarajevo 1998.</ref> The Jewish virtual library estimates the number of Serbs killed by the Ustashe to be between 330,000 and 390,000, with 45,000 to 52,000 Serbs murdered in Jasenovac.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org"/> | |||
Jasenovac was the largest extermination camp in the Balkans and among the largest in Europe.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hitler's new disorder: the Second World War in Yugoslavia|author=Stevan K. Pavlowitch|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-70050-4|year=2008|page=34|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=R8d2409V9tEC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=tomislav+dulic+ndh#v=onepage&q=tomislav%20dulic%20ndh&f=false}}</ref> The camp alone accounts for about 10% of the total number of killed persons in wartime Yugoslavia.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|title=Hitler's new disorder: the Second World War in Yugoslavia|author=Stevan K. Pavlowitch|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-70050-4|year=2008|page=ix|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=R8d2409V9tEC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=tomislav+dulic+ndh#v=onepage&q=victim&f=false}}</ref> Another researcher, Bogoljub Kocević, estimates that roughly 1,000,000 people were killed from all over Yugoslavia during ], one half of whom (mostly ethnic Serbs) were killed in wartime Croatia's ] campaign.<ref name="books.google.com"/> This researcher's statement seems to support Tomislav Dulić, an independent historian, in terms of the size of Jasenovac camp: | |||
{{quote|"Despite the fact that 700,000 people did not die in Jasenovac, an estimated 100,000 victims still makes it one of the largest camps in Europe during WWII."|(Utopias of Nation. Local mass killings in Bosnia- Herzegovina 1941-1942)<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=R8d2409V9tEC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=tomislav+dulic+ndh&source=bl&ots=O1bws0hBZN&sig=Wm0_ewM1kWh7g8lgybfZJlDB4m4&hl=en&ei=qIIzS6HRL4uInQPF5p3PBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=jasenovac&f=false</ref>}} | |||
Recent victim lists of the Jasenovac concentration camp (as of 2007) are composed of 70,000<ref>http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/hr/features/setimes/articles/2007/01/08/reportage-01</ref> to 80,000 names.<ref>Anzulovic, Branimir. Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide, Hurst & Company. London, 1999</ref> The Jasenovac memorial site (as of April 2010) has a list of 80,914 victims of Jasenovac, 45,923 of which were Serbs. The list is however subject to a constant update and has been constantly expanding. | |||
* ]. Upon returning from exile, Luburić in May–July 1941 commanded ] in Lika, thus igniting the Serb uprising.{{sfn|Bergholz|2016|pp=107–108, 110}}{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|pp=115–121, 155–156}}{{sfn|Adriano|Cingolani|2018|p=193}} Promoted to Head of Bureau III of the Ustaše Surveillance Service, which oversaw all NDH concentration camps, he travelled to Germany in September 1941 to study SS concentration camps,{{sfn|Korb|2010|p=297}}{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=57}} using these as a model for Jasenovac. A German memorandum described Luburić as "a neurotic, pathological personality".{{sfn|Frucht Levy|2011|p=67}} Following the Kozara offensive in which Luburić's troops ]{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|p=399}}{{sfn|Komarica|Odić|2005|p=60}} and the Ustaše imprisoned tens-of-thousands in Jasenovac, he "adopted" 450 displaced Serb boys, dressed them in black Ustaše uniforms, dubbing them his "little ]"{{sfn|Dulić|2005|p=253}} (according to the Ottoman system, in which boys taken from Christian families in the Balkans were inducted into the Ottoman military). Luburić's experiment failed to turn the boys into Ustaše, most died in Jasenovac of malnutrition and diseases.{{sfn|Dulić|2005|p=253}} | |||
==== Jews ==== | |||
* ] was appointed commander of Jasenovac in October 1941. Croatian politician ], imprisoned by the Ustaše in Jasenovac, later wrote that he asked Miloš if he "feared God's punishment" for the atrocities he committed in Jasenovac. Miloš replied, "I know I will burn in hell for what I have done. But I will burn for Croatia."{{sfn|Maček|2003|p=168}}{{sfn|McCormick|2008|pp=77–78}} Many Jasenovac inmates testified to Miloš's crimes, including pretending to be a doctor, then cutting inmates open with a knife, from throat to stomach.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=324}} After leading Jasenovac guards in the slaughter and pillaging of nearby Serb villages, Miloš was tried and jailed at German insistence,{{sfn|Škiljan|2005|p=335}} but soon released on Luburić's intervention. | |||
] area Jews to Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška camps, March 1942]] | |||
* ]. Luburić brought Filipović to Jasenovac, after the Germans jailed Filipović for participating as an Ustaše chaplain in the mass slaughter of up to 2,300 Serb civilians near Banja Luka in February 1942, including killing an entire class of school children, which Filipović personally instigated by slitting the throat of a schoolgirl.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|pp=326–327}} He rose to commander of Jasenovac-III in May 1942, and in October of Stara Gradiška.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=328}} Having been a ], the inmates called him "Brother Satan", and testified that he personally killed numerous prisoners, including children.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|pp=328–333}} While Ljubo Miloš blamed Filipović for ordering mass killings, Filipović in turn blamed Luburić, who he said instructed him "that Serbs must be ruthlessly exterminated", portraying himself as merely an obedient Ustaše follower.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=333}} | |||
Jews, being the primary target of Nazi-oriented Genocide, were the second-largest category of victims of Jasenovac. The number of Jewish casualties is uncertain, but ranges from about 8,000<ref name="Jasenovac"></ref> to 25,000.<ref></ref> | |||
Most of the executions of Jews at Jasenovac occurred prior to August 1942. Thereafter, the ] started to deport them to ]. In general, Jews were initially sent to Jasenovac from all parts of Croatia after being gathered in ], and from ] after being gathered in ]. Some, however, were transported directly to Jasenovac from other cities and smaller towns. | |||
Other individuals managing the camp at different times included ], ], and ]. The camp administration also used Ustaše battalions, police units, ''Domobrani'' units, auxiliary units made up of Bosnian Muslims, as well as Germans and Hungarians. The Ustaše interned, tortured and executed men, women and children in Jasenovac. The largest number of victims were Serbs, but victims also included Jews, Roma (or "gypsies"), as well as some dissident Croats and Bosnian Muslims (i.e. ] or their sympathizers, all categorized by the Ustaše as "Communists").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7083|title=JUSP Jasenovac – Muslims in Jasenovac Concentration Camp|website=jusp-jasenovac.hr|access-date=27 June 2018|archive-date=20 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120041619/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7083|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
==== Roma ==== | |||
Roma in Jasenovac consisted of both Roma and Sinti, who were captured in various areas in Bosnia, especially in the Kožara region. They were brought to Jasenovac and taken to area III-C, under the open sky, in terms of nutrition, hydration, shelter and sanitary that were below the camp's standards.<ref>See: state-commission, p. 43-44</ref> The figures of murdered Roma are the most controversial, with the number being between 20,000 and 50,000.<ref>Ibidem. Compare with "What was Jasenovac?"</ref> | |||
Upon arrival at the camp, the prisoners were marked with colors, similar to the use of ]: blue for Serbs, and red for communists (non-Serbian resistance members), while Roma had no marks. This practice was later abandoned.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} Most victims were killed at execution sites near the camp: Granik, Gradina, and other places. Those kept alive were mostly skilled at needed professions and trades (doctors, pharmacists, electricians, shoemakers, goldsmiths, and so on), and were employed in services and workshops at Jasenovac.{{sfn|EotH|1990|p="Jasenovac"}} | |||
==== Croatian and Bosnian anti-fascists ==== | |||
Anti-fascists consisted of various sorts of political and ideological antagonists of the Ustasha regime. In general, their treatment was similar to other inmates, although known ] were executed right away,<ref>Ilija Ivanovic, "Witness to the Jasenovac hell"</ref> and convicted Ustasa or law-enforcement officials,<ref>State-commission, p. 32</ref> or others close to the Ustasha in opinion, such as Croatian peasants, were held on beneficial terms and granted amnesty after serving a duration of time.<ref>case of Vladko Macek</ref> | |||
=== |
===Inmate population=== | ||
Serbs constituted the majority of inmates in Jasenovac.{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2008|p=34}} Serbs were generally brought to Jasenovac concentration camp after refusing to convert to ]. In many municipalities around the ], warning posters declared that any Serb who did not convert to ] would be deported to a concentration camp.{{sfn|Paris|1961|p=157}} The Ustaše regime's policy of mass killings of Serbs constituted ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ustasa|url=https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205904.pdf|publisher=yadvashem.org|access-date=25 June 2018|archive-date=8 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808002505/https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205904.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Frucht Levy|2009}}{{sfn|Mylonas|2003|p=115}}{{sfn|Crowe|2013|pp=45–46}}{{sfn|McCormick|2014}}<ref>{{cite web| url=http://public.mzos.hr/fgs.axd?id=10921| author=Ivo Goldstein| title=Uspon i pad NDH| publisher=]| access-date=20 February 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717114852/http://public.mzos.hr/fgs.axd?id=10921| archive-date=17 July 2011| author-link=Ivo Goldstein}}</ref>{{sfn|Totten|Parsons|1997|p=430}} | |||
Jasenovac camp also consisted of a unique camp for children in ]. Around 20,000 children of Serbian, Jewish and Roma ethnicities perished in Jasenovac.<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>http://www.jasenovac-info.com/cd/zrtve/deca-zrtve/index_en.html</ref> | |||
The Jasenovac Memorial Area list of victims is more than 56% Serbs, 45,923 out of 80,914. In some cases, inmates were immediately killed upon acknowledging Serbian ethnicity, and most considered it to be the sole reason for their imprisonment.<ref>], pp. 30, 40–41.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} The Serbs were predominantly brought from the ] region, where the Ustaše captured areas that were held by Partisan guerrillas.{{sfn|Sindik (ed.)|1985|pp=40–41, 98, 131, 171}} Although the Germans were not directly present in Jasenovac concentration camp, they participated in the internment of peoples after the "cleansing actions" from the Partisan war-affected areas, especially during the Kozara offensive, in addition they were also taking inmates to forced labor in Germany and other camps in the occupied Europe.{{sfn|Mataušić|2008|p=8}} These were brought to the camp without sentence, almost destined for immediate execution, accelerated via the use of ]s. | |||
==== Various ==== | |||
The Ustashe in Jasenovac also imprisoned numerous people of other ethnicities, including Ukrainians, Romanians and Slovenes.<ref>See: US holocaust museum Jasenovac exhibition</ref> | |||
] area Jews to Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška camps, March 1942]] | |||
=== Living conditions === | |||
Jews, the primary target of Nazi genocide, were the second-largest category of victims of Jasenovac. The number of Jewish casualties is uncertain, but ranges from about 8,000{{sfn|USHMM}} to almost two thirds of the Croatian Jewish population of 37,000 (meaning around 25,000).<ref name="yadvashem-5930">{{cite web|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205930.pdf|publisher=Yad Vashem|title=Croatia|access-date=2007-10-23|archive-date=2013-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104235511/http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205930.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Most of the executions of Jews at Jasenovac occurred prior to August 1942. Thereafter, the ] deported them to ]. In general, Jews were initially sent to Jasenovac from all parts of Croatia after being gathered in ], and from ] after being gathered in ]. Some, however, were transported directly to Jasenovac from other cities and smaller towns. {{citation needed|date=March 2015}} | |||
The living conditions in the camp evidenced the severity typical of Nazi death camps: a meager diet, deplorable accommodations, and the cruel treatment of the Ustashe guards. Also, as in many camps, conditions would be improved temporarily during visits by delegations – such as the press delegation that visited in February 1942 and a ] delegation in June 1944 – and reverted after the delegation left.<ref>Gutman Israel (Ed.), "Encyclopedia of the holocaust", vol. 1, p. 739</ref> | |||
Roma in Jasenovac consisted of both Roma and ], who were captured in various areas in Bosnia, especially in the Kozara region. They were brought to Jasenovac and taken to area III-C, where nutrition, hydration, shelter and sanitary conditions were all below the rest of the camp's own abysmally low standards.<ref name="SC-43-44">], pp. 43–44.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} The figures of murdered Roma are estimated between 20,000 and 50,000.<ref name="SC-43-44"/>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | |||
Anti-fascists consisted of various sorts of political and ideological opponents or antagonists of the Ustaše regime. In general, their treatment was similar to other inmates, although known ] were executed right away, and convicted Ustaše or law-enforcement officials,<ref>], p. 32</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} or others close to the Ustaše in opinion, such as Croatian peasants, were held on beneficial terms and granted amnesty after serving a duration of time. The leader of the banned ], ] was held in Jasenovac from October 1941 to March 1942, after which he was kept under strict house arrest.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=359}} Unique among the fascist states during World War II, Jasenovac contained a camp specifically for children in ]. Around 20,000 Serb, Jewish and Roma children perished at Jasenovac.{{sfn|Jasenovac Memorial Site List of individual victims}} | |||
*'''Food''': Again, typical of Fascist death camps, the diet of inmates at Jasenovac was insufficient to sustain life: The sorts of food they consumed changed during the camp's existence. In camp Bročice, inmates were given a "soup" made of hot water with starch for breakfast, and beans for lunch and dinner (served at 6:00, 12:00 and 21:00).<ref>Djuro Schwartz,"in the death camps of Jasenovac", p. 299-300</ref> Food in Camp No. III was initially better, consisting of potatoes instead of beans; however, in January{{When|Which year?|date=March 2010}} the diet was changed to a single daily serving of thin "turnip soup".<ref>Cadik Danon, "The smell of human flesh".</ref> By the end of the year, the diet had been changed again, this time to three daily portions of thin gruel made of water and starch.<ref>Lazar Lukajc:"Fratri i Ustase Kolju", interview with Borislav Seva on pages 625-639</ref> Food changed repeatedly thereafter. | |||
*'''Water''': Jasenovac was even more severe than most death camps in one respect: a general lack of potable drinking-water. Prisoners were forced to drink water from the Sava river, which was deliberately contaminated with ].<ref>Dinko Sakic indictment, available at http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/documents/optuznica/optuznica.html), overview of witnesses' testimonies, witnesses Mara Cvetko, Jakov Finci and others</ref> | |||
*'''Accommodations''': In the first camps, Bročice and Krapje, inmates slept in standard concentration-camp barracks, with three tiers of bunks. In Camp No. III, which housed some 3,000 people, inmates initially slept in the attics of the workshops, in an open depot designated as a railway "tunnel", or simply in the open. A short time later, eight barracks were erected.<ref>State-commission for the investigation of the Ustasa crimes and their collaborators, P. 19-20, 40.</ref><ref>Djuro Schwartz, p. 299, 302-303, 306, 313, 315, 319-320, 322</ref> Inmates slept in six of these barracks, while the other two were used as a "clinic" and a "hospital", where ill inmates were sent to die or be executed.<ref>Sakic indictment, Dragan Roller testimony.</ref><ref>State-commission, P. 20, 39 (testimonies: Hinko Steiner,Marijan Setinc, Sabetaj Kamhi, Kuhada Nikola)</ref><ref>Sakic indictment, testimonies: Dragan Roller, Anton Milkovic, Mara Cvetko, Jakov Finci, Adolf Friedrich and Abinun Jesua</ref><ref>Djuro Schwartz, p. 316,324-328, 330</ref><ref>Cadik Danon, "The Smell of Human Flesh", as presented here (under the heading "Hunger"): http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Danon/index.html#doc</ref> | |||
*'''Forced labor''': As in all concentration camps, Jasenovac inmates were forced daily to perform some 11 hours of hard labor, under the eye of their Ustasha captors, who would execute any inmate for the most trivial reasons.<ref>See: State-commission, pp. 20-22</ref><ref>various examples in: Schwartz, pp. 299-301, 303, 307 and many more examples therein</ref><ref>Sakic trail and indictment, all witnesses' testimonies</ref> The labor section was overseen by Ustasha's Hinko Dominik Picilli and Tihomir Kordić. Picillii would personally lash inmates in order to force them to work harder.<ref>State-commission, p. 30-31</ref><ref>See Sakic trail, Vladimir Cvija testimony, Sakic indictment, Milijenko Bobanac testimoy. Here: http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/documents/optuznica/optuznica.html</ref> He divided the "Jasenovac labor force" into 16 groups, including groups of construction, brickworks, metal-works, agriculture, etc. The inmates would perish from the hard work. Work in the brickworks was hard.<ref>Schwartz, p. 308. compare with Elizabeta Jevric, "Blank pages of the holocaust: Gypsies in Yugoslavia during World-war II", p. 120, 111-112</ref> Blacksmith work was also done, as the inmates forged knives and other weapons for the Ustasha.<ref>Documentary, "Jasenovac: The cruellest death camp of all times", from: "Jasenovac: blood and ashes" as presented hereby: http://grayfalcon.blogspot.com/2008/06/jasenovac-blood-and-ashes.html | |||
</ref> Dike construction work was the most feared.<ref>Ibidem, and compare with Schwartz, 299-301, 303, 332</ref><ref>Cadik Danon, chapters "New Ustasha", "The dike". Here: http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Danon/NewUstasha.doc</ref><ref>Interview with Borislav Seva, http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Lukajic/Borislav_Sheva.html</ref> | |||
*'''Sanitation''': Inside the camp, squalor and lack of sanitation reigned: clutter, blood, vomit and decomposing-bodies filled the barracks, which were also full of pests and of the foul scent of the often overflowing latrine bucket.<ref>Schwartz, p. 313</ref><ref>Cadik Danon, "The smell of human flesh":"Hunger": http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Danon/index.html#doc</ref> Due to exposure to the elements, inmates suffered from impaired health leading to epidemics of ], ], ], ], ], ] and ].<ref>Jakov Danon in the trail of Dinko Sakic</ref> During pauses in labor (5:00-6:00; 12:00-13:00, 17:00-20:00<ref name="Schwartz, p. 311">Schwartz, p. 311</ref>) inmates had to relieve themselves at open latrines, which consisted of big pits dug in open fields, covered in planks. Inmates would tend to fall inside, and often died. The Ustashe encouraged this by either having internees separate the planks, or by physically drowning inmates inside. The pit would overflow during floods and rains, and was also deliberately drained into the lake, from which inmate drinking water was taken.<ref>Schwartz, p. 311, 313</ref><ref>Borislav Seva testimony</ref><ref>Cadik Danon, "Smell of human flesh", "Talit", "ultimate villeness"</ref><ref>Ljubomir Saric testifies against Dinko Sakic, http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/hinanews/arhiva/9904/hina-15-g.html</ref> The inmate's rags and blankets were too thin to prevent exposure to frost, as was the shelter of the barracks.<ref>See: State-commission, p. 20. Compare with Egon Berger's testimony, at Carl Savich column on Serbianna.com on Jasenovac (front page)</ref> The clothes and blankets were rarely and poorly cleansed, as inmates were only allowed to wash them briefly in the lake's waters once a month<ref>State-commission, p. 20</ref> save during winter time, when the lake froze. Then, a sanitation device was erected in a warehouse, where a few clothes were insufficiently boiled.<ref name="Schwartz, p. 311"/> | |||
*'''Lack of personal possessions''': The inmates were stripped of their belongings and personal attire. As inmates, only ragged prison-issue clothing was given to them. In winter, inmates were given thin "rain-coats" and they were allowed to make light sandals. Inmates were given a personal food bowl, designated to contain 0.4ltrs of "soup" they were fed with. Inmates whose bowl was missing (stolen by another inmate to defecate in) would receive no food.<ref>Schwartz, p. 324</ref> During delegation visits, inmates were given bowls twice as large with spoons. Additionally, at such times, inmates were given colored tags. | |||
*'''Anxiety''': The fear of death, and the paradox of a situation in which the living dwell next to the dead, had great impact on the internees. Basically, an inmate's life in a concentration camp can be viewed in the optimal way when looking at it in three stages: arrival to camp, living inside it, and the release. The first stage consisted of the shock caused by the hardships in transit to camp. The Ustashe would fuel this shock by murdering a number of inmates on arrival and by temporarily housing new-arrivals in warehouses, attics, in the train tunnel and outdoors.<ref>State-commission, p. 16-18</ref> After the inmates grew familiar with the life in camp, they would enter the second and most critical phase: living through the anguish of death, and the sorrow, hardships and abuse. The peril of death was most prominent in "public performances for public punishment" or selections, when inmates would be lined in groups and individuals would be randomly pointed out to receive punishment of death before the rest. The Ustashe would intensify this by prolonging the process, patrolling about and asking questions, gazing at inmates, choosing them and then refrain and point out another.<ref>See: State-commission, p. 23-24</ref><ref>Marijana Cvetko testimony, New-York Times, 3 May 1998. "War crimes revive as Croat faces possible trial"</ref> As inmates, people could react to the Ustashe crimes in an active or passive manner. The activists would form resistance movements and groups, steal food, plot escapes and revolts, contacts with the outside world.<ref>See: State-commission, p.53-55</ref> The passive inmates, the majority, would react by attempt to survive, to go through the day unharmed. This is not "going in line to slaughter", but rather another approach to survival, which deprived the Ustase of the possibility of completely dehumanizing the inmates. However, some of these inmates became in this way utterly primitive, as their whole life revolved around following orders and eating a bowl of soup. Thus they became "musselmans": physically appearing as living skeletons, but mentally stripped of their humanity beyond hope of salvation. All inmates suffered from psychological phenomena to some extent: obsessive thoughts of food, paranoia, delusions, day-dreams, lack of self-control.<ref>Ilija Ivanovic, "witness to the Jasenovac hell"</ref> Some inmates reacted with attempts at documenting the atrocities, such as Nikola Nikolić, Djuro Schawrtz and Ilija Ivanović, who all tried to memorize and even write of events, dates and details. Such deeds were perilous, since writing was punishable by death and tracking dates was hard.<ref>See: Djuro Schwartz, who said that a father and his three sons were killed for writing. The witness wrote his memories on a piece of paper in tiny script and planted it in his shoe.</ref> | |||
=== |
==== Women and children ==== | ||
Of the 83,145 named victims listed in the Jasenovac Memorial Site, more than half are women (23,474) and children (20,101) below age 14. Most were held at ] camp of the Jasenovac complex, specifically designed for women and children,{{sfn|Jasenovac Memorial Site List of individual victims}} as well as associated camps in ] and ], while children were also held in other Ustaše concentration camps for children at ] and ]. Many of the children in the camps were among the tens-of-thousands of Serb civilians captured during the German-Ustaše ], after which many of their parents sent to forced labor in Germany, while the children were separated from the parents and placed in Ustaše concentration camps. In addition nearly all the Roma women and children in the NDH were exterminated at Jasenovac, as well as thousands of Jewish women and children, among the up to two-thirds of all Croatian Holocaust victims killed at Jasenovac. The terrible conditions the children were held in were described by one of the female inmates Giordana Friedländer:<blockquote>When I entered the room I had something to see. One child was lying with his head in feces, the other children in urine were lying on top of each other. I approached one of the girls with the intention of lifting her out of the pool of dirt, and she looked at me as if smiling. She was already dead. One 10-year-old boy, completely naked, was standing by the wall because he could not sit down. Out of him hung his gut covered in flies.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|loc="Tragedija djece s Kozare" chapter}}<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|title=Tragedija djece s Kozare – istina o krvavoj brutalnosti ustaša|url=https://www.autograf.hr/tragedija-djece-s-kozare-istina-o-krvavoj-brutalnosti-ustasa/|access-date=2020-09-13|website=autograf.hr|date=10 December 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=2023-04-07|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230407201804/https://www.autograf.hr/tragedija-djece-s-kozare-istina-o-krvavoj-brutalnosti-ustasa/|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>Later the commandant of the camp, Ante Vrban, ordered the room sealed and with a mask on his face inserted ] into the room, killing the remaining children.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|loc="Tragedija djece s Kozare" chapter}}<ref name=":11" /> At his trial the commandant of Ante Vrban, admitted to these killings.{{sfn|Dulić|2005|p=272}} | |||
] | |||
According to Jaša Almuli, the former president of the Serbian Jewish community, Jasenovac was a much more terrifying concentration camp, in terms of cruelty, compared with, for example, Auschwitz. In the late summer of 1942, tens of thousands of Serbian villagers were deported to Jasenovac from the ] region in ], where NDH forces were fighting against the ].<ref>see: M. Shelach, "History of the holocaust: Yugoslavia", pp. 432-434</ref> Most of the men were executed in Jasenovac and women were sent to forced labor camps in ]. Children were taken from their mothers and either killed or dispersed to Catholic orphanages.<ref>Ibidem, pp. 192, 196</ref> | |||
===Living conditions=== | |||
On the night of 29 August 1942, the prison guards made bets among themselves as to who could slaughter the largest number of inmates. One of the guards, ], boasted<ref>The Glass Half Full by Alan Greenhalgh ISBN 0-9775844-1-0 page 68</ref> that he had cut the throats of about 1,360 new arrivals.<ref name="blum">Howard Blum, ''Wanted! : The Search for Nazis in America'', (Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co. 1977)<!-- page needed! -->.</ref> Other participants who confessed to participating in the bet included Ante Zrinušić, who killed some 600 inmates, and Mile Friganović, who gave a detailed and consistent report of the incident.<ref>''The Role of the Vatican in the Breakup of the Yugoslav State'', by Dr. Milan Bulajić, Belgrade, 1994: 156-157; from a Jan., 1943, interview with Mile Friganović by psychiatrist Dr. Nedo Zec, who was also an inmate at Jasenovac. http://www.jasenovac-info.com/cd/biblioteka/wschindley-jasenovac_en.html</ref> Friganović admitted to having killed some 1,100 inmates. He specifically recounted his torture of an old man named Vukasin; he attempted to compel the man to bless ], which the old man refused to do, even after Friganović had cut off his ears, nose and tongue after each refusal. Ultimately, he cut out the old man's eyes, tore out his heart, and slashed his throat. This incident was witnessed by Dr. Nikola Nikolić.<ref>Avro Manhattan, ''The Vatican's Holocaust'', p. 48.</ref> | |||
] | |||
The living conditions in the camp evidenced the severity typical of Nazi death camps: a meager diet, deplorable accommodation, and the cruel treatment by the Ustaše guards. As in many camps, conditions would be improved temporarily during visits by delegations{{spaced ndash}}such as the press delegation that visited in February 1942 and a ] delegation in June 1944{{spaced ndash}}and reverted after the delegation left.{{sfn|EotH|1990|p=739}} | |||
*'''Systematic starvation''': Again, typical of death camps, the diet of inmates at Jasenovac was insufficient to sustain life: In camp ], inmates were given a "soup" made of hot water with starch for breakfast, and beans for lunch and dinner (served at 6:00, 12:00 and 21:00).{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} The food in Camp No. III was initially better, consisting of potatoes instead of beans; however, in January{{When|date=March 2010|reason=Which year?}} the diet was changed to a single daily serving of thin "turnip soup," often hot water with two or three cabbage leaves thrown into the pot. By the end of the year, the diet changed again, to 3 daily portions of thin gruel made of water and starch.<ref>Lazar Lukajc: "Fratri i Ustase Kolju", interview with Borislav Seva, pp. 625–639.</ref>{{publisher missing|date=June 2022}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} To still their terrible hunger, "people ate grass and leaves, but these were very difficult to digest". As a special treat prisoners ate a dead dog, and there were "cases of scatophagia – inmates removing undigested beans and the like from the feces in the Ustasha latrine".{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016|p=272}} People began to die of starvation already in October 1941. | |||
==== Srbosjek ==== | |||
*'''Water''': Jasenovac was even more severe than most death camps in one respect: a general lack of potable water. Prisoners were forced to drink water from the Sava river. | |||
] militia for the speedy killing of inmates in Jasenovac.]] | |||
*'''Accommodation''': In the first camps, Bročice and Krapje, inmates slept in standard concentration-camp barracks, with three tiers of bunks. In the winter, these "barracks" freely admitted rain and snow through their roofs and gaps in their walls. Prisoners would have to wade through ankle deep water inside the cabin. Inmates who died were often left inside the "barracks" for several days before they were removed. In Camp No. III, which housed some 3,000 people, inmates initially slept in the attics of the workshops, in an open depot designated as a railway "tunnel", or simply in the open. A short time later, eight barracks were erected.<ref>], pp. 19–20, 40.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} Inmates slept in six of these barracks, while the other two were used as a "clinic" and a "hospital", where ill inmates were sent to die or be executed.<ref>], pp. 20, 39 (testimonies: Hinko Steiner, Marijan Setinc, Sabetaj Kamhi, Kuhada Nikola)</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | |||
*'''Forced labor''': As in all concentration camps, Jasenovac inmates were forced daily to perform some 11 hours of hard labor, under the eye of their Ustaše captors, who would execute any inmate for the most trivial reasons.<ref>], pp. 20–22</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} The labor section was overseen by Ustaša's Dominik "Hinko" Piccili (or Pičili) and Tihomir Kordić. Piccili (or Pičili) would personally lash inmates to force them to work harder.<ref>], pp. 30–31</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | |||
He divided the "Jasenovac labor force" into 16 groups, including groups of construction, brickworks, metal-works, agriculture, etc. The inmates would perish from the hard work. Work in the brickworks was hard.<ref>Compare with Elizabeta Jevric, "Blank pages of the holocaust: Gypsies in Yugoslavia during World-war II", pp. 111–112, 120</ref> Blacksmith work was also done, as the inmates forged knives and other weapons for the Ustaše. Dike construction work was the most feared.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} | |||
Brzica and others used a knife that became known as the '''''Srbosjek''''', meaning "Serb-cutter".<ref>David M. Kennedy, Margaret E. Wagner, Linda Barrett Osborne, Susan Reyburn, ''The Library of Congress World War II Companion'' (Simon and Schuster, 2007), pages 640, 646-47, page 683: <blockquote>At Jasenovac, a series of camps in Croatia, the ultranationalist, right-wing Ustasha murdered Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, Muslims, and political opponents not by gassing, but with hand tools or the infamous graviso or Srbosjek (literally, "Serb cutter") - a long, curved knife attached to a partial glove and designed for rapid, easy killing.</blockquote></ref><ref>{{cite book | first1 = Ladislaus | last1 = Hory | first2 = Martin | last2 = Broszat | title = Der kroatische Ustascha-Staat, 1941-1945 | publisher = Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart | year = 1964}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first = Dave | last = Hunt | title = Die Frau und das Tier Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft der römischen Kirche | year = 1994 | authorlink = Dave Hunt | publisher = Harvest House Publishers | location = Eugene, Oregon | chapter = Das Abschlachten der Serben | pages = 289–301}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = 44 mjeseca u Jasenovcu | author = Egon Berger | publisher = Grafički Zavod Hrvatske | location = Zagreb | year = 1966}}</ref><ref>http://www.un.org/icty/transe9/021206ED.htm</ref><ref></ref> | |||
*'''Sanitation''': Inside the camp, squalor and lack of sanitation reigned: clutter, blood, vomit and decomposing bodies filled the barracks, which were also full of pests and of the foul stench of the often overflowing latrine bucket.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} Due to exposure to the elements, inmates suffered from impaired health leading to epidemics of ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. During pauses in labor (05:00–06:00; 12:00–13:00, 17:00–20:00) inmates had to relieve themselves at open latrines, which consisted of big pits dug in open fields, covered in planks. Inmates would tend to fall inside, and often died. The Ustaše encouraged this by either having internees separate the planks, or by physically drowning inmates inside. The pit would overflow during floods and rains, and was also deliberately drained into the lake, from which inmate drinking water was taken.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} The inmate's rags and blankets were too thin to prevent exposure to frost, as was the shelter of the barracks.<ref>], p. 20.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} Clothes and blankets were rarely and poorly cleansed, as inmates were only allowed to wash them briefly in the lake's waters once a month<ref>], p. 20</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} save during winter time, when the lake froze. Then, a sanitation device was erected in a warehouse, where clothes were insufficiently boiled.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} | |||
*'''Lack of personal possessions''': Inmates were stripped of their belongings and personal attire. As inmates, only ragged prison-issue clothing was given to them. In winter, inmates were given thin "rain-coats" and they were allowed to make light sandals. Inmates were given a personal food bowl, designed to contain {{Convert|0.4|liters}} of "soup" they were fed with. Inmates whose bowl was missing (e.g.: stolen by another inmate to defecate in) would receive no food.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} During delegation visits, inmates were given bowls twice as large with spoons. At such times, inmates were given colored tags. | |||
*'''Anxiety''': The fear of death, and the paradox of a situation in which the living dwell next to the dead, had great impact on the internees. Basically, an inmate's life in a concentration camp can be viewed in the optimal way when looking at it in three stages: arrival to camp, living inside it, and the release. The first stage consisted of the shock caused by the hardships in transit to camp. The Ustaše would fuel this shock by murdering a number of inmates upon arrival and by temporarily housing new-arrivals in warehouses, attics, in the train tunnel and outdoors.<ref>], pp. 16–18.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | |||
After the inmates grew familiar with the life in camp, they would enter the second and most critical phase: living through the anguish of death, and the sorrow, hardships and abuse. The peril of death was most prominent in "public performances for public punishment" or selections, when inmates would be lined in groups and individuals would be randomly pointed out to receive punishment of death before the rest. The Ustaše would intensify this by prolonging the process, patrolling about and asking questions, gazing at inmates, choosing them and then refrain and point out another.<ref>], pp. 23–24.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}}<ref>Marijana Cvetko testimony, ''New York Times'', 3 May 1998. "War crimes revive as Croat faces possible trial"</ref> As inmates, people could react to the Ustaše crimes in an active or passive manner. The activists would form resistance movements and groups, steal food, plot escapes and revolts, contacts with the outside world.<ref>], pp. 53–55.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | |||
This knife was originally a type of agricultural knife manufactured for wheat sheaf cutting.<ref>Land/Forstwirtschaft: Garbenmesser. | |||
http://www.hr-online.de/website/fernsehen/sendungen/index.jsp?rubrik=22664&key=standard_document_33193668&lugal=1&ibp=0</ref><ref name="youtube.com">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3OOq5l_Hzw</ref><ref>http://www.messerforum.net/showthread.php?t=70813</ref> | |||
All inmates suffered psychological trauma to some extent: obsessive thoughts of food, paranoia, delusions, day-dreams, lack of self-control. Some inmates reacted with attempts at documenting the atrocities, such as survivors Ilija Ivanović, Dr Nikola Nikolić and Đuro Schwartz, all of whom tried to memorize and even write of events, dates and details. Such deeds were perilous, since writing was punishable by death and tracking dates was extremely difficult. Schwartz said that a father and his three sons were killed for writing. The witness wrote his memories on a piece of paper in tiny script and hid it in his shoe.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} | |||
The upper part of the knife was made of leather, as a sort of a glove, designed to be worn with the thumb going through the hole, so that only the blade protruded from the hand. It was a curved, 12 cm long knife with the edge on its concave side. The knife was fastened to a bowed oval copper plate, while the plate was fastened to a thick leather bangle.<ref>Taborišče smrti--Jasenovac by Nikola Nikolić (author), Jože Zupančić (translator),Založba "Borec", Ljubljana 1969 <br> ''The knife described on page 72:'' 'Na koncu noža, tik bakrene ploščice, je bilo z vdolbnimi črkami napisano "Grafrath gebr. Solingen", na usnju pa reliefno vtisnjena nemška tvrtka "Graeviso" '<br>''Picture of the knife with description on page 73:'' 'Posebej izdelan nož, ki so ga ustaši uporabljali pri množičnih klanjih. Pravili so mu "kotač" - kolo - in ga je izdelovala nemška tvrtka "Graeviso" '</ref> Its agricultural purpose was to make it easier for the field workers to cut wheat sheaves open before threshing them. The knife was fixed on the glove plate in order to prevent injuries and to prevent taking care of a separate knife in order to improve the work speed.<ref name="youtube.com"/> | |||
===Mass murder and cruelty=== | |||
Such a type of wheat sheaf knife was manufactured prior to and during World War II by German factory ] from ] under the trademark "Gräwiso".<ref name="dedijer">Vladimir Dedijer (Editor), Harvey L. Kendall (Translator), ''The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican: The Croatian Massacre of the Serbs During World War II'' (Prometheus Books. July 1992)</ref><ref>Für die Richtigkeit: Kurt Waldheim by Hanspeter Born Schneekluth, 1987 | |||
The Croatian anti-Communist émigré, ], whom the Ustaše imprisoned in Jasenovac for one year, described Jasenovac as a huge killing machine, whose main purpose, like that of Auschwitz, was "extermination", although "the primitivistic cruelties of Jasenovac distinguished this Balkan Auschwitz."{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=105}} According to Jaša Almuli, the former president of the Serbian Jewish community, Jasenovac was a much more terrifying concentration camp in terms of brutality than many of its German counterparts, even Auschwitz.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} | |||
ISBN 3-7951-1055-6, 9783795110550, page 65<br>''Beliebt war das sogar wettbewerbsmäßig organisierte Kehledurchschneiden mit einem speziellen Krumm-messer Marke Gräviso.''</ref> | |||
Gebrüder Gräfrath was taken over in 1961 by ].<ref>http://www.888knivesrus.com/category/.allbrands.hubertussolingen/</ref> | |||
In the late summer of 1942, tens of thousands of ethnic Serb villagers were deported to Jasenovac from the ] region in ], where NDH forces were fighting the ].{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=432–434}} Most of the men were murdered in Jasenovac, and the women were sent to forced labor camps in ]. Children were either murdered or dispersed to Catholic orphanages.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=192, 196}} According to survivors' testimonies, at the special camp designed for children, Catholic nuns murdered children under their watch with a motion similar to swinging a baseball bat: a child gripped by the legs would be swung so forcefully that the head's impact against the wall was fatal. These claims could not be verified or certified.{{sfn|Israeli|2013|p=135|}} | |||
=== Systematic extermination of prisoners === | |||
Besides sporadic killings and deaths due to the poor living conditions, many inmates arriving at Jasenovac were scheduled for systematic extermination. An important criterion for selection was the duration of a prisoner's anticipated detention. Strong men capable of labor and sentenced to less than three years of incarceration were allowed to live. All inmates with indeterminate sentences or sentences of three years or more were immediately scheduled for execution, regardless of their fitness.<ref>State-commission, p. 9-11, 46-47</ref><ref>Cadik Danon, ''The Smell of Human Flesh'' chapter 1,"The First Day". This article can be found at http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Danon/FirstDay.html</ref><ref>Avro Manhattan, ''The Vatican's Holocaust'', chapter 4, "The Nightmare of a Nation". Found at http://www.reformation.org/holoc4.html</ref><ref>various testimony in the Dinko Sakic trail and indictment, found at http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/</ref> | |||
On the night of 29 August 1942, prison guards made bets among themselves as to who could slaughter the largest number of inmates. One of the guards, ], boasted<ref>Alan Greenhalgh. ''The Glass Half Full''; {{ISBN|0-9775844-1-0}}, p. 68{{publisher missing}}</ref> that he had cut the throats of about 1,360 new arrivals.<ref name="blum">Howard Blum. ''Wanted!: The Search for Nazis in America'' (Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co. 1977).{{ISBN missing}}{{page needed|date=September 2015}}</ref> | |||
Systematic extermination varied both as to place and form. Some of the executions were mechanical, following Nazi methodology, while others were manual. The mechanical means of extermination included: | |||
Other participants who confessed to participating in the bet included Ante Zrinušić-Sipka, who killed some 600 inmates, and Mile Friganović, who gave a detailed and consistent report of the incident.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hidden History: The Horror of Jasenovac|author=Wanda B. Schindley|url=http://www.jasenovac-info.com/cd/biblioteka/wschindley-jasenovac_en.html|publisher=Jasenovac-info.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501115807/http://www.jasenovac-info.com/cd/biblioteka/wschindley-jasenovac_en.html|archive-date=1 May 2009}}</ref> Friganović admitted to having killed some 1,100 inmates. He specifically recounted his torture of an old man named ]; he attempted to compel the man to bless ], which the old man refused to do, even after Friganović had cut off both his ears and nose after each refusal. Ultimately, he cut out the old man's eyes, tore out his heart, and slashed his throat. This incident was witnessed by Dr Nikolić.<ref>Avro Manhattan, ''The Vatican's Holocaust'', p. 48.</ref>{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
*'''Cremation''': The Ustashe cremated living inmates, who were sometimes drugged and sometimes fully awake, as well as corpses. The first cremations took place in the brick factory ovens in January, 1942.<ref>Lukajic, "Fratri i Ustase Kolju", interview with Borislav Seva, "they threw Rade Zrnic into the brick factory fires alive!". Available at http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Lukajic/Borislav_Sheva.html</ref><ref>C. Savic column on Serbianna.com/Jasenovac (http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/007.shtml ). Sado Cohen-Davko testimony.</ref> Engineer Hinko Dominik Picilli perfected this method by converting seven of the kiln's furnace chambers into more sophisticated crematories.<ref>Savic, Jasenovac. Testimonies: Jakov Atijas, Jakov Kablij, Sado Cohen-Davko</ref><ref>State-commission, p. 14, 27, 31, 42-43, 70</ref><ref>testimony in the Dinko Sakic case</ref><ref>Cadik Danon, ''The Smell of Human Flesh'', Chapter "The Smell of Human Flesh". See http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Danon/Furnace.html</ref><ref>interview with Borislav Seva</ref><ref>Shorthand notes of the Ljubo Milos case. Also in: indictment of Ante Pavelic and presented in ''The Vatican's Holocaust", http://www.reformation.org/holoc4.html</ref><ref>Dr. Edmund Paris, ''Genocide in Satellite Croatia'', p. 132.</ref> Crematories were also placed in Gradina, across the Sava River. According to the State Commission, however, "there is no information that it ever went into operation.".<ref>State-commission, p. 43</ref> Later testimony, however, say the Gradina crematory had become operational.<ref>Sakic trial, Tibor Lovrencic testimony, 30.3.99, available at http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/hinanews/arhiva/9903/hina-30-t.html</ref><ref>Djuro Schwartz, p. 331-332</ref> Some bodies were buried rather than cremated, as shown by exhumation of bodies late in the war. | |||
====Srbosjek==== | |||
*'''Gassing and poisoning''': The Ustashe, in following the Nazi example, as set in ] and ], tried to employ poisonous gas to kill inmates that arrived in Stara-Gradiška. They first tried to gas the women and children that arrived from camp Djakovo with ]s that Simo Klaić called "green Thomas".<ref>Dinko Sakic trail, Simo Klaic testimony, 23.3.99</ref><ref>Dragan Roller, statement to the press during the Dinko Sakic case, new-york times, May 2nd, 1998: "War crimes horrors revive as Croat faces a possible trial", by Chris Hedges</ref> The method was later replaced with stationary gas-chambers with ] and ].<ref>Savic, Jasenovac, testimonies: Sado Cohen-Davko,Misha Danon, Jakov Atijas</ref><ref>"Zlocini Okupatora Nijhovih Pomagaca Harvatskoj Protiv Jevrija". Pages 144-145</ref><ref>Shorthand notes of the Ljubo Milos case, p. 292-293. Antun Vrban himself admmitted of his crimes: | |||
] militia for the speedy killing of inmates at Jasenovac]] | |||
The Ustaše slaughtered inmates with a knife that became known as the "Srbosjek" ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Србосјек}}, {{lit|Serb-cutter}}).{{sfn|Wagner|Kennedy|Barrett Osborne|Reyburn|2007|pp=, 646–647, 683|loc='At Jasenovac, a series of camps in Croatia, the ultranationalist, right-wing Ustaše murdered Serbs, Jews, Romani, Bosnian Muslims, and political opponents not by gassing, but with hand tools or the infamous graviso or Srbosjek ("Serb cutter") – a long, curved knife attached to a partial glove and designed for rapid, easy killing.'}}{{sfn|Israeli|2013|page=135}}{{sfn|Crowe|2013|p=71}}{{sfn|Freund|2013|loc='The Ustashe even employed a special knife they called a "Srbosjek", or "Serb-cutter", to slaughter as many Serbs as possible.'}}{{sfn|Hunt|1994|pp=289–301}} | |||
The construction was originally a type of wheat sheaf knife, manufactured prior to and during World War II by the German factory ] from ], under the trademark "Gräwiso".{{sfn|Dedijer|1992}}{{sfn|Born|1987|p=65|loc="Beliebt war das sogar wettbewerbsmäßig organisierte Kehledurchschneiden mit einem speziellen Krumm-messer Marke Gräviso"}}{{sfn|Nikolić|1969|pp=72–73|loc='Na koncu noža, tik bakrene ploščice, je bilo z vdolbnimi črkami napisano "Grafrath gebr. Solingen", na usnju pa reliefno vtisnjena nemška tvrtka "Graeviso" : Posebej izdelan nož, ki so ga ustaši uporabljali pri množičnih klanjih. Pravili so mu "kotač" – kolo – in ga je izdelovala nemška tvrtka "Graeviso"'}} The upper part of the knife was made of leather, as a sort of a glove, designed to be worn with the thumb going through the hole, so that only the blade protruded from the hand. It was a curved, {{Convert|12|cm|4=-long|adj=mid}} knife with the edge on its concave side. The knife was fastened to a bowed oval copper plate, while the plate was fastened to a thick leather bangle.{{sfn|Nikolić|1969|pp=72–73|loc='Na koncu noža, tik bakrene ploščice, je bilo z vdolbnimi črkami napisano "Grafrath gebr. Solingen", na usnju pa reliefno vtisnjena nemška tvrtka "Graeviso" : Posebej izdelan nož, ki so ga ustaši uporabljali pri množičnih klanjih. Pravili so mu "kotač" – kolo – in ga je izdelovala nemška tvrtka "Graeviso"'}} Its agricultural purpose was to enable field workers to cut wheat sheaves open before threshing them. The knife was fixed on the glove plate to prevent injuries and to increase work speed.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} | |||
===Systematic extermination of prisoners=== | |||
Besides sporadic killings and deaths due to the poor living conditions, many inmates arriving at Jasenovac were scheduled for systematic extermination. An important criterion for selection was the duration of a prisoner's anticipated detention. Strong men capable of labor and sentenced to less than three years of incarceration were allowed to live. All inmates with indeterminate sentences or sentences of three years or more were immediately scheduled for execution, regardless of their physical fitness.<ref>], pp. 9–11, 46–47.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | |||
Systematic extermination varied both as to place and form. Some of the executions were mechanical, following Nazi methodology, while others were manual. The mechanical means of extermination included: | |||
*'''Cremation''': The Ustaše cremated living inmates, who were sometimes drugged and sometimes fully awake, as well as corpses. The first cremations took place in the brick factory ovens in January 1942. Croatian engineer Dominik "Hinko" Piccili (or Pičili) perfected this method by converting seven of the kiln's furnace chambers into specialized crematories.<ref>], pp. 14, 27, 31, 42–43, 70.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}}{{sfn|Paris|1961|p=132}} Crematoria were also placed in Gradina, across the Sava River. According to the State Commission, however, "there is no information that it ever went into operation."<ref>], p. 43</ref> Later testimony, however, say the Gradina crematory had become operational.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} Some bodies were buried rather than cremated, as shown by exhumation of bodies late in the war.{{Why|date=March 2015}} {{citation needed|date=March 2015}} | |||
*'''Gassing and poisoning''': The Ustaše tried to employ poisonous gas to kill inmates arriving in Stara Gradiška. They first tried to gas the women and children who arrived from Djakovo with ]s that Simo Klaić called "green Thomas".<ref>Dragan Roller, statement to the press during the Dinko Sakić trial, ''New York Times'', 2 May 1998.</ref> The method was later replaced with stationary gas-chambers with ] and ].<ref>"Zlocini Okupatora Nijhovih Pomagaca Harvatskoj Protiv Jevrija", pp. 144–145{{full citation needed|date=September 2015}}</ref><ref>Shorthand notes of the Ljubo Miloš trial, pp. 292–293. Antun Vrban admitted of his crimes: | |||
"Q. And what did you do with the children | "Q. And what did you do with the children | ||
A. The weaker ones we poisoned | A. The weaker ones we poisoned | ||
Line 157: | Line 170: | ||
A. We led them into a yard... and into it we threw gas | A. We led them into a yard... and into it we threw gas | ||
Q. What gas? | Q. What gas? | ||
A. Zyklon." (Qtd. {{harvnb|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=}})</ref>{{sfn|Sindik (ed.)|1985|pp=40–41, 58, 76, 151}} Jasenovac concentration camp did not have gas chambers.{{sfn|Mataušić|2008|p=7}}{{sfn|Ryan|1984|p=148}} | |||
A. Zyklon."(Qtd. M. Shelach (Ed.),"The History of the holocaust: Yugoslavia")</ref><ref>Sakic trail, testimonies of witnesses: Milka Zabicic, Jesua Abinun, Jakov Finci, Simo Klaic and others</ref><ref>"Blank pages of the holocaust"</ref><ref>M. Persen, "Ustasi Logore", p. 105</ref><ref>Secanja Jevreja na logor Jasenovac", p. 40-41,58, 76, 151</ref> | |||
Manual methods |
Manual methods were executions that took part in utilizing sharp or blunt craftsmen tools: knives, saws, hammers, et cetera. These executions took place in various locations: | ||
*'''Granik''': Granik was a ramp used to unload goods of Sava boats. In winter |
*'''Granik''': Granik was a ramp used to unload goods of Sava boats. In winter 1943–44, season agriculture laborers became unemployed, while large transports of new internees arrived and the need for liquidation, in light of the expected Axis defeat, were large. Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić devised a plan to utilize the crane as a gallows on which slaughter would be committed, so that the bodies could be dumped into the stream of the flowing river. In the autumn, the Ustaše NCO's came in every night for some 20 days, with lists of names of people who were incarcerated in the warehouse, stripped, chained, beaten and then taken to the "Granik", where weights were tied to the wire that was bent on their arms, and their intestines and neck were slashed, and they were thrown into the river with a blow of a blunt tool in the head. The method was later enhanced, so that inmates were tied in pairs, back to back, their bellies cut before they were tossed into the river alive.<ref>], pp. 13, 25, 27, 56–57, 58–60.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | ||
*'''Gradina''': The Ustaše utilized empty areas in the vicinity of the villages of Donja Gradina and Uštica, where they encircled an area marked for slaughter and mass graves in wire. The Ustaše slew victims with knives or smashed their skulls with mallets. When Roma arrived in the camp, they did not undergo selection, but were rather concentrated under the open skies at a section of camp known as "III-C". From there the Roma were taken to liquidation in Gradina, working on the dike (men) or in the corn fields in Ustice (women) in between liquidations. Thus Gradina and Uštica became Roma mass grave sites. Furthermore, small groups of Roma were utilized as gravediggers that actually participated in the slaughter at Gradina. Thus the extermination at the site grew until it became the main killing-ground in Jasenovac. At Gradina, 105 mass graves, covering a total area of 10,130 m<sup>2</sup> have been found.<ref name=":13">{{cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – Donja Gradina|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6746|access-date=2020-09-15|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2020-09-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916200736/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6746|url-status=live}}</ref> A further 22 mass graves, the extent of which has not yet been confirmed, have also been found.<ref name=":13" /> Separately, at Uštica, 21 mass graves with a surface area of 1218 m<sup>2</sup> have been found.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – Uštica|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6756|access-date=2020-09-15|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2020-09-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916202358/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6756|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
and compare with Egon Berger testimony here: www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/007.shtml | |||
* '''Limani Graves.''' Prior to early 1942, when liquidations of prisoners began at Gradina, most inmates were killed inside the Jasenovac III camp. A special detail of prisoner-gravediggers was ordered every day to bury the bodies in huge trenches dug close to the camp fence. In this area, called Limani. seven mass graves are located, with a total surface area of 1,175 m<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=":15">{{cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – Camp Grave Limani|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6779|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2021-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514141422/http://jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6779|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
</ref><ref>Jovo Iluric testimony in: "Jasenovac Then and Now: A Conspiracy of Silence" by William Dorich, Serbian Orthodox Dioceses of Western America,1991. p. 39, here: http://www.logon.org/_domain/holocaustrevealed.org/Jasenovac/Testimonial.htm</ref><ref>Ilija Ivanovic testimony here: http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Ivanovic/Bench.html</ref><ref>State-commission, pp. 13 ,25, 27, 56-57, 58-60</ref> | |||
* '''Međustrugovi and Uskočke šume'''. These are sites of mass murders of prisoners from Stara Gradiška, mainly during 1944. In 1946, 967 victims were exhumed (311 men, 467 women and 189 children) from 4 mass graves.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – MEĐUSTRUGOVI AND USKOČKE ŠUME|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6782|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2021-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514132603/http://jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6782|url-status=live}}</ref> The remains were later interred in a common cemetery at Stara Gradiška, while identified victims were returned to where they had come from, mostly the Srijem area. About a thousand additional victims are buried in Međustrugovi Woods in one enormous mass grave.<ref name=":14" /> | |||
*'''Gradina''': The Ustashe utilized empty areas in the vicinity of the villages Donja Gradina and Ustice, where they encircled an area marked for slaughter and mass graves in wire. The Ustashe slew victims with knives or smashed their skulls with mallets. When gypsies arrived in the camp, they did not undergo selection, but were rather concentrated under the open skies at a section of camp known as "III-C". From there the gypsies were taken to liquidation in Gradina, working on the dike (men) or in the corn fields in Ustice (women) in between liquidations. Thus Gradina and Ustica became Roma mass grave sites. Furthermore, small groups of gypsies were utilized as gravediggers that actually participated in the slaughter at Gradina. Thus the extermination at the site grew until it became the main killing-ground in Jasenovac. Grave sites were also located in Ustica and in Draksenic.<ref>State-commission of Croatia for the investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their collaborators</ref><ref>C. Danon, "Smell of human flesh": http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Danon/Gradina.html , http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Danon/SerbianWoman.html</ref><ref>Ilija Ivanovic, http://www.srpska-mreza.com/History/ww2/book/Ivanovic/Bench.html</ref> | |||
* '''Krapje''' When Krapje (Camp I) and Brocice (Camp II) were closed in November 1941, of the 3,000 to 4,000 prisoners then in the camps, only about 1,500 were transferred to the new Camp III (Brickworks), the rest were killed.<ref>{{Cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – Jasenovac Camp III (Brickworks)|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7291|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2021-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514132229/http://jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7291|url-status=live}}</ref> At Krapje three mass graves are found – a central mass grave, a second mass grave, in which mostly Jewish victims were buried, and a third large grave, where the executed employees of Zagreb Electrical Trams were buried.<ref name=":16">{{Cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – Krapje|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6763|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2021-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514142016/http://jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6763|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*'''Mlaka and Jablanac''': Two sites used as collection and labor camps for the women and children in camps III and V, but also as places where many of these women and children, as well as other groups, were executed at the Sava bank in between the two locations. | |||
*'''Mlaka and Jablanac''': Two sites used as collection and labor camps<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=5964 | language = hr | title = Jablanac | publisher = Jasenovac Memorial Area | access-date = 15 September 2020 | archive-date = 16 September 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200916035540/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=5964 | url-status = live }}</ref> for the women and children in camps III and V, but also as places where many of these women and children, as well as other groups, were executed in the countryside around these two villages. Five mass graves were identified in and around Mlaka.<ref name=":17">{{cite web | url = http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=5963 | language = hr | title = Mlaka | publisher = Jasenovac Memorial Area | access-date = 15 September 2020 | archive-date = 16 September 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200916225912/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=5963 | url-status = live }}</ref> | |||
*'''Velika Kustarica''': According to the state-commission, as far as 50,000 people were killed here in the winter amid 1941 and 1942.<ref>State-commission, p. 38-39</ref> There is more evidence suggesting that killings took place there at that time and afterwards.<ref>Dragutin Skrgatic testifies in the trail of Dinko Sakic, 14.4.99 (http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/hinanews/arhiva/9904/hina-14-f.html).</ref><ref>Illija Ivanovic, "witness to Jasenovac hell", "the last day in Jasenovac"</ref> | |||
*'''Velika Kustarica''': According to the state-commission, as far as 50,000 people were killed here in the winter amid 1941 and 1942.<ref>], pp. 38–39</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}}{{better source needed|date=September 2020|reason=The Memorial Area website has zero mentions of this toponym. https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ajusp-jasenovac.hr+Velika+Kustarica}} There is evidence suggesting that killings took place there at that time and afterwards.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} | |||
The Ustaše carried out extensive means of torture and methods of killing against detainees which included but not limited to: inserting hot nails under finger nails, mutilating parts of the body including plucking out eyeballs, tightening chains around ones head until the skull fractured and the eyes popped and also, placing salt in open wounds.{{sfn|Paris|1961|p=189}} Women faced untold horrors including rape, cutting off ones breasts and also, cutting out wombs from pregnant women.<ref name="auto">Richard West. ''Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia'', Faber & Faber, November 15, 2012.{{ISBN missing}}{{page needed|date=June 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Paris|1961|p=189}} Many of these mutilated and murdered bodies were disposed of into the adjacent river. The Ustaše took pride in the crimes they committed and even wore necklaces of human eyes and tongues that were cut out from their Serb victims.{{sfn|Paris|1961|p=284}} | |||
=== Inmate help === | |||
In 1942, ] came into contact with German officers at Stara Gradiška about releasing children from the camp.<ref name="Ajdukovic, Mirjana">Prof. dr. sc. Mirjana Ajduković, . Annual of Social work, Vol.13 No.1 October 2006.</ref> With the help of the Ministry of Social Affairs, especially prof. Kamil Bresler, she was able to relocate child inmates from the camp to Zagreb, and other places.<ref name="Ajdukovic, Mirjana"/> | |||
The Red-Cross is in times accused of insufficient aid of the persecuted Jews in Nazi Europe. In the NDH, however, the operation of the Red-Cross was ambivalent, and although the assistance was perhaps late or insufficient, it was the most help the victims ever got. The local representative, Julius Schmidllin, was contacted by the Jewish community, which sought financial aid. The organisation helped to release Jews from camps, and even debated with the Croatian government in relation to visiting the Jasenovac camp. The wish was eventually granted in July 1944. The camp was prepared for the arrival of the delegation, so that it found nothing incriminating.<ref>See: Shelach, pp. 313-314.</ref> | |||
The inmates also received help from Croat citizens and even from some Ustasha-members. Borislav Seva was rescued by an Ustasha Vladimir Cupić.<ref>Interview with Borislav Seva</ref> Inmate resistance groups were aided by contacts amongst the Ustase: one of these groups, operating in the tannery, was assisted by Ustashe Dr. Marin Jurcev and his wife, and by an Ustashe that defected to the Partisan side with information of the atrocities of Jasenovac.<ref>See: Dinko Sakic indictment</ref> Ustase found guilty of tender handling of inmates were killed.<ref>Ibidem.</ref> Civilians were mostly kind towards inmates that did exterior labor.<ref>Schwartz, pp. 304, 312, 332-333</ref><ref>C. Danon, "Smell of human flesh", chapter "New Ustasa"</ref> | |||
===Inmate help=== | |||
== End of the camp == | |||
In July 1942, ], with the help of a German officer, Albert von Kotzian, obtained written permission to take the children from the Stara Gradiška concentration camp.{{sfn|Ajduković|2006}} With the help of the Ministry of Social Affairs, including Kamilo Bresler, she was able to relocate child inmates from the camp to Zagreb, and other places.{{sfn|Ajduković|2006}} | |||
In April 1945, as ] units approached the camp, the camp's Croatian Fascist supervisors attempted to erase traces of the atrocities by working the death camp at full capacity. On 22 April, 600 prisoners revolted; 520 were killed and 80 escaped.<ref></ref> Before abandoning the camp shortly after the prisoner revolt, the Ustashee killed the remaining prisoners and torched the buildings, guardhouses, torture rooms, the "Picili Furnace", and all the other structures in the camp. Upon entering the camp, the Partisans found only ruins, soot, smoke, and the skeletal remains of hundreds of victims. | |||
The ] has been accused of insufficiently aiding the persecuted people of Nazi Europe. The local representative, Julius Schmidllin, was contacted by the Jewish community, which sought financial aid. The organisation helped to release Jews from camps, and even debated with the Croatian government in relation to visiting the Jasenovac camp.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} The wish was eventually granted in July 1944. The camp was prepared for the arrival of the delegation, so nothing incriminating was found.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=313–314}} Inmate resistance groups were aided by contacts among the Ustaše. One of these groups, operating in the tannery, was assisted by an Ustaša, Dr Marin Jurčev and his wife, who were later hanged for this on orders of ], as was any Ustasha found guilty of consorting or collaborating with inmates were executed.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} | |||
During the following months of 1945, the grounds of Jasenovac were thoroughly destroyed by prisoners of war. The ] captured 200 to 600 ] members. | |||
The Laborers completed the destruction of the camp, levelling the site and dismantling the two-kilometer long, four-meter high wall that surrounded it. | |||
== |
==End of the camp== | ||
===Burning of corpses=== | |||
] | |||
Just like the Nazis with their ], toward the end of the war the Ustashe sought to destroy evidence of their crimes at Jasenovac.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=603}} Among the few surviving inmates of the camp, at least four – Miroslav Trautman, Karl Weiss, Walter Grünn and Egon Berger – all testified that the Ustashe dug up and burned corpses at Jasenovac.<ref name="Hutinec">{{cite web |last1=Hutinec |first1=Goran |title=Revizionistički pamflet Igora Vukića o kozaračkoj djeci (3) |url=http://www.forum.tm/vijesti/revizionisticki-pamflet-igora-vukica-o-kozarackoj-djeci-3-6039 |website=forum.tm |date=26 August 2017 |access-date=2020-03-06 |archive-date=2020-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220013215/http://www.forum.tm/vijesti/revizionisticki-pamflet-igora-vukica-o-kozarackoj-djeci-3-6039 |url-status=live }}</ref> Walter Grünn testified that: "All the oil and beams from the camp were taken to Gradina . From these beams, roasts were erected, on which the dug-up bodies were thrown, covered with oil and then burned".<ref name="Hutinec" /> The Jasenovac camp commanders, ] and ] both confirmed that the Ustashe gave the command to completely destroy all evidence of the mass graves at Jasenovac,{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=602}} while Miloš also described the process: "A strong guard was set up around the sites, and then healthy inmates were brought in from the camps, who dug up the corpses and stacked them in one particular location and burned them completely with gasoline or oil".<ref name="Hutinec" /> | |||
=== Total number === | |||
Historians have had difficulty calculating and agreeing on the number of victims at Jasenovac. An accurate number might not ever be known but current estimates range between 49,600 to 600,000.<ref name="www1.yadvashem.org"/> Other sources place it at around 100,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/1673249.stm|title=Croatian holocaust still stirs controversy|publisher=BBC News|author=|date=29 November 2001|accessdate=29 September 2010}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4479837.stm|title=Balkan 'Auschwitz' haunts Croatia |publisher=BBC News|author=|date=25 April 2005|accessdate=29 September 2010|quote=No one really knows how many died here. Serbs talk of 700,000. Most estimates put the figure nearer 100,000.}}</ref> | |||
The first figures to be offered by the state-commission of Croatia ranged around 500,000 and even 600,000. The official estimate of the number of victims in ] was 700,000; however, beginning in the 1990s, the Croatian side began suggesting substantially smaller numbers. The exact numbers continue to be a subject of great controversy and hot political dispute, with the Croatian government and institutions pushing for a much lower number even as recently as September 2009.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} | |||
This mass burning of corpses was confirmed by a post-war commission, which performed selective excavations at Jasenovac, and in most places found "ashes and burnt remains of bones", although they also managed to find some intact mass graves, including one with 189 corpses, most with smashed skulls, among them 51 children below age 14.<ref name="Hutinec" /> | |||
The estimates vary due to lack of accurate records, the methods used for making estimates, and sometimes the political biases of the estimators. In some cases, entire families were exterminated, leaving no one to submit their names to the lists. On the other hand, it has been found that the lists include the names of people who died elsewhere, whose survival was not reported to the authorities, or who are counted more than once on the lists. | |||
===Last liquidations and escape=== | |||
The casualty figures for the whole of Yugoslavia sways between the maximum 1,700,000 and the more conservative figures between 1,500,000<ref>"History of the holocaust: Yugoslavia"</ref> or one million.<ref name="ReferenceA">Federal Bureau of Statistics in 1964. Published in Newspaper Danas on November 21, 1989</ref> | |||
As of April 7, 1945, some 3,500 inmates were left in the camp. Following the withdrawal from Sarajevo, Maks Luburić brought with him many additional captured civilians, who were immediately killed.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=604}} On April 15 and 16, when Lepoglava prison was evacuated, the Ustaše sent 1,590 inmates to Jasenovac, where they were all killed.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=604}} On April 19 Luburić gave the command to destroy the camp. The Ustaše first killed the remaining medical personnel and the sick, followed by many of the higher-qualified workers who until then had been spared. {{sfn|Goldstein|2018|pp=606–607}} | |||
With the Partisans fast approaching, on April 21, 1945, the Ustaše killed the remaining 700–900 women at Jasenovac.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|pp=608}}<ref name="ferata">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ferata.hr/danas-se-navrsava-70-godisnjica-proboja-logorasa-iz-jasenovca/|title=Danas se navršava 70. godišnjica proboja logoraša iz Jasenovca – Ferrata|language=hr|access-date=2020-03-07|archive-date=2018-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030013858/http://www.ferata.hr/danas-se-navrsava-70-godisnjica-proboja-logorasa-iz-jasenovca/|url-status=live}}</ref> After that only an estimated 1,073 male prisoners remained, and on the night of April 21–22 they decided to stage an escape.<ref name="ferata" /> On 22 April, 600 prisoners revolted; but of these only 92 managed to escape, while all the rest were killed. On the day of the revolt the Ustaše killed the 460 remaining prisoners who chose not to escape {{sfn|Goldstein|2018|pp=611}} and later torched the buildings, guardhouses, torture rooms, the "Piccili Furnace", plus all the other structures in the camp. Upon entering the camp in May, the Partisans came across only ruins, soot, smoke, and the skeletal remains of hundreds of victims. | |||
=== Historical documentation sources === | |||
] | |||
The documentation from the time of Jasenovac revolves around the different sides in the battle for Yugoslavia: The Germans and Italians on the one hand, and the Partisans and the Allies on the other. There are also sources originating from the documentation of the Ustashe themselves and of the Vatican. These sources are at times considered contemporary because German and Ustashe sources tend to exaggerate, but the comparison of all different sources can give a reliable portrait of the historical truth. | |||
After the war, German, NDH, Slovene and Chetnik POWs were brought to the ruined camp to extract building materials, including from the {{Convert|2|km|4=-long|adj=mid|spell=in}}, {{Convert|4|m|4=-high|adj=mid|spell=in}} brick wall that surrounded it. The authorities donated the extracted bricks and other building materials to the local populace, for rebuilding homes and settlements.{{sfn|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016a|p=73}} | |||
German generals issued reports of the number of victims as the war progressed. ] military commanders gave different figures for the number of ], ] and others killed by the Ustashe on the territory of the ]. They circulated figures of 400,000 Serbs (]); 350,000 Serbs (]); around 300,000 (]); in 1943; "600-700,000 until March 1944" (]); 700,000 (Massenbach). ] calculates: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
The recipe, received by the Ustashe leader and Poglavnik, the president of the Independent State of Croatia, Ante Pavelić, resembled genocidal intentions from some of the bloodiest religious wars: "A third must become Catholic, a third must leave the country, and a third must die!" This last point of Ustashe's program was accomplished. When prominent Ustasha leaders claimed that they slaughtered a million Serbs (including babies, children, women and old men), that is, in my opinion, a boastful exaggeration. On the basis of the reports submitted to me, I believe that the number of defenseless victims slaughtered to be three quarters of a million.<ref>Sonderauftrag Südost by Hermann Neubacher, Musterschmit-Verlag, 1958; page 31 </ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
==Victim numbers== | |||
Italian generals, who were more overwhelmed by the atrocious slaughter, also reported similar figures to their commanders.<ref>Le Operazioni della unita Italiane in Jugoslavia. Rome 1978. pp. 141-148</ref> The Vatican's sources also speak of similar figures, that is, for an example, of 350,000 ethnic-Serbs slaughtered by the end of 1942 (Eugen Tisserant<ref>C. Falconi, The silence of Pius XII, London 1970,p. 3308</ref>) and "over 500,000 people" in all (Godfried Danneels.<ref>Brussels, Vatican's radio, interview on October 20, 1994. See in: Carl Savich column on Serbianna.com, front page, Jasenovac: www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/007.shtml</ref>) | |||
Most modern sources approximate the number of victims of the Jasenovac concentration camp at around 100,000.{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2008|p=34}}{{sfn|Higham|2001}}{{sfn|Hawton|Kovac|2005}}{{sfn|Dulić|2005}} {{sfn|Stone|2013}}{{sfn|Bartrop|Dickerman|2017}}{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2018}} Jewish Croatian historian ] notes that victim estimates are complicated by the fact that the Ustaše did their best to conceal their crimes. Many victims were taken directly to execution sites, without ever being registered at the camp.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=641}} They also destroyed the registration files they had.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=493}} Untold victims were tossed into the Sava river,{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=392}} and burned, both dead and alive, in the crematorium at the site.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|pp=265–267}} Evidence was further destroyed by massive excavation and burning of corpses at war's end.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=603}}{{sfn|Hutinec|2017}} | |||
The Ustashe themselves gave more exaggerated assumptions of the number of people they killed. ], the commander-in-chief of all the Croatian camps, announced the great "efficiency" of the Jasenovac camp at a ceremony as early as 9 October 1942. During the banquet which followed, he reported with pride, intoxicated: "We have slaughtered here at Jasenovac more people than the Ottoman Empire was able to do during its occupation of Europe."<ref>"Dr. Edmund Paris, "Genocide in satellite Croatia", P. 132</ref> Other Ustase sources give more canon estimations: a circular of the Ustase general headquarters that reads: "the concentration and labor camp in Jasenovac can receive an unlimited number of internees".<ref>Dinko Sakic indictment, case file page 1298</ref> In the same spirit, Miroslav Filipović-Majstorović, once captured by Yugoslav forces, admitted that during his three months of administration, 20,000 to 30,000 people died.<ref>State-commission, p. 62</ref> Since it became clear that his confession was an attempt to somewhat minimize the rate of crimes committed in Jasenovac, having, for an example, claimed to have personally killed 100 people, extremely understated,<ref>Sakic trail, testimony of Simo Klaic, 23.3.99,http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/hinanews/arhiva/9903/hina-23-m.html</ref> Miroslav's figures are evaluated so that in some sources they appear as 30,000-40,000.<ref>Avro Manhattan, "the Vatican's holocaust</ref><ref>Jasenovac, Savic\collumns\serbianna.com, confession of Miroslav Filipovic- Majstorovic at http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/007.shtml</ref> | |||
The Jasenovac Memorial Area maintains a list of the names (collected until March 2013) of 83,145 Jasenovac victims, including 47,627 Serbs, 16,173 Romani, 13,116 Jews, 4,255 Croats, 1,128 Bosnian Muslims, and 266 Slovenes, among others. Of the 83,145 named victims, 20,101 are children under the age of 14, and 23,474 are women.{{sfn|Jasenovac Memorial Site List of individual victims}} The list is subject to update – in 2007, it had 69,842 entries.<ref name="setimes-2007"/> Ivo Goldstein also cites the same approximate total number by noting the victims list of 83,811 while adding that "10–20% may still be missing" with ongoing research still being conducted.<ref name="balcanicaucaso"/> | |||
A report of the National Committee of ] for the investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their collaborators, dated 15 November 1945, which was commissioned by the new government of Yugoslavia under ], stated that 500,000-600,000 people were killed at the Jasenovac complex. These figures were cited by researchers Israel Gutman and Menachem Shelach in the '']'' from 1990 and ]. Menachem Shelach will in his book speak that number, of some 300,000 bodies being found and exhumed is reliable<ref>Shelach, p. 189</ref> | |||
] and ] used this number in the war reparations meetings. Thus the proponents of these numbers were subsequently accused of artificially inflating them for purpose of obtaining ]. All in all, The state-commission's report has been the only public and official document about number of victims during 45 years of second Yugoslavia.<ref>Tomasevic, 'War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945' (http://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&pg=RA1-PA718&dq=%22alleged+and+true+population+losses&lr=), states that these numbers are indeed exaggerated, but that the original copy of the state-commission circulated 400,000 victims.</ref> | |||
The ] estimates that the Ustaše murdered between 77,000 and 99,000 people at Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945, including "between 45,000 and 52,000 Serb residents of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, between 12,000 and 20,000 Jews, between 15,000 and 20,000 Roma (Gypsies), between 5,000 and 12,000 ethnic Croats and Muslims, who were political opponents of the regime".{{sfn|USHMM}} Its website states that "Determining the number of victims for Yugoslavia, for Croatia, and for Jasenovac is highly problematic, due to the destruction of many relevant documents, the long-term inaccessibility to independent scholars of those documents that survived, and the ideological agendas of postwar partisan scholarship and journalism".{{sfn|USHMM}} The ideological agendas led to a wide range of estimates, from gross exaggeration to complete minimization and denial of Jasenovac victims.{{sfn|Benčić|2018|p=45}} Since World War II, scholars and Holocaust institutions have advanced diverse estimates of the number of victims killed at Jasenovac, ranging from 1.1 million to 30,000.{{sfn|Kolstø|2011|pp=230, 242}} Historian Tomislav Dulić disputed the previously often quoted 700,000 figure in Jasenovac, but stated that an estimated 100,000 victims still makes it one of the largest camps in Europe during World War II.{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2008|p=34}}{{sfn|Dulić|2005|p=281}} | |||
The state's total war casualties of 1,700,000 as presented by Yugoslavia at the ], were produced by a math student, Vladeta Vučković, at the Federal Bureau of Statistics.<ref name = "Manipulations"></ref> He later admitted that his estimates included demographic losses (i.e., also factoring in the estimated population increase), while actual losses would have been significantly less.<ref name = "Manipulations"/> This number of victims has been refused by Germany during war reparations talks. | |||
Most scholars have since settled on 25,000–27,000 Roma deaths, though there is still some uncertainty based on the pre-war and post-war issues in the registration of Roma people in censuses. Despite disagreements between historians on the exact victim numbers, there is no doubt that almost the entirety of the Roma community was annihilated by the Ustaše.{{sfn|Biondich|2002|pp=39–40}} | |||
=== Živanović: a contemporary forensic source === | |||
Between 22 and 27 June 1964,<ref name="vjesnik.hr"></ref> exhumations of bodies and the use of sampling methods was conducted at Jasenovac by Vida Brodar and Anton Pogačnik from Ljubljana university and Srboljub Živanović from Novi Sad university.<ref name="vjesnik.hr"/> During the ], Serbian anthropologist Srboljub Živanović published what he claimed were the full results of the studies, which in his words has been suppressed by Tito's government in the name of ], in order to put less emphasis on the crimes of the Croatian Ustashe.<ref></ref><ref></ref> According to Živanović, the research gave strong support to the victim counts of more than 500,000, with estimates of 700,000-800,000 being realistic, stating that in every mass grave there are 800 skeletons.<ref name="vjesnik.hr"/> | |||
=== |
===War-time sources=== | ||
] | |||
The documentation from the time of Jasenovac originates from the different sides in the battle for Yugoslavia: The Germans and Italians on the one hand, and the Partisans and the Allies on the other. There are also sources originating from the documentation of the Ustaše themselves and of the Vatican. | |||
High-ranking German military officers estimated that the Ustaše killed between 250,000 (as of March 1943) {{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=721–722}} and 700,000 Serbs in the entire NDH.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=721–722}}{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=772}} Specifically regarding Jasenovac, the Nazi intelligence service, ], in a report on ], the head of all Ustaše concentration camps, stated that the Ustaše had killed 120,000 people in Jasenovac, 80,000 in Stara Gradiška, and 20,000 in other Ustaše concentration camps.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=721–722}} General von Horstenau described his eyewitness account of children dying at the camp, the aftermath of the slaughter perpetrated by Jasenovac guards, when they herded Serb residents of nearby Crkveni Bok to the camp:<ref name=":4">{{cite book|last1=Horstenau|first1=Edmund Glaise von|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Yp6ApNCHj0C&q=Ein+General+im+Zwielicht:+die+Erinnerungen+Edmund+Glaises+von+Horstenau%22,+B%C3%B6hlau+Verlag,+Wien,+Austria,+1988,+str:+167.|title=Ein General im Zwielicht: die Erinnerungen Edmund Glaises von Horstenau|last2=Broucek|first2=Peter|date=1988|publisher=Böhlau Verlag Wien|isbn=978-3-205-08749-6|pages=166–167|language=de}}</ref>{{sfn|Škiljan|2005|p=335}} | |||
*The Jasenovac Memorial Area maintains a list of the names of 80,914 Jasenovac victims, including 45,923 Serbs, 16,045 Romanies, 12,765 Jews, 4,197 Croats, 1,113 Bosnian Muslims and 871 people of some other ethnicities. The memorial estimates total deaths at 85,000 to 100,000.<ref></ref> | |||
:In Crkveni Bok, an unfortunate place, over which about five hundred 15- to 20-year-old thugs descended under the leadership of an Ustasha lieutenant colonel, people were killed everywhere, women were raped and then tortured to death, children were killed. I saw in the Sava River the corpse of a young woman with her eyes dug out and a stake driven into her sexual parts. This woman was at most twenty years old when she fell into the hands of these monsters. All around, pigs devoured unburied human beings. "Fortunate” residents were shipped in terrifying freight cars; many of these involuntary "travelers" cut their veins during transport to the camp " | |||
*The Belgrade Museum of the Holocaust keeps a list of the names of 80,022 victims (mostly from Jasenovac), including approximately 52,000 Serbs, 16,000 Jews, 12,000 Croats and 10,000 Romanies.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}. | |||
The Ustaše themselves gave more exaggerated estimates of the number of people they killed. ], the commander-in-chief of all the Croatian camps, announced the great "efficiency" of the Jasenovac camp at a ceremony on 9 October 1942. During a banquet that followed, he reported:<blockquote>We have slaughtered here at Jasenovac more people than the ] was able to do during its occupation of Europe.{{sfn|Paris|1961|p=132}}</blockquote> | |||
*Antun Miletić, a researcher at the Military Archives in Belgrade, has collected data on Jasenovac since 1979.<ref name = "Anzulovic">Anzulovic, Branimir. ''Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide'', Hurst & Company. London, 1999</ref> His list contains the names of 77,200 victims, of which 41,936 are Serbs.<ref name = "Anzulovic"/> | |||
A circular from the Ustaše general headquarters reads: "the concentration and labor camp in Jasenovac can receive an unlimited number of internees." In the same spirit, ], once captured by Yugoslav forces, admitted that during his three months of administration, 20,000 to 30,000 people died.<ref>], p. 62</ref>{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} As it became clear that his confession was an attempt to somewhat minimize the rate of crimes committed in Jasenovac, his claim to have personally killed 100 people being extremely understated, Filipović-Majstorović's figures are reevaluated so that in some sources they appear as 30,000–40,000.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} ] was Commandant of Jasenovac in Summer-early Fall of 1942, when the scholarly consensus is that the Ustaše exterminated 25,000–27,000 Roma,{{sfn|Biondich|2002|pp=38–39}} nearly all at Jasenovac, while the mass murder of other ethnic groups was also underway. | |||
*In 1998, the Bosniak Institute published ]'s final ''List of war victims from the Jasenovac camp'' (created in 1992).<ref name="Bosniak"/> The list contained the names of 49,602 victims at Jasenovac, including 26,170 Serbs, 8,121 Jews, 5,900 Croats, 1471 Romanies, 787 Bosnian Muslims, 6,792 of unidentifiable ethnicity, and some listed simply as "others".<ref name = "Bosniak"/> Another list from that institution, naming victims that died between April and November 1944, lists 4,892 names.<ref>Indictment of Dinko Sakic.</ref> | |||
Jasenovac camp commanders, ] and ] both testified that just before the end of the war the Ustaše gave the command to completely destroy all evidence of mass graves at Jasenovac, by forcing remaining inmates to dig up and burn the corpses.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=601}}<ref name="Hutinec" /> This is similar to ], including at ], on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. The mass burning of corpses at Jasenovac was separately attested to by many surviving Jasenovac inmates,{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=601}}<ref name="Hutinec" />{{sfn|Motl|Mihovilović|2015|pp=349, 461, 465}} as well as postwar excavations which in many places found only ashes and burnt remains of bones.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> | |||
=== Estimates by Holocaust institutions === | |||
The Yad Vashem center claims that more than 500,000 Serbs were murdered in Croatia in horribly sadistic ways, 250,000 were expelled, and another 200,000 were forced to convert to Catholicism.<ref>http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205930.pdf</ref> including those who were killed at Jasenovac.<ref name="www1.yadvashem.org"/> The same figures are concluded by the Simon-Wiesentall center. Thus Menachem Shelach and Israel Gutman conclude at "the encyclopedia of the holocaust": | |||
<Blockquote> | |||
"Some six hundred thousand people were murdered at Jasenovac, mostly Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and opponents of the Ustasha regime. The number of Jewish victims was between twenty thousand and twenty-five thousand, most of whom were murdered there up to August 1942, when deportation of the Croatian Jews to Auschwitz for extermination began." (Entry in Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, edited by Israel Gutman, vol.1, 1995, pp.739-740)"</blockquote> | |||
Jure Paršić was appointed Catholic priest in the town of Jasenovac, by ], in November, 1942. Although Paršić sympathized with the Ustaše cause, and arrived in Jasenovac after the great majority of the victims were killed, he still estimated that the Ustaše killed 30,000 to 40,000 people at Jasenovac.{{sfn|Pavliša|2018}} Writing in Germany in 1985, he says the whole town knew what went on in the camp, “even the children knew more than they should know.” From the Ustaše guards he confessed, Paršić learned of things “far more terrible than he had supposed”, adding that he doubted there were any guards who had not “bloodied their hands”. But since he heard this in confession, Paršić stated he would "take this information with him to the grave".{{sfn|Pavliša|2018}} | |||
On the other hand, however, as of 2009, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that the Ustasha regime murdered between 66,000 and 99,000 people of all ethnicities (but mostly Serbs) in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945, and that during the period of Ustasha rule, a total of between 330,000 and 390,000 ethnic Serbs and more than 30,000 Croatian Jews were killed either in Croatia or at Auschwitz-Birkenau<ref name="Jasenovac"/> | |||
Jure Paršić also wrote that he told ] in detail what he discovered at Jasenovac, to which he says Stepinac "shed a tear".{{sfn|Pavliša|2018}} After the Ustaše killed seven Slovenian Catholic priests in Jasenovac,{{sfn|Tomasevich|2002|p=571}} Stepinac on February 24, 1943, wrote ] that this represented a “shameful stain and a crime that cries out for revenge, just as the whole of Jasenovac is a shameful stain on the Independent State of Croatia." | |||
=== Statistical estimates === | |||
In the 1980s, calculations were done by Serb statistician ], and by Croat economist ], who claimed that total number of victims in Yugoslavia was less than 1.7 million, an official estimate at the time, both concluding that the number of victims was around one million. Žerjavić calculated furthermore, claiming that the number of victims in the ] was between 300,000 and 350,000, including 80,000 victims in Jasenovac, as well as thousands of deaths in other camps and prisons.<ref>Zerjavic actually first calculated 53,000, later brought up to 70,000 and eventually to 80,000. The details of his calculations remain desputable.</ref> Kočović, who made an estimate of the total number of victims, accused Žerjavić of being motivated by nationalism. | |||
In June 1942, the well-connected Catholic theologian, , wrote: “The concentration camp at Jasenovac is a real slaughterhouse. You have not read anywhere – not even under the ] or Gestapo – of such horrible things as the “Ustashi” commit....the story of Jasenovac is the blackest page of the Ustashi regime, because thousands of men have been killed there."{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=400}} | |||
However, these estimates have been dismissed as biased and unreliable especially on the Serbian side. The mere 0.1% change of the (unknown) birth rate would contribute more to the number of victims than Žerjavić's claim of the number of Serbs killed in Jasenovac (50,000) and his calculation has a deficiency rate of 30%. Žerjavić has been dismissed as a nationalist even by Kočović, and his estimates of number of victims in the Bosnian war of the 90s (300,000 killed) was three times greater than ICTY data and Bosnian official estimates after the war, and sheds light on problems with his credibility. He was accused by some Croatian historians of being a plagiarist and the 'court statistician'.<ref>Zerjavic - plagiarist //www.hic.hr/bleiburg03.htm</ref> | |||
Jasenovac inmates Milko Riffer and Egon Berger wrote of “hundreds of thousands” victims.{{sfn|Riffer|1946|p=145}}{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|p=280}} Đorđe Miliša also published a first-hand testimony in 1945.{{sfn|Biondich|2002|pp=45–46}} The Roma were all hauled in at the same time, kept in an open, barbed-wired area where other inmates could see them, and all murdered within a couple of months. The primary-source estimates of Roma victims appear to have been exaggerated – from up to 20,000 (Riffer, p. 155) to 40,000 (Miliša 1945 pp. 59–61, 139–142) to 45,000 (Berger 1966, p. 67).{{sfn|Biondich|2002|pp=38–39}}{{sfn|Biondich|2002|pp=45–46}} Riffer also mentions why other estimates were more difficult – many victims were killed before even entering the camp and thus were never registered, plus to hide their crimes, the Ustaše burned the camp records.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} | |||
Commentators in Serbia criticized these estimates as far too low, since the demographic calculations assumed arbitrarily that the growth rate for Serbs in Bosnia (which was absorbed by the Independent State of Croatia during the Second World War) was equal to the total growth rate throughout the former Yugoslavia (1.1% at the time). According to Serbian sources, however, the actual growth rate in this region was 2.4% (in 1921-1931) and 3.5% (in 1949-1953). This method is considered very unreliable by critics because there is no reliable data on total births during this period, yet the results depend strongly on the birth rate - just a change of 0.1% in birth rate changes the victim count by 50,000. According to the census, the number of Serbs between last prewar (1931) and first post war (1948) census has gone up from 1,028,139 to around ]. The Yugoslav Federal Bureau of Statistics has in 1964 created list of World War II victims with 597,323 names and deficiency estimated at 20-30% which is giving between 750,000 and 780,000 victims. Together with estimated 200,000 killed collaborators and quislings, the total number would reach about one million. This Yugoslav Federal Bureau of Statistics list was declared a state secret in 1964 and it was published only in 1989.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> | |||
The anti-Communist, anti-Yugoslav political exile, and former Jasenovac inmate, ] described Jasenovac as a "huge machine" with the sole purpose, that "some be killed as soon as they enter – others, over time”.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=97}} He identified Gradina as the main killing-ground, “] – whoever crossed the river and stepped onto Gradina, there was no return among the living”.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=292}} He also stated that the life expectancy of inmates in the Jasenovac III C sub-camp was 2 weeks,{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=468}} and described witnessing the mass execution of Roma who attempted to escape the sub-camp. He and other inmates noted that the occupancy of Jasenovac was kept at 3,000 to 5,000 men, and all those brought into the camp in excess of that number were continuously killed.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=409}} Ciliga and others described cannibalism in the camp, i.e. inmates eating their dead comrades, due to extreme starvation.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|pp=470–471}} | |||
== Camp officials and their fate == | |||
Some of the camp officials and their post-war fate are listed below: | |||
===Post-war victim number estimates=== | |||
*], an Ustasha infamous for his command periods in Jasenovac and Stara-Gradiška,<ref>State-commission for the investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their collaborators, p. 31-32 as hereby posted on: http://pavelic-papers.com/features/jasenovac1946.pdf</ref> named "Fra Satana" (Father Satan) for his cruelty and Christian upbringing, was captured by the Yugoslav communist forces, tried and executed in 1946. | |||
In post-war Yugoslavia and later independent Croatia and Serbia, Jasenovac victim estimates became the subject of fierce ideological battles, with initial exaggerated estimates, followed by later minimizations of victim numbers and denial of Ustaše crimes.{{sfn|Geiger|2020}} The extent of the crime committed in Jasenovac led to it becoming a paradigm of victimhood, both organically and through state-sponsored propaganda, which in turn caused the paradigm to have a life of its own, leading to a multitude of manipulations.{{sfn|Jovanović|2013}} | |||
*] was the commandant of the Ustaška Odbrana, or Ustasha defense, thus being held responsible for all crimes committed under his supervision in Jasenovac, which he visited two-three times a month or so,<ref>State-commission, p. 28-29</ref> fled to ], but was assassinated by a Yugoslav agent in 1969. | |||
*] fled to ], but was eventually extradited, tried and sentenced, in 1999, by Croatian authorities to 20 years in prison, dying in prison in 2008. | |||
*] was an Ustasha officer who, on the night of 29 August 1942, allegedly slaughtered over 1,360 people. Brzica's fellow Ustashe also took part in that crime, as part of a competition of throat cutting. Brzica is also known for having killed an inmate by beating him, on the departure of administrator ], in March 1943.<ref>State-commission, p. 50,72</ref> Brzica's post-war fate is unknown. | |||
A 15 November 1945 report of the National Committee of Croatia for the investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their collaborators, which was commissioned by the new government of Yugoslavia under ], indicated that between 500,000 and 600,000 people were murdered at Jasenovac. The report suffered from methodological shortcomings since it was based on the testimonies of survivors along with general approximations.{{sfn|Odak|Benčić|2016}} | |||
== Later events == | |||
] by ].]] | |||
Yugoslav President Marshal ] never visited the site, as he sought to make the people of Yugoslavia forget the Ustashe's crimes in the name of "brotherhood and unity" in Yugoslavia.<ref></ref>{{citation needed|date=January 2011}} This policy continued to modern times.<ref>see: State-commission, pp. 8, 70.</ref><!--What does this sentence mean? Broken English not acceptable. Fixed a bit, I think 2/9/09--> | |||
The State Commission of Croatia for the Investigation of the Crimes of the Occupation Forces and their Collaborators from 1946 concluded:<blockquote>Such a manner of preconceived and inhumane torture and slaughter of a people has never been recorded in history. The Ustase criminals followed precisely the model of their German masters, most consciously executed all their orders, and did so in pursuit of a single goal: to exterminate as many of our people as possible, and to create a living space as large as possible for them. The total dependence by the Ustase on their German masters, the foundation of the camp itself, the dispatch of the "disloyal", the brutal implementation of Hitler's racist Nazi theories and the deportation to the camps and extermination of the racially and nationally "impure", the same methods of torture and atrocities with minor varieties of Ustase cruelty, the building of furnaces and incineration of victims in furnaces (the Picilli furnace) — all of the evidence points to the conclusion that both Jasenovac and the crimes committed in it were fashioned from a German recipe, owing to a German Hitlerite order as implemented by their servants, the Ustase. Subsequently, responsibility for the crimes of Jasenovac falls equally on their German masters and the Ustase executioners.{{sfn|Walters|2010|p=461}}</blockquote> | |||
The ] adopted a new law on the Jasenovac Memorial Area in 1990, shortly before the ] in the country.<ref></ref> The Jasenovac Memorial Museum was temporarily abandoned during the ] when it was taken over by the rebel ].<ref></ref> In November 1991, ], a former associate director of the Memorial, stole the documentation from the museum and brought it to ]. Brdar kept the documents until 2001, when he transferred them to the ], with the help of ] and the government of ]. | |||
The 1945 figures were cited by researchers ] and Menachem Shelach in the '']'' from 1990.{{sfn|EotH|1990}}{{page needed|date=June 2022}} Shelach wrote that some 300,000 bodies were found and exhumed.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|p=189}} The ]'s Museum of Tolerance website adopted the number of 600,000 at some point.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t034/t03448.html|title=Jasenovac|publisher=]|work=Museum of Tolerance|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060512122324/http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t034/t03448.html|archive-date=12 May 2006|access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref> | |||
Moshe Katsav, traveled to Jasenovac in 2003, as the first Israeli head of state to officially visit the country.<ref name="npr.org">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128751382</ref> | |||
In 1964, the Yugoslav Federal Bureau of Statistics created a list of World War II victims with 597,323 names and deficiency estimated at 20–30%, giving between 750,000 and 780,000 victims. Together with the estimate of 200,000 "collaborators and quislings" {{clarify|date=March 2016}} killed, the total number would reach about one million. The bureau's list was declared a state secret in 1964 and published only in 1989.<ref name="ReferenceA">Federal Bureau of Statistics in 1964; published in '']'', 21 November 1989</ref> After the war, a figure of 700,000 reflected the "conventional wisdom".{{sfn|Zečević|2004|p=169}}{{sfn|Bulajić|2006}}{{sfn|Bousfield|2003|p=122}}{{sfn|Geddes|2013|p=217}} | |||
The ] Parks Department, the Holocaust Park Committee and the Jasenovac Research Institute, with the help of US Congressman ], established a public monument to the victims of Jasenovac in April 2005 (the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the camps.) The dedication ceremony was attended by ten Yugoslavian Holocaust survivors, as well as diplomats from Serbia, Bosnia and Israel. It remains the only public monument to Jasenovac victims outside of the Balkans. Annual commemorations are held there every April.{{Citation needed|reason=please give a reliable source for this assertion.|reason=]|date=October 2008}} | |||
According to the 1964 victim census, 49,874 people perished in Jasenovac, 9,587 people in Stara Gradiška and 128 persons in Gradina, in total 59,589 people.{{sfn|Sobolevski|1993|p=112}} The survey results showed a far lower figure of 59,188 killed at Jasenovac, of whom 33,944 were recorded as Serbs.{{sfn|Kolstø|2011|pp=226–241}} | |||
The Jasenovac Memorial Museum reopened in November 2006 with a new exhibition designed by the Croatian architect, Helena Paver Njirić, and an Educational Center designed by the firm Produkcija. The Memorial Museum features an interior of rubber-clad steel modules, video and projection screens, and glass cases displaying artifacts from the camp. Above the exhibition space, which is quite dark, is a field of glass panels inscribed with the names of the victims. ] won the first prize of the 2006 Zagreb Architectural Salon for her work on the museum.<ref>Southeast European Times, "exhibition aims to show the truth about Jasenovac, 8.1.2007: http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2007/01/08/reportage-01</ref> The new exhibition is however seen as scandalous by some, notably ], due to the removal of all Ustashe killing instruments from the display and a possible intent to minimise the seriousness of the crimes committed there in the name of the Croatian people.<ref>Ibidem; and compare with http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/tisma.htm</ref><ref>http://emperors-clothes.com/croatia/encr.htm#I.1</ref><ref>See: http://emperors-clothes.com/croatia/zuroff.htm and compare with a discussion amongst ] and Croatian president Stjepan Mesić, in which Mesić himself admitted the problematic nature of comparison between Ustashe and communist crimes, and of the exhibition in Jasenovac, although he still continued to use the 100,000 victims' count figure. Further criticism in a newsletter of the Jasenovac Research Institution (Vol. I, Nr. 1), p. 4-5.</ref> | |||
In 1946, 967 victims from the Stara Gradiška sub-camp were exhumed (311 men, 467 women and 189 children) from 4 mass graves, at Uskočke šume.<ref name=":14" /> The remains were later interred in a common cemetery at Stara Gradiška, while identified victims were returned to where they had come from, mostly the ] (Srijem/Srem) region. About a thousand additional victims are buried in Međustrugovi Woods in one enormous mass grave. These victims were thrown, naked and tangled together, into the pit. and it was impossible to exhume and identify them due to the condition and position of the bodies.<ref name=":14" /> | |||
Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Jasenovac on 25.07.2010 dubbing it a "demonstration of sheer sadism".<ref name="npr.org"/><ref>http://ejpress.org/article/45113</ref><ref>http://www.france24.com/en/20100725-israels-peres-visits-croatian-auschwitz</ref> | |||
On 16 November 1961, the municipal committee of former partisans from ] organized an unofficial investigation at the grounds of Donja Gradina, led by locals who were not forensic experts. This investigation uncovered three mass graves and identified 17 human skulls in one of them. In response, scientists were called in to verify the site. Dr Alojz Šercelj started preliminary drilling to identify the most likely grave locations, and then between 22 and 27 June 1964, exhumations of bodies and the use of sampling methods was conducted at Jasenovac by Vida Brodar and Anton Pogačnik from ] and Srboljub Živanović from ].{{sfn|Krušelj, 23 April 2005}} | |||
Consistent with accounts by captured Ustaše and the few surviving inmates of Ustaše camps, excavations of sites in and around the former concentration camps revealed evidence of mass burning of corpses before the end of the war were conducted. In some places the scientists found only ashes and the charred remains of bones.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> They also uncovered a total of seven mass graves, which held a total of 284 victims' remains, including one mass grave with 197 corpses, of whom 51 were children below age 14, and 123 were women.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.forum.tm/vijesti/revizionisticki-pamflet-igora-vukica-o-kozarackoj-djeci-3-6039|title=Revizionistički pamflet Igora Vukića o kozaračkoj djeci (3)|website=Forum tjedni magazin – Forum.tm|date=26 August 2017|language=hr|access-date=2020-03-22|archive-date=2020-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407062447/http://www.forum.tm/vijesti/revizionisticki-pamflet-igora-vukica-o-kozarackoj-djeci-3-6039|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite news|url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/globus/Globus-komentari/potrebno-je-zacepiti-nos-da-bi-se-ugazilo-u-kloaku-vukiceve-konstrukcije-da-je-jasenovac-mjesto-na-kojem-su-zrtve-same-izazvale-svoje-stradanje/7468782/|title=Potrebno je začepiti nos da bi se ugazilo u kloaku Vukićeve konstrukcije da je Jasenovac mjesto na kojem su žrtve same izazvale svoje stradanje|first=Goran|last=Hutinec|newspaper=] / Globus|date=8 June 2018|access-date=2020-03-22|archive-date=2020-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322204608/https://www.jutarnji.hr/globus/Globus-komentari/potrebno-je-zacepiti-nos-da-bi-se-ugazilo-u-kloaku-vukiceve-konstrukcije-da-je-jasenovac-mjesto-na-kojem-su-zrtve-same-izazvale-svoje-stradanje/7468782/|url-status=live}}</ref> A large number of these corpses, especially the children, showed evidence of blunt force trauma, as their skulls were cracked, fractured and broken in numerous places. The scientists concluded that the entire Jasenovac complex could have around 200 similar sites.{{sfn|Krušelj, 23 April 2005}} | |||
The Jasenovac Memorial Area states that to date more than 160 mass graves have been discovered, including 105 mass graves at Gradina, covering a total area of 10,130 m<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=":13" /> A further 22 mass graves have been found at the same site, plus an additional 21 mass graves at Uštica, site of a camp for Roma and Serb women and children, the latter with a surface area of 1218 m<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=":3" /> At the Limani site, inside the Jasenovac III Camp site, seven mass graves are located, with a total surface area of 1,175 m<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=":15" /> An additional 3 mass graves are found at Krapje, where mostly Jewish victims were buried.<ref name=":16" /> At the Jablanac and Mlaka sites, where mostly Serb women and children were held and murdered, 5 mass graves were found.<ref name=":17" /> Four more mass graves were uncovered at Uskočke šume, with 947 exhumed bodies, and one large one at Međustrugovi, with some 1,000 bodies.<ref name=":14" /> | |||
The second edition of ''Vojna enciklopedija'' (1972) reproduced the figure of the State Commission of Crimes, 600,000 victims in Jasenovac up to 1943.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=725}} In August 1983, General ] of the Partisans asserted that, according to the newest data, at least one million Serbs were killed at Jasenovac. Novelist Milan D. Miletić (1923–2003) speculated the number at one million or more.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=725}} Based on documentary material and information from inmates and camp officials, and from official war crimes commissions, archivist ] quoted from the sources the estimation at 600–700,000 victims, most Serbs.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=726}} | |||
An analysis of 1970s high school history textbooks published in Yugoslavia showed that while all textbooks devoted about 1 or 2 paragraphs to Ustaše crimes, there were considerable differences in victim estimates across the then republics. Thus the main 1970's Croatian history textbook had the lowest estimate of Jasenovac victims (“thousands of people”), while the Serbian textbook wrote of “hundreds of thousands”, and the Bosnian textbook listed 800,000 victims.{{sfn|Pavasović Trošt|2013|p=24}} | |||
Antun Miletić, a researcher at the Military Archives in Belgrade, collected data on Jasenovac since 1979.{{sfn|Anzulovic|1999|p=104}} By 1999, his list contained the names of 77,200 victims, of whom 41,936 were Serbs.{{sfn|Anzulovic|1999|p=104}} | |||
In the 1980s, calculations were done by Serbian statistician ], and by Croatian economist ], who claimed that total number of victims in Yugoslavia was less than 1.7 million, an official estimate at the time, both concluding that the number of victims was around one million. Kočović estimated that, of that number, between 370,000 and 410,000 ethnic Serbs died in the Independent State of Croatia,{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2008|p=34}}{{sfn|Kočović|2005}} of whom 45–52,000 died at Jasenovac.{{sfn|Geiger|2011|p=728}} Žerjavić estimated that 322,000 Serbs died in the NDH,{{sfn|Adriano|Cingolani|2018|p=280}} of whom 50,000 were killed at Jasenovac.{{sfn|Kolstø|2011|pp=226–241}} Both Kočović and Žerjavić estimated 83,000 total deaths at Jasenovac,{{sfn|MacDonald|2002|p=162}} Žerjavić's figure includes Jews, Roma, Croats and Bosnian Muslims, as well as Serbs.{{sfn|Geiger|2011|p=728}} His figures also showed that 13,000 Jews perished in the camp, along with about 10,000 Croats, 10,000 Roma and others.{{sfn|Kasapović|2018|pp=13–14}} According to Vladimir Žerjavić the number of killed is about 85,000 people, respectively 50 thousand Serbs, 13,000 Jews, 10,000 Croats, 10,000 of Romani people and 2,000 Muslims.{{sfn|Žerjavić|1995|p=556}} | |||
In October 1985, a group of investigators from the ], led by ], visited Jasenovac and made a record of it, in which the record taker, Antun Miletić, mentioned the 1961 excavation, but misquoted the number of victims it identified as 550,800. They also noted the 1964 excavation, and estimated that Gradina held the remains of 366,000 victims, without further explanation.{{sfn|Krušelj, 23 April 2005}} | |||
In November 1989, Živanović claimed on television that their research resulted in victim counts of more than 500,000, with estimates of 700,000–800,000 being realistic, stating that in every mass grave there were 800 skeletons.{{sfn|Krušelj, 23 April 2005}} Vida Brodar then commented on that statement and said the research never resulted in any victim counts, and that these numbers were Živanović's manipulations, providing a copy of the research log as corroboration. A Croatian historian, Željko Krušelj, publicly criticized Živanović and labeled him a fraud over this.{{sfn|Krušelj, 23 April 2005}} | |||
During the 1980s and early 1990s, 700,000 to 1.2 million victims were highlighted in many Serbian publications as part of the ] program and also as part of the ] policy.{{sfn|Benčić|2018|pp=47–48}} ], the director of Belgrade's military archives, in 1997 claimed the figure for Jasenovac was 1.1 million, and criticized Žerjavić's research. Another critic of Žerjavić, ], former director of the ], maintained that the numbers were in the range of 700,000–1,000,000.{{sfn|Kolstø|2011|pp=226–241}} Bulajić based his estimates entirely on survivor accounts, without scrutinizing the numbers, which led to him advocating for statistical improbabilities.{{sfn|Biondich|2002|p=39, 46}} In 1997, the Museum of Genocide Victims in Belgrade identified 10,521 Jewish victims at Jasenovac, with full names.{{sfn|Bulajić|2002|p=55}} | |||
The Belgrade Museum of Genocide Victims had supported the figure of 700,000 to 1 million victims of the camp, but ceased to do so since 2002. After Bulajić retired from his post, Dragan Cvetković, a researcher from the museum, published a book on wartime losses together with a Croatian co-author, giving a figure of approximately 100,000 victims in Jasenovac.{{sfn|Kolstø|2011|pp=226–241}}{{sfn|Jovanović|2013}} In 2013, Cvetković has estimated the total deaths at Jasenovac between 122,000 and 130,000 based on their then-current victim list containing 88,000 names.{{sfn|Jovanović|2013}} | |||
In his 1989 book, ], the future president of Croatia, claimed there were only 30–40 thousand Jasenovac victims, without explaining how he got these figures.{{sfn|MacDonald|2003|p=168}} He also claimed "most of the victims were Gypsies, then Jews and Serbs", thus putting Serbs in third place, when all credible sources state Serbs were the most numerous victims.{{sfn|MacDonald|2003|p=168}} The book met with widespread criticism around the world, not only for reducing Jasenovac victims, but also for downplaying the guilt of Ustaše murderers. Tudjman claimed Jasenovac was administered by Jews, that estimates of 6 million Jewish Holocaust victims were exaggerated, that Jews invented ethnic cleansing, while accusing Jews of genocide and other misdeeds.{{sfn|MacDonald|2003|p=168}} ] writes, "What emerged from Tudjman's extreme moral relativism was the essential insignificance of Jasenovac and, in fact, the Holocaust in world history."{{sfn|MacDonald|2003|p=168}} | |||
During the ], the Croatian side began publicly suggesting substantially smaller numbers of victims.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/22/us/anger-greets-croatian-s-invitation-to-holocaust-museum-dedication.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=Anger Greets Croatian's Invitation To Holocaust Museum Dedication|last=Schemo|first=Diana Jean|date=22 April 1993|newspaper=]|access-date=14 June 2011|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402165652/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/22/us/anger-greets-croatian-s-invitation-to-holocaust-museum-dedication.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1991 the new Croatian government established the Commission for the Determination of War and Post-War Victims, which in its final report listed only 2,238 victims of Jasenovac, and only 293 Jewish victims in all Croatia.{{sfn|Geiger|2013|p=219}} Later the head of the Commission and former Constitutional Court justice, Vice Vukojević, claimed that “The Jasenovac camp was run by Jews, the State only provided guards”.<ref>{{cite news|date=2009-04-22|newspaper=]|title=Vice Vukojević: Židovi su upravljali Jasenovcem|url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/naslovnica/vice-vukojevic-zidovi-su-upravljali-jasenovcem-3815754|access-date=2020-09-19|language=hr|archive-date=2021-02-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220200425/https://www.jutarnji.hr/naslovnica/vice-vukojevic-zidovi-su-upravljali-jasenovcem-3815754|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
In 1998, the ] published ]'s final ''List of war victims from the Jasenovac camp'' (created in 1992).<ref name="Bosniak">{{cite book|author=Bosniak Institute|title=Jasenovac: Žrtve rata prema podacima statističkog zavoda Jugoslavije|publisher=Bosniak Institute Sarajevo|location=Zürich & Sarajevo|year=1992|isbn=3-905211-87-4|url=http://www.bosnjackiinstitut.ba/home/sadrzaj/110|access-date=22 March 2015|author-link=Bosniak Institute|archive-date=25 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225131521/http://www.bosnjackiinstitut.ba/home/sadrzaj/110|url-status=dead}}</ref> The list contained the names of 49,602 victims at Jasenovac, including 26,170 Serbs, 8,121 Jews, 5,900 Croats, 1,471 Romani, 787 Bosnian Muslims, 6,792 of unidentifiable ethnicity, and some listed simply as "others."<ref name="Bosniak"/> | |||
In 1998, the ] issued an announcement that a notebook had been found containing partial raw data of the State Commission for War Crimes, where the number of victims of Jasenovac from the territory of the ] was 15,792, with victims by year: 2,891 persons in 1941, 8,935 in 1942, 676 in 1943, 2,167 in 1944, and 1,123 in 1945. The notebook was generally described as incomplete, particularly the Jasenovac records, but the said numbers were deemed credible as all the other numbers of victims mentioned in the book were consistent with those from the other documents released by the State Commission.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrt.hr/arhiv/98/07/07/h8_hrv.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104704/http://www.hrt.hr/arhiv/98/07/07/h8_hrv.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 April 2015|language=hr|title=U Hrvatskom državnom arhivu pronađena bilježnica o žrtvama rata|publisher=]|date=7 July 1998|access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref> | |||
The Jasenovac Memorial Site, the museum institution sponsored by the Croatian government since the end of the ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6484|publisher=Jasenovac Memorial Site|title=Renovation of Jasenovac Memorial Site|access-date=22 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402175540/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6484|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6502|publisher=Jasenovac Memorial Site|title=Jasenovac Memorial Site – From the return of the museum inventory to the present day|access-date=22 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160450/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6502|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.min-kulture.hr/default.aspx?id=78|publisher=]|language=hr|title=Propisi|trans-title=Regulations|quote=Zakon o Spomen-području Jasenovac (NN 15/90; NN 28/90 Ispravak, NN 22/01)|access-date=22 March 2015|archive-date=20 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320000437/http://www.min-kulture.hr/default.aspx?id=78|url-status=live}}</ref> has since stated that current research estimates the number of victims at between 80,000 and 100,000.<ref name="jusp-vnest">{{cite web|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7619 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203180352/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7619 |archive-date=2018-02-03 |url-status=dead |publisher=Jasenovac Memorial Site|title=How many victims were there of Jasenovac Concentration Camp? |work=FAQs|access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref> There have been revisionist efforts in Croatia that greatly minimize Jasenovac victim numbers, or entirely deny that it was a place of mass murder of Jews, Serbs and Roma, instead claiming that Jasenovac was a mere “work-camp,{{sfn|Kasapović|2018}}<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|title=Dunja Mijatović: Negiranje zločina u Jasenovcu opasan put|url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/29877282.html|access-date=2020-09-05|website=Radio Slobodna Evropa|date=12 April 2019|language=sh|archive-date=2020-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023223626/https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/29877282.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web|date=2018-09-04|title=Croatian Book on Jasenovac Distorts Holocaust History|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2018/09/04/croatian-book-on-jasenovac-distorts-holocaust-history-09-03-2018/|access-date=2020-09-05|website=Balkan Insight|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109024419/https://balkaninsight.com/2018/09/04/croatian-book-on-jasenovac-distorts-holocaust-history-09-03-2018/|url-status=live}}</ref> and some of these have received the support of the Croatian Catholic Church, state media, some politicians, and have even obtained state funding.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name="Jutarnji-Bajruši-2020">{{cite news|date=2020-07-18|newspaper=]|title=Glas Koncila objavljuje revizionističku 'nizanku' o Jasenovcu. O ustaškim klanjima nema ni slova|first=Robert|last=Bajruši|url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/glas-koncila-objavljuje-revizionisticku-nizanku-o-jasenovcu-o-ustaskim-klanjima-nema-ni-slova-15008803|access-date=2020-09-05|language=hr|archive-date=2020-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915160018/https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/glas-koncila-objavljuje-revizionisticku-nizanku-o-jasenovcu-o-ustaskim-klanjima-nema-ni-slova-15008803|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | ref = Jutarnji-Goldstein-2018 | date = 2018-06-19 | newspaper = ] / Globus | first = Ivo | last = Goldstein | title = Skandalozno pozivanje čovjeka koji negira zločinački karakter Jasenovca | url = https://www.jutarnji.hr/globus/koliko-nisko-moze-pasti-hrt-nize-nego-sto-mislite-skandalozno-pozivanje-covjeka-koji-negira-zlocinacki-karakter-jasenovca-7500075 | access-date = 2020-09-05 | language = hr | archive-date = 2021-04-22 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210422162648/https://www.jutarnji.hr/globus/koliko-nisko-moze-pasti-hrt-nize-nego-sto-mislite-skandalozno-pozivanje-covjeka-koji-negira-zlocinacki-karakter-jasenovca-7500075 | url-status = live }}</ref> | |||
==Memorial site== | |||
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]]] | |||
] | |||
In post-WWII Yugoslavia the emphasis was on memorializing the Partisan resistance, not civilian victims.{{sfn|Benčić|2018|p=42}} The authorities sought to present Nazi and fascist occupiers as the main criminals, with domestic quislings being only secondary actors.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=20}} In the name of "brotherhood and unity" the ethnicity of Ustaše and Chetnik victims was not emphasized.{{sfn|Benčić|2018|p=42}}{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=20}} While high Jasenovac victim estimates became frozen, Goldstein notes that specific details – like the Jasenovac-related memoirs of Riffer, Miliša, Ciliga, Von Horstenau and Diana Budisavljević – were almost never presented.{{sfn|Goldstein|2018|p=20}} | |||
The Jasenovac Memorial Site was established in 1960, on the initiative of the Yugoslav Federation of War Veterans’ Organizations. Its central symbol is the Flower Memorial, “a sign of eternal renewal” designed by ],<ref>{{cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – The Foundation and Operation of Jasenovac Memorial Site Up to 1991|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6469|access-date=2020-09-20|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2021-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425083444/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6469|url-status=live}}</ref> with a plaque inscribed with a verse from the antiwar poem “The Pit”, by the Croatian poet-Partisan, ]:<ref>{{cite web|title=JUSP Jasenovac – The Flower Monument in Jasenovac|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6716|access-date=2020-09-20|website=www.jusp-jasenovac.hr|archive-date=2021-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514123330/http://jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6716|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=JAMA – Tekst: Ivan Goran Kovačić; Translation: Alec Brown; Pogovor:Jure Kaštelan|url=http://www.almissa.com/povijesnitrenutak/jama.htm|access-date=2020-09-20|website=www.almissa.com|archive-date=2020-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112031328/http://www.almissa.com/povijesnitrenutak/jama.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><blockquote>That simple happiness, the window's glint;<br /> Swallow and young; or windborne garden sweet -<br /> | |||
Where? – The unhurried cradle's drowsy tilt? <br /> Or, by the threshold, sunshine at my feet?</blockquote>In 1968, the museum was added to the Memorial Site, with the exhibit focusing on the victims.{{sfn|Benčić|2018|p=}} The ] adopted a new law on the Jasenovac Memorial Site in 1990, shortly before the ] in the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/252705.html|title=Ukaz o proglašenju Zakona o Spomen-podruèju Jasenovac|publisher=Narodne-novine.nn.hr|date=17 April 1990|access-date=15 May 2013|archive-date=5 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205064112/http://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/252705.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
When ] was elected for Croatia's president that year, revisionist views on the concentration camp's history came into prominence. The memorial's status was demoted to that of a nature park, and its funding was cut. After Croatia declared its independence and exited the Yugoslav Federation in June 1991, the memorial site found itself in two separate countries. Its grounds at ] belonged to ], which was then still part of Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Walasek|2015|pages=83–87}} | |||
Simo Brdar, assistant director of the Jasenovac Memorial Site, doubted that the Croatian authorities, dominated by nationalists, were committed to preserving the artifacts and documentation of the concentration camp. In August 1991, he transported some of the materials to Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the ] unfolded, Croatian forces vandalized, devastated and looted the memorial site and its museum during September 1991. They were driven out from Jasenovac after a month by the ] (JNA). Brdar returned to the site and collected what was left of the museum's exhibits and documentation. He kept the collections until 1999, when they were housed in the ].{{sfn|Walasek|2015|pages=83–87}}<ref>{{cite web |title=H.CON.RES. 219 {{!}} Congressional Chronicle {{!}} C-SPAN.org |url=https://www.c-span.org/congress/bills/bill/?104/hconres219 |website=www.c-span.org |access-date=2019-02-09 |archive-date=2019-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210044354/https://www.c-span.org/congress/bills/bill/?104/hconres219 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=Patrick J. |title=Text – H.Con.Res.219 – 104th Congress (1995–1996): Calling for the proper preservation of the memorial at the site of the Jasenovac concentration and death camp in Croatia in a way that accurately reflects the historical role of that site in the Holocaust. |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/219/text |website=www.congress.gov |date=25 September 1996 |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209232156/https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/219/text |url-status=live }}</ref> This account however is disputed by Croatian sources who say that the Memorial Museum was devastated by paramilitary units after the entry of the Army of the ] into Jasenovac on October 8 and that archival, museum and documentary material from the site was not destroyed but preserved, and later used in a museum exhibition in Belgrade in April 1997.{{sfn|Mataušić|2000|p=109}}{{sfn|Krušelj|2001}} | |||
In 1996 President ] announced plans to relocate to Jasenovac bodies of the ], which led to protests from the US, Israel, the international Jewish Community and Croatian leftists, thus the plans were abandoned.<ref>{{cite web |title=H.CON.RES. 171 {{!}} Congressional Chronicle {{!}} C-SPAN.org |url=https://www.c-span.org/congress/bills/bill/?104/hconres171 |website=www.c-span.org |access-date=2019-02-09 |archive-date=2019-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209232341/https://www.c-span.org/congress/bills/bill/?104/hconres171 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=Patrick J. |title=Text – H.Con.Res.171 – 104th Congress (1995–1996): Condemning the proposed relocation to the site of the Jasenovac death camp in Croatia of the remains of individuals who were not killed there, including soldiers of the Croatian Ustashe regime who participated during the Holocaust in the mass murder of Jews and others. |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/171/text |website=www.congress.gov |date=2 May 1996 |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209232523/https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/171/text |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-10-11|title=Why Croatia's President Tudjman Imitated General Franco|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2017/10/11/why-croatia-s-president-tudjman-imitated-general-franco-10-12-2017/|access-date=2021-02-25|website=Balkan Insight|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210213414/https://balkaninsight.com/2017/10/11/why-croatia-s-president-tudjman-imitated-general-franco-10-12-2017/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
At the end of 2000, the collections were transferred to the ] (USHMM), after an agreement with the government of ]. A year later, the USHMM transported the collections to Croatia and gave them to the Jasenovac Memorial Site.{{sfn|Walasek|2015|pages=83–87}} Israeli President ] visited Jasenovac in 2003, and was the first Israeli head of state to officially visit the country.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} | |||
In 2004, at the yearly Jasenovac commemoration, the Croatian authorities presented new plans for the memorial site, changing the concept of the museum as well as some of the content. The director of the Memorial Site, Nataša Jovičić, explained how the permanent museum exhibition would be changed to avoid provoking fear, and cease displaying the "technology of death" (mallets, daggers, etc.), rather it would concentrate on individualizing it with personal stories of former prisoners. The German ambassador to Croatia at the time, Gebhard Weiss, expressed skepticism towards "the avoidance of explicit photographs of the reign of terror".<ref name="jri-2004">{{cite journal|journal=Newsletter of the Jasenovac Research Institution |volume=I |number=1 |pages=4–5 |title=Changes in the Museum |author=Radoje Arsenić |publisher=]; translated by JRI Director Milo Yelesiyevich |date=22 June 2004}}</ref> | |||
The ] Parks Department, the Holocaust Park Committee and the Jasenovac Research Institute, with the help of former U.S. Representative ] (D-NY), established a public monument to the victims of Jasenovac in April 2005 (the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the camps). The dedication ceremony was attended by ten Yugoslav Holocaust survivors, as well as diplomats from Serbia, Bosnia and Israel. It remains the only public monument to Jasenovac victims outside of the Balkans. Annual commemorations are held there every April.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zadarskilist.hr/clanci/17042012/sabor-salje-kosor-u-bleiburg|title=Sabor šalje Kosor u Bleiburg|work=]|date=17 April 2012|language=hr|access-date=30 July 2012|archive-date=4 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904103255/http://www.zadarskilist.hr/clanci/17042012/sabor-salje-kosor-u-bleiburg|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
The Jasenovac Memorial Museum reopened in November 2006 with a new exhibition designed by Croatian architect Helena Paver Njirić, and an educational center designed by the firm Produkcija. The Memorial Museum features an interior of rubber-clad steel modules, video and projection screens, and glass cases displaying artifacts from the camp. Above the exhibition space, which is quite dark, is a field of glass panels inscribed with the names of the victims. Njirić won the first prize of the 2006 Zagreb Architectural Salon for her work on the museum.<ref name="setimes-2007">{{cite news|newspaper=]|title=Exhibition aims to show the truth about Jasenovac|date=8 January 2007|url=http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2007/01/08/reportage-01|access-date=25 April 2012|archive-date=5 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305234358/http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2007/01/08/reportage-01|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
However, the new exhibition was described as "postmodernist trash" by ], and criticized for the removal of all Ustaše killing instruments from the display and a lack of explanation of the ideology that led to the crimes committed there in the name of the Croatian people.<ref name="setimes-2007"/> | |||
Israeli President ] visited Jasenovac on 25 July 2010, dubbing it a "demonstration of sheer sadism".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/peres-at-croatian-wwii-camp-i-wish-iran-s-president-would-come-here-1.303955|title=Peres at Croatian WWII Camp: I Wish Iran's President Would Come Here|date=25 July 2010|work=]|language=hr|access-date=26 August 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924163520/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/peres-at-croatian-wwii-camp-i-wish-iran-s-president-would-come-here-1.303955|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
On 17 April 2011, in a commemoration ceremony, former-] ] warned that there were "attempts to drastically reduce or decrease the number of Jasenovac victims ... faced with the devastating truth here that certain members of the Croatian people were capable of committing the cruelest of crimes, I want to say that all of us are responsible for the things that we do." At the same ceremony, then ] ] said, "there is no excuse for the crimes and therefore the Croatian government decisively rejects and condemns every attempt at historical revisionism and rehabilitation of the fascist ideology, every form of totalitarianism, extremism and radicalism ... Pavelić's regime was a regime of evil, hatred and intolerance, in which people were abused and killed because of their race, religion, nationality, their political beliefs and because they were the others and were different."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=04&dd=17&nav_id=73858 |title=Jasenovac must not be forgotten, Croat president says |publisher=B92.net |date=17 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123102934/http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=04&dd=17&nav_id=73858 |archive-date=23 January 2012}}</ref> | |||
In 2020 the U.S. State Department issued its JUST Act Report which surveys efforts at justice for Holocaust survivors.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Drawdy|first=Stephanie|title=JUST Act Report surveys efforts at justice for Holocaust survivors {{!}} Institute of Art and Law|date=7 January 2021|url=https://ial.uk.com/just-act-report-surveys-efforts-at-justice-for-holocaust-survivors/|access-date=2021-03-28|language=en-GB|archive-date=2021-04-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422174108/https://ial.uk.com/just-act-report-surveys-efforts-at-justice-for-holocaust-survivors/|url-status=live}}</ref> The report states that while information in the Jasenovac Memorial Site and museum "is appropriately victims-focused, the permanent exhibition notably lacks the requisite historical and cultural context, such as information on Croatia’s role in the Holocaust, the formation of and popular support for the NDH, and the full extent of crimes committed inside Croatia".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Croatia|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/just-act-report-to-congress/croatia/|access-date=2021-03-28|website=United States Department of State|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322193223/https://www.state.gov/reports/just-act-report-to-congress/croatia/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
== Controversies == | |||
In 1986, a new touring exhibition titled "Concentration camp Jasenovac, 1941–1945" was appointed by the Jasenovac Memorial Museum, sometimes erroneously referred to as "The dead open the eyes of the living" due to that phrase being used in promotional contexts.{{sfn|Byford|2020|p=106}} The exhibition featured graphic photographs with explicit depictions of Ustaše victims, some of which were unintentionally misattributed to Jasenovac.{{sfn|Byford|2020|p=109}} In Croatia, the 1986 exhibition is claimed as Serbian premeditation to stir up ] which began in 1991, thereby dismissing its complex causes.{{sfn|Byford|2020|p=122}} Similar but more inflammatory exhibitions were shown in JNA barracks during the early 1990s.{{sfn|Byford|2020|p=122, 133}} A description of one photograph read: "They killed children in the mangers, then slaughtered them with knives, axes and razors, impaled them on bayonets, burned in the Jasenovac crematorium and in cauldrons they cooked soup from them". Instead of being educational, these served as a propagandastic tool, writes scholar Nataša Jovičić.{{sfn|Benčić|2018|p=48}} | |||
Jewish and Serb organizations, Croat historians and antifascists, as well as international observers, have repeatedly warned of revisionism and Holocaust-denial in Croatia.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-01-25|title=Holocaust Revisionism Widespread in Croatia, Warns Report|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2019/01/25/holocaust-revisionism-widespread-in-croatia-warns-report-01-25-2019/|access-date=2020-06-21|website=Balkan Insight|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223160012/https://balkaninsight.com/2019/01/25/holocaust-revisionism-widespread-in-croatia-warns-report-01-25-2019/|url-status=live}}</ref> Recent examples include the publication of a book celebrating "the Croatian knight", ],<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Komunikacije|first=Neomedia|title=U Crkvi predstavljaju "lik i djelo hrvatskog viteza Maksa Luburića", čovjeka koji je osmislio logor u Jasenovcu / Novi list|url=http://www.novilist.hr/content/view/full/1799936|access-date=2020-04-12|website=www.novilist.hr|language=hr-HR}}</ref> who as head all Ustaše concentration camps, including Jasenovac, was responsible for over 100,000 deaths, and a documentary minimizing children's deaths in Ustaše concentration camps.<ref name="nacional.hr">{{Cite web|title=Crkva se u reviziju povijesti uključila na brutalan način|url=https://www.nacional.hr/crkva-se-u-reviziju-povijesti-ukljucila-na-brutalan-nacin/|access-date=2020-04-12|website=Nacional.hr|language=hr|archive-date=2020-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412203032/https://www.nacional.hr/crkva-se-u-reviziju-povijesti-ukljucila-na-brutalan-nacin/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Luburić book was promoted with the assistance of the Croatian Catholic Church,.<ref name=":02" /> and Church sources minimized children's deaths in concentration camps. | |||
Croat historians have noted that the Church has been a leader in promoting revisionism and minimizing Ustaše crimes.<ref name="nacional.hr" /> In 2013, the main Croatian Catholic Church newspaper, Glas Koncila, published a series on Jasenovac, by the Jasenovac-denier ],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Komunikacije|first=Neomedia|title=Revizionistički odnos prema povijesti: Učiteljica života u Hrvatskoj zakazala / Novi list|url=http://www.novilist.hr/content/view/full/890566|access-date=2020-04-12|website=www.novilist.hr|language=hr-HR}}</ref> who claims Jasenovac was a "mere work-camp", where no mass executions took place. In 2015, the head of the Croatian Bishops' Conference asked that the Ustaše "]" salute be adopted by the Croatian army.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Puljić: Pitanje o pozdravu "Za dom spremni" na referendum|url=https://www.vecernji.ba/vijesti/puljic-pitanje-o-pozdravu-za-dom-spremni-na-referendum-1021766|access-date=2020-04-12|website=www.vecernji.ba|language=hr|archive-date=2020-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412223656/https://www.vecernji.ba/vijesti/puljic-pitanje-o-pozdravu-za-dom-spremni-na-referendum-1021766|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2020, the official newspaper of Croatian Catholic Archdioceses, Glas Koncila, published yet another series engaging in Jasenovac- and even Holocaust-denial, with selective, blatantly distorted quotes from Jewish and other prisoners, in an attempt to yet again claim no mass extermination took place in ].<ref name="Jutarnji-Bajruši-2020"/> | |||
Historians have criticized Croatian government financing of Jasenovac-denier organizations, such as the "Society for research of the triple camp Jasenovac”,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Žapčić|first=Andreja|title=O čemu (ne) govorimo kada govorimo u holokaustu u Hrvatskoj?|url=https://www.rtl.hr/vijesti-hr/novosti/hrvatska/3328671/o-cemu-ne-govorimo-kada-govorimo-u-holokaustu-u-hrvatskoj/|access-date=2020-06-21|website=Vijesti.hr|date=28 January 2019|language=hr|archive-date=2020-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006182137/https://www.rtl.hr/vijesti-hr/novosti/hrvatska/3328671/o-cemu-ne-govorimo-kada-govorimo-u-holokaustu-u-hrvatskoj/|url-status=dead}}</ref> which include “publicists” and non-historians, like Igor Vukić. Zagreb University historian Goran Hutinec notes that Vukić massively distorts the truth, for example citing books by Jasenovac survivors, like Milko Riffer, as “proof” that no mass killing took place in Jasenovac, when on the contrary, the books describe eyewitness accounts of bestial killings of thousands, as well as extermination of tens-of-thousands of Roma at Jasenovac.<ref name=":6"/> Croatian state television (HRT) has likewise uncritically presented Jasenovac-deniers on their shows such as Roman Leljak.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ogranak HND-a na HTV-u: Dosta je javnog sramoćenja u programu Javne televizije|url=http://www.hnd.hr/ogranak-hnd-a-na-htv-u-dosta-je-javnog-sramocenja-u-programu-javne-televizije|access-date=2020-06-21|website=www.hnd.hr|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-01-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123122019/https://www.hnd.hr/ogranak-hnd-a-na-htv-u-dosta-je-javnog-sramocenja-u-programu-javne-televizije|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
In 2016 the Croatian ] war veterans' organization posted a plaque in the town of Jasenovac with the Ustaše “]” salute,<ref>{{cite web|last=Veselica|first=Lajla|title=Croatia government under fire for failing to tackle pro-Nazis|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/croatia-government-under-fire-for-failing-to-tackle-pro-nazis/|access-date=2020-04-12|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412021904/https://www.timesofisrael.com/croatia-government-under-fire-for-failing-to-tackle-pro-nazis/|url-status=live}}</ref> the equal of the Nazi "Sieg Heil" (] from which Jews were sent to Ustaše death camps). Despite protests by Jewish, Serb and Croat antifascist organizations, the plaque and Ustaše salute were allowed to remain at Jasenovac until criticism by the US State Department special envoy on Holocaust issues,<ref>{{cite news|title=Američki izaslanik za holokaust pozvao hrvatsku vladu da ubrza povrat imovine preživjelima holokausta|newspaper=]|agency=]|url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/americki-izaslanik-za-holokaust-pozvao-hrvatsku-vladu-da-ubrza-povrat-imovine-prezivjelima-holokausta/5806767/|access-date=2020-04-12|date=23 March 2017|archive-date=2020-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412021854/https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/americki-izaslanik-za-holokaust-pozvao-hrvatsku-vladu-da-ubrza-povrat-imovine-prezivjelima-holokausta/5806767/|url-status=live}}</ref> forced the Croatian government to move it to a nearby town. As a result of this, and allegations of the government's tolerance for the minimization of Ustaše crimes, Jewish, Serb and Croat WWII resistance groups have refused to appear with government representatives at the annual Jasenovac commemoration.<ref>{{cite news|title=Više tisuća ljudi na alternativnoj komemoraciji u Jasenovcu|url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/alternativna-komemoracija-jasenovac/28446106.html|access-date=2020-04-12|website=Radio Slobodna Evropa|date=22 April 2017|language=sh|last1=Zebić|first1=Enis|archive-date=2020-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412021855/https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/alternativna-komemoracija-jasenovac/28446106.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
In 2016 the filmmaker, ] released a revisionist documentary, “]”, which minimized the death toll in the Ustaše camp,{{sfn|Hockenos|2016}} while inventing a “postwar Jasenovac” in which the Partisans supposedly killed Croats. The premiere was attended and praised by 4 ministers of the ruling Croatian HDZ party, including the Minister of Culture ].{{sfn|Hockenos|2016}} Historians noted the film contained many lies and fabrications, including a forged newspaper headline, proclaiming corpses from the invented “postwar Jasenovac” floated more than 60 miles '''upriver''', to Zagreb.<ref name="sven">{{cite news|author=Sven Milekić|date=15 July 2016|title=Croatian Director Reported for Jasenovac Camp Film|publisher=Balkan Insight|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/croatian-director-reported-for-jasenovac-camp-film-07-15-2016|access-date=20 July 2016|archive-date=20 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720043600/http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/croatian-director-reported-for-jasenovac-camp-film-07-15-2016/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Novosti">{{cite news|author=Nikola Bajto|date=16 April 2016|title=Sve laži Jakova Sedlara|language=hr|trans-title=All the lies of Jakov Sedlar|publisher=Novosti|url=http://www.portalnovosti.com/sve-lai-jakova-sedlara|access-date=20 July 2016|archive-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701124336/http://www.portalnovosti.com/sve-lai-jakova-sedlara|url-status=live}}</ref> The Israeli ambassador condemned the film,<ref>{{cite web|date=2016-04-07|title=Israeli Diplomat Slams Croatian Concentration Camp Film|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2016/04/07/israeli-ambassador-condemns-croatia-concentration-camp-movie-04-07-2016/|access-date=2020-06-21|website=Balkan Insight|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624112514/https://balkaninsight.com/2016/04/07/israeli-ambassador-condemns-croatia-concentration-camp-movie-04-07-2016/|url-status=live}}</ref> while the mayor of Zagreb, ], issued Sedlar the Award of the City of Zagreb, amid protests from Jewish groups,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-04-20|title=Zagreb Award For Jasenovac Film Director Draws Protests|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2017/04/20/zagreb-awards-controversial-film-director-04-19-2017/|access-date=2020-06-21|website=Balkan Insight|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622162822/https://balkaninsight.com/2017/04/20/zagreb-awards-controversial-film-director-04-19-2017/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the president of Zagreb University, Damir Boras, appointed Sedlar as his cultural advisor.<ref>{{cite news | date = 2019-03-24 | newspaper = ] | title = U svijetu u kojem Sedlar može biti cijenjeni režiser, a Čović uvaženi državnik, i Bandić može postati profesor emeritus | first = Jurica | last = Pavičić | url = https://www.jutarnji.hr/naslovnica/sveuciliste-za-fake-news-u-svijetu-u-kojem-sedlar-moze-biti-cijenjeni-reziser-a-covic-uvazeni-drzavnik-i-bandic-moze-postati-profesor-emeritus-8637134 | access-date = 2020-06-21 | language = hr | archive-date = 2020-06-22 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200622032501/https://www.jutarnji.hr/naslovnica/sveuciliste-za-fake-news-u-svijetu-u-kojem-sedlar-moze-biti-cijenjeni-reziser-a-covic-uvazeni-drzavnik-i-bandic-moze-postati-profesor-emeritus-8637134 | url-status = live }}</ref> | |||
== In film and literature == | |||
''Ljudolovka Jasenovac'' is a novel written by camp survivor and writer ] which was published in 1985. He was trapped in the camp in 1943. Topčić was one of few who survived it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49911112-ljudolovka-jasenovac|title=Ljudolovka Jasenovac|work=goodreads.com|access-date=26 September 2021|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926150608/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49911112-ljudolovka-jasenovac|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
German writer and academic ] discusses and describes the atrocious acts committed at Jasenovac in his 1995 book ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sebald |first=W.G. |title=The Rings of Saturn |publisher=Vintage Voyages |year=1995 |location=London |pages=96–99}}</ref> | |||
'']'' is a 2003 ] directed by Dino Mustafić, written by ]. Part of the film thematizes the camp.<ref name="KVIFF programme - Remake">{{cite web|url=http://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/03118-remake/|title=KVIFF programme – Remake|work=kviff.com|accessdate=26 September 2021|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224230601/https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/03118-remake/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
''Witness to Jasenovac's Hell'' by camp survivor Ilija Ivanović, was released in English language in 2002, and tells the author's experiences as an eight-year-old boy deported to the camp and one of few who survived the escape from it.<ref>Witness to Jasenovac's Hell. Ilija Ivanović. Dallas Publishing, 2002</ref> | |||
''44 Months in Jasenovac'' is a book written by camp survivor Egon Berger which was published in Serbo-Croatian in 1966 and in English in 2016.<ref name=":18">44 Months in Jasenovac. Egon Berger. Sentia Publishing, 2016</ref> According to Berger, 250,000 people were killed from June through November 1942. | |||
The film '']'' is a historical drama directed by ], whose 2020 release date was to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation. The first modern Holocaust-film about Jasenovac, it stars Marko Janketić as commandant Luburić and ] as Filipović 'Majstorović'.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Perović |first1=Sandra |title=Da li će "Dara iz Jasenovca" postati "srpska Šindlerova lista"? |url=https://www.rts.rs/page/magazine/sr/story/411/film-i-tv/3722842/da-li-ce-dara-iz-jasenovca-postati-srpska-sindlerova-lista.html |website=RTS.rs |date=2 November 2019 |access-date=7 March 2020 |archive-date=3 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203203545/http://www.rts.rs/page/magazine/sr/story/411/film-i-tv/3722842/da-li-ce-dara-iz-jasenovca-postati-srpska-sindlerova-lista.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
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===Bibliography=== | ||
{{refbegin|2}} | |||
# ''The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican'', Vladimir Dedijer (Editor), Harvey Kendall (Translator) Prometheus Books, 1992. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Božović|first=Branislav|title=Specijalna policija i stradanje Jevreja u okupiranom Beogradu 1941–1944|trans-title=Special police and the suffering of Jews in Belgrade under German occupation 1941–1945|language=hr|publisher=Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia|year=2003|isbn=86-903751-0-4|url=http://www.jevrejskadigitalnabiblioteka.rs/handle/123456789/187|access-date=2020-05-12|archive-date=2022-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725190339/https://www.jevrejskadigitalnabiblioteka.rs/handle/123456789/187|url-status=live}} | |||
# ''Witness to Jasenovac's Hell'' Ilija Ivanovic, Wanda Schindley (Editor), Aleksandra Lazic (Translator) Dallas Publishing, 2002 | |||
* {{cite book|last=Breitman|first=Richard|title=U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=0-521-61794-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnkBYN8ipYcC}} | |||
# ''Crimes in the Jasenovac Camp, State Commission investigation of crimes of the occupiers and their collaborators in Croatia'', Zagreb, 1946. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Bulajić|first=Milan|author-link=Milan Bulajić|title=Jasenovac: The Jewish-Serbian Holocaust (the role of the Vatican) in Nazi-Ustasha Croatia (1941–1945)|year=2002|location=Belgrade|publisher=Fund for Genocide Research, Stručna knjiga|isbn=9788641902211|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CgJnAAAAMAAJ|access-date=2017-07-15|archive-date=2023-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401033924/https://books.google.com/books?id=CgJnAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} | |||
# ''Ustasha Camps'' by Mirko Percen, Globus, Zagreb, 1966. Second expanded printing 1990. | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Byford |first1=Jovan |title=Picturing Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia: Atrocity Images and the Contested Memory of the Second World War in the Balkans |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781350015975 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8LkDwAAQBAJ }} | |||
# ''Ustashi and the Independent State of Croatia 1941-1945'', by Fikreta Jelic-Butic, Liber, Zagreb, 1977. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Crowe|first=David M.|author-link=David M. Crowe|title=Crimes of State Past and Present: Government-Sponsored Atrocities and International Legal Responses|year=2013|publisher=]|isbn=978-131-7986-82-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRTdAAAAQBAJ}} | |||
# ''Romans, J. Jews of Yugoslavia, 1941- 1945: Victims of Genocide and Freedom Fighters'', Belgrade, 1982 | |||
* {{cite book | last=Dedijer | first=Vladimir | authorlink=Vladimir Dedijer | title=The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican: The Croatian Massacre of the Serbs During World War II | translator=Kendall, Harvey | publisher=Prometheus Books | year=1992 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nyDZAAAAMAAJ | isbn=978-0-87975-752-6 }} | |||
# ''Antisemitism in the anti-fascist Holocaust: a collection of works'', The Jewish Center, Zagreb, 1996. | |||
* {{cite journal |last=Geiger |first=Vladimir |title=Ljudski gubici Hrvatske u Drugom svjetskom ratu koje su prouzročili "okupatori i njihovi pomagači" Brojidbeni pokazatelji (procjene, izračuni, popisi) |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=43 |issue=3 |date=2011 |pages=699–749 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/76758?lang=en |access-date=2023-08-28 |archive-date=2021-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128144934/https://hrcak.srce.hr/76758?lang=en |url-status=live }} | |||
# ''The Jasenovac Concentration Camp'', by Antun Miletic, Volumes One and Two, Belgrade, 1986. Volume Three, Belgrade, 1987. Second edition, 1993. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Ivo|title=Židovi u Zagrebu 1918–1941|year=2005|publisher=Novi Liber|location=Zagreb|isbn=953-6045-23-0}} | |||
# ''Hell's Torture Chamber'' by Djordje Milica, Zagreb, 1945. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Ivo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAI3wAEACAAJ|title=Jasenovac|date=2018|publisher=Fraktura|isbn=978-953-266-987-9|language=hr|access-date=2020-09-13|archive-date=2023-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119075410/https://books.google.com/books?id=tAI3wAEACAAJ|url-status=live}} | |||
# ''Die Besatzungszeit das Genozid in Jugoslawien 1941-1945'' by Vladimir Umeljic, Graphics High Publishing, Los Angeles, 1994. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Slavko|title=1941. – godina koja se vraća|year=2007|publisher=Novi Liber|location=Zagreb|isbn=978-953-6045-48-8}} | |||
# ''Srbi i genocidni XX vek'' (Serbs and 20th century, Ages of Genocide) by Vladimir Umeljić, (vol 1, vol 2), Magne, Belgrade, 2004. ISBN 86-903763-1-3 | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Goldstein|first1=Ivo|last2=Goldstein|first2=Slavko|title=The Holocaust in Croatia|date=2016|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=978-082-2944-51-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ehVSjgEACAAJ}} | |||
# '']'', by Viktor Novak, Zagreb, 1948. | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Goldstein |first1=Slavko |last2=Goldstein |first2=Ivo |title=Jasenovac: tragika, mitomanija, istina |date=2016 |publisher=Fraktura |isbn=978-953-266-709-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3537jwEACAAJ |language=en |ref={{harvid|Goldstein|Goldstein|2016a}} }} | |||
# ''Kaputt'', by Curzio Malaparte, translated by Cesare Foligno, Northwestern University Press Evanston, Illinois, 1999. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Israeli|first=Raphael|author-link=Raphael Israeli|title=The Death Camps of Croatia: Visions and Revisions, 1941–1945|year=2013|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=Piscataway, New Jersey|isbn=9781412849753|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fA_FZYUE_IwC}} | |||
# ''Der kroatische Ustascha-Staat 1941-1945'', by Ladislaus Hory and ], Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1964. | |||
* {{citation|last=Kolstø|first=Pål |chapter=The Serbian-Croatian Controversy over Jasenovac |editor=Ramet, Sabrina P. |editor2=Listhaug, Ola |title=Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |year=2011 |pages=225–246}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Komarica |first1=Slavko |last2=Odić |first2=Slavko F. |year=2005 |title=Zašto Jasenovac nije oslobođen |language=sr |publisher=Institute for Contemporary History |location=Belgrade, Serbia |isbn=978-8-6740-3097-4}} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Korb|first=Alexander|chapter=A Multipronged Attack: Ustaša Persecution of Serbs, Jews, and Roma in Wartime Croatia|title=Eradicating Differences: The Treatment of Minorities in Nazi-Dominated Europe|year=2010|location=Newcastle upon Tyne|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|pages=145–163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wGknBwAAQBAJ|isbn=9781443824491}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Lemkin|first=Raphael|title=Axis Rule in Occupied Europe|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C|isbn=9781584779018|access-date=2016-09-22|archive-date=2023-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114040954/https://books.google.com/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Maček |first1=Vladko |year=2003 |title=Memoari |publisher=Dom i svijet |location=Zagreb |isbn=978-953-6491-93-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXxew8zc1GQC&q=Ljubo+Milo%C5%A1&pg=PA111 }} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Mataušić|first=Nataša|title=Jasenovac, fotomonografija|year=2008|url=https://znaci.org/00003/611.htm|publisher=Jasenovac Memorial Area|location=Zagreb|isbn=978-953-99169-4-5|access-date=2023-05-08|archive-date=2023-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416051554/https://znaci.org/00003/611.htm|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Paris|first=Edmond|author-link=Edmond Paris|title=Genocide in Satellite Croatia, 1941–1945: A Record of Racial and Religious Persecutions and Massacres|year=1961|location=Chicago|publisher=American Institute for Balkan Affairs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KP_SAAAAMAAJ|access-date=2017-07-18|archive-date=2023-07-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230704162230/https://books.google.com/books?id=KP_SAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Pavlowitch|first=Stevan K.|title=Hitler's New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|year=2008|isbn=978-1-85065-895-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R8d2409V9tEC|access-date=2016-09-22|archive-date=2023-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213082915/https://books.google.com/books?id=R8d2409V9tEC|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book|editor-last=Shelach|editor-first=Menachem|last1=Lewinger|first1=Yossef|last2=Matkovski|first2=Alexander|trans-title=History of the Holocaust: Yugoslavia|volume=2|chapter=Jasenovac|script-title=he:רמנחם שלח (עו'),"תולדות השואה: יוגוסלביה". חלק שני: פרק חמישי, "יאסנובאץ"|publisher=]|location=Jerusalem|year=1990|language=he|ref={{harvid|Shelach et al.|1990}}}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* {{cite book| ref = {{harvid|Sindik (ed.)|1985}} | editor-last=Sindik|editor-first=Dušan|title=Sećanja jevreja na logor Jasenovac|trans-title=Memories of the Jews of the Jasenovac camp|publisher=Savez jevrejskih opština Jugoslavije|location=Belgrade|language=sr|orig-date=1972|year=1985}} | |||
* {{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Holocaust|editor-last=Gutman|editor-first=Israel|volume=1|year=1995|orig-date=1990|ref={{harvid|EotH|1990}}|title-link=Encyclopedia of the Holocaust}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Tomasevich|first=Jozo|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration|volume=2|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2001|location=San Francisco|isbn=0804736154|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC|access-date=2016-09-22|archive-date=2023-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112014321/https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC|url-status=live}} | |||
*{{Cite book|last=Tomasevich|first=Jozo|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1941–1945: The Chetniks, Volume 1|year=1975|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-0857-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoCaAAAAIAAJ}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Walasek|first=Helen|year=2015|chapter=Jasenovac Memorial Site|title=Bosnia and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage|publisher=]|place=Farnham|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Fm4BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA83|isbn=978-1-4094-3704-8}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Dulić|first1=Tomislav|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RH9lAAAAIAAJ|title=Utopias of Nation: Local Mass Killing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1941–42|date=2005|publisher=Coronet Books Incorporated|isbn=978-91-554-6302-1|pages=253|language=en|access-date=2020-08-23|archive-date=2023-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028185521/https://books.google.com/books?id=RH9lAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{citation | first1 = Ljiljana | last1 = Radonić | periodical=Kulturen der Differenz – Transformationsprozesse in Zentraleuropa Nach 1989|title=Krieg um die Erinnerung an das KZ Jasenovac: Kroatische Vergangenheitspolitik zwischen Revisionismus und europäischen Standards|publisher=V&R unipress / Vienna University Press |date=2009 |language=de | isbn = 978-3-89971-714-3 }} | |||
* {{cite book | last = Pavasović Trošt | first = Tamara | chapter = War Crimes as Political Tools: Bleiburg and Jasenovac in History Textbooks 1973–2012 | chapter-url = https://www.academia.edu/4097311 | isbn = 978-86-89761-00-9 | editor-last = Jovanović | editor-first = Srđan M. | editor2-first = Veran | editor2-last = Stančetić | title = History and Politics in the Western Balkans: Changes at the Turn of the Millennium | pages = 13–47 | date = January 2013 | language = en | access-date = 2020-09-01 | archive-date = 2022-04-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220414080247/https://www.academia.edu/4097311 | url-status = live }} | |||
* {{cite book | first=Hanspeter | last=Born | title=Für die Richtigkeit: Kurt Waldheim | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GVG1AAAAIAAJ | year=1987 | publisher=Schneekluth | isbn=978-3-7951-1055-0 }} | |||
* {{cite book | last=Alexander | first=Stella | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LORsAAAAIAAJ | title=The Triple Myth: A Life of Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac | date=1987 | publisher=East European Monographs | isbn=978-0-88033-122-7 | language=en | access-date=2020-09-14 | archive-date=2024-06-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021351/https://books.google.com/books?id=LORsAAAAIAAJ | url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book | last=Goldstein | first=Slavko | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Je8xAQAAQBAJ&q=stazzi+santo+pag+goldstein&pg=PA280 | title=1941: The Year that Keeps Returning | date=2013 | publisher=New York Review of Books | isbn=978-1-59017-673-3 | language=en | access-date=2022-04-20 | archive-date=2024-06-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021352/https://books.google.com/books?id=Je8xAQAAQBAJ&q=stazzi+santo+pag+goldstein&pg=PA280#v=snippet&q=stazzi%20santo%20pag%20goldstein&f=false | url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book | title = Croatia Under Ante Pavelić: America, the Ustase and Croatian Genocide | first = Robert B. | last = McCormick | year = 2014 | publisher = I.B. Tauris | location = London-New York | isbn = 9780857725356 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c-t7BAAAQBAJ | access-date = 2019-07-27 | archive-date = 2024-06-29 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021352/https://books.google.com/books?id=c-t7BAAAQBAJ | url-status = live }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Stone |first1=Dan |title=The Holocaust, Fascism and Memory: Essays in the History of Ideas |date=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-13702-952-2 |page=148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8R28To3rycC&pg=PA148 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Bartrop |first1=Paul R. |last2=Dickerman |first2=Michael |title=The Holocaust: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection |date=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-44084-084-5 |page=327 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4I2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA327 |access-date=2020-06-10 |archive-date=2024-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021352/https://books.google.com/books?id=u4I2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA327 |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Mikaberidze |first1=Alexander |title=Behind Barbed Wire: An Encyclopedia of Concentration and Prisoner-of-War Camps |date=2018 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-44085-762-1 |page=161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ed50DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 |access-date=2020-06-10 |archive-date=2024-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021353/https://books.google.com/books?id=ed50DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Bergholz|first=Max|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nsh1DQAAQBAJ|title=Violence as a Generative Force: Identity, Nationalism, and Memory in a Balkan Community|year=2016|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-1-5017-0643-1|language=en|access-date=2020-12-17|archive-date=2024-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021353/https://books.google.com/books?id=nsh1DQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book | authorlink = Aristotle Kallis | first = Aristotle | last = Kallis | title = Genocide and Fascism: The Eliminationist Drive in Fascist Europe | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | year = 2009}}{{ISBN needed}} | |||
* {{cite book | first1 = Rajika L. | last1 = Shah | first2 = Michael J. | last2 = Bazyler | first3 = Kathryn | last3 = Lee Boyd | first4 = Kristen L. | last4 = Nelson | title = Searching for Justice After the Holocaust: Fulfilling the Terezin Declaration and Immovable Property Restitution | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2019 | isbn = 978-0190923068}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Mylonas |first=Christos |title=Serbian Orthodox Fundamentals: The Quest for an Eternal Identity |year=2003 |publisher=Central European University Press |location=Budapest |isbn=978-963-9241-61-9 }} | |||
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TtWycwryensC&pg=PA430 |title=Century of genocide: critical essays and eyewitness accounts |isbn=0-203-89043-4 |date=1997 |first1=Samuel |last1=Totten |first2=William S. |last2=Parsons |access-date=28 September 2010 }} | |||
* {{cite book | first1 = Margaret E. | last1 = Wagner | first2 = David M. | last2 = Kennedy | first3 = Linda | last3 = Barrett Osborne | first4 = Susan | last4 = Reyburn | title = The Library of Congress World War II Companion | url = https://archive.org/details/libraryofcongres0000wagn | url-access = registration | year = 2007 | publisher = Simon & Schuster | isbn = 978-0-7432-5219-5 }} | |||
* {{cite book|first=Dave|last=Hunt|title=Die Frau und das Tier Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft der römischen Kirche|year=1994<!-- |author-link=Dave Hunt (historian) -->|publisher=Harvest House Publishers|location=Eugene, Oregon|chapter=Das Abschlachten der Serben}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Nikolić|first=Nikola|translator=Jože Zupančić|title=Taborišče smrti – Jasenovac|publisher=Založba "Borec"|location=Ljubljana|year=1969|language=sl|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CNIAAAAMAAJ}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* {{cite book | first = Allan A. | last = Ryan | year = 1984 | title = Quiet Neighbors: Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals in America | publisher = Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | isbn = 0151758239 }} | |||
* {{cite book | last1=Motl | first1=Dejan | last2=Mihovilović | first2=Đorđe | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4--OxAEACAAJ | title=Zaboravljeni: Knjiga o posljednjim jasenovačkim logorašima | date=2015 | publisher=Spomen-područje Jasenovac | isbn=978-953-7895-06-8 | language=en | access-date=2020-09-14 | archive-date=2024-06-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021935/https://books.google.com/books?id=4--OxAEACAAJ | url-status=live }} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Tomasevich|first=Jozo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration|date=2002|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-7924-1|language=en|access-date=2016-09-22|archive-date=2023-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112014321/https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Riffer|first=Milko|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wckBAAAAMAAJ|title=Grad mrtvih: Jasenovac 1943|date=1946|publisher=Nakladni zavod Hrvatske|language=hr|access-date=2020-09-14|archive-date=2024-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021905/https://books.google.com/books?id=wckBAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5EgykND42kC&pg=PA461|title=Hunting Evil: The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice|first=Guy|last=Walters|access-date=18 November 2016|isbn=9780307592484|date=2010-05-04|publisher=Crown|archive-date=2024-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021938/https://books.google.com/books?id=X5EgykND42kC&pg=PA461#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Zečević |first=Aleksandar |title=Amendments I to the Charter of the United Nations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZGbAAAAMAAJ |isbn=9788690575329 |year=2004 |publisher=A. J. Zečević |access-date=2020-09-14 |archive-date=2024-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021927/https://books.google.com/books?id=fZGbAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Bulajić |first=Milan |title=Jasenovac-1945-2005/06: 60/61.-godišnjica herojskog proboja zatočenika 22. aprila 1945: dani sećanja na žrtve genocida nad jermenskim, grčkim, srpskim, jevrejskim i romskim narodima |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0PafAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Pešić i sinovi |year=2006 |isbn=9788675400691 }} | |||
* {{cite book | last=Bousfield|first=Jonathan |title=Croatia |date=2003 | publisher = Rough Guides | isbn = 1843530848}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Geddes |first=Andrew |title=The European Union and South East Europe: The Dynamics of Europeanization and Multilevel Governance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYCX0chsTMAC |isbn=9781136281570 |date=2013-05-02 |publisher=Routledge |access-date=2020-09-14 |archive-date=2024-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021907/https://books.google.com/books?id=pYCX0chsTMAC |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Anzulovic|first=Branimir|title=Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide|publisher=Hurst & Company|location=London, UK|year=1999|isbn=1-85065-342-9}} | |||
* {{cite book|first=Bogoljub|last=Kočović|author-link=Bogoljub Kočović|title=Sahrana jednog mita. Žrtve Drugog svetskog rata u Jugoslaviji|location=Belgrade|publisher=Otkrovenje|year=2005|isbn=9788683353392}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Adriano|first1=Pino|last2=Cingolani|first2=Giorgio|date=2018|title=Nationalism and Terror: Ante Pavelić and Ustasha Terrorism from Fascism to the Cold War|publisher=Central European University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7tWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA280|isbn=978-9-63386-206-3|access-date=2020-06-10|archive-date=2024-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021907/https://books.google.com/books?id=U7tWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA280#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=David Bruce |title=Balkan Holocausts?: Serbian and Croatian Victim Centered Propaganda and the War in Yugoslavia |date=2002 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-71906-467-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBjrJyen4FEC&pg=PA162 |access-date=2020-06-10 |archive-date=2024-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629021908/https://books.google.com/books?id=kBjrJyen4FEC&pg=PA162#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=MacDonald |first=David Bruce |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/35067 |title=Balkan Holocausts?: Serbian and Croatian victim centred propaganda and the war in Yugoslavia |date=2003 |publisher=Manchester University Press |hdl=20.500.12657/35067 |isbn=978-0-7190-6466-1 |language=en |access-date=2022-03-12 |archive-date=2022-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306211407/https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/35067 |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book | last = Biondich | first = Matt | chapter = Persecution of Roma-Sinti in Croatia, 1941–1945 | url = https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Publication_OP_2002-06.pdf | pages = 33–47 | year = 2002 | publisher = United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies | title = Roma and Sinti – Under-Studied Victims of Nazism – Symposium Proceedings | oclc = 50681504 | access-date = 2020-09-11 | archive-date = 2020-10-17 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201017151804/https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Publication_OP_2002-06.pdf | url-status = live }} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Mojzes|first=Paul|title=Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the 20th Century|year=2011|location=Lanham|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781442206632|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwW2O7v7CUcC|access-date=2022-06-12|archive-date=2023-09-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919200514/https://books.google.com/books?id=KwW2O7v7CUcC|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Frucht Levy|first=Michele|chapter='The Last Bullet for the Last Serb': The Ustaša Genocide against Serbs: 1941–1945|title=Crimes of State Past and Present: Government-Sponsored Atrocities and International Legal Responses|year=2011|publisher=Routledge|pages=54–84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRTdAAAAQBAJ|isbn=9781317986829}} | |||
* {{cite book|ref=State-Commission|title=Crimes in the Jasenovac Camp|publisher=State Commission investigation of crimes of the occupiers and their collaborators in Croatia|location=Zagreb|year=1946}}{{primary source inline|date=June 2022}} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
===Journals=== | |||
== External links == | |||
{{refbegin}} | |||
{{Commons category|Jasenovac}} | |||
* {{cite journal |last1=Benčić |first1=Andriana |title=Koncentracijski logor Jasenovac: konfliktno ratno nasljeđe i osporavani muzejski postav |journal=Polemos: časopis za interdisciplinarna istraživanja rata i mira |date=2018 |volume=XXI |issue=41 |pages=37–63 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/304348 |issn=1331-5595 |publisher=Croatian Sociological Association / Naklada Jesenski i Turk / Institute for Social Research in Zagreb |via=] |access-date=2022-06-06 |archive-date=2022-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220040022/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/304348 |url-status=live }} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite journal|last=Byford|first=Jovan|title=When I say "The Holocaust," I mean "Jasenovac": Remembrance of the Holocaust in contemporary Serbia|journal=East European Jewish Affairs|volume=37|issue=1|year=2007|pages=51–74|doi=10.1080/13501670701197946|s2cid=161763723}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite journal|last=Škiljan|first=Filip|year=2007|language=hr|title=Stradanje Srba u Jasenovcu u Drugom svjetskom ratu|journal=Pro Tempore: časopis studenata povijesti|volume=4|pages=40–46|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/94879|publisher=History Department, ]|access-date=2022-06-06|archive-date=2022-06-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606203150/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/94879|url-status=live}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite journal|last=Zuckerman|first=Boško|year=2010|title=Prilog proučavanju antisemitizma i protužidovske propagande u vodećem zagrebačkom ustaškom tisku (1941–1943)|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/95367|journal=Journal of the Institute of Croatian History|publisher=]|language=hr|volume=42|issue=1|pages=355–385|issn=0353-295X|access-date=2022-06-06|archive-date=2022-06-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606203407/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/95367|url-status=live}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite journal|last=Škiljan|first=Filip|date=2005|title=Akcija Crkveni Bok|language=hr|url=http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/pov/pov2/files/3zavod/RADOVI-ZHP-online/skiljan.pdf|journal=Journal of the Institute of Croatian History|volume=37|issue=1|issn=0353-295X|access-date=2020-09-13|archive-date=2021-02-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220200410/http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/pov/pov2/files/3zavod/RADOVI-ZHP-online/skiljan.pdf|url-status=live}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite journal|title=The Last Bullet for the Last Serb": The Ustaša Genocide against Serbs: 1941–1945 | first = Michele | last = Frucht Levy |doi=10.1080/00905990903239174 |s2cid=162231741 |journal=Nationalities Papers | volume = 37 | issue = 6 | year = 2009 | publisher = ] }} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite journal |last=Geiger |first=Vladimir |date=2020 |title=Pitanje broja žrtava logora Jasenovac u hrvatskoj i srpskoj historiografiji, publicistici i javnosti nakon raspada SFR Jugoslavije – činjenice, kontroverze i manipulacije |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/350229 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |publisher=Croatian Institute of History |language=hr |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=517–585 |doi=10.22586/csp.v52i2.11253 |issn=0590-9597 |doi-access=free |access-date=2022-06-06 |archive-date=2022-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606204841/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/350229 |url-status=live }} | |||
* at the ] Museum of Tolerance | |||
* {{cite journal |first1=Stipe |last1=Odak |last2=Benčić |first2=Andriana |title=Jasenovac – A Past That Does Not Pass: The Presence of Jasenovac in Croatian and Serbian Collective Memory of Conflict |url=https://www.academia.edu/34884413 |journal=East European Politics and Societies |year=2016 |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=805–829 |doi=10.1177/0888325416653657 |s2cid=148091289 |language=en |publisher=] |access-date=2021-02-26 |archive-date=2022-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222104026/https://www.academia.edu/34884413 |url-status=live }} | |||
* (includes "Encyclopedia of the Holocaust" quotes) | |||
* {{cite journal |last=Kasapović |first=Mirjana |date=2018 |title=Genocid u NDH: Umanjivanje, banaliziranje i poricanje zločina |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/289941 |journal=Croatian Political Science Review |publisher=Faculty of Political Sciences, ] |language=hr |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=7–33 |doi=10.20901/pm.55.1.01 |issn=0032-3241 |doi-access=free |access-date=2022-06-06 |archive-date=2022-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606215522/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/289941 |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite journal|last=Geiger|first=Vladimir|date=2013|title=Brojidbeni pokazatelji o žrtvama logora Jasenovac, 1941–1945. (procjene, izračuni, popisi)|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/161952|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|publisher=Croatian Institute of History|language=hr|volume=45|issue=2|issn=0590-9597|access-date=2022-06-06|archive-date=2022-06-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606221725/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/161952|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite journal |last1=Mataušić |first1=Nataša |title=O koncentracionom logoru Jasenovac |journal=Informatica Museologica |date=2000 |volume=31 |issue=1–2 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/142976 |publisher=Museum Documentation Centre |location=Zagreb |issn=1849-4277 |access-date=2021-02-24 |archive-date=2020-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630160526/https://hrcak.srce.hr/142976 |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite journal | url = http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=37130 | title = Mostarski biskup Alojzije Mišić za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata | first = Tomo | last = Vukušić | year = 2006 | journal = Church in the World | volume = 41 | number = 3 | publisher = Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split | issn = 1848-9656 | access-date = 2020-03-07 | archive-date = 2021-01-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210125175844/https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=37130 | url-status = live }} | |||
* {{cite journal | first = Mirjana | last = Ajduković | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/11446 | title = The Activity of Diana Budisavljević with the child victims of World War II | journal = Annual of Social Work | volume = 13 | number = 1 | date = October 2006 | issn = 1848-7971 | publisher = ] | access-date = 2022-06-06 | archive-date = 2022-06-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220606223225/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/11446 | url-status = live }} | |||
* {{cite journal | first = Mihael | last = Sobolevski | year = 1993 | title = Suppressed truth – The war victims on the territory of former Yugoslavia 1941–1945 | journal = Journal of Contemporary History | volume = 25 | number = 2–3 | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=308060 | publisher = Croatian Institute of History | access-date = 2020-12-06 | archive-date = 2021-02-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210220200426/https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=308060 | url-status = live }} | |||
* {{cite journal | first = Vladimir | last = Žerjavić | year = 1995 | title = Demografski i ratni gubici Hrvatske u Drugom svjetskom ratu i poraću | language = hr | url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/312214 | journal = Journal of Contemporary History | volume = 27 | number = 3 | issn = 0590-9597 | publisher = Croatian Institute of History | access-date = 2022-06-06 | archive-date = 2022-06-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220606224115/https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/clanak/312214 | url-status = live }} | |||
* {{cite journal | last=McCormick | first=Rob | title=The United States' Response to Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia, 1941–1945 | url=https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?&article=1183&context=gsp | journal=] | volume=3 | issue=1 | year=2008 | access-date=2020-12-17 | archive-date=2021-02-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220200407/https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1183&context=gsp | url-status=live }} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
===News sources=== | |||
* {{cite news | last=Hockenos | first=Paul | authorlink = Paul Hockenos | title=Croatia's Far Right Weaponizes the Past | date = 2016-05-06 | url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/06/croatias-far-right-weaponizes-the-past-ustase-hasanbegovic/ | access-date=2020-06-21 | newspaper=] | language=en-US}} | |||
* {{cite news |last1=Freund |first1=Michael |title=Remembering Croatia's 'Auschwitz of the Balkans' |url=https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/FUNDAMENTALLY-FREUND-Remembering-Croatias-Auschwitz-of-the-Balkans-453128 | newspaper = ] |date=4 May 2016}} | |||
* {{cite news | first =Michael | last = Freund | title=Time to confront Croatia's hidden Holocaust |date=30 May 2013 | newspaper = ] |url=http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Opinion/Time-to-confront-Croatias-hidden-Holocaust-314896| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316184443/http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Opinion/Time-to-confront-Croatias-hidden-Holocaust-314896 |archive-date=16 March 2015 |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/1673249.stm | first = Nick | last = Higham | title=Croatian holocaust still stirs controversy|work=BBC News|date=29 November 2001|access-date=29 September 2010}} | |||
* {{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4479837.stm | first1 = Nick | last1 = Hawton | first2 = Marko | last2 = Kovac | title=Balkan 'Auschwitz' haunts Croatia|work=BBC News|date=25 April 2005|access-date=29 September 2010|quote=No one really knows how many died here. Serbs talk of 700,000. Most estimates put the figure nearer 100,000.}} | |||
* {{cite news |last=Despot|first=Zvonimir|title=Kako je osnovan prvi ustaški logor u NDH|url=http://blog.vecernji.hr/zvonimir-despot/2012/02/09/kako-je-osnovan-prvi-ustaski-logor-u-ndh/ | newspaper = ] | date = 2012-02-09 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140201223943/https://blog.vecernji.hr/zvonimir-despot/2012/02/09/kako-je-osnovan-prvi-ustaski-logor-u-ndh/ | archive-date = 2014-02-01 | url-status = dead }} | |||
* {{cite news | url=https://www.tportal.hr/kultura/clanak/ivo-goldstein-revizionisti-pokusavaju-hrvate-napraviti-kolektivno-odgovornim-za-zlocine-u-jasenovcu-a-to-je-civilizacijska-strahota-i-sramota-foto-20181111 | title=Revizionisti pokušavaju Hrvate napraviti kolektivno odgovornim za zločine u Jasenovcu, a to je civilizacijska sramota | newspaper = tportal.hr | first = Mija | last = Pavliša | date = 2018-11-11 | access-date=2020-03-21}} | |||
* {{cite news |newspaper=] |url=http://www.vjesnik.hr/Html/2005/04/23/Clanak.asp?r=tem&c=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125014140/http://www.vjesnik.hr/html/2005/04/23/Clanak.asp?r=tem&c=4 |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 November 2005 |title=Kako je Živanović 284 kostura pretvorio u 700.000 žrtava | language = hr | trans-title = How Živanović turned 284 skeletons into 700,000 victims |first=Željko |last=Krušelj |date=23 April 2005 |access-date=22 March 2015 | ref = {{harvid|Krušelj, 23 April 2005}} }} | |||
* {{cite news |last1=Krušelj |first1=Željko |title=Jasenovačka zbirka na putu u Hrvatsku |trans-title=Jasenovac collection on the way to Croatia |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/jasenovacka-zbirka-na-putu-u-hrvatsku-704863 |newspaper = ] |date=29 November 2001}} | |||
* {{cite news |last1=Jovanović |first1=Nenad |title=Dragan Cvetković: Jasenovac je paradigma stradanja |url=https://arhiva.portalnovosti.com/2013/05/dragan-cvetkovic-jasenovac-je-paradigma-stradanja/ |access-date=3 March 2022 | newspaper = ] |date=11 May 2013}} | |||
===Websites=== | |||
{{refbegin|2}} | |||
* {{cite web | title=Official Website of the Jasenovac Memorial Site | url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/ | access-date=8 June 2015 | ref={{harvid|Jasenovac Memorial Site}} | archive-date=27 September 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927023137/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/index_en.php | url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite web | url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6711 | publisher=Jasenovac Memorial Site | title=List of individual victims of Jasenovac concentration camp | access-date=22 March 2015 | ref={{harvid|Jasenovac Memorial Site List of individual victims}} | archive-date=26 June 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626102355/http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=6711 | url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite web | title = Holocaust Encyclopedia: Jasenovac | url = https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jasenovac | publisher = ] | access-date = 8 June 2015 | ref = {{harvid|USHMM}} | archive-date = 3 April 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190403014704/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jasenovac | url-status = live }} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
==Further reading== | |||
* ''Witness to Jasenovac's Hell''. Ilija Ivanović (with Wanda Schindley, ed.), Aleksandra Lazic (translator), Dallas Publishing, 2002{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* ''Ustasha Camps'' by Mirko Percen, Globus, Zagreb, 1966; 2nd expanded printing 1990.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* ''Ustashi and the Independent State of Croatia 1941–1945'', by Fikreta Jelić-Butić, Liber, Zagreb, 1977.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* ''Romans, J. Jews of Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Victims of Genocide and Freedom Fighters'', Belgrade, 1982{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* ''Antisemitism in the anti-fascist Holocaust: a collection of works'', The Jewish Center, Zagreb, 1996.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Miletić|first=Antun|author-link=Antun Miletić|title=Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac 1941–1945: dokumenta|volume=I|edition=second|year=1986a|url=https://znaci.org/00003/510.htm|publisher=Narodna knjiga|location=Beograd|ref=none}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Miletić|first=Antun|author-mask=1|title=Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac 1941–1945: dokumenta|volume=II|edition=second|year=1986b|url=https://znaci.org/00003/513.htm|publisher=Narodna knjiga|location=Beograd|ref=none}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Miletić|first=Antun|author-mask=1|title=Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac 1941–1945: dokumenta|volume=III|edition=second|year=1986c|url=https://znaci.org/00003/512.htm|publisher=Narodna knjiga|location=Beograd|ref=none}} | |||
* ''Hell's Torture Chamber'' by Đjorđe Milica, Zagreb, 1945.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* ''Die Besatzungszeit das Genozid in Jugoslawien 1941–1945'' by Vladimir Umeljić, Graphics High Publishing, Los Angeles, CA, 1994.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* ''Srbi i genocidni XX vek'' (''Serbs and 20th century, Ages of Genocide'') by Vladimir Umeljić, (vol 1, vol 2), Magne, Belgrade, 2004{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* '']'', by Curzio Malaparte; translated by Cesare Foligno, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, IL, 1999.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* ''Der kroatische Ustascha-Staat 1941–1945'', by Ladislaus Hory and ], Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1964.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Novak|first=Viktor|author-link=Viktor Novak|title=Magnum Crimen: Half a Century of Clericalism in Croatia|volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1jyvQAACAAJ|year=2011|location=Jagodina|publisher=Gambit|isbn=9788676240494|ref=none}} | |||
* {{Cite book|last=Novak|first=Viktor|author-mask=1|title=Magnum Crimen: Half a Century of Clericalism in Croatia|volume=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vF9GMwEACAAJ|year=2011|location=Jagodina|publisher=Gambit|isbn=9788676240494|ref=none}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Dizdar|first=Zdravko|title=Tko je tko u NDH Hrvatska 1941–1945.|year=1997|publisher=Minerva|location=Zagreb|isbn=953-6377-03-9|ref=none}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Mataušić|first=Nataša|title=Jasenovac 1941–1945: logor smrti i radni logor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPAhAQAAIAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac|isbn=978-953-99169-0-7|ref=none}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Ramet|first=Sabrina P.|author-link=Sabrina P. Ramet|title=Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2011|isbn=978-0-230-27830-1|ref=none}} | |||
* {{Cite book|editor-last1=Schindley|editor-first1=Wanda|editor-last2=Makara|editor-first2=Petar|title=Jasenovac: Proceedings of the First International Conference and Exhibit on the Jasenovac Concentration Camps|year=2005|publisher=Dallas Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAJnAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9780912011646|ref=none}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Nikodijević |first=Dušan |url=https://www.2.muzejgenocida.rs/images/Dusan-Nikodijevic%E2%80%93Jasenovac-izme%C4%91u-broja-i-zrtve.pdf |title=Jasenovac između broja i žrtve. |date=2021 |publisher=Muzej žrtava genocida |isbn=978-86-86831-74-3 |edition=2nd |location=Belgrade |language=sr |trans-title=Jasenovac Between the Number and the Victim. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518205042/https://www.2.muzejgenocida.rs/images/Dusan-Nikodijevic%E2%80%93Jasenovac-izme%C4%91u-broja-i-zrtve.pdf |archive-date=18 May 2024}} | |||
==External links== | |||
{{Commons category|Jasenovac concentration camp}} | |||
* | |||
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413191728/http://www.arhivrs.org/Doc.aspx?subcat=42&cat=5&id=60&lang=eng |date=2019-04-13}}, ] | |||
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* , '']'', 6 December 2006 | |||
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* educational & historical resource | |||
* , '']'', 6 December 2006 | |||
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Latest revision as of 23:41, 28 November 2024
Concentration camp run by the Ustaše in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II "Jasenovac" redirects here. For other uses, see Jasenovac (disambiguation).
Jasenovac concentration camp | |
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Concentration and extermination camp | |
Arriving prisoners being robbed by Ustaše guards | |
Location of Jasenovac concentration camp within NDH | |
Other names | Logor Jasenovac / Логор Јасеновац, pronounced [lôːgor jasěnoʋat͡s] |
Location | Jasenovac, Independent State of Croatia |
Operated by | Ustaše Supervisory Service (UNS) |
First built | August 1941 |
Operational | 21 August 1941 – 22 April 1945 |
Inmates | Mainly Serbs, Roma, and Jews; also Croat and Bosnian Muslim political dissidents |
Killed | 83,000–100,000 consisting of: Serbs 45,000–52,000 Roma 15,000–27,000 Jews 12,000–20,000 Croats and Bosnian Muslims 5,000–12,000 |
Liberated by | Yugoslav Partisans |
Notable inmates | List of prisoners of Jasenovac |
Website | jusp-jasenovac |
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Jasenovac (pronounced [jasěnoʋat͡s]) was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ten largest in Europe, was established and operated by the governing Ustaše regime, Europe's only Nazi collaborationist regime that operated its own extermination camps, for Serbs, Romani, Jews, and political dissidents. It quickly grew into the third largest concentration camp in Europe.
The camp was established in August 1941, in marshland at the confluence of the Sava and Una rivers near the village of Jasenovac, and was dismantled in April 1945. It was "notorious for its barbaric practices and the large number of victims". Unlike German Nazi-run camps, Jasenovac lacked the infrastructure for mass murder on an industrial scale, such as gas chambers. Instead, it "specialized in one-on-one violence of a particularly brutal kind", and prisoners were primarily murdered with the use of knives, hammers, and axes, or shot.
In Jasenovac, the majority of victims were Serbs (as part of the genocide of the Serbs); others were Romani (the Porajmos), Jews (The Holocaust), and socialists. Jasenovac was a complex of five subcamps spread over 210 km (81 sq mi) on both banks of the Sava and Una rivers. The largest camp was the "Brickworks" camp at Jasenovac, about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Zagreb. The overall complex included the Stara Gradiška sub-camp, the killing grounds across the Sava river at Gradina Donja, five work farms, and the Uštica Roma camp.
There has been much debate and controversy regarding the number of victims killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp complex during its more than three-and-a-half years of operation. Over the last few decades, a consensus has formed in support of estimates of the Ustaše regime having murdered somewhere near 100,000 people in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945.
Background
The Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. The NDH consisted of the present-day Republic of Croatia and modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina together with Syrmia in modern-day Serbia. It was essentially an Italo–German quasi-protectorate, as it owed its existence to the Axis powers, who maintained occupation forces within the puppet state throughout its existence. However, its day-to-day administration was composed almost exclusively of Croatians, including monks and nuns, under the leadership of the Ustaše.
Before the war, the Ustaše were an ultranationalist, fascist, racist, and terrorist organization, fighting for an independent Croatia. In 1932, Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić proclaimed: "The knife, revolver, machine gun and time bomb; these are the idols, these are bells that will announce the dawning and the resurrection of the independent state of Croatia". Ustaše terrorists set off bombs on international trains bound for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Pavelić and other Ustaše leaders were sentenced to death in absentia by French courts, for organising the assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou in 1934 in Marseilles. The Ustaše were virulently anti-Serb and antisemitic. In their 17 Principles, they proclaimed that those who were not "of Croat blood" (i.e. Serbs and Jews) would not have any political role in the future Croat state. In 1936, in The Croat Question, Pavelić called Jews "the enemy of the Croat people".
NDH legislation
See also: The Holocaust in the Independent State of CroatiaSome of the first decrees issued by the leader of the NDH Ante Pavelić reflected the Ustaše adoption of the racist ideology of Nazi Germany. The regime rapidly issued a decree restricting the activities of Jews and seizing their property. These laws were followed by a decree for "the Protection of the Nation and the State" of 17 April 1941, which mandated the death penalty for the offence of high treason if a person did or had done "harm to the honor and vital interests of the Croatian nation or endangered the existence of the Independent State of Croatia". This was a retroactive law, and arrests and trials started immediately. It was soon followed by a decree prohibiting the use of the Cyrillic script, which was an integral part of the rites of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
On April 30, 1941, the Ustaše proclaimed the main race laws, patterned after Nazi race laws – the "Legal Decree on Racial Origins", the "Legal Decree on the Protection of Aryan Blood and the Honor of the Croatian People", and the "Legal Provision on Citizenship". These decrees defined who was a Jew, and took away the citizenship rights of all non-Aryans, i.e. Jews and Roma. By the end of April 1941, months before the Nazis implemented similar measures in Germany, the Ustaše required all Jews to wear insignia, typically a yellow Star of David. The Ustaše declared the "Legal Provision on the Nationalization of the Property of Jews and Jewish Companies", on 10 October 1941, and with it they confiscated all Jewish property.
The Ustaše enacted many other decrees against Jews, Roma and Serbs, which became the basis for Ustaše policies of genocide against Jews and Roma, while against Serbs – as proclaimed by an Ustaše leader, Mile Budak – the policy was to kill a third, expel a third, and forcefully convert to Catholicism a third, which many historians also describe as genocide. The decrees were enforced not only through the regular court system, but also through new special courts and mobile courts-martial with extended jurisdiction. Almost immediately the first concentration camps were set up, and in July 1941 the Ustaše government began clearing ground for what would become the Jasenovac concentration camp.
Start of mass terror
Actions against Jews began immediately after the Independent State of Croatia was founded. On 10–11 April 1941, Ustaše arrested a group of prominent Zagreb Jews and held them for ransom. On 13 April the same was done in Osijek, where Ustaše and Volksdeutscher mobs also destroyed the synagogue and Jewish graveyard. This process was repeated multiple times in 1941 with groups of Jews. Simultaneously, the Ustaše initiated extensive antisemitic propaganda, with Ustaše papers writing that Croatians must "be more alert than any other ethnic group to protect their racial purity, ... We need to keep our blood clean of the Jews". They also wrote that Jews are synonymous with "treachery, cheating, greed, immorality and foreigness", and therefore "wide swaths of the Croatian people always despised the Jews and felt towards them natural revulsion".
The first mass killing of Serbs was carried out on April 30, when the Ustaše rounded up and killed 196 Serbs at Gudovac. Many other mass killings soon followed. Here is how the Croatian Catholic Bishop of Mostar, Alojzije Mišić, described the mass killings of Serbs just in one small area of Herzegovina, just during the first 6 months of the war:
People were captured like beasts. Slaughtered, killed, thrown live into the abyss. Women, mothers with children, young women, girls and boys were thrown into pits. The vice-mayor of Mostar, Mr. Baljić, a Mohammedan, publicly states, although as an official he should be silent and not talk, that in Ljubinje alone 700 schismatics were thrown into one pit. Six full train carriages of women, mothers and girls, children under age 10, were taken from Mostar and Čapljina to the Šurmanci station, where they were unloaded and taken into the hills, with live mothers and their children tossed down the cliffs. Everyone was tossed and killed. In the Klepci parish, from the surrounding villages, 3,700 schismatics were killed. Poor souls, they were calm. I will not enumerate further. I would go too far. In the city of Mostar, hundreds were tied up, taken outside the city and killed like animals.
First concentration camps
On April 15, only 5 days after the creation of the NDH, the Ustaše established the first concentration camp, Danica, at Koprivnica. In May 1941, they rounded up 165 Jewish youth in Zagreb, members of the Jewish sports club Makabi, and sent them to Danica (all but 3 were later killed by the Ustaše). The Croatian historian, Zdravko Dizdar, estimates that some 5,600 inmates passed through the Danica camp, mostly Serbs but also Jews and Croat Communists. Of the 3,358 Danica inmates Dizdar was able to trace by name, he found that 2,862, i.e. 85%, were later killed by the Ustaše at the Jadovno and Jasenovac concentration camps, the vast majority Serbs, but also hundreds of Jews and some Croats.
In June 1941, the Ustaše established a new system of concentration camps, stretching from Gospič to the Velebit mountains, to the island of Pag. Ustaše sources state that they sent 28,700 people to these camps in the summer of 1941. Of these, Ustaše records show only 4,000 returned, after the Ustaše were forced by the Italians to shut down the camps and withdraw from the area, because of the strong resistance their mass killings had sparked. Thus the likely death toll for these camps is around 24,000, although some sources put it as high as 40,000. After residents reported the contamination of drinking water due to large numbers of corpses rotting across Velebit, the Italians sent medical officers to investigate. They found multiple death pits and mass graves, in which they estimated some 12,000 victims were killed. At Slana Concentration Camp on the island of Pag they dug up one mass grave, with nearly 800 corpses, of whom half were women and children, the youngest being 5 months old.
The majority of these victims were Serbs, but among them were also 2,000–3,000 Jews. Thus the Ustaše initiated the mass killing of Jews at approximately the same time as Nazi Einsatzgruppen in Eastern Europe, and months before the Nazis started the mass killings of German Jews.
The influence of Nazi Germany
On 10 April 1941, the Independent State of Croatia was established, supported by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, and it adopted similar racial and political doctrines. Jasenovac contributed to the Nazi "final solution" to the "Jewish problem", the killing of Roma people and the elimination of political opponents, but its most significant purpose for the Ustaše was as a means to achieve the destruction of Serbs inside the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).
Jasenovac was located in the German occupation zone of the Independent State of Croatia. The Nazis encouraged Ustaše anti-Jewish and anti-Roma actions and showed support for the intended extermination of the Serb people. Soon, the Nazis began to make clear their genocidal goals, as in the speech Hitler gave to Slavko Kvaternik at a meeting on 21 July 1941:
The Jews are the bane of mankind. If the Jews will be allowed to do as they will, like they are permitted in their Soviet heaven, then they will fulfill their most insane plans. And thus Russia became the center to the world's illness ... if for any reason, one nation would endure the existence of a single Jewish family, that family would eventually become the center of a new plot. If there are no more Jews in Europe, nothing will hold the unification of the European nations ... this sort of people cannot be integrated in the social order or into an organized nation. They are parasites on the body of a healthy society, that live off of expulsion of decent people. One cannot expect them to fit into a state that requires order and discipline. There is only one thing to be done with them: To exterminate them. The state holds this right since, while precious men die on the battlefront, it would be nothing less than criminal to spare these bastards. They must be expelled, or – if they pose no threat to the public – to be imprisoned inside concentration camps and never be released.
At the Wannsee Conference, Germany offered the Croatian government transportation of its Jews southward, but questioned the importance of the offer as "the enactment of the final solution of the Jewish question is not crucial, since the key aspects of this problem were already solved by radical actions these governments took."
In addition to specifying the means of extermination, the Nazis often arranged the imprisonment or transfer of inmates to Jasenovac. Kasche's emissary, Major Knehe, visited the camp on 6 February 1942. Kasche thereafter reported to his superiors:
Capitan Luburic, the commander-in-action of the camp, explained the construction plans of the camp. It turns out that he made these plans while in exile. These plans he modified after visiting concentration-camps installments in Germany.
Kasche wrote the following:
The Poglavnik asks General Bader to realize that the Jasenovac camp cannot receive the refugees from Kozara. I agreed since the camp is also required to solve the problem in deporting the Jews to the east. Minister Turina can deport the Jews to Jasenovac.
Stara-Gradiška was the primary site from which Jews were transported to Auschwitz, but Kashe's letter refers specifically to the subcamp Ciglana in this regard. In all documentation, the term "Jasenovac" relates to either the complex at large or, when referring to a specific camp, to camp nr. III, which was the main camp since November 1941. The extermination of Serbs at Jasenovac was precipitated by General Paul Bader, who ordered that refugees be taken to Jasenovac. Although Jasenovac was expanded, officials were told that "Jasenovac concentration and labor camp cannot hold an infinite number of prisoners". Soon thereafter, German suspicions were renewed that the Ustaše were more concerned with the extermination of Serbs than Jews, and that Italian and Catholic pressure was dissuading the Ustaše from killing Jews.
The Nazis revisited the possibility of transporting Jews to Auschwitz, not only because extermination was easier there, but also because the profits produced from the victims could be kept in German hands, rather than being left for the Croats or Italians. Instead Jasenovac remained a place where Jews who could not be deported would be interned and killed: In this way, while Jews were deported from Tenje, two deportations were also made to Jasenovac.
It is also illustrated by the report sent by Hans Helm to Adolf Eichmann, in which it is stated that the Jews will first be collected in Stara-Gradiška, and that "Jews would be employed in 'forced labor' in Ustaše camps", mentioning only Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška, "will not be deported". The Nazis found interest in the Jews that remained inside the camp, even in June 1944, after the visit of a Red Cross delegation. Kasche wrote: "Schmidllin showed a special interest in the Jews. ... Luburic told me that Schmidllin told him that the Jews must be treated in the finest manner, and that they must survive, no matter what happens. ... Luburic suspected Schmidllin is an English agent and therefore prevented all contact between him and the Jews".
Hans Helm was in charge of deporting Jews to concentration camps. He was tried in Belgrade in December 1946, along with other SS and Gestapo officials, and was sentenced to death by hanging, along with August Meyszner, Wilhelm Fuchs, Josef Hahn, Ludwig Teichmann, Josef Eckert, Ernst Weimann, Richard Kaserer and Friedrich Polte.
Creation and operation
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Jadovno concentration camp was the first camp used for extermination by the Ustaše. Jadovno was operational from May 1941 but was closed in August of the same year, coinciding with the formation of the camp at Jasenovac in the same month. The Jasenovac complex was built between August 1941 and February 1942. The first two camps, Krapje and Bročice, were closed in November 1941.
Three newer camps continued to function until the end of the war:
- Ciglana (Jasenovac III)
- Kožara (Jasenovac IV)
- Stara Gradiška (Jasenovac V)
Camp Command
At the top of the Jasenovac command chain was the Ustaše leader, Ante Pavelić, who signed the Nazi-style Race Laws, and led the Ustaše genocides against Jews, Serbs and Roma. Jasenovac inmate, Ante Ciliga, wrote that “Jasenovac was the original 'Balkan' creation of Ante Pavelić. Hitler's camps were only…the starting point”. Pavelić entrusted the organization of mass killing in the camps to the Ustaše Surveillance Service (UNS), placing at its head his close associate, Dido Kvaternik. Giuseppe Masucci, secretary to the Vatican's representative in the NDH, considered Kvaternik the worst of Ustaše, noting he told him Croatian Jews committed "300,000 abortions, rapes and deflorations of young girls." As the Ustaše terror against Serbs and others, of which Jasenovac was the apogee, ignited wider Partisan resistance, the Germans in October 1942 pressured Pavelić to remove and exile Dido Kvaternik. Kvaternik later blamed Pavelić for Ustaše crimes, claiming he merely executed Pavelić's orders.
The camp was constructed, managed and supervised by Department III of the "Ustaše Supervisory Service" (Ustaška nadzorna služba, UNS), a special police force of the NDH. Among the main Jasenovac commanders were the following:
- Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić. Upon returning from exile, Luburić in May–July 1941 commanded multiple massacres of hundreds of Serb civilians in Lika, thus igniting the Serb uprising. Promoted to Head of Bureau III of the Ustaše Surveillance Service, which oversaw all NDH concentration camps, he travelled to Germany in September 1941 to study SS concentration camps, using these as a model for Jasenovac. A German memorandum described Luburić as "a neurotic, pathological personality". Following the Kozara offensive in which Luburić's troops slaughtered hundreds of Serb civilians and the Ustaše imprisoned tens-of-thousands in Jasenovac, he "adopted" 450 displaced Serb boys, dressed them in black Ustaše uniforms, dubbing them his "little janissaries" (according to the Ottoman system, in which boys taken from Christian families in the Balkans were inducted into the Ottoman military). Luburić's experiment failed to turn the boys into Ustaše, most died in Jasenovac of malnutrition and diseases.
- Ljubo Miloš was appointed commander of Jasenovac in October 1941. Croatian politician Vladko Maček, imprisoned by the Ustaše in Jasenovac, later wrote that he asked Miloš if he "feared God's punishment" for the atrocities he committed in Jasenovac. Miloš replied, "I know I will burn in hell for what I have done. But I will burn for Croatia." Many Jasenovac inmates testified to Miloš's crimes, including pretending to be a doctor, then cutting inmates open with a knife, from throat to stomach. After leading Jasenovac guards in the slaughter and pillaging of nearby Serb villages, Miloš was tried and jailed at German insistence, but soon released on Luburić's intervention.
- Miroslav Filipović. Luburić brought Filipović to Jasenovac, after the Germans jailed Filipović for participating as an Ustaše chaplain in the mass slaughter of up to 2,300 Serb civilians near Banja Luka in February 1942, including killing an entire class of school children, which Filipović personally instigated by slitting the throat of a schoolgirl. He rose to commander of Jasenovac-III in May 1942, and in October of Stara Gradiška. Having been a Franciscan, the inmates called him "Brother Satan", and testified that he personally killed numerous prisoners, including children. While Ljubo Miloš blamed Filipović for ordering mass killings, Filipović in turn blamed Luburić, who he said instructed him "that Serbs must be ruthlessly exterminated", portraying himself as merely an obedient Ustaše follower.
Other individuals managing the camp at different times included Ivica Matković, Ante Vrban, and Dinko Šakić. The camp administration also used Ustaše battalions, police units, Domobrani units, auxiliary units made up of Bosnian Muslims, as well as Germans and Hungarians. The Ustaše interned, tortured and executed men, women and children in Jasenovac. The largest number of victims were Serbs, but victims also included Jews, Roma (or "gypsies"), as well as some dissident Croats and Bosnian Muslims (i.e. Partisans or their sympathizers, all categorized by the Ustaše as "Communists").
Upon arrival at the camp, the prisoners were marked with colors, similar to the use of Nazi concentration camp badges: blue for Serbs, and red for communists (non-Serbian resistance members), while Roma had no marks. This practice was later abandoned. Most victims were killed at execution sites near the camp: Granik, Gradina, and other places. Those kept alive were mostly skilled at needed professions and trades (doctors, pharmacists, electricians, shoemakers, goldsmiths, and so on), and were employed in services and workshops at Jasenovac.
Inmate population
Serbs constituted the majority of inmates in Jasenovac. Serbs were generally brought to Jasenovac concentration camp after refusing to convert to Catholicism. In many municipalities around the NDH, warning posters declared that any Serb who did not convert to Catholicism would be deported to a concentration camp. The Ustaše regime's policy of mass killings of Serbs constituted genocide.
The Jasenovac Memorial Area list of victims is more than 56% Serbs, 45,923 out of 80,914. In some cases, inmates were immediately killed upon acknowledging Serbian ethnicity, and most considered it to be the sole reason for their imprisonment. The Serbs were predominantly brought from the Kozara region, where the Ustaše captured areas that were held by Partisan guerrillas. Although the Germans were not directly present in Jasenovac concentration camp, they participated in the internment of peoples after the "cleansing actions" from the Partisan war-affected areas, especially during the Kozara offensive, in addition they were also taking inmates to forced labor in Germany and other camps in the occupied Europe. These were brought to the camp without sentence, almost destined for immediate execution, accelerated via the use of machine-guns.
Jews, the primary target of Nazi genocide, were the second-largest category of victims of Jasenovac. The number of Jewish casualties is uncertain, but ranges from about 8,000 to almost two thirds of the Croatian Jewish population of 37,000 (meaning around 25,000).
Most of the executions of Jews at Jasenovac occurred prior to August 1942. Thereafter, the NDH deported them to Auschwitz. In general, Jews were initially sent to Jasenovac from all parts of Croatia after being gathered in Zagreb, and from Bosnia and Herzegovina after being gathered in Sarajevo. Some, however, were transported directly to Jasenovac from other cities and smaller towns. Roma in Jasenovac consisted of both Roma and Sinti, who were captured in various areas in Bosnia, especially in the Kozara region. They were brought to Jasenovac and taken to area III-C, where nutrition, hydration, shelter and sanitary conditions were all below the rest of the camp's own abysmally low standards. The figures of murdered Roma are estimated between 20,000 and 50,000.
Anti-fascists consisted of various sorts of political and ideological opponents or antagonists of the Ustaše regime. In general, their treatment was similar to other inmates, although known communists were executed right away, and convicted Ustaše or law-enforcement officials, or others close to the Ustaše in opinion, such as Croatian peasants, were held on beneficial terms and granted amnesty after serving a duration of time. The leader of the banned Croatian Peasant Party, Vladko Maček was held in Jasenovac from October 1941 to March 1942, after which he was kept under strict house arrest. Unique among the fascist states during World War II, Jasenovac contained a camp specifically for children in Sisak. Around 20,000 Serb, Jewish and Roma children perished at Jasenovac.
Women and children
Of the 83,145 named victims listed in the Jasenovac Memorial Site, more than half are women (23,474) and children (20,101) below age 14. Most were held at Stara Gradiška camp of the Jasenovac complex, specifically designed for women and children, as well as associated camps in Jablanac and Mlaka, while children were also held in other Ustaše concentration camps for children at Sisak and Jastrebarsko. Many of the children in the camps were among the tens-of-thousands of Serb civilians captured during the German-Ustaše Kozara offensive, after which many of their parents sent to forced labor in Germany, while the children were separated from the parents and placed in Ustaše concentration camps. In addition nearly all the Roma women and children in the NDH were exterminated at Jasenovac, as well as thousands of Jewish women and children, among the up to two-thirds of all Croatian Holocaust victims killed at Jasenovac. The terrible conditions the children were held in were described by one of the female inmates Giordana Friedländer:
When I entered the room I had something to see. One child was lying with his head in feces, the other children in urine were lying on top of each other. I approached one of the girls with the intention of lifting her out of the pool of dirt, and she looked at me as if smiling. She was already dead. One 10-year-old boy, completely naked, was standing by the wall because he could not sit down. Out of him hung his gut covered in flies.
Later the commandant of the camp, Ante Vrban, ordered the room sealed and with a mask on his face inserted zyklon gas into the room, killing the remaining children. At his trial the commandant of Ante Vrban, admitted to these killings.
Living conditions
The living conditions in the camp evidenced the severity typical of Nazi death camps: a meager diet, deplorable accommodation, and the cruel treatment by the Ustaše guards. As in many camps, conditions would be improved temporarily during visits by delegations – such as the press delegation that visited in February 1942 and a Red Cross delegation in June 1944 – and reverted after the delegation left.
- Systematic starvation: Again, typical of death camps, the diet of inmates at Jasenovac was insufficient to sustain life: In camp Bročice, inmates were given a "soup" made of hot water with starch for breakfast, and beans for lunch and dinner (served at 6:00, 12:00 and 21:00). The food in Camp No. III was initially better, consisting of potatoes instead of beans; however, in January the diet was changed to a single daily serving of thin "turnip soup," often hot water with two or three cabbage leaves thrown into the pot. By the end of the year, the diet changed again, to 3 daily portions of thin gruel made of water and starch. To still their terrible hunger, "people ate grass and leaves, but these were very difficult to digest". As a special treat prisoners ate a dead dog, and there were "cases of scatophagia – inmates removing undigested beans and the like from the feces in the Ustasha latrine". People began to die of starvation already in October 1941.
- Water: Jasenovac was even more severe than most death camps in one respect: a general lack of potable water. Prisoners were forced to drink water from the Sava river.
- Accommodation: In the first camps, Bročice and Krapje, inmates slept in standard concentration-camp barracks, with three tiers of bunks. In the winter, these "barracks" freely admitted rain and snow through their roofs and gaps in their walls. Prisoners would have to wade through ankle deep water inside the cabin. Inmates who died were often left inside the "barracks" for several days before they were removed. In Camp No. III, which housed some 3,000 people, inmates initially slept in the attics of the workshops, in an open depot designated as a railway "tunnel", or simply in the open. A short time later, eight barracks were erected. Inmates slept in six of these barracks, while the other two were used as a "clinic" and a "hospital", where ill inmates were sent to die or be executed.
- Forced labor: As in all concentration camps, Jasenovac inmates were forced daily to perform some 11 hours of hard labor, under the eye of their Ustaše captors, who would execute any inmate for the most trivial reasons. The labor section was overseen by Ustaša's Dominik "Hinko" Piccili (or Pičili) and Tihomir Kordić. Piccili (or Pičili) would personally lash inmates to force them to work harder.
He divided the "Jasenovac labor force" into 16 groups, including groups of construction, brickworks, metal-works, agriculture, etc. The inmates would perish from the hard work. Work in the brickworks was hard. Blacksmith work was also done, as the inmates forged knives and other weapons for the Ustaše. Dike construction work was the most feared.
- Sanitation: Inside the camp, squalor and lack of sanitation reigned: clutter, blood, vomit and decomposing bodies filled the barracks, which were also full of pests and of the foul stench of the often overflowing latrine bucket. Due to exposure to the elements, inmates suffered from impaired health leading to epidemics of typhus, typhoid, malaria, pleuritis, influenza, dysentery and diphtheria. During pauses in labor (05:00–06:00; 12:00–13:00, 17:00–20:00) inmates had to relieve themselves at open latrines, which consisted of big pits dug in open fields, covered in planks. Inmates would tend to fall inside, and often died. The Ustaše encouraged this by either having internees separate the planks, or by physically drowning inmates inside. The pit would overflow during floods and rains, and was also deliberately drained into the lake, from which inmate drinking water was taken. The inmate's rags and blankets were too thin to prevent exposure to frost, as was the shelter of the barracks. Clothes and blankets were rarely and poorly cleansed, as inmates were only allowed to wash them briefly in the lake's waters once a month save during winter time, when the lake froze. Then, a sanitation device was erected in a warehouse, where clothes were insufficiently boiled.
- Lack of personal possessions: Inmates were stripped of their belongings and personal attire. As inmates, only ragged prison-issue clothing was given to them. In winter, inmates were given thin "rain-coats" and they were allowed to make light sandals. Inmates were given a personal food bowl, designed to contain 0.4 liters (0.088 imp gal; 0.11 U.S. gal) of "soup" they were fed with. Inmates whose bowl was missing (e.g.: stolen by another inmate to defecate in) would receive no food. During delegation visits, inmates were given bowls twice as large with spoons. At such times, inmates were given colored tags.
- Anxiety: The fear of death, and the paradox of a situation in which the living dwell next to the dead, had great impact on the internees. Basically, an inmate's life in a concentration camp can be viewed in the optimal way when looking at it in three stages: arrival to camp, living inside it, and the release. The first stage consisted of the shock caused by the hardships in transit to camp. The Ustaše would fuel this shock by murdering a number of inmates upon arrival and by temporarily housing new-arrivals in warehouses, attics, in the train tunnel and outdoors.
After the inmates grew familiar with the life in camp, they would enter the second and most critical phase: living through the anguish of death, and the sorrow, hardships and abuse. The peril of death was most prominent in "public performances for public punishment" or selections, when inmates would be lined in groups and individuals would be randomly pointed out to receive punishment of death before the rest. The Ustaše would intensify this by prolonging the process, patrolling about and asking questions, gazing at inmates, choosing them and then refrain and point out another. As inmates, people could react to the Ustaše crimes in an active or passive manner. The activists would form resistance movements and groups, steal food, plot escapes and revolts, contacts with the outside world.
All inmates suffered psychological trauma to some extent: obsessive thoughts of food, paranoia, delusions, day-dreams, lack of self-control. Some inmates reacted with attempts at documenting the atrocities, such as survivors Ilija Ivanović, Dr Nikola Nikolić and Đuro Schwartz, all of whom tried to memorize and even write of events, dates and details. Such deeds were perilous, since writing was punishable by death and tracking dates was extremely difficult. Schwartz said that a father and his three sons were killed for writing. The witness wrote his memories on a piece of paper in tiny script and hid it in his shoe.
Mass murder and cruelty
The Croatian anti-Communist émigré, Ante Ciliga, whom the Ustaše imprisoned in Jasenovac for one year, described Jasenovac as a huge killing machine, whose main purpose, like that of Auschwitz, was "extermination", although "the primitivistic cruelties of Jasenovac distinguished this Balkan Auschwitz." According to Jaša Almuli, the former president of the Serbian Jewish community, Jasenovac was a much more terrifying concentration camp in terms of brutality than many of its German counterparts, even Auschwitz.
In the late summer of 1942, tens of thousands of ethnic Serb villagers were deported to Jasenovac from the Kozara region in Bosnia, where NDH forces were fighting the Partisans. Most of the men were murdered in Jasenovac, and the women were sent to forced labor camps in Germany. Children were either murdered or dispersed to Catholic orphanages. According to survivors' testimonies, at the special camp designed for children, Catholic nuns murdered children under their watch with a motion similar to swinging a baseball bat: a child gripped by the legs would be swung so forcefully that the head's impact against the wall was fatal. These claims could not be verified or certified.
On the night of 29 August 1942, prison guards made bets among themselves as to who could slaughter the largest number of inmates. One of the guards, Petar Brzica, boasted that he had cut the throats of about 1,360 new arrivals.
Other participants who confessed to participating in the bet included Ante Zrinušić-Sipka, who killed some 600 inmates, and Mile Friganović, who gave a detailed and consistent report of the incident. Friganović admitted to having killed some 1,100 inmates. He specifically recounted his torture of an old man named Vukasin Mandrapa; he attempted to compel the man to bless Ante Pavelić, which the old man refused to do, even after Friganović had cut off both his ears and nose after each refusal. Ultimately, he cut out the old man's eyes, tore out his heart, and slashed his throat. This incident was witnessed by Dr Nikolić.
Srbosjek
The Ustaše slaughtered inmates with a knife that became known as the "Srbosjek" (Serbian Cyrillic: Србосјек, lit. 'Serb-cutter').
The construction was originally a type of wheat sheaf knife, manufactured prior to and during World War II by the German factory Gebrüder Gräfrath from Solingen-Widdert, under the trademark "Gräwiso". The upper part of the knife was made of leather, as a sort of a glove, designed to be worn with the thumb going through the hole, so that only the blade protruded from the hand. It was a curved, 12-centimetre-long (4.7 in) knife with the edge on its concave side. The knife was fastened to a bowed oval copper plate, while the plate was fastened to a thick leather bangle. Its agricultural purpose was to enable field workers to cut wheat sheaves open before threshing them. The knife was fixed on the glove plate to prevent injuries and to increase work speed.
Systematic extermination of prisoners
Besides sporadic killings and deaths due to the poor living conditions, many inmates arriving at Jasenovac were scheduled for systematic extermination. An important criterion for selection was the duration of a prisoner's anticipated detention. Strong men capable of labor and sentenced to less than three years of incarceration were allowed to live. All inmates with indeterminate sentences or sentences of three years or more were immediately scheduled for execution, regardless of their physical fitness.
Systematic extermination varied both as to place and form. Some of the executions were mechanical, following Nazi methodology, while others were manual. The mechanical means of extermination included:
- Cremation: The Ustaše cremated living inmates, who were sometimes drugged and sometimes fully awake, as well as corpses. The first cremations took place in the brick factory ovens in January 1942. Croatian engineer Dominik "Hinko" Piccili (or Pičili) perfected this method by converting seven of the kiln's furnace chambers into specialized crematories. Crematoria were also placed in Gradina, across the Sava River. According to the State Commission, however, "there is no information that it ever went into operation." Later testimony, however, say the Gradina crematory had become operational. Some bodies were buried rather than cremated, as shown by exhumation of bodies late in the war.
- Gassing and poisoning: The Ustaše tried to employ poisonous gas to kill inmates arriving in Stara Gradiška. They first tried to gas the women and children who arrived from Djakovo with gas vans that Simo Klaić called "green Thomas". The method was later replaced with stationary gas-chambers with Zyklon B and sulfur dioxide. Jasenovac concentration camp did not have gas chambers.
Manual methods were executions that took part in utilizing sharp or blunt craftsmen tools: knives, saws, hammers, et cetera. These executions took place in various locations:
- Granik: Granik was a ramp used to unload goods of Sava boats. In winter 1943–44, season agriculture laborers became unemployed, while large transports of new internees arrived and the need for liquidation, in light of the expected Axis defeat, were large. Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić devised a plan to utilize the crane as a gallows on which slaughter would be committed, so that the bodies could be dumped into the stream of the flowing river. In the autumn, the Ustaše NCO's came in every night for some 20 days, with lists of names of people who were incarcerated in the warehouse, stripped, chained, beaten and then taken to the "Granik", where weights were tied to the wire that was bent on their arms, and their intestines and neck were slashed, and they were thrown into the river with a blow of a blunt tool in the head. The method was later enhanced, so that inmates were tied in pairs, back to back, their bellies cut before they were tossed into the river alive.
- Gradina: The Ustaše utilized empty areas in the vicinity of the villages of Donja Gradina and Uštica, where they encircled an area marked for slaughter and mass graves in wire. The Ustaše slew victims with knives or smashed their skulls with mallets. When Roma arrived in the camp, they did not undergo selection, but were rather concentrated under the open skies at a section of camp known as "III-C". From there the Roma were taken to liquidation in Gradina, working on the dike (men) or in the corn fields in Ustice (women) in between liquidations. Thus Gradina and Uštica became Roma mass grave sites. Furthermore, small groups of Roma were utilized as gravediggers that actually participated in the slaughter at Gradina. Thus the extermination at the site grew until it became the main killing-ground in Jasenovac. At Gradina, 105 mass graves, covering a total area of 10,130 m have been found. A further 22 mass graves, the extent of which has not yet been confirmed, have also been found. Separately, at Uštica, 21 mass graves with a surface area of 1218 m have been found.
- Limani Graves. Prior to early 1942, when liquidations of prisoners began at Gradina, most inmates were killed inside the Jasenovac III camp. A special detail of prisoner-gravediggers was ordered every day to bury the bodies in huge trenches dug close to the camp fence. In this area, called Limani. seven mass graves are located, with a total surface area of 1,175 m.
- Međustrugovi and Uskočke šume. These are sites of mass murders of prisoners from Stara Gradiška, mainly during 1944. In 1946, 967 victims were exhumed (311 men, 467 women and 189 children) from 4 mass graves. The remains were later interred in a common cemetery at Stara Gradiška, while identified victims were returned to where they had come from, mostly the Srijem area. About a thousand additional victims are buried in Međustrugovi Woods in one enormous mass grave.
- Krapje When Krapje (Camp I) and Brocice (Camp II) were closed in November 1941, of the 3,000 to 4,000 prisoners then in the camps, only about 1,500 were transferred to the new Camp III (Brickworks), the rest were killed. At Krapje three mass graves are found – a central mass grave, a second mass grave, in which mostly Jewish victims were buried, and a third large grave, where the executed employees of Zagreb Electrical Trams were buried.
- Mlaka and Jablanac: Two sites used as collection and labor camps for the women and children in camps III and V, but also as places where many of these women and children, as well as other groups, were executed in the countryside around these two villages. Five mass graves were identified in and around Mlaka.
- Velika Kustarica: According to the state-commission, as far as 50,000 people were killed here in the winter amid 1941 and 1942. There is evidence suggesting that killings took place there at that time and afterwards.
The Ustaše carried out extensive means of torture and methods of killing against detainees which included but not limited to: inserting hot nails under finger nails, mutilating parts of the body including plucking out eyeballs, tightening chains around ones head until the skull fractured and the eyes popped and also, placing salt in open wounds. Women faced untold horrors including rape, cutting off ones breasts and also, cutting out wombs from pregnant women. Many of these mutilated and murdered bodies were disposed of into the adjacent river. The Ustaše took pride in the crimes they committed and even wore necklaces of human eyes and tongues that were cut out from their Serb victims.
Inmate help
In July 1942, Diana Budisavljević, with the help of a German officer, Albert von Kotzian, obtained written permission to take the children from the Stara Gradiška concentration camp. With the help of the Ministry of Social Affairs, including Kamilo Bresler, she was able to relocate child inmates from the camp to Zagreb, and other places.
The Red Cross has been accused of insufficiently aiding the persecuted people of Nazi Europe. The local representative, Julius Schmidllin, was contacted by the Jewish community, which sought financial aid. The organisation helped to release Jews from camps, and even debated with the Croatian government in relation to visiting the Jasenovac camp. The wish was eventually granted in July 1944. The camp was prepared for the arrival of the delegation, so nothing incriminating was found. Inmate resistance groups were aided by contacts among the Ustaše. One of these groups, operating in the tannery, was assisted by an Ustaša, Dr Marin Jurčev and his wife, who were later hanged for this on orders of Dinko Šakić, as was any Ustasha found guilty of consorting or collaborating with inmates were executed.
End of the camp
Burning of corpses
Just like the Nazis with their Sonderaktion 1005, toward the end of the war the Ustashe sought to destroy evidence of their crimes at Jasenovac. Among the few surviving inmates of the camp, at least four – Miroslav Trautman, Karl Weiss, Walter Grünn and Egon Berger – all testified that the Ustashe dug up and burned corpses at Jasenovac. Walter Grünn testified that: "All the oil and beams from the camp were taken to Gradina . From these beams, roasts were erected, on which the dug-up bodies were thrown, covered with oil and then burned". The Jasenovac camp commanders, Miroslav Filipović and Ljubo Miloš both confirmed that the Ustashe gave the command to completely destroy all evidence of the mass graves at Jasenovac, while Miloš also described the process: "A strong guard was set up around the sites, and then healthy inmates were brought in from the camps, who dug up the corpses and stacked them in one particular location and burned them completely with gasoline or oil".
This mass burning of corpses was confirmed by a post-war commission, which performed selective excavations at Jasenovac, and in most places found "ashes and burnt remains of bones", although they also managed to find some intact mass graves, including one with 189 corpses, most with smashed skulls, among them 51 children below age 14.
Last liquidations and escape
As of April 7, 1945, some 3,500 inmates were left in the camp. Following the withdrawal from Sarajevo, Maks Luburić brought with him many additional captured civilians, who were immediately killed. On April 15 and 16, when Lepoglava prison was evacuated, the Ustaše sent 1,590 inmates to Jasenovac, where they were all killed. On April 19 Luburić gave the command to destroy the camp. The Ustaše first killed the remaining medical personnel and the sick, followed by many of the higher-qualified workers who until then had been spared.
With the Partisans fast approaching, on April 21, 1945, the Ustaše killed the remaining 700–900 women at Jasenovac. After that only an estimated 1,073 male prisoners remained, and on the night of April 21–22 they decided to stage an escape. On 22 April, 600 prisoners revolted; but of these only 92 managed to escape, while all the rest were killed. On the day of the revolt the Ustaše killed the 460 remaining prisoners who chose not to escape and later torched the buildings, guardhouses, torture rooms, the "Piccili Furnace", plus all the other structures in the camp. Upon entering the camp in May, the Partisans came across only ruins, soot, smoke, and the skeletal remains of hundreds of victims.
After the war, German, NDH, Slovene and Chetnik POWs were brought to the ruined camp to extract building materials, including from the two-kilometre-long (1.2 mi), four-metre-high (13 ft) brick wall that surrounded it. The authorities donated the extracted bricks and other building materials to the local populace, for rebuilding homes and settlements.
Victim numbers
Most modern sources approximate the number of victims of the Jasenovac concentration camp at around 100,000. Jewish Croatian historian Ivo Goldstein notes that victim estimates are complicated by the fact that the Ustaše did their best to conceal their crimes. Many victims were taken directly to execution sites, without ever being registered at the camp. They also destroyed the registration files they had. Untold victims were tossed into the Sava river, and burned, both dead and alive, in the crematorium at the site. Evidence was further destroyed by massive excavation and burning of corpses at war's end.
The Jasenovac Memorial Area maintains a list of the names (collected until March 2013) of 83,145 Jasenovac victims, including 47,627 Serbs, 16,173 Romani, 13,116 Jews, 4,255 Croats, 1,128 Bosnian Muslims, and 266 Slovenes, among others. Of the 83,145 named victims, 20,101 are children under the age of 14, and 23,474 are women. The list is subject to update – in 2007, it had 69,842 entries. Ivo Goldstein also cites the same approximate total number by noting the victims list of 83,811 while adding that "10–20% may still be missing" with ongoing research still being conducted.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that the Ustaše murdered between 77,000 and 99,000 people at Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945, including "between 45,000 and 52,000 Serb residents of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, between 12,000 and 20,000 Jews, between 15,000 and 20,000 Roma (Gypsies), between 5,000 and 12,000 ethnic Croats and Muslims, who were political opponents of the regime". Its website states that "Determining the number of victims for Yugoslavia, for Croatia, and for Jasenovac is highly problematic, due to the destruction of many relevant documents, the long-term inaccessibility to independent scholars of those documents that survived, and the ideological agendas of postwar partisan scholarship and journalism". The ideological agendas led to a wide range of estimates, from gross exaggeration to complete minimization and denial of Jasenovac victims. Since World War II, scholars and Holocaust institutions have advanced diverse estimates of the number of victims killed at Jasenovac, ranging from 1.1 million to 30,000. Historian Tomislav Dulić disputed the previously often quoted 700,000 figure in Jasenovac, but stated that an estimated 100,000 victims still makes it one of the largest camps in Europe during World War II.
Most scholars have since settled on 25,000–27,000 Roma deaths, though there is still some uncertainty based on the pre-war and post-war issues in the registration of Roma people in censuses. Despite disagreements between historians on the exact victim numbers, there is no doubt that almost the entirety of the Roma community was annihilated by the Ustaše.
War-time sources
The documentation from the time of Jasenovac originates from the different sides in the battle for Yugoslavia: The Germans and Italians on the one hand, and the Partisans and the Allies on the other. There are also sources originating from the documentation of the Ustaše themselves and of the Vatican.
High-ranking German military officers estimated that the Ustaše killed between 250,000 (as of March 1943) and 700,000 Serbs in the entire NDH. Specifically regarding Jasenovac, the Nazi intelligence service, Sicherheitsdienst, in a report on Vjekoslav Luburić, the head of all Ustaše concentration camps, stated that the Ustaše had killed 120,000 people in Jasenovac, 80,000 in Stara Gradiška, and 20,000 in other Ustaše concentration camps. General von Horstenau described his eyewitness account of children dying at the camp, the aftermath of the slaughter perpetrated by Jasenovac guards, when they herded Serb residents of nearby Crkveni Bok to the camp:
- In Crkveni Bok, an unfortunate place, over which about five hundred 15- to 20-year-old thugs descended under the leadership of an Ustasha lieutenant colonel, people were killed everywhere, women were raped and then tortured to death, children were killed. I saw in the Sava River the corpse of a young woman with her eyes dug out and a stake driven into her sexual parts. This woman was at most twenty years old when she fell into the hands of these monsters. All around, pigs devoured unburied human beings. "Fortunate” residents were shipped in terrifying freight cars; many of these involuntary "travelers" cut their veins during transport to the camp "
The Ustaše themselves gave more exaggerated estimates of the number of people they killed. Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić, the commander-in-chief of all the Croatian camps, announced the great "efficiency" of the Jasenovac camp at a ceremony on 9 October 1942. During a banquet that followed, he reported:
We have slaughtered here at Jasenovac more people than the Ottoman Empire was able to do during its occupation of Europe.
A circular from the Ustaše general headquarters reads: "the concentration and labor camp in Jasenovac can receive an unlimited number of internees." In the same spirit, Filipović-Majstorović, once captured by Yugoslav forces, admitted that during his three months of administration, 20,000 to 30,000 people died. As it became clear that his confession was an attempt to somewhat minimize the rate of crimes committed in Jasenovac, his claim to have personally killed 100 people being extremely understated, Filipović-Majstorović's figures are reevaluated so that in some sources they appear as 30,000–40,000. Filipović was Commandant of Jasenovac in Summer-early Fall of 1942, when the scholarly consensus is that the Ustaše exterminated 25,000–27,000 Roma, nearly all at Jasenovac, while the mass murder of other ethnic groups was also underway.
Jasenovac camp commanders, Miroslav Filipović and Ljubo Miloš both testified that just before the end of the war the Ustaše gave the command to completely destroy all evidence of mass graves at Jasenovac, by forcing remaining inmates to dig up and burn the corpses. This is similar to what the Nazis did, including at Sajmište concentration camp, on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. The mass burning of corpses at Jasenovac was separately attested to by many surviving Jasenovac inmates, as well as postwar excavations which in many places found only ashes and burnt remains of bones.
Jure Paršić was appointed Catholic priest in the town of Jasenovac, by Alojzije Stepinac, in November, 1942. Although Paršić sympathized with the Ustaše cause, and arrived in Jasenovac after the great majority of the victims were killed, he still estimated that the Ustaše killed 30,000 to 40,000 people at Jasenovac. Writing in Germany in 1985, he says the whole town knew what went on in the camp, “even the children knew more than they should know.” From the Ustaše guards he confessed, Paršić learned of things “far more terrible than he had supposed”, adding that he doubted there were any guards who had not “bloodied their hands”. But since he heard this in confession, Paršić stated he would "take this information with him to the grave".
Jure Paršić also wrote that he told Archbishop Stepinac in detail what he discovered at Jasenovac, to which he says Stepinac "shed a tear". After the Ustaše killed seven Slovenian Catholic priests in Jasenovac, Stepinac on February 24, 1943, wrote Ante Pavelić that this represented a “shameful stain and a crime that cries out for revenge, just as the whole of Jasenovac is a shameful stain on the Independent State of Croatia."
In June 1942, the well-connected Catholic theologian, Monsignor Augustin Juretić, wrote: “The concentration camp at Jasenovac is a real slaughterhouse. You have not read anywhere – not even under the GPU or Gestapo – of such horrible things as the “Ustashi” commit....the story of Jasenovac is the blackest page of the Ustashi regime, because thousands of men have been killed there."
Jasenovac inmates Milko Riffer and Egon Berger wrote of “hundreds of thousands” victims. Đorđe Miliša also published a first-hand testimony in 1945. The Roma were all hauled in at the same time, kept in an open, barbed-wired area where other inmates could see them, and all murdered within a couple of months. The primary-source estimates of Roma victims appear to have been exaggerated – from up to 20,000 (Riffer, p. 155) to 40,000 (Miliša 1945 pp. 59–61, 139–142) to 45,000 (Berger 1966, p. 67). Riffer also mentions why other estimates were more difficult – many victims were killed before even entering the camp and thus were never registered, plus to hide their crimes, the Ustaše burned the camp records.
The anti-Communist, anti-Yugoslav political exile, and former Jasenovac inmate, Ante Ciliga described Jasenovac as a "huge machine" with the sole purpose, that "some be killed as soon as they enter – others, over time”. He identified Gradina as the main killing-ground, “our Styx – whoever crossed the river and stepped onto Gradina, there was no return among the living”. He also stated that the life expectancy of inmates in the Jasenovac III C sub-camp was 2 weeks, and described witnessing the mass execution of Roma who attempted to escape the sub-camp. He and other inmates noted that the occupancy of Jasenovac was kept at 3,000 to 5,000 men, and all those brought into the camp in excess of that number were continuously killed. Ciliga and others described cannibalism in the camp, i.e. inmates eating their dead comrades, due to extreme starvation.
Post-war victim number estimates
In post-war Yugoslavia and later independent Croatia and Serbia, Jasenovac victim estimates became the subject of fierce ideological battles, with initial exaggerated estimates, followed by later minimizations of victim numbers and denial of Ustaše crimes. The extent of the crime committed in Jasenovac led to it becoming a paradigm of victimhood, both organically and through state-sponsored propaganda, which in turn caused the paradigm to have a life of its own, leading to a multitude of manipulations.
A 15 November 1945 report of the National Committee of Croatia for the investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their collaborators, which was commissioned by the new government of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito, indicated that between 500,000 and 600,000 people were murdered at Jasenovac. The report suffered from methodological shortcomings since it was based on the testimonies of survivors along with general approximations.
The State Commission of Croatia for the Investigation of the Crimes of the Occupation Forces and their Collaborators from 1946 concluded:
Such a manner of preconceived and inhumane torture and slaughter of a people has never been recorded in history. The Ustase criminals followed precisely the model of their German masters, most consciously executed all their orders, and did so in pursuit of a single goal: to exterminate as many of our people as possible, and to create a living space as large as possible for them. The total dependence by the Ustase on their German masters, the foundation of the camp itself, the dispatch of the "disloyal", the brutal implementation of Hitler's racist Nazi theories and the deportation to the camps and extermination of the racially and nationally "impure", the same methods of torture and atrocities with minor varieties of Ustase cruelty, the building of furnaces and incineration of victims in furnaces (the Picilli furnace) — all of the evidence points to the conclusion that both Jasenovac and the crimes committed in it were fashioned from a German recipe, owing to a German Hitlerite order as implemented by their servants, the Ustase. Subsequently, responsibility for the crimes of Jasenovac falls equally on their German masters and the Ustase executioners.
The 1945 figures were cited by researchers Israel Gutman and Menachem Shelach in the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust from 1990. Shelach wrote that some 300,000 bodies were found and exhumed. The Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance website adopted the number of 600,000 at some point.
In 1964, the Yugoslav Federal Bureau of Statistics created a list of World War II victims with 597,323 names and deficiency estimated at 20–30%, giving between 750,000 and 780,000 victims. Together with the estimate of 200,000 "collaborators and quislings" killed, the total number would reach about one million. The bureau's list was declared a state secret in 1964 and published only in 1989. After the war, a figure of 700,000 reflected the "conventional wisdom".
According to the 1964 victim census, 49,874 people perished in Jasenovac, 9,587 people in Stara Gradiška and 128 persons in Gradina, in total 59,589 people. The survey results showed a far lower figure of 59,188 killed at Jasenovac, of whom 33,944 were recorded as Serbs.
In 1946, 967 victims from the Stara Gradiška sub-camp were exhumed (311 men, 467 women and 189 children) from 4 mass graves, at Uskočke šume. The remains were later interred in a common cemetery at Stara Gradiška, while identified victims were returned to where they had come from, mostly the Syrmia (Srijem/Srem) region. About a thousand additional victims are buried in Međustrugovi Woods in one enormous mass grave. These victims were thrown, naked and tangled together, into the pit. and it was impossible to exhume and identify them due to the condition and position of the bodies.
On 16 November 1961, the municipal committee of former partisans from Bosanska Dubica organized an unofficial investigation at the grounds of Donja Gradina, led by locals who were not forensic experts. This investigation uncovered three mass graves and identified 17 human skulls in one of them. In response, scientists were called in to verify the site. Dr Alojz Šercelj started preliminary drilling to identify the most likely grave locations, and then between 22 and 27 June 1964, exhumations of bodies and the use of sampling methods was conducted at Jasenovac by Vida Brodar and Anton Pogačnik from Ljubljana University and Srboljub Živanović from Novi Sad University.
Consistent with accounts by captured Ustaše and the few surviving inmates of Ustaše camps, excavations of sites in and around the former concentration camps revealed evidence of mass burning of corpses before the end of the war were conducted. In some places the scientists found only ashes and the charred remains of bones. They also uncovered a total of seven mass graves, which held a total of 284 victims' remains, including one mass grave with 197 corpses, of whom 51 were children below age 14, and 123 were women. A large number of these corpses, especially the children, showed evidence of blunt force trauma, as their skulls were cracked, fractured and broken in numerous places. The scientists concluded that the entire Jasenovac complex could have around 200 similar sites.
The Jasenovac Memorial Area states that to date more than 160 mass graves have been discovered, including 105 mass graves at Gradina, covering a total area of 10,130 m. A further 22 mass graves have been found at the same site, plus an additional 21 mass graves at Uštica, site of a camp for Roma and Serb women and children, the latter with a surface area of 1218 m. At the Limani site, inside the Jasenovac III Camp site, seven mass graves are located, with a total surface area of 1,175 m. An additional 3 mass graves are found at Krapje, where mostly Jewish victims were buried. At the Jablanac and Mlaka sites, where mostly Serb women and children were held and murdered, 5 mass graves were found. Four more mass graves were uncovered at Uskočke šume, with 947 exhumed bodies, and one large one at Međustrugovi, with some 1,000 bodies.
The second edition of Vojna enciklopedija (1972) reproduced the figure of the State Commission of Crimes, 600,000 victims in Jasenovac up to 1943. In August 1983, General Velimir Terzić of the Partisans asserted that, according to the newest data, at least one million Serbs were killed at Jasenovac. Novelist Milan D. Miletić (1923–2003) speculated the number at one million or more. Based on documentary material and information from inmates and camp officials, and from official war crimes commissions, archivist Antun Miletić quoted from the sources the estimation at 600–700,000 victims, most Serbs.
An analysis of 1970s high school history textbooks published in Yugoslavia showed that while all textbooks devoted about 1 or 2 paragraphs to Ustaše crimes, there were considerable differences in victim estimates across the then republics. Thus the main 1970's Croatian history textbook had the lowest estimate of Jasenovac victims (“thousands of people”), while the Serbian textbook wrote of “hundreds of thousands”, and the Bosnian textbook listed 800,000 victims.
Antun Miletić, a researcher at the Military Archives in Belgrade, collected data on Jasenovac since 1979. By 1999, his list contained the names of 77,200 victims, of whom 41,936 were Serbs.
In the 1980s, calculations were done by Serbian statistician Bogoljub Kočović, and by Croatian economist Vladimir Žerjavić, who claimed that total number of victims in Yugoslavia was less than 1.7 million, an official estimate at the time, both concluding that the number of victims was around one million. Kočović estimated that, of that number, between 370,000 and 410,000 ethnic Serbs died in the Independent State of Croatia, of whom 45–52,000 died at Jasenovac. Žerjavić estimated that 322,000 Serbs died in the NDH, of whom 50,000 were killed at Jasenovac. Both Kočović and Žerjavić estimated 83,000 total deaths at Jasenovac, Žerjavić's figure includes Jews, Roma, Croats and Bosnian Muslims, as well as Serbs. His figures also showed that 13,000 Jews perished in the camp, along with about 10,000 Croats, 10,000 Roma and others. According to Vladimir Žerjavić the number of killed is about 85,000 people, respectively 50 thousand Serbs, 13,000 Jews, 10,000 Croats, 10,000 of Romani people and 2,000 Muslims.
In October 1985, a group of investigators from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, led by Vladimir Dedijer, visited Jasenovac and made a record of it, in which the record taker, Antun Miletić, mentioned the 1961 excavation, but misquoted the number of victims it identified as 550,800. They also noted the 1964 excavation, and estimated that Gradina held the remains of 366,000 victims, without further explanation.
In November 1989, Živanović claimed on television that their research resulted in victim counts of more than 500,000, with estimates of 700,000–800,000 being realistic, stating that in every mass grave there were 800 skeletons. Vida Brodar then commented on that statement and said the research never resulted in any victim counts, and that these numbers were Živanović's manipulations, providing a copy of the research log as corroboration. A Croatian historian, Željko Krušelj, publicly criticized Živanović and labeled him a fraud over this.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, 700,000 to 1.2 million victims were highlighted in many Serbian publications as part of the SANU memorandum program and also as part of the Slobodan Milosević policy. Antun Miletić, the director of Belgrade's military archives, in 1997 claimed the figure for Jasenovac was 1.1 million, and criticized Žerjavić's research. Another critic of Žerjavić, Milan Bulajić, former director of the Belgrade Museum of Genocide Victims, maintained that the numbers were in the range of 700,000–1,000,000. Bulajić based his estimates entirely on survivor accounts, without scrutinizing the numbers, which led to him advocating for statistical improbabilities. In 1997, the Museum of Genocide Victims in Belgrade identified 10,521 Jewish victims at Jasenovac, with full names. The Belgrade Museum of Genocide Victims had supported the figure of 700,000 to 1 million victims of the camp, but ceased to do so since 2002. After Bulajić retired from his post, Dragan Cvetković, a researcher from the museum, published a book on wartime losses together with a Croatian co-author, giving a figure of approximately 100,000 victims in Jasenovac. In 2013, Cvetković has estimated the total deaths at Jasenovac between 122,000 and 130,000 based on their then-current victim list containing 88,000 names.
In his 1989 book, Franjo Tudjman, the future president of Croatia, claimed there were only 30–40 thousand Jasenovac victims, without explaining how he got these figures. He also claimed "most of the victims were Gypsies, then Jews and Serbs", thus putting Serbs in third place, when all credible sources state Serbs were the most numerous victims. The book met with widespread criticism around the world, not only for reducing Jasenovac victims, but also for downplaying the guilt of Ustaše murderers. Tudjman claimed Jasenovac was administered by Jews, that estimates of 6 million Jewish Holocaust victims were exaggerated, that Jews invented ethnic cleansing, while accusing Jews of genocide and other misdeeds. David Bruce Macdonald writes, "What emerged from Tudjman's extreme moral relativism was the essential insignificance of Jasenovac and, in fact, the Holocaust in world history."
During the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Croatian side began publicly suggesting substantially smaller numbers of victims. In 1991 the new Croatian government established the Commission for the Determination of War and Post-War Victims, which in its final report listed only 2,238 victims of Jasenovac, and only 293 Jewish victims in all Croatia. Later the head of the Commission and former Constitutional Court justice, Vice Vukojević, claimed that “The Jasenovac camp was run by Jews, the State only provided guards”.
In 1998, the Bosniak Institute published SFR Yugoslavia's final List of war victims from the Jasenovac camp (created in 1992). The list contained the names of 49,602 victims at Jasenovac, including 26,170 Serbs, 8,121 Jews, 5,900 Croats, 1,471 Romani, 787 Bosnian Muslims, 6,792 of unidentifiable ethnicity, and some listed simply as "others."
In 1998, the Croatian State Archives issued an announcement that a notebook had been found containing partial raw data of the State Commission for War Crimes, where the number of victims of Jasenovac from the territory of the People's Republic of Croatia was 15,792, with victims by year: 2,891 persons in 1941, 8,935 in 1942, 676 in 1943, 2,167 in 1944, and 1,123 in 1945. The notebook was generally described as incomplete, particularly the Jasenovac records, but the said numbers were deemed credible as all the other numbers of victims mentioned in the book were consistent with those from the other documents released by the State Commission.
The Jasenovac Memorial Site, the museum institution sponsored by the Croatian government since the end of the Croatian War of Independence, has since stated that current research estimates the number of victims at between 80,000 and 100,000. There have been revisionist efforts in Croatia that greatly minimize Jasenovac victim numbers, or entirely deny that it was a place of mass murder of Jews, Serbs and Roma, instead claiming that Jasenovac was a mere “work-camp, and some of these have received the support of the Croatian Catholic Church, state media, some politicians, and have even obtained state funding.
Memorial site
In post-WWII Yugoslavia the emphasis was on memorializing the Partisan resistance, not civilian victims. The authorities sought to present Nazi and fascist occupiers as the main criminals, with domestic quislings being only secondary actors. In the name of "brotherhood and unity" the ethnicity of Ustaše and Chetnik victims was not emphasized. While high Jasenovac victim estimates became frozen, Goldstein notes that specific details – like the Jasenovac-related memoirs of Riffer, Miliša, Ciliga, Von Horstenau and Diana Budisavljević – were almost never presented.
The Jasenovac Memorial Site was established in 1960, on the initiative of the Yugoslav Federation of War Veterans’ Organizations. Its central symbol is the Flower Memorial, “a sign of eternal renewal” designed by Bogdan Bogdanovic, with a plaque inscribed with a verse from the antiwar poem “The Pit”, by the Croatian poet-Partisan, Ivan Goran Kovačić:
That simple happiness, the window's glint;
Swallow and young; or windborne garden sweet -
Where? – The unhurried cradle's drowsy tilt?
Or, by the threshold, sunshine at my feet?
In 1968, the museum was added to the Memorial Site, with the exhibit focusing on the victims. The Socialist Republic of Croatia adopted a new law on the Jasenovac Memorial Site in 1990, shortly before the first democratic elections in the country.
When Franjo Tuđman was elected for Croatia's president that year, revisionist views on the concentration camp's history came into prominence. The memorial's status was demoted to that of a nature park, and its funding was cut. After Croatia declared its independence and exited the Yugoslav Federation in June 1991, the memorial site found itself in two separate countries. Its grounds at Donja Gradina belonged to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was then still part of Yugoslavia.
Simo Brdar, assistant director of the Jasenovac Memorial Site, doubted that the Croatian authorities, dominated by nationalists, were committed to preserving the artifacts and documentation of the concentration camp. In August 1991, he transported some of the materials to Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the Yugoslav wars unfolded, Croatian forces vandalized, devastated and looted the memorial site and its museum during September 1991. They were driven out from Jasenovac after a month by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). Brdar returned to the site and collected what was left of the museum's exhibits and documentation. He kept the collections until 1999, when they were housed in the Archives of Republika Srpska. This account however is disputed by Croatian sources who say that the Memorial Museum was devastated by paramilitary units after the entry of the Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina into Jasenovac on October 8 and that archival, museum and documentary material from the site was not destroyed but preserved, and later used in a museum exhibition in Belgrade in April 1997.
In 1996 President Franjo Tuđman announced plans to relocate to Jasenovac bodies of the Ustaše, which led to protests from the US, Israel, the international Jewish Community and Croatian leftists, thus the plans were abandoned.
At the end of 2000, the collections were transferred to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), after an agreement with the government of Republika Srpska. A year later, the USHMM transported the collections to Croatia and gave them to the Jasenovac Memorial Site. Israeli President Moshe Katsav visited Jasenovac in 2003, and was the first Israeli head of state to officially visit the country.
In 2004, at the yearly Jasenovac commemoration, the Croatian authorities presented new plans for the memorial site, changing the concept of the museum as well as some of the content. The director of the Memorial Site, Nataša Jovičić, explained how the permanent museum exhibition would be changed to avoid provoking fear, and cease displaying the "technology of death" (mallets, daggers, etc.), rather it would concentrate on individualizing it with personal stories of former prisoners. The German ambassador to Croatia at the time, Gebhard Weiss, expressed skepticism towards "the avoidance of explicit photographs of the reign of terror".
The New York City Parks Department, the Holocaust Park Committee and the Jasenovac Research Institute, with the help of former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY), established a public monument to the victims of Jasenovac in April 2005 (the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the camps). The dedication ceremony was attended by ten Yugoslav Holocaust survivors, as well as diplomats from Serbia, Bosnia and Israel. It remains the only public monument to Jasenovac victims outside of the Balkans. Annual commemorations are held there every April.
The Jasenovac Memorial Museum reopened in November 2006 with a new exhibition designed by Croatian architect Helena Paver Njirić, and an educational center designed by the firm Produkcija. The Memorial Museum features an interior of rubber-clad steel modules, video and projection screens, and glass cases displaying artifacts from the camp. Above the exhibition space, which is quite dark, is a field of glass panels inscribed with the names of the victims. Njirić won the first prize of the 2006 Zagreb Architectural Salon for her work on the museum.
However, the new exhibition was described as "postmodernist trash" by Efraim Zuroff, and criticized for the removal of all Ustaše killing instruments from the display and a lack of explanation of the ideology that led to the crimes committed there in the name of the Croatian people.
Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Jasenovac on 25 July 2010, dubbing it a "demonstration of sheer sadism".
On 17 April 2011, in a commemoration ceremony, former-Croatian President Ivo Josipović warned that there were "attempts to drastically reduce or decrease the number of Jasenovac victims ... faced with the devastating truth here that certain members of the Croatian people were capable of committing the cruelest of crimes, I want to say that all of us are responsible for the things that we do." At the same ceremony, then Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said, "there is no excuse for the crimes and therefore the Croatian government decisively rejects and condemns every attempt at historical revisionism and rehabilitation of the fascist ideology, every form of totalitarianism, extremism and radicalism ... Pavelić's regime was a regime of evil, hatred and intolerance, in which people were abused and killed because of their race, religion, nationality, their political beliefs and because they were the others and were different."
In 2020 the U.S. State Department issued its JUST Act Report which surveys efforts at justice for Holocaust survivors. The report states that while information in the Jasenovac Memorial Site and museum "is appropriately victims-focused, the permanent exhibition notably lacks the requisite historical and cultural context, such as information on Croatia’s role in the Holocaust, the formation of and popular support for the NDH, and the full extent of crimes committed inside Croatia".
Controversies
In 1986, a new touring exhibition titled "Concentration camp Jasenovac, 1941–1945" was appointed by the Jasenovac Memorial Museum, sometimes erroneously referred to as "The dead open the eyes of the living" due to that phrase being used in promotional contexts. The exhibition featured graphic photographs with explicit depictions of Ustaše victims, some of which were unintentionally misattributed to Jasenovac. In Croatia, the 1986 exhibition is claimed as Serbian premeditation to stir up war in Croatia which began in 1991, thereby dismissing its complex causes. Similar but more inflammatory exhibitions were shown in JNA barracks during the early 1990s. A description of one photograph read: "They killed children in the mangers, then slaughtered them with knives, axes and razors, impaled them on bayonets, burned in the Jasenovac crematorium and in cauldrons they cooked soup from them". Instead of being educational, these served as a propagandastic tool, writes scholar Nataša Jovičić.
Jewish and Serb organizations, Croat historians and antifascists, as well as international observers, have repeatedly warned of revisionism and Holocaust-denial in Croatia. Recent examples include the publication of a book celebrating "the Croatian knight", Maks Luburic, who as head all Ustaše concentration camps, including Jasenovac, was responsible for over 100,000 deaths, and a documentary minimizing children's deaths in Ustaše concentration camps. The Luburić book was promoted with the assistance of the Croatian Catholic Church,. and Church sources minimized children's deaths in concentration camps.
Croat historians have noted that the Church has been a leader in promoting revisionism and minimizing Ustaše crimes. In 2013, the main Croatian Catholic Church newspaper, Glas Koncila, published a series on Jasenovac, by the Jasenovac-denier Igor Vukić, who claims Jasenovac was a "mere work-camp", where no mass executions took place. In 2015, the head of the Croatian Bishops' Conference asked that the Ustaše "Za dom spremni" salute be adopted by the Croatian army. In 2020, the official newspaper of Croatian Catholic Archdioceses, Glas Koncila, published yet another series engaging in Jasenovac- and even Holocaust-denial, with selective, blatantly distorted quotes from Jewish and other prisoners, in an attempt to yet again claim no mass extermination took place in Jasenovac.
Historians have criticized Croatian government financing of Jasenovac-denier organizations, such as the "Society for research of the triple camp Jasenovac”, which include “publicists” and non-historians, like Igor Vukić. Zagreb University historian Goran Hutinec notes that Vukić massively distorts the truth, for example citing books by Jasenovac survivors, like Milko Riffer, as “proof” that no mass killing took place in Jasenovac, when on the contrary, the books describe eyewitness accounts of bestial killings of thousands, as well as extermination of tens-of-thousands of Roma at Jasenovac. Croatian state television (HRT) has likewise uncritically presented Jasenovac-deniers on their shows such as Roman Leljak.
In 2016 the Croatian HOS war veterans' organization posted a plaque in the town of Jasenovac with the Ustaše “Za dom spremni” salute, the equal of the Nazi "Sieg Heil" (the same salute hung on the Zagreb transit camp from which Jews were sent to Ustaše death camps). Despite protests by Jewish, Serb and Croat antifascist organizations, the plaque and Ustaše salute were allowed to remain at Jasenovac until criticism by the US State Department special envoy on Holocaust issues, forced the Croatian government to move it to a nearby town. As a result of this, and allegations of the government's tolerance for the minimization of Ustaše crimes, Jewish, Serb and Croat WWII resistance groups have refused to appear with government representatives at the annual Jasenovac commemoration.
In 2016 the filmmaker, Jakov Sedlar released a revisionist documentary, “Jasenovac – the Truth”, which minimized the death toll in the Ustaše camp, while inventing a “postwar Jasenovac” in which the Partisans supposedly killed Croats. The premiere was attended and praised by 4 ministers of the ruling Croatian HDZ party, including the Minister of Culture Zlatko Hasanbegović. Historians noted the film contained many lies and fabrications, including a forged newspaper headline, proclaiming corpses from the invented “postwar Jasenovac” floated more than 60 miles upriver, to Zagreb. The Israeli ambassador condemned the film, while the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandič, issued Sedlar the Award of the City of Zagreb, amid protests from Jewish groups, and the president of Zagreb University, Damir Boras, appointed Sedlar as his cultural advisor.
In film and literature
Ljudolovka Jasenovac is a novel written by camp survivor and writer Zaim Topčić which was published in 1985. He was trapped in the camp in 1943. Topčić was one of few who survived it.
German writer and academic W.G. Sebald discusses and describes the atrocious acts committed at Jasenovac in his 1995 book The Rings of Saturn.
Remake is a 2003 war film directed by Dino Mustafić, written by Zlatko Topčić. Part of the film thematizes the camp.
Witness to Jasenovac's Hell by camp survivor Ilija Ivanović, was released in English language in 2002, and tells the author's experiences as an eight-year-old boy deported to the camp and one of few who survived the escape from it.
44 Months in Jasenovac is a book written by camp survivor Egon Berger which was published in Serbo-Croatian in 1966 and in English in 2016. According to Berger, 250,000 people were killed from June through November 1942.
The film Dara of Jasenovac is a historical drama directed by Predrag Antonijević, whose 2020 release date was to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation. The first modern Holocaust-film about Jasenovac, it stars Marko Janketić as commandant Luburić and Vuk Kostić as Filipović 'Majstorović'.
See also
- Saint Martyrs of Jasenovac
- Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
- The Holocaust
- Jadovno concentration camp
- Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics
- List of Nazi-German concentration camps
- Research Materials: Max Planck Society Archive
- Sisak children's concentration camp
- Stara Gradiška concentration camp
- World War II casualties
- Bleiburg repatriations
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Journals
- Benčić, Andriana (2018). "Koncentracijski logor Jasenovac: konfliktno ratno nasljeđe i osporavani muzejski postav". Polemos: časopis za interdisciplinarna istraživanja rata i mira. XXI (41). Croatian Sociological Association / Naklada Jesenski i Turk / Institute for Social Research in Zagreb: 37–63. ISSN 1331-5595. Archived from the original on 2022-02-20. Retrieved 2022-06-06 – via Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.
- Byford, Jovan (2007). "When I say "The Holocaust," I mean "Jasenovac": Remembrance of the Holocaust in contemporary Serbia". East European Jewish Affairs. 37 (1): 51–74. doi:10.1080/13501670701197946. S2CID 161763723.
- Škiljan, Filip (2007). "Stradanje Srba u Jasenovcu u Drugom svjetskom ratu". Pro Tempore: časopis studenata povijesti (in Croatian). 4. History Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb: 40–46. Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- Zuckerman, Boško (2010). "Prilog proučavanju antisemitizma i protužidovske propagande u vodećem zagrebačkom ustaškom tisku (1941–1943)". Journal of the Institute of Croatian History (in Croatian). 42 (1). Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb: 355–385. ISSN 0353-295X. Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- Škiljan, Filip (2005). "Akcija Crkveni Bok" (PDF). Journal of the Institute of Croatian History (in Croatian). 37 (1). ISSN 0353-295X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-02-20. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
- Frucht Levy, Michele (2009). "The Last Bullet for the Last Serb": The Ustaša Genocide against Serbs: 1941–1945". Nationalities Papers. 37 (6). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1080/00905990903239174. S2CID 162231741.
- Geiger, Vladimir (2020). "Pitanje broja žrtava logora Jasenovac u hrvatskoj i srpskoj historiografiji, publicistici i javnosti nakon raspada SFR Jugoslavije – činjenice, kontroverze i manipulacije". Journal of Contemporary History (in Croatian). 52 (2). Croatian Institute of History: 517–585. doi:10.22586/csp.v52i2.11253. ISSN 0590-9597. Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- Odak, Stipe; Benčić, Andriana (2016). "Jasenovac – A Past That Does Not Pass: The Presence of Jasenovac in Croatian and Serbian Collective Memory of Conflict". East European Politics and Societies. 30 (4). SAGE Publications: 805–829. doi:10.1177/0888325416653657. S2CID 148091289. Archived from the original on 2022-12-22. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- Kasapović, Mirjana (2018). "Genocid u NDH: Umanjivanje, banaliziranje i poricanje zločina". Croatian Political Science Review (in Croatian). 55 (1). Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb: 7–33. doi:10.20901/pm.55.1.01. ISSN 0032-3241. Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- Geiger, Vladimir (2013). "Brojidbeni pokazatelji o žrtvama logora Jasenovac, 1941–1945. (procjene, izračuni, popisi)". Journal of Contemporary History (in Croatian). 45 (2). Croatian Institute of History. ISSN 0590-9597. Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- Mataušić, Nataša (2000). "O koncentracionom logoru Jasenovac". Informatica Museologica. 31 (1–2). Zagreb: Museum Documentation Centre. ISSN 1849-4277. Archived from the original on 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
- Vukušić, Tomo (2006). "Mostarski biskup Alojzije Mišić za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata". Church in the World. 41 (3). Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split. ISSN 1848-9656. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
- Ajduković, Mirjana (October 2006). "The Activity of Diana Budisavljević with the child victims of World War II". Annual of Social Work. 13 (1). Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. ISSN 1848-7971. Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- Sobolevski, Mihael (1993). "Suppressed truth – The war victims on the territory of former Yugoslavia 1941–1945". Journal of Contemporary History. 25 (2–3). Croatian Institute of History. Archived from the original on 2021-02-20. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
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News sources
- Hockenos, Paul (2016-05-06). "Croatia's Far Right Weaponizes the Past". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
- Freund, Michael (4 May 2016). "Remembering Croatia's 'Auschwitz of the Balkans'". The Jerusalem Post.
- Freund, Michael (30 May 2013). "Time to confront Croatia's hidden Holocaust". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015.
- Higham, Nick (29 November 2001). "Croatian holocaust still stirs controversy". BBC News. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- Hawton, Nick; Kovac, Marko (25 April 2005). "Balkan 'Auschwitz' haunts Croatia". BBC News. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
No one really knows how many died here. Serbs talk of 700,000. Most estimates put the figure nearer 100,000.
- Despot, Zvonimir (2012-02-09). "Kako je osnovan prvi ustaški logor u NDH". Večernji list. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01.
- Pavliša, Mija (2018-11-11). "Revizionisti pokušavaju Hrvate napraviti kolektivno odgovornim za zločine u Jasenovcu, a to je civilizacijska sramota". tportal.hr. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
- Krušelj, Željko (23 April 2005). "Kako je Živanović 284 kostura pretvorio u 700.000 žrtava" [How Živanović turned 284 skeletons into 700,000 victims]. Vjesnik (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- Krušelj, Željko (29 November 2001). "Jasenovačka zbirka na putu u Hrvatsku" [Jasenovac collection on the way to Croatia]. Večernji list.
- Jovanović, Nenad (11 May 2013). "Dragan Cvetković: Jasenovac je paradigma stradanja". Novosti (Croatia). Retrieved 3 March 2022.
Websites
- "Official Website of the Jasenovac Memorial Site". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- "List of individual victims of Jasenovac concentration camp". Jasenovac Memorial Site. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- "Holocaust Encyclopedia: Jasenovac". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
Further reading
- Witness to Jasenovac's Hell. Ilija Ivanović (with Wanda Schindley, ed.), Aleksandra Lazic (translator), Dallas Publishing, 2002
- Ustasha Camps by Mirko Percen, Globus, Zagreb, 1966; 2nd expanded printing 1990.
- Ustashi and the Independent State of Croatia 1941–1945, by Fikreta Jelić-Butić, Liber, Zagreb, 1977.
- Romans, J. Jews of Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Victims of Genocide and Freedom Fighters, Belgrade, 1982
- Antisemitism in the anti-fascist Holocaust: a collection of works, The Jewish Center, Zagreb, 1996.
- Miletić, Antun (1986a). Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac 1941–1945: dokumenta. Vol. I (second ed.). Beograd: Narodna knjiga.
- — (1986b). Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac 1941–1945: dokumenta. Vol. II (second ed.). Beograd: Narodna knjiga.
- — (1986c). Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac 1941–1945: dokumenta. Vol. III (second ed.). Beograd: Narodna knjiga.
- Hell's Torture Chamber by Đjorđe Milica, Zagreb, 1945.
- Die Besatzungszeit das Genozid in Jugoslawien 1941–1945 by Vladimir Umeljić, Graphics High Publishing, Los Angeles, CA, 1994.
- Srbi i genocidni XX vek (Serbs and 20th century, Ages of Genocide) by Vladimir Umeljić, (vol 1, vol 2), Magne, Belgrade, 2004
- Kaputt, by Curzio Malaparte; translated by Cesare Foligno, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, IL, 1999.
- Der kroatische Ustascha-Staat 1941–1945, by Ladislaus Hory and Martin Broszat, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1964.
- Novak, Viktor (2011). Magnum Crimen: Half a Century of Clericalism in Croatia. Vol. 1. Jagodina: Gambit. ISBN 9788676240494.
- — (2011). Magnum Crimen: Half a Century of Clericalism in Croatia. Vol. 2. Jagodina: Gambit. ISBN 9788676240494.
- Dizdar, Zdravko (1997). Tko je tko u NDH Hrvatska 1941–1945. Zagreb: Minerva. ISBN 953-6377-03-9.
- Mataušić, Nataša (2003). Jasenovac 1941–1945: logor smrti i radni logor. Javna ustanova Spomen-područje Jasenovac. ISBN 978-953-99169-0-7.
- Ramet, Sabrina P. (2011). Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-27830-1.
- Schindley, Wanda; Makara, Petar, eds. (2005). Jasenovac: Proceedings of the First International Conference and Exhibit on the Jasenovac Concentration Camps. Dallas Publishing. ISBN 9780912011646.
- Nikodijević, Dušan (2021). Jasenovac između broja i žrtve [Jasenovac Between the Number and the Victim.] (PDF) (in Serbian) (2nd ed.). Belgrade: Muzej žrtava genocida . ISBN 978-86-86831-74-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2024.
External links
- US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Jasenovac
- Concentration camp Jasenovac Archived 2019-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Archives of Republika Srpska
- Jasenovac Committee of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church
- Eichmann Trial – Alexander Arnon testimony
- Unscrambling the History of a Nazi Camp, The New York Times, 6 December 2006
- New expanded Jasenovac Memorial opened
- Spomenik Database – Monument at Jasenovac educational & historical resource
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45°16′54″N 16°56′6″E / 45.28167°N 16.93500°E / 45.28167; 16.93500
Categories:- Jasenovac concentration camp
- Concentration camps of the Independent State of Croatia
- History of Slavonia
- History of the Serbs of Croatia
- History of the Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Persecution of Serbs
- Massacres of Serbs
- Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
- Jewish Croatian history
- Romani genocide