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{{redirect6|Jasenovac|municipality in Croatia|Jasenovac municipality|other uses|Jasenovac (disambiguation)}} {{redirect6|Jasenovac|municipality in Croatia|Jasenovac municipality|other uses|Jasenovac (disambiguation)}}


The Jasenovac camp complex consisted of five detention facilities established between August 1941 and February 1942 by the authorities of the so-called Independent State of Croatia. As Germany and its Axis allies invaded and dismembered Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Germans and the Italians endorsed the proclamation of the so-called Independent State of Croatia by the fanatically nationalist, fascist, separatist, and terrorist Ustaša organization on April 10, 1941.
'''Jasenovac concentration camp''' (], ]: ''Logor Jasenovac''; ]: Логор Јасеновац) was the largest ] in the ] (NDH) 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 enemy of the NDH. The camp also held ]s, ], and large numbers of ] resistance members, most notably ]. <ref>Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, ed. in chief Israel Gutman, Macmillan, New York
and London, 1990 - entry Jasenovac</ref>


After seizing power, the Ustaša authorities erected numerous concentration camps in Croatia between 1941 and 1945. These camps were used to isolate and murder Jews, Serbs, Roma (also known as Gypsies), and other non-Catholic minorities, as well as Croatian political and religious opponents of the regime. The largest of these centers was the Jasenovac complex, a string of five camps on the bank of the Sava River, about 60 miles south of Zagreb. It is presently estimated that the Ustaša regime murdered between 56,000 and 97,000 people in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945.
Jasenovac was a complex of five subcamps <ref></ref> spread over {{convert|240|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} on the banks of the ] river. The largest camp was at ], about {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of ]. The complex also included large grounds at ] directly across the ], a ] in ] to the northwest, and a ] to the southeast.


== Background ==
===NDH Legislation===
Some of the first legal orders of the NDH reflected the acceptance of the ideology of ] and ], with an emphasis placed on Croatian national issues. The "Legal order for the defense of the people and the state" dated April 17, 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 April 30, 1941, as well as the "Order of the creation and definition of the racial-political committee" dated June 4, 1941. These decrees were enforced not only through the regular court system, but also through new special courts and mobile court-martials with extended jurisdiction
In July, 1941, when existing jails could no longer contain the growing number of new inmates, the Ustaša government began clearing the ground for what would become the Jasenovac concentration camp.<ref>For Ustase regulations and legistrations, 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>


In late August 1941, the Croat authorities established the first two camps of the Jasenovac complex -- Krapje and Brocica. These two camps were closed four months later. The other three camps in the complex were: Ciglana, established in November 1941 and dismantled in April 1945; Kozara, established in February 1942 and dismantled in April 1945; and Stara Gradiška, which had been an independent holding center for political prisoners since the summer of 1941 and was converted into a concentration camp for women in the winter of 1942.
===Nazi Germany===


The camps were guarded by Croatian political police and personnel of the Ustasa militia, which was the paramilitary organization of the Ustaša movement.
The Independent State of Croatia was created and supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It thus adopted their racial and political doctrines. Jasenovac had a role in the Nazi "final solution"; it was also used, however, in the ethnic cleansing of Romany and Serbian inhabitants.
The Nazi institutions that directed the Ustase's death camps were:
*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".
*The Reichfuhrung and the Wehrmacht.
The competition between the different authorities would not usually benefit the Jews, but actually caused each to try and excell past it's competitors in maltreatment of Jews and others.
The Nazis encouraged the Ustase's anti-Jewish and anti-Roma actions and showed support for the anti-Serb policy. Soon, the Nazis began to make clear their genocidal goals, as shown by the speech Hitler gave to ], at their meeting on July, 21, 1941:
<blockquote>
The Jews are the bane of the human kind. If the Jews will be allowed to do as they will, like they are permitted in their Soviet heaven, than 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>
</blockquote>


In the Wansee Conference, it was established that Germany would offer to the Croatian government to transport its Jews southwards, but the same conference seemed to question 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>
Conditions in the Jasenovac camps were horrendous. Prisoners received minimal food. Shelter and sanitary facilities were totally inadequate. Worse still, the guards cruelly tortured, terrorized, and murdered prisoners at will.


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>Dj. Schwartz, p. 301</ref>. Kasche's emissary, Major Knehe, visited the camp in February 6, 1942. Kasche thereafter reported to his superiors:
Between its establishment in 1941 and its evacuation in April 1945, Croat authorities murdered thousands of people at Jasenovac. Among the victims were: between 45,000 and 52,000 Serb residents of the so-called Independent State of Croatia; between 8,000 and 20,000 Jews; between 8,000 and 15,000 Roma (Gypsies); and between 5,000 and 12,000 ethnic Croats and Muslims, who were political and religious opponents of the regime.
<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>Shelach, p. 195.</ref>
</blockquote>
It thus appears that the Nazis inspected Jasenovac, possibly due to doubts they had about Ustase devotion to the extermination of Jews. Kasche wrote the following:"The Poglavnik asks General Bader to realize that the Jasenovac camp cannot receive the refugees of 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- 105</ref>.


The Croat authorities murdered between 330,000 and 390,000 ethnic Serb residents of Croatia and Bosnia during the period of Ustaša rule; more than 30,000 Croatian Jews were killed either in Croatia or at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
It is unclear whether Jasenovac was to be used primarily as a death camp in its own right, like Sajmiste, or more as a collection depot from which Jews would be transported to ]. ] 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 eiter the complex at large. or, when refering 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>


Between 1941 and 1943, Croat authorities deported Jews from throughout the so-called Independent State to Jasenovac and shot many of them at the nearby killing sites of Granik and Gradina. The camp complex management spared those Jews who possessed special skills or training, such as physicians, electricians, carpenters, and tailors. In two deportation operations, in the summer of 1942 and in March 1943, Croat authorities permitted the Germans to transfer most of Croatia's surviving Jews (about 7,000 in total), including most of those still alive in Jasenovac, to Auschwitz-Birkenau in German-occupied Poland.
Soon thereafter, German suspicions were renewed that the Ustaše was more concerned with the elimination of Serbs than Jews, and that Italian and Catholic pressure was dissuading the Ustase 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>


As the Partisan Resistance Movement under the command of Communist leader Josip Tito approached Jasenovac in late April 1945, several hundred prisoners rose against the camp guards. Many of the prisoners were killed; a few managed to escape. The guards murdered most of the surviving prisoners before dismantling the last three Jasenovac camps in late April. The Partisans overran Jasenovac in early May 1945.
The Nazis therefore revisited the possibility of transporting Jews to Auschwitz for liquidation, 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> Yet, Jasenovac remained as place where Jews who cannot be deported will be interned and killed: In this way, while Jews were deportated 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 Eichmann, saying that the Jews will first be collected in Stara-Gradiska,and that "Jews employed in 'forced labor' in Ustase camps", mentioning only Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska," will not be deportated".<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 red-cross delegation. Kasche wrote: "Schmidlin 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>


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, which has been and remains influenced by ethnic tension, religious prejudice, and ideological conflict. The estimates offered here are based on the work of several historians who have used census records as well as whatever documentation was available in German, Croat, and other archives in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.
==Creation and operation of Jasenovac concentration camp==
The Jasenovac complex was built between August 1941 and February 1942. The first two camps, ] and ], were closed in November 1941. <ref> Encyclopedioa of the Holocaust (1990) Israel Gutman edition, page 739-740)</ref>


As more documents become accessible and more research is conducted into the records of the Ustaša regime, historians and demographers may be able to determine more precise figures than are now available.
The three newer camps continued to function until the end of the war:
* Ciglana (Jasenovac III)
* Kozara (Jasenovac IV)
* ] (Jasenovac V)

<!-- Deleted image removed: ] defence / Collection camp no. 3"]] -->
The camp was constructed, managed and supervised by Department III of the ''] Narodna Služba'' or ''UNS'' (lit. "] People's Service"), a special police force of the ]. ] 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 Ustaše interned, tortured and executed men, women and children in Jasenovac. {{Fact|please give a reliable source for this assertion.|]|date=October 2008}} The largest number of victims were ], but other victims included ]s, ]<ref>*—Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals, Sarajevo. ]. October 2006. (Holocaust Studies)
</ref>,], and ] resistance members opposed to the regime (i.e. ] or their sympathizers, categorized by the Ustaše 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 Gypsies 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: ] -->

===Living conditions===

The living conditions in the camp evidenced the severity typical in Nazi death camps: a meager diet, deplorable accommodations, and cruel behavior by the Ustaše 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>

*'''Food''': Again, typical of Nazi 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 Brocice, 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 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, 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 water. Prisoners were forced to drink water from the Sava river contaminated with ''ren'' (]). <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, Brocice and Krapje, inmates slept in standard concentration-camp barracks, with three tiers of bunks. In Camp No. III, which housed some 3,000 inmates, 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 concentrated to die or be liquidated. <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 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 too had to toil some 11 hours of hard forced labor, under the eye of the Ustasa captors, who would execute any inmate for most trivial reasons, alledgly for "sabotaging labor"<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 Ustasas Hinko Dominik Picilli and Tihomir Kordic, when the first would personally lash inmates 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 and etc... The inmates would parish of the hard work, of which brickworks are considered 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>. Work in blacksmiths was also not idle, since the inmates forged the Ustasa knives and other weapons<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>. and work in the construction of dikes was 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, squallor and lack of sanitation reigned: clutter, blood, vomit and bodies filled the barracks, which were also full of pests and of the foul scent of the pail in which natural needs were done in the evening. The bucket tended to spil its content.<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 health impairment that led to epidemics of Typhus, Typhoid, Malaria, Pleuritis, Fluenza, Disentary and Diphteria.<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>Schwartz, p. 311 </ref>)inmates were allowed to empty their bowles in public latrines, which consisted of big pits that laid bare in the open field, covered in planks. Inmates would tend to fall inside, and often parish. The Ustase encouraged this by either having internees seperate the planks, or by physcially drowning inmates inside. The pit would overflow of floods and rains, and was also drained into the lake, from which water were 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 rags and blankets were 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 seldomnly and poorly cleansed, as inmates were alloted 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 few clothes were insufficently boiled<ref>Schwartz, p. 311 </ref>.
*'''Lack of personal possesions''': The inmates were striped of their belongings and wearings. As inmates, none was given to them other than inmate-clothing, made out of rags. 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 (stoln in order to do feces in it) would recieve no food. <ref>Schwartz, p. 324</ref> During delegations visits, inmates were given bowls twice 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 nigh 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 Ustase would fuel this shock by liquidating a number of inmates on arrival and by temporarly housing new-arrivals in warehouses, attics, in the train tunnel and outdoors.<ref>State-commission, p. 16-18</ref> After the inmates grew fimiliar of 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 mete punishment of death facing the rest. The Ustase would intesify this by prolonging the proccess, patroling 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, 3rd may 1998. "War crimes revive as Croat faces possible trail"</ref>As inmates, people could react to the Ustase 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 to completly dehumanize the inmates. However, some of these inmates became in this way utterly primitive, as their whole life revolved around committing orders and eating a bowl of soup. Thus they became "muselmans": physically appearing as living skeletons, but mentally stripped of their humanity beyond hope of salvation. All inmates suffered from psychological phenomena to some extent: obssesive 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, alike Nikola Nikolic, Djuro Schawrtz and Ilija Ivanovic, 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>

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.

===Mass murder and cruelty===
] militia for the speedy killing of inmates in concentration camps.]]

In the late summer of 1942, tens of thousands of Serbian villagers were deported to Jasenovac from the ] mountain area (in ]) where ] forces were fighting against the ]. <ref>see: M. Shelach, "History of the holocaust: Yugoslavia", pp. 432-434</ref> Most of the men were killed at Jasenovac, but women were sent to forced labor in ]. Children were taken from their mothers and either killed or dispersed to Catholic orphanages.<ref>Ibidem, pp. 192, 196 </ref>

On the night of August 29, 1942, the prison guards made bets among themselves as to who could liquidate the largest number of inmates. One of the guards, ], reportedly cut the throats of about 1,360 new arrrivals with a butcher knife that became known as '']'' ("Serb-cutter"). Other participants who confessed to participating in the bet included Ante Zrinusic, who killed some 600 inmates<ref>Dinko Sakic trial, Ljubomir Saric testimony,15.4.1999, at: http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/hinanews/arhiva/9904/hina-15-g.html</ref>, and Mile Friganovic, 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> Friganovic 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 Ante Pavelic, which the old man refused to do, although Friganovic cut off his ears, nose and toungue 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 Nikolic. <ref>Avro Manhatten, ''The Vatican's Holocaust'', p. 48. </ref>

===Systematic extermination of prisoners===
Besides sporadic killings and deaths due to the poor living conditions, many inmates arriving at Jasenovac were scheduled for systematic liquidation. An important criterion for selection was the duration of a prisoner's anticipated detention. Strong men capable of labor and sentenced to less than 3 years of incarceration were allowed to live. All inmates with indeterminate sentences or sentences of 3 years or more were immediately scheduled for liquidation, 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 Manhatten, ''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>

Systematic extermination varied both as to place and form. Some of the executionss were mechanical, following Nazi methodology, while others were manual. The mechanical means of extermination included:

*'''Cremation''': The Ustase 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.

*'''Gassing and poisoning''': The Ustase, in following the Nazi example, as set in Auschwitz and Sajmiste, tried to utilize poisonous gas to kill inmates that arrived in Stara-Gradiska. They first tried to gas the women and children that arrived from camp Djakovo with gas-vans that Simo Klaic addressed as "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 Zyklon-B and Sulphur monoxide <ref> http://www.reformation.org/archive.html , Alberto Rivera testimony from: "The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican"</ref> <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:
"Q. And what did you do with the children
A. The weaker ones we poisoned
Q. How?
A. We led them into a yard... and into it we threw gas
Q. What gas?
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, the Ustase's favorites, were liquidation that took part in utilizing sharp or blunt craftsmen tools: knives, saws, hammers and et cetera. These liquidations 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 Axis expected defeat, were large. Therefore, the "Maks" Luburic devised a plan to utilize the crane as a gallow on which slaughter would be committed, so that the bodies could be dumped into the stream of the flowing river. In the autumn, the Ustase 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 than taken to the "Granik", where ballasts 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 were cut ere they were tossed into the river alive.<ref>Regarding "Granik", see: www.jasenovac.org/whatwasjasenovac.php
and compare with Egon Berger testimony here: www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/007.shtml
</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>
*'''Gradina''': The Ustase 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 Ustase 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>
*'''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 liquidated at the Sava bank in between the two locations.
*'''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 are 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>.

==End of the camp==
In April 1945, as ] units approached the camp, the Ustaše camp supervisors attempted to erase traces of the atrocities by working the death camp at full capacity. On April 22, 600 prisoners revolted; 520 were killed and 80 escaped.<ref></ref> Before abandoning the camp shortly after the prisoner revolt, the Ustaše killed the remaining prisoners, blasted and destroyed the buildings, guardhouses, torture rooms, the "Picili Furnace", and the other structures. Upon entering the camp, the partisans found only ruins, soot, smoke, and dead bodies.

During the following months of 1945, the grounds of Jasenovac were thoroughly destroyed by prisoners of war. The ] captured 200 to 600 ] members.
Laborers completed destruction of the camp, leveling the site and dismantling the two-kilometer long, four-meter high wall that surrounded it.

==Victims==
===Total Number===
Historians have had difficulty calculating the number of victims at Jasenovac.
Estimates of total deaths range from tens of thousands of deaths, which is the most commonly cited contemporary figure {{Fact|date=November 2008}}, to hundreds of thousands, which was the most common estimate prior to the 1990s.{{Fact|date=July 2008}}

The estimates vary due to lack of accurate records, the methods used for making estimates, and sometimes the political ]es 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.

===Victim Lists===
*The Jasenovac Memorial Area maintains a list of the names of 69,842 Jasenovac victims, including 39,580 Serbs, 14,599 Romanies, 10,700 Jews, 3,462 Croats, as well as people of some other ethnicities. The memorial estimates total deaths at 85,000 to 100,000. Former director Simo Brdar, however, estimated that at least 360,000 people died at the camp. <ref></ref>

*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.{{Fact|date=November 2007}}. Milan Bulajic, former director, estimates total deaths at 500,000-700,000.

*The Jasenovac Research Institute estimates 300-700,000 deaths at the camp.

*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"/>

*In 1998, the Bosniak Institute published ]'s final ''List of war victims from the Jasenovac camp'' (created in 1992).<ref name = "Bosniak">Bošnjački Institut. ''Jasenovac: Žrtve rata prema podacima statističkog zavoda Jugoslavije''. Bošnjački Institut Sarajevo, Sarajevo 1998.</ref> The list contained the names of 49,602 victims at Jasenovac, including 26,170 Serbs, 8,121 Jews, 5,900 Croats, 1471 Romanies, 787 Muslims (nationality unknown), 6,792 of unidentifiable ethnicity, and some listed simply as "others".<ref name = "Bosniak"/>

===Estimates by Holocaust institutions===
] side of the Sava river]]
The Yad Vashem center claims that over 500,000 Serbs were killed in the NDH <ref>http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205930.pdf</ref>, including those who were killed at Jasenovac, where approximately 600,000 victims of all ethnicities were killed. <ref> ]</ref> Some Croatian commentators and holocaust revisionists have criticized these victim counts as exaggerated. <ref></ref><ref>Marijana Cota, “The Šakić Case - Disinformation and Ill Will”, The Home Club of the Bosnian Posavina, Zagreb 1999, p. 136.</ref>. The same figures are concluded by the Simon-Wiesentall center.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, also citated in quote by the Jewish virtual library, the victim figures are as follows: <ref></ref>

<blockquote>Between its establishment in 1941 and its evacuation in April 1945, Croat authorities murdered thousands of people at Jasenovac. Among the victims were: between 45,000 and 52,000 Serb residents of the so-called Independent State of Croatia; between 8,000 and 20,000 Jews; between 8,000 and 15,000 Roma (Gypsies); and between 5,000 and 12,000 ethnic Croats and Muslims, who were political and religious opponents of the regime.

The Croat authorities murdered between 330,000 and 390,000 ethnic Serb residents of Croatia and Bosnia during the period of Ustaša rule; more than 30,000 Croatian Jews were killed either in Croatia or at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
</blockquote>

===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 on the other. There are also sources originating from the documentation of the Ustase themselves and of the Vatican. These sources are in times considered contemporary because German and Ustase sources tend to exaggerate, but the comparison of all different sources can give a reliable portrayt of the historical truth.

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 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>
"A third must become Catholic, a third must leave the country, and a third must die!" This last point of their program was accomplished. When prominent Ustasha leaders claimed that they slaughtered a million Serbs (including babies, children, women and the elderly), 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. (Neubacher, Dr. Hermann. Special Assignment in the Southeast, p. 18-30.)
</blockquote>

Italian generals, who were more overwhelmed by the atrocious Ustase slaughter, also reported of similar figures to their commanders <ref>Le Operazioni della unita Italiane in Jugislavja. Rome 1978. pp. 141-148</ref>. The Vatican's sources also speak of similar figures, E.g. of 350,000 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" at all (Godfried Danneels.<ref>Brussels, Vatican's radio, interview in October 20, 1994. See in: Carl Savich column on Serbianna.com, front page, Jasenovac: www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/007.shtml</ref>)
)
The Ustase themselves gave more` exaggerated assuptions of the number of people they killed. ], commander-in-chief of all the Croatian camps, announced the great "efficiency" of the Jasenovac camp at a ceremony on October 9, 1942 (keep in mind that Jasenovac operated until 1945). During the banquet which followed, he reported with pride: "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 satelite Croatia", P. 132</ref>. Although the account may appear somewhat exgratted, its veracity can be found in several other Ustase accounts: 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 Filipovic-Majstorovic, once captured by Yugoslav forces, addmitted, in attempt to somewaht minimize the rate of crimes committed in Jasenovac (e.g. Miroslav claimed to have personally killed 100 people, extremlly understated<ref>Sakic trail, testimony of Simo Klaic, 23.3.99,http://public.carnet.hr/sakic/hinanews/arhiva/9903/hina-23-m.html </ref>), that during his three months of administration, 20,000 to 30,000 people died <ref>State-commission, p. 62</ref>, whereas in other sources it is displayed as 40,000 <ref>Avro Manhatten, "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>.

A report of the National Committee of ] for the investigation of the crimes of the occupation forces and their collaborators, dated November 15, 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 estimates were supported by the government of Yugoslavia while it existed.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} These figures were cited by researcher Israel Gutman in the '']'', by the ] and others. Proponents of these numbers were subsequently accused of artificially inflating them for purpose of obtaining ]. All in all, The state-commission's report appears to be authentic, since it matches all other sources regarding to the atrocities committed in Jasenovac.

===Forensic sources===
In the 1960s, exhumations of bodies and use of sampling methods was conducted at Jasenovac by a team of researchers. The team consisted of anthropologists, medical doctors, archaeologists and other experts, who had experience in similar research at ] and used the same methods. During the ], Serbian anthropologist, Srboljub Živanović, published what he claimed were the full results of the studies, which had been suppressed by Tito's government in the name of ], in order to put less emphasis on the crimes of the 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. Other team members assert that the Jasenovac researchers never discussed victim counts in preparing their report. Thus Zerjavic's estimations are considered not trust-worthy. However the number, of some 300,000 bodies being found and exhumed is considered reliable<ref></ref><ref>Shelach, p. 189 </ref>

===Statistical estimates===
In the 1980s, calculations were done independently by Croat economist ] and Serb statistician ], who each 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 claimed that number of victims in the ] was between 300,000 and 350,000, including 80,000 victims in Jasnovac, as well as thousands of deaths in other camps and prisons. Kočović, who made an estimate of the total number of victims, accused Žerjavić of being motivated by nationalism: Zerjavic relies on the writings of Franjo Tudjman, a Croatian nationalist and holocaust revisionist. In the trail of Dinko Sakic, Zerjavic testified that the number of casualties is 85,000, as did Josip Jurcevcic, Sakic's defence witness. As Sakic, who also claimed no mass-atrocities took place in the camp, was indeed found guilty, Jurcevic testimony on the death rate, as that of Zerjavic, are held as non-reliable.

Commentators in Serbia criticized these estimates as too low, since the demographic calculations assumed that the growth rate for Serbs in Bosnia (which was part of the Independent State of Croatia during the war time) 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.

===Various===

Logically, the number of casualties in Jasenovac is affected by several factors:
*'''the camp's size''': Jasenovac was a complex of various camps, including Krapje and Brocice, Ciglana, Stara-Gradiska, Sisak, Djakovo, Jablanac, Mlaka, Draksenic, Gradina and Ustice, Dubica, Kosutarica, Jasenovac's tannery. These camps and mass-grave yards covered 120 square miles. This fact is also important since in the list of nmaes found in the Jasenovac memorial, only 4000 victims are of Stara-Gradiska, which points just how partial the list really is.
*'''The length of the camp's existance''': Jasenovac stood since mid-August 1941 to May 1945. Mass-extermination took place in mass in the whole of 1941-1942, and again in the second half of 1944. From March to December 1943, a "lull" took place when almost no mass-atrocities took place, whilst death due ot health impairment or in indevidual slaugther (to wit, that any gaurd could kill any inmate at any given time) continued.
*'''The camp's classification''': besides being a concentration camp, Jasenovac was an extermination camp. For comparison, Belzec and Kulmhof, both small and both existed for a significantly shorter period of time, exterminated over 300,000 and 128,000 accordingly.
*'''The camp's population''': Jasenovac housed and used as a place of extermination for Serbs, Jews, Roma, Sinti, Slovens and other ethnicities, whereas in all extermination camps only Jews and Roma were exterminated, therefore, the number of casualties should be in accordance.

Additionaly, Crematories were constructed in Jasenovac as back as January 1942, due to difficulties of burial, thus implying the massive death rate at hand there. The same goes for gassing that also took place in Stara-Gradiska later that year, in both chambers and vans.

==Camp officials and their fate==
Some of the camp officials and their post-war fate are listed below:

*], an Ustasa infamous for his command periods in Jasenovac and Stara-Gradiska<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 Sotona" (brother devil) for his cruelty and christian heritage, was captured by the Yugoslav communist forces, tried and executed in 1946.
*] was the commandant of the Ustaska Obrna, or Ustase 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 Ustasa officer who, in the night of August 29, 1942, allegedly slaughtered 1,360 people or so, Brzica's fellow Ustasa 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 Ivica Matkovic, March 1943<ref>State-commission, p. 50,72</ref>. He later fled to the ]. His name was on a list of 59 ] living in the US given by a ]ish organization to the ] during the 1970s. His fate after that is not publicly known.

== Later events ==
Yugoslav Marshal ] never visited the site.<ref></ref>

The Jasenovac Memorial Museum was temporarily abandoned during the ]. In November 1991, ], a former associate director of the Memorial, collected the documentation from the museum and brought it to ]. Brdr kept the documents until 2001, when he transferred them to the ], with the help of ] and the government of ].

Croatian president ] made an official visit to the site in 1994.<ref>], 2002.]</ref>

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.{{Fact|please give a reliable source for this assertion.|]|date=October 2008}}

The Jasenovac Memorial Museum re-opened 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.{{Fact|please give a reliable source for this assertion.|]|date=October 2008}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

== References ==
# ''The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican'', Vladimir Dedijer (Editor), Harvey Kendall (Translator) Prometheus Books, 1992.
# ''Witness to Jasenovac's Hell'' Ilija Ivanovic, Wanda Schindley (Editor), Aleksandra Lazic (Translator) Dallas Publishing, 2002
# ''Crimes in the Jasenovac Camp, State Commission investigation of crimes of the occupiers and their collaborators in Croatia'', Zagreb, 1946.
# ''Ustasha Camps'' by Mirko Percen, Globus, Zagreb, 1966. Second expanded printing 1990.
# ''Ustashi and the Independent State of Croatia 1941-1945'', by Fikreta Jelic-Butic, 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.
# ''The Jasenovac Concentration Camp'', by Antun Miletic, Volumes One and Two, Belgrade, 1986. Volume Three, Belgrade, 1987. Second edition, 1993.
# ''Hell's Torture Chamber'' by Djordje Milica, Zagreb, 1945.
# ''Die Besatzungszeit das Genozid in Jugoslawien 1941-1945'' by Vladimir Umeljic, Graphics High Publishing, Los Angeles, 1994.
# ''Srbi i genocidni XX vek'' (Serbs and XX century, Ages of Genocide) by Vladimir Umeljić, (vol 1, vol 2), Magne, Belgrade, 2004. ISBN 86-903763-1-3
# '']'', by Viktor Novak, Zagreb, 1948.
# ''Kaputt'', by Curzio Malaparte, translated by Cesare Foligno, Nortwestern University Press Evanston, Illinois, 1999.
# ''Der kroatische Ustascha-Staat 1941-1945'', by Ladislaus Hory and ], Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1964.


== See also == == See also ==

Revision as of 06:02, 1 December 2008

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The Jasenovac camp complex consisted of five detention facilities established between August 1941 and February 1942 by the authorities of the so-called Independent State of Croatia. As Germany and its Axis allies invaded and dismembered Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Germans and the Italians endorsed the proclamation of the so-called Independent State of Croatia by the fanatically nationalist, fascist, separatist, and terrorist Ustaša organization on April 10, 1941.

After seizing power, the Ustaša authorities erected numerous concentration camps in Croatia between 1941 and 1945. These camps were used to isolate and murder Jews, Serbs, Roma (also known as Gypsies), and other non-Catholic minorities, as well as Croatian political and religious opponents of the regime. The largest of these centers was the Jasenovac complex, a string of five camps on the bank of the Sava River, about 60 miles south of Zagreb. It is presently estimated that the Ustaša regime murdered between 56,000 and 97,000 people in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945.


In late August 1941, the Croat authorities established the first two camps of the Jasenovac complex -- Krapje and Brocica. These two camps were closed four months later. The other three camps in the complex were: Ciglana, established in November 1941 and dismantled in April 1945; Kozara, established in February 1942 and dismantled in April 1945; and Stara Gradiška, which had been an independent holding center for political prisoners since the summer of 1941 and was converted into a concentration camp for women in the winter of 1942.

The camps were guarded by Croatian political police and personnel of the Ustasa militia, which was the paramilitary organization of the Ustaša movement.


Conditions in the Jasenovac camps were horrendous. Prisoners received minimal food. Shelter and sanitary facilities were totally inadequate. Worse still, the guards cruelly tortured, terrorized, and murdered prisoners at will.


Between its establishment in 1941 and its evacuation in April 1945, Croat authorities murdered thousands of people at Jasenovac. Among the victims were: between 45,000 and 52,000 Serb residents of the so-called Independent State of Croatia; between 8,000 and 20,000 Jews; between 8,000 and 15,000 Roma (Gypsies); and between 5,000 and 12,000 ethnic Croats and Muslims, who were political and religious opponents of the regime.

The Croat authorities murdered between 330,000 and 390,000 ethnic Serb residents of Croatia and Bosnia during the period of Ustaša rule; more than 30,000 Croatian Jews were killed either in Croatia or at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Between 1941 and 1943, Croat authorities deported Jews from throughout the so-called Independent State to Jasenovac and shot many of them at the nearby killing sites of Granik and Gradina. The camp complex management spared those Jews who possessed special skills or training, such as physicians, electricians, carpenters, and tailors. In two deportation operations, in the summer of 1942 and in March 1943, Croat authorities permitted the Germans to transfer most of Croatia's surviving Jews (about 7,000 in total), including most of those still alive in Jasenovac, to Auschwitz-Birkenau in German-occupied Poland.

As the Partisan Resistance Movement under the command of Communist leader Josip Tito approached Jasenovac in late April 1945, several hundred prisoners rose against the camp guards. Many of the prisoners were killed; a few managed to escape. The guards murdered most of the surviving prisoners before dismantling the last three Jasenovac camps in late April. The Partisans overran Jasenovac in early May 1945.

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, which has been and remains influenced by ethnic tension, religious prejudice, and ideological conflict. The estimates offered here are based on the work of several historians who have used census records as well as whatever documentation was available in German, Croat, and other archives in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.

As more documents become accessible and more research is conducted into the records of the Ustaša regime, historians and demographers may be able to determine more precise figures than are now available.

See also

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45°16′54″N 16°56′06″E / 45.28167°N 16.93500°E / 45.28167; 16.93500

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