[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_id=”theestablishment” css=”.vc_custom_1630435516733{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 – The establishment and structure of the camp” css=”.vc_custom_1630435557617{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_1628862925426{padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_name=”Osnivanje”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
THE ESTABLISHMENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE CAMP<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/point_big.png\")
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When Lika and the Croatian Littoral officially became part of the Italian occupation zone in summer 1941, the Usta\u0161e <\/em>authorities were forced to close the system of camps centred at Gospi\u0107. One of the main reasons behind the Italians\u2019 decision to close the camps was the growing insurgency of the local ethnic Serb population and the organised Partisan resistance movement led by the communists, which was likewise gaining strength. It was decided that the new prison camp system should be located near the village of Jasenovac, close to the confluence of the rivers Una and Sava, where the first prisoners began to arrive in late August 1941. The official name of the camp was \u201cUsta\u0161e <\/em>Defence \u2013 Command of the Jasenovac Concentration Camps\u201d (Usta\u0161ka obrana \u2013 Zapovjedni\u010dtvo sabirnih logora Jasenovac<\/em>), but in various documents it is also referred to as \u201cJasenovac Concentration Camp\u201d (Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac<\/em>), \u201cJasenovac Collective Camp\u201d (Sabirni logor Jasenovac<\/em>), and \u201cJasenovac Concentration and Labour Camp\u201d (Sabirni i radni logor Jasenovac<\/em>). Starting from a few barracks surrounded by barbed wire, over the next four years the camp grew into a complex comprising five segments: the sub-camps at Krapje and Bro\u010dice, the sub-camps \u201cCiglana\u201d (Brickworks), \u201cKo\u017eara\u201d, and Stara Gradi\u0161ka. The system of camps at Jasenovac covered an area larger than 200 square kilometres (22,000 hectares or 77 square miles or 49,500 acres).[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388340192{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”] The organisation of the prison camp system at Jasenovac was modelled after that of the Nazi concentration camp at Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg, which means that it served more than one purpose. The latter camp, located outside Berlin, held political and war prisoners, criminals, as well as people considered racially or biologically inferior. They all had to endure torture on a daily basis, including starvation, hard labour, and medical experiments, but were also subjected to mass murder as punishment. In autumn 1941 Sachsenhausen also hosted Vjekoslav Maks Luburi\u0107, who came there for training, before returning to the NDH, <\/em>where he was given an opportunity to implement his newly acquired skills as commander not only of Jasenovac, but of all Usta\u0161e<\/em>-run camps. The prisoners of Jasenovac were forced to work in construction and agriculture, various kinds of workshops, the camp\u2019s brickworks, sawmill, bakery, etc. The conditions of work at the camp were extremely harsh, while the behaviour of the Usta\u0161e <\/em>guards was particularly brutal, which included subjecting inmates to sadistic violence and summary executions on the spot. In addition to these individual murders, throughout the camp\u2019s time in operation the Usta\u0161e <\/em>also subjected inmates to mass killings.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_id=”theinmates” css=”.vc_custom_1630435678691{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 – the inmates” css=”.vc_custom_1630435691719{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1630435703196{padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_name=”The Inmates”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n For the most part, the inmates comprised ethnic Serbs, Roma people, and Jews, whose only \u201cfault\u201d was their ethnic, religious, or racial affiliation. Their deportation to the camps was legalised through a series of official decrees made by the Usta\u0161e <\/em>regime, intended to protect Croatian society from those who were declared enemies of the state. Among those decrees, one should highlight the \u201cLegal Decree concerning the Defence of the People and the State\u201d (Zakonska odredba za obranu naroda i dr\u017eave, <\/em>17 April 1941), \u201cLegal Decree on Racial Affiliation\u201d (Zakonska odredba o rasnoj pripadnosti<\/em>) and \u201cLegal Decree on the Protection of the Aryan Blood and Honour of the Croat People\u201d (Zakonska odredba o za\u0161titi arijske krvi i \u010dasti Hrvatskog naroda<\/em>, 30 April 1941), the \u201cSpecial Legal Decree and Order\u201d by the Poglavnik <\/em>(\u201cLeader\u201d), Ante Paveli\u0107, of 26 June 1941, which stated that whoever was caught spreading rumours about the \u201calleged\u201d persecutions would face the summary court, and the \u201cLegal Decree on the Forced Interment of Undesirable and Dangerous Persons in Concentration and Labour Camps\u201d (25 November 1941), etc.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388388647{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”] Ethnic Croats as well as members of other ethnicities were also brought to the Jasenovac camp, but mainly as political prisoners. The most numerous among them were communists and anti-fascists, dissenting intellectuals, priests, etc.<\/p>\n The first inmates, who arrived in Jasenovac in the summer of 1941, were mostly men, Jewish and Serb. Over time, more and more women were also brought to the camp. They included communists and members of the Partisan movement, but for the most part Serb and Jewish women. Most of the women were held at the Stara Gradi\u0161ka camp, a former penitentiary some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Jasenovac. Along with women, the camp began to accept children as well.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388480844{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”] Separated from their mothers, who were either murdered or sent to forced labour in Germany, some of these children were saved from death through adoption by Croat families, but a significant number of them remained in the camp and fell victim to individual and mass killings.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_id=”thecommanders” css=”.vc_custom_1630435827814{padding-top: 0px !important;background-color: rgba(189, 187, 187, 0.58) !important;*background-color: rgba(189,187, 187, 0.58) !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 – The Commanders” css=”.vc_custom_1630435842035{padding-top: 10px !important;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_1630435852596{padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_name=”The Commanders”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The establishment of the Jasenovac Concentration Camp was a state project of the Usta\u0161e <\/em>regime, which means that the responsibility for the crimes committed there applies to every official of the NDH<\/em>, from the highest to the lowest ranks. This primarily applies to Ante Paveli\u0107<\/strong>, the \u201cleader\u201d (Poglavnik<\/em>) of the NDH<\/em>; Eugen Dido Kvaternik<\/strong>, director of RAVSIGUR <\/em>(Ravnateljstvo za javni red i sigurnost<\/em> \u2013 Directorate of Public Order and Safety), i.e. the central police body of the NDH<\/em>, who was also commander of UNS <\/em>(Usta\u0161ka nadzorna slu\u017eba<\/em> \u2013 Usta\u0161a <\/em>Supervisory Service); Andrija Artukovi\u0107<\/strong>, minister of the interior; Slavko Kvaternik<\/strong>, minister of the armed forces and Paveli\u0107\u2019s deputy, and many other high-ranking political and military officials.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388528524{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”] Maks Luburi\u0107<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] Concerning the direct management of the Concentration Camp and direct responsibility for the living conditions and mass murders of inmates, several names should be singled out. Vjekoslav Maks Luburi\u0107<\/strong>, as head of UNS <\/em>Section III, was also in charge of all Usta\u0161e<\/em>-operated camps in the NDH<\/em>. He often spent time at Jasenovac, supervised the activities, and murdered prisoners by himself. He exhibited his cruelty in numerous instances away from the Jasenovac camp as well, taking part in the persecution and killing of Serbs, partisans, and communists. Ivica Matkovi\u0107<\/strong>\u00a0was a close associate and confidant of Maks Luburi\u0107, and, for a while, the commandant of the camp. He committed a number of mass and individual murders, not only inside the camp itself, but also in the surrounding Serb-populated villages. Ljubo Milo\u0161<\/strong>\u00a0commanded the forced labour unit at Jasenovac III \u2013 Ciglana (the brickworks), before being made deputy commander of the entire camp. For a while, he also served as commandant of the Usta\u0161e <\/em>camp at Lepoglava. He personally murdered prisoners and led \u201ccleaning\u201d operations in Serb-populated villages, and took part in mass atrocities against the Serb population. One of the most brutal commandants of the camp in Jasenovac was a priest, Miroslav Filipovi\u0107 Majstorovi\u0107<\/strong>. Due to his involvement in mass murders of Serbs around Banja Luka, he was dismissed from the Franciscan order, whereupon he joined, at Maks Luburi\u0107\u2019s suggestion, the Usta\u0161a <\/em>Defence, which supervised the operation of all Usta\u0161e<\/em>-run camps. He commanded Jasenovac III \u2013 Ciglana, and then the sub-camp at Stara Gradi\u0161ka. He personally participated in mass and individual executions of prisoners. Likewise noted for his brutality was Ante Vrban <\/strong>as well, who had participated in mass atrocities against ethnic Serbs in Lika and Jews at Jadovno even before coming to Jasenovac. At the Jasenovac camp he murdered prisoners by himself and was remembered by organising mass executions of children. The camp was also commanded by Dinko \u0160aki\u0107<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388541652{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”] Ljubo Milo\u0161<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] Apart from commanding and taking part in the killings, \u0160aki\u0107 was one of the organisers behind the destruction of evidence pertaining to the crimes (digging out and incinerating the corpses) during spring 1945. Dominik Hinko Piccili<\/strong>\u00a0was in charge of forced labour, notorious for his brutal treatment of slave labourers. He designed the makeshift crematorium (Pi\u0107ilijeva pe\u0107, <\/em>\u201cPiccili\u2019s oven\u201d) where prisoners were burnt dead and alive. The crematorium was also used for the destruction of evidence in spring 1945.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_id=”thedismantlingofthecamp” css=”.vc_custom_1630435974785{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 – The dismantling of the camp” css=”.vc_custom_1630435995440{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1630436016804{padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_name=”The dismantling of the camp”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n By spring 1945 it was evident that the Third Reich and its allies were losing the war. Given the Yugoslav Army\u2019s successes in the field, as well as the increasingly intense air raids conducted by the Allies\u2019 air forces against targets around Jasenovac, which were strategically important for the German army\u2019s retreat from the Balkans, the Usta\u0161e <\/em>authorities decided to abandon the concentration camp. On the orders of Maks Luburi\u0107, the camp was meant to be completely destroyed and the remaining prisoners eliminated. The last mass execution took place on 21 April 1945, when the Usta\u0161e <\/em>murdered around 700 women from Stara Gradi\u0161ka, as well as dozens of men. On the following day, the same fate was meant to befall the remaining prisoners as well.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388662471{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”] To avoid such a scenario, a group of prisoners led by the communist Anto Bakoti\u0107 decided to attempt to break out from the camp. In the early hours of April 22nd<\/sup>, 600 of the remaining inmates attacked the guards, broke through the gate, and made a run for freedom. Only around a hundred of them would succeed. The remaining several hundred prisoners who did not dare to partake in the breach were murdered by the Usta\u0161e <\/em>over the next few days. Usta\u0161e <\/em>units left Stara Gradi\u0161ka on April 24th<\/sup> and Jasenovac on 1 May 1945, leaving in their wake ruins in the camp and the vicinity. On the same day, Yugoslav Army units entered the abandoned prison camp complex without a fight.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/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;}”]![\"\"](\"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8.-Osnivanje-i-struktura-logora-Rad-na-nasipu.jpg\")
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1630435628111{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]Inmates forced to work on a dike<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\nTHE INMATES<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/9.-Logoras\u030ci-Skidanje-prstena-650x433.jpg\")
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1630435766218{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]Robbing prisoners of their belongings on arrival in the camp<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/10.-Logoras\u030ci-Z\u030cene-u-logoru-Jasenovac-650x433.jpeg\")
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\nTHE COMMANDERS<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/11.-Zapovjednici-Maks-Luburic\u0301.jpg\")
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388597421{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/12.-Zapovjednici-Ljubo-Milos\u030c-450x433.jpeg\")
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1629388629822{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n<\/p>\nTHE DISMANTLING OF THE CAMP<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/balkan-history.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/13.-Kraj-Jasenovac-u-travnju-1945.-650x433.jpg\")
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1630436068264{margin-top: -5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]Jasenovac in April 1945<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n