{"id":1786,"date":"2021-08-31T20:10:51","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T18:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/the-system-of-prison-camps-in-ndh\/"},"modified":"2021-08-31T21:28:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T19:28:49","slug":"the-system-of-prison-camps-in-ndh","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/en\/the-system-of-prison-camps-in-ndh\/","title":{"rendered":"The system of prison camps in NDH"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section css=”.vc_custom_1628860542178{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-color: #353234 !important;}”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

THE ESTABLISHMENT<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 THE MAIN CAMPS<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_id=”theestablishment” css=”.vc_custom_1630433734612{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-color: rgba(189, 187, 187, 0.58) !important;*background-color: rgba(189,187, 187, 0.58) !important;}”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_name=”Text area” css=”.vc_custom_1628861801859{padding-bottom: 10px !important;background-color: rgba(189, 187, 187, 0.58) !important;*background-color: rgba(189,187, 187, 0.58) !important;}”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1630433716938{padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_name=”The establishment”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

THE ESTABLISHMENT<\/h3>\n

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Immediately upon the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia on 10 April 1941, the Usta\u0161e <\/em>authorities set out to erect an ethnically, racially, and religiously pure state. The demographic groups that were proclaimed undesirable, starting with the Serbs, Jews, and Roma people, began to experience brutal repression, which included various kinds of restrictions, persecution, incarceration, and mass murder. One of the main building blocks of this terror comprised concentration camps, which began to be established immediately upon the Usta\u0161e<\/em>\u2019s seizure of power. Over the next few years of the existence of the NDH<\/em>, there were around 30 camps in its territory, under Croatian, German, and Italian control. They differed in character, that is, purpose, although many of them served multiple purposes. The first to come into operation were so-called \u201cgathering camps\u201d (sabirni logori<\/em>), which served as gathering sites for all those slated for deportation out of the NDH<\/em>. The second group comprised camps where prisoners were brought to perform various kinds of work tasks (\u201clabour camps\u201d, radni logori<\/em>). In these camps, death came as a result of hard living conditions and exhaustion through gruelling work, but also at the hands of camp guards. The third group comprised the so-called \u201cdeath camps\u201d (logori smrti<\/em>), the sole purpose of which, in line with their designation, was physical annihilation.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629387980054{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1630433815451{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]Jews from Zagreb marked with badges showing the Star of David<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\"\"<\/p>\n

The organisation of the camps was under the jurisdiction of the NDH<\/em>\u2019s Ministry of the Interior, that is, its Directorate for Public Order and Safety (Ravnateljstvo za javni red i sigurnost<\/em>, RAVSIGUR<\/em>) and the Usta\u0161e<\/em> Supervisory Service (Usta\u0161ka nadzorna slu\u017eba, UNS<\/em>), that is, its Section III. Oversight of all camps in the territory of the NDH<\/em> was entrusted to the Usta\u0161e <\/em>Defence Service Command (Zapovjedni\u0161tvo Usta\u0161ke obrambene slu\u017ebe<\/em>), as the executive arm of the UNS <\/em>Section 3. The main figures in the establishment of the camp system were Eugen Dido Kvaternik as the director of RAVSIGUR<\/em> and commander of UNS<\/em> and Vjekoslav Maks Luburi\u0107 as head of UNS <\/em>Section 3 and commander of all Usta\u0161e <\/em>camps in the NDH<\/em>.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_id=”themaincamps” css=”.vc_custom_1630433869098{padding-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1628861699483{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_name=”Text area”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1630433999192{padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_name=”The Main Camps”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

THE MAIN CAMPS<\/h3>\n
DANICA<\/h5>\n

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The first Usta\u0161e <\/em>camp was established on 15 April 1941 at \u201cDanica\u201d, a disused factory near Koprivnica. Although its prisoners were subject to various kinds of mistreatment, from physical abuse to forced labour and malnourishment, no mass killings were perpetrated at Danica. However, when the camp reached \u201cfull capacity\u201d in late June, prisoners began to be transferred to Gospi\u0107 as the hub of a new system of prison camps.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388054755{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1630434042874{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]The former site of the camp at Danica<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_name=”Gospi\u0107” css=”.vc_custom_1628863519765{background-color: rgba(189, 187, 187, 0.58) !important;*background-color: rgba(189,187, 187, 0.58) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

GOSPI\u0106<\/h5>\n

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Unlike the camp at Danica, the network of camps centred at Gospi\u0107 operated with the exclusive purpose of physical extermination. For that purpose, camps or, rather, execution sites were established at Jadovno in the mountains of Velebit, as well as Slana and Metajna on the island of Pag. Upon reaching Gospi\u0107 in cattle cars, Serbs, Jews, Roma people, and communists from across the NDH<\/em> were taken to one of the execution sites, where they did not stay for long. Most of them were executed in Velebit (Jadovno) and thrown into one of the many surrounding pits. Some prisoners were taken to Karlobag and then shipped to the island of Pag. There, the men were separated from the women and taken to the camps at Slana or Metajna.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388181346{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1630434109516{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]The former site of the camp at Metajna on the island of Pag<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\"\"<\/p>\n

In addition to mass murders, the Usta\u0161e <\/em>also subjected their female Serb and Jewish prisoners to daily ordeals of rape. The prison camp system centred at Gospi\u0107 was dismantled in late August 1941, when the Italians occupied that part of the NDH<\/em>. There are no precise data regarding the number of victims, with estimates ranging from 15,000 to 40,000, mostly ethnic Serbs and Jews.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_name=”Other Camps in the NDH”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

OTHER CAMPS IN NDH<\/h5>\n

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The camp at Loborgrad <\/strong>(Hrvatsko Zagorje) went into operation in September 1941 and kept running until October 1942. This camp imprisoned mostly women, mainly Jewish and Serb. Most of the Jewish women were deported from this camp to Auschwitz, while Serb and Croat women were transferred to Jasenovac. In \u0110akovo<\/strong>, there was a camp running between winter 1941 and summer 1942, when all of its prisoners were transferred to the Jasenovac camp. Under the Croatian Banovina (an autonomous province within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), a penal facility had been established at Kru\u0161\u010dica<\/strong> near Travnik for political prisoners, mostly communists. Upon the establishment of the NDH<\/em>, the facility was turned into a concentration camp, which would remain in operation until the end of 1941. In addition to the camps mentioned above, the NDH <\/em>authorities also ran major camps at Tenja <\/strong>near Osijek, Sisak, Jastrebarsko, Gornja Rijeka <\/strong>near Kri\u017eevci<\/strong>, etc.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388237598{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388220857{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Loborgrad<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Apart from the camps run by the Usta\u0161e <\/em>regime, there were several camps in the territory of the NDH<\/em> that were run by Nazi Germany (Zemun\/Semlin, Jankomir, Vinkovci\/Winkowitz, Sisak\/Sissek<\/strong>) and fascist Italy (Kampor <\/strong>on the island of Rab, Molat\/Melada, Kraljevica\/Porto Re, Bra\u010d\/Brazza, Hvar\/Lesina, Gru\u017e\/Gravosa, Lopud\/Mezzo, <\/strong>etc.).<\/p>\n

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JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP<\/h5>\n

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By area, the number of prisoners, and the number of victims, the largest camp in the territory of the NDH<\/em> was located near the village of Jasenovac. The surviving prisoners from the Gospi\u0107 network of camps were taken first to Jastrebarsko as a transit camp and then, on 23 August 1941, to the newly established camp at Jasenovac. Until its demise in late April 1945, Jasenovac was the main and largest camp in the territory controlled by the NDH<\/em>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388249884{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388273418{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Jasenovac<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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In terms of purpose, it was a combination of a labour and death camp, in other words, its prisoners were made to perform various kinds of hard work, but there were mass executions. The Usta\u0161e <\/em>murdered their prisoners at Jasenovac with firearms and sharp and blunt objects, by hanging, smashing their heads with mallets, starvation, and exhaustion through hard manual work.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” el_name=”Themes we cover – Jasenovac” css=”.vc_custom_1630437858348{margin-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1525096300190{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]