Jadovno concentration camp

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Overview map of the concentration camp facility

The Jadovno concentration camp ( Serbian - Cyrillic Сабирни logor Јадовно Sabirni logor Jadovno ) was the first of around 40 concentration and internment camps in the fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II . The camp, headed by the Croatian and right-wing extremist Ustasha between May and August 1941, was located in a remote area about 20 kilometers from the town of Gospić . The number of deaths, especially Serbs , but also many Jews , is controversial depending on the source and publication date. The camp was closed on August 21, 1941 and later handed over to the fascist Kingdom of Italy .

history

The notorious Šaran Gorge

Numerous bodies were thrown into the depths of the ravine , which was in the immediate vicinity. The Šaran Gorge is one of the gorges into which numerous corpses and living people have been thrown.

Further skeletal remains were discovered there in the 1990s . A memorial event in honor of the victims is organized by the Serbian National Council (SNV) and the Croatian Jewish community as well as the local anti-fascist movement since 2009 on June 24th, which is known as the “Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Jadovno”.

A memorial to commemorate the dead was erected in 1975 and stood for 15 years, but was destroyed by nationalist Croats in 1990 . A replica of the original monument was erected and inaugurated in 2010, but disappeared within twenty-four hours. The construction of a new monument is planned, but has not yet been implemented by the local authorities or the Croatian government.

Number of victims

The number of victims in the Jadovno concentration camp is difficult to determine from today's perspective, as many internees were not registered and the bodies were thrown directly into the ravines. A relevant number of prisoners were also murdered and thrown there immediately. In 1964, a survey by the Commission for Surveying War Victims for the Second World War indicated a number of 1,794 victims in Jadovno. The result of this survey was not published until 1989.

According to the 1960s edition of the Enciklopedija Jugoslavije , at least 35,000 people were killed in Jadovno, but it was more likely that 50,000 to 60,000 were killed. According to a military edition of the Enciklopedija Jugoslavije from 1967, the number was estimated at 72,000 people murdered. In 1971, the Enciklopedija Jugoslavije finally revised the number to 72,000, which also became the most cited estimate of Jadovno's murder victims in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1983 the Eparch of Herzegovina and Primorska and the Serbian Orthodox theologian Atanasije Jevtić estimated that 80,000 people were killed there. The Croatian historian Jozo Tomasevich called the estimates exaggerated because they should not be based on documentation or detailed investigation. By contrast, Tomasević's estimates in the late 1980s and 1990s were between 15,000 and 48,000 victims.

A 2007 research study by the historian Đuro Zatezalo, including 17 archives, estimated the total number of deaths in the Jadovno concentration camp at 40,123 (38,010 Serbs, 1,998 Jews, 88 Croatians and 27 other people) and identified the names of 10,502 victims, of whom 9,663 were Serbs, 762 Jews, 55 Croatians and 22 others. 1029 children were identified (1014 Serbian and 15 Jewish), as well as 55 Serbian Orthodox priests. Since Jadovno was in operation for 122 days, this would mean that an average of 329 people were killed there every day. Historian Paul Mojzes underscored Zatezalo's dates.

According to an investigation by the Belgrade Museum for Victims of the Genocide of Serbs in the NDH in 2009, between 15,300 and 15,900 people were killed in the Gospić, Jadovno and Pag area . Most sources generally reach numbers of 10,000 to 68,000 deaths in Jadovno. Estimates of the number of Jewish deaths range from a few hundred to 2,500 or 2,800 victims.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Benz: Dimension of the genocide: The number of Jewish victims of National Socialism. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 1991, ISBN 3-486-70833-3 , p. 322.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Paul Mojzes: Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the Twentieth Century. Rowman & Littlefield, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4422-0665-6 , p. 60.
  3. ↑ Vladimir Geiger: Ljudski gubici Hrvatske u Drugom svjetskom ratu koje su prouzročili “okupatori i njihovi pomagači” Brojidbeni pokazatelji (procjene, izračuni, popisi). Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb 2011, p. 730.
  4. ^ Raphael Israeli: The Death Camps of Croatia: Visions and Revisions, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers, New Jersey 2013, ISBN 978-1-4128-4975-3 , p. 67.
  5. ^ A b Jozo Tomasevich: War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941 - 1945. Stanford University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-8047-3615-2 , p. 726.
  6. ↑ a b Vladimir Geiger: Ljudski gubici Hrvatske u Drugom svjetskom ratu koje su prouzročili “okupatori i njihovi pomagači” Brojidbeni pokazatelji (procjene, izračuni, popisi). Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb 2011, pp. 730–731.
  7. ↑ Vladimir Geiger: Ljudski gubici Hrvatske u Drugom svjetskom ratu koje su prouzročili “okupatori i njihovi pomagači” Brojidbeni pokazatelji (procjene, izračuni, popisi). Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb 2011, p. 733.
  8. ↑ a b Damir Mirkovic: Book reviews: Jadovno: Kompleks ustaskih logora 1941 [ Jadovno: A Complex of Ustasha Camps, 1941 ] Djuro Zatezalo. In: Journal of Genocide Research , 2010, pp. 141-143, doi: 10.1080 / 14623521003633503 .
  9. ↑ Vladimir Geiger: Ljudski gubici Hrvatske u Drugom svjetskom ratu koje su prouzročili “okupatori i njihovi pomagači” Brojidbeni pokazatelji (procjene, izračuni, popisi). Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb 2011, p. 732.
  10. ↑ Paul Mojzes: The Genocidal Twentieth Century in the Balkans. In Jacobs, Steven L .: Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam . Lanham, Lexington Books, Maryland 2009, ISBN 978-0-7391-3590-7 , p. 160.

Coordinates: 44 ° 32 ′ 18 ″  N , 15 ° 14 ′ 20 ″  E