Danica concentration camp

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The concentration camp Danica ( Serbo - Croatian Koncentracioni logor Danica / Концентрациони логор Даница) was the first concentration camp in the then fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH). The April 15, 1941 by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior of the fascist Ustasha camp founded -Regierung was located in the premises of the village Drnje based chemical plant Danica , near the town of Koprivnica . The internees were mainly Serbs , but also Croats , Jews , Roma , Bosnian Muslims and other minorities. A total of 5,600 prisoners passed through the Danica concentration camp. 200 to 300 died in Danica, more than 3000 of them were later murdered in the Jadovno , Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška concentration camps . The camp was disbanded by the Ustaša in September 1942 due to the advancing partisans .

history

The first camp commandant of the concentration camp was Ustaša Martin Nemec, who had returned from exile and was later replaced by Nikola Herman. The Ustaša deported the first large group of prisoners, mainly Serbs, to Danica on April 28, 1941. In the days and weeks that followed, more groups arrived at the camp. The camp management confiscated all food brought with them or sent to the internees and took money and valuables from them. The prisoners were often mistreated in the death barracks built for torture purposes . Anyone who did not regain their strength after being tortured was shot. Women and children were separated from men, and there was also a separation based on religious affiliation . In May 1941 there were 1007 prisoners, in June 2175 and in August 2656 prisoners in Danica. The number of concentration camp guards was around 100 in August.

Since August, more prisoners have been sent to the Gospić and Jasenovac concentration camps . From December onwards the Ustaša deported more male prisoners to Jasenovac, while women and children were deported to the Stara Gradiška concentration camp . A total of 5,600 prisoners passed through the Danica concentration camp. 200 to 300 died in Danica, more than 3000 of them were later murdered in the Jadovno , Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška concentration camps . Of the internees in Danica, around 3,000 were Serbs, 1,000 Croats, more than 600 Jews and around 400 Roma. The remaining prisoners were from other minorities. Since autumn 1941 there was a danger that the partisans would attack the camp. Almost all prisoners were deported to the Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška concentration camps by May 1942. Finally, in September 1942, the camp was closed.

Between November 1943 and February 1944 partisans conquered the region around Koprivnica. During this time the former camp guards Danica was the process done in most cases with a death sentence ended. In 1945 the first camp commandant Martin Nemec was sentenced to death and publicly executed in Danica. In January 1946 Danica served as a transit camp for captured Ustaša members and members of the Croatian Home Guard , the regular armed forces of the fascist NDH state. It was not until 1968 that the entrance gate to the camp was renewed and a plaque was erected in memory of the victims of Danica.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Matthias Koeffler, Matthias Jacob - Croatia: On the road between Istria, Slavonia and Dalmatia , Trescher Verlag , Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-89794-240-0 , S. 130th
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 9: Labor education camps, ghettos, youth protection camps, police detention camps, special camps, gypsy camps, forced labor camps. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-57238-8 , pp. 317-318.

Coordinates: 46 ° 13 ′ 32.1 ″  N , 16 ° 49 ′ 55.2 ″  E