During

World War II in Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the US ...

, when the village of

Gornja Rijeka, Croatia Gornja Rijeka is a municipality in the Koprivnica-Križevci County in Croatia. According to the 2011 census, there are 1,779 inhabitants in the area, with Croats forming an absolute majority. History In the late 19th century and early 20th cent ...

was part of the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

, it was the site of a concentration camp. A number of women, some of them with children, were interned there between November 1941 and the spring of 1942; the camp's population was estimated as between 200 and 400 at any given time. In February 1942,

Diana Budisavljević Diana Budisavljević (; 15 January 1891 – 20 August 1978) was an Austrian humanitarian who led a major relief effort in Yugoslavia during World War II. From October 1941, on her initiative and involving many co-workers, she organized and provi ...

's group acted through the government and the Red Cross to save 11 children from there, and in March a group of 147 Serbian women and children were moved from Gornja Rijeka to Loborgrad concentration camp and then on to

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

, and in turn to camps in Germany and Serbia. In April, the remaining Serbian women were moved to Loborgrad, and then released. This left 73 Jewish women and 7 Catholic women in Gornja Rijeka. The latter, apprehended for "Communist propaganda", were soon moved to

Stara Gradiška concentration camp Stara Gradiška was a concentration and extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. The camp was specially constructed for women and children of Serb, Jewish and Romani ethnicity. Victims also included commun ...

, while the former were moved to Loborgrad in May 1942, emptying the Gornja Rijeka site. On 24 June 1942, around 100 boys from one of the

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration camp, concentration and extermination camps, extermination camp established in the Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County, village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in I ...

sites were transferred to the site, run by Ustaša Youth members, and then on 4 July another 200 boys and girls arrived from the

. From June 1942, the camp housed approximately 400 orphans left behind from the

Kozara Offensive The Kozara Offensive (also known as Operation West-Bosnien) was fought in 1942 on and around the mountain of Kozara in northwestern Bosnia. It was an important battle of the Yugoslav Partisan resistance movement in World War II. It later became ...

. After an outbreak of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

that caused around 140 deaths among the children, the camp guards abandoned the site in August 1942, and the

Croatian Red Cross The Croatian Red Cross ( hr, Hrvatski Crveni križ) is the national Red Cross Society of Croatia. The organization has over 370,000 volunteer members, as well as 550 professionals. The Red Cross has been active in the country since 1878. Externa ...

activists and doctors evacuated around 200 surviving children on 14 August 1942 to

hospitals and the

Jastrebarsko children's camp The Jastrebarsko children's camp held Serbs, Serb children who had been brought there from various areas of the Axis powers, Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), during World War II. The chi ...

References

Sources

* * {{coord, 46.105, N, 16.392, E, type:landmark_region:HR, display=title Concentration camps of the Independent State of Croatia 1941 establishments in Croatia 1942 disestablishments in Croatia History of the Serbs of Croatia