Stara Gradiška concentration camp
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Stara Gradiška was a
concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', an ...
and
extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
in 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 ...
(NDH) during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The camp was specially constructed for women and children of
Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
,
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish and
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
ethnicity. Victims also included communist and anti-fascist
Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...
and
Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...
. It was established by the
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
regime in 1941 at the Stara Gradiška prison near the eponymous village as the fifth subcamp 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 ...
. According to the list of victims by name of KCL Jasenovac, the Jasenovac memorial site, which includes research , the names and data for 12,790 victims of the camp have been established.


Systematic killing of inmates

The camp was guarded by the Croatian
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
, including some female troops. Inmates were killed using different means, including firearms, mallets and knives. At the "K" or "Kula" unit, Serbian and Jewish women, with weak or little children, were starved and/or tortured at the "Gagro Hotel", a cellar which Ustaša Nikola Gagro used as a place of torture. Other inmates in the Kula unit were poisoned with gas. Gas experiments were conducted initially at veterinary stables near the "Economy" unit, where horses and then humans were poisoned using
sulphur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic activ ...
and later
Zyklon B Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...
. Gassing was also tested on children in the yard, where the camp commandant, Ustaša sergeant
Ante Vrban Ante Vrban (15 January 1908 – 31 August 1948) was a Croatian major of the Ustaše Militia and later the Croatian Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. He served as deputy commander of the Stara Gradiška concentrat ...
, viewed its effects. Most gassing deaths occurred in the attics of "the infamous tower", where several thousand children from the
Kozara Kozara ( sr-cyrl, Козара) is a mountain in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the town of Kozarac and in the Bosanska Krajina region, bounded by the Sava River to the north, the Vrbas to the east, the Sana to the south, and the Una to the ...
region were killed in May, and 2000 more in June 1942. Subsequently, smaller groups of 400-600 children, and a few men and women, were gassed. At his trial, Vrban confirmed that Zyklon gas was used. Witness Cijordana Friedlender (aka Jordana Fritlander), who was a guard at the camp, testified:
At that time fresh women and children came daily to the Camp at Stara Gradiška. About fourteen days later, Vrban he Commandant of the Campordered all children to be separated from their mothers and put into one room. Ten of us were told to carry them there in blankets. The children crawled about the room, and one child put an arm and leg through the doorway, so that the door could not be closed. Vrban shouted: 'Push it!' When I did not do that, he banged the door and crushed the child's leg. Then he took the child by its whole-leg, and banged it on the wall until it was dead. After that we continued carrying the children in. When the room was full, Vrban brought poison gas and killed them all.
According to witness Milka Zabičić, the gassing stopped due to a scheduled visit by a
Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
delegation in 1943, which did not arrive until June 1944. Gas-vans were constructed to kill Serb and Jewish women and children who came to Stara Gradiška from the Đakovo camp in June–July 1942. A witness, Dragutin Roller, who was a camp inmate, stated that guard
Dinko Šakić Dinko Šakić (8 September 1921 – 20 July 2008) was a Croatian Ustaše official who commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from April to November 1944, during World War II. Born in the villag ...
"directed his guards to pack women and children into the vans, fitted a rubber hose from the exhaust to the interior and drove around and around the camp until the passengers were dead" and that "they killed at least half the group like this as soon as they arrived".


Cruelty

Stara Gradiška became notorious for crimes committed against women and children. Examples included the torture that took place in cellar 3, the "Gagro Hotel", where inmates were starved, tortured and then strangled to death using piano wire. At Šakić's trial, witness Ivo Senjanović recalled how people were locked there without food or water: "The people were gradually dying. It was horrible to hear them cry for help." As for the conditions, witness Cadik Danon said:
At once we spread our blankets and lay down to recover our strength. Around noon they drove us out into the yard and distributed the portion of cattle turnip with water without salt or grease; everything was the same as in Jasenovac. Immediately after lunch, they thrust us into the dungeon and locked us in.
The most infamous staff included Nikola Gagro, Ante Vrban, Maja Buzdon, Jozo Stojčić and, notably, the commander, a Franciscan friar/military chaplain, Miroslav Filipović-Majstorović, who killed scores of women and children with his bare hands. The treatment of inmates was so horrific that on the night of 29 August 1942, bets were made among the prison guards as to who could liquidate the largest number of inmates. Petar Brzica, one of the guards reportedly cut the throats of 1,360 prisoners with a butcher knife. A gold watch, a silver service, a roasted suckling pig, and wine were among his rewards. The guards included females (who were sisters or wives of the male guards) who were known for their cruelty. The worst was Nada Luburić, sister of the first commandant of Jasenovac,
Maks Luburić MAKS or Maks may refer to: People *Maksim (Maks), a Slavic given name * Kees Maks (1876-1967) Dutch painter Places * Maks, a settlement in northern Poland Other uses *MAKS Air Show, an international airshow held near Moscow, Russia *MAKS (space ...
, and wife of
Dinko Šakić Dinko Šakić (8 September 1921 – 20 July 2008) was a Croatian Ustaše official who commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from April to November 1944, during World War II. Born in the villag ...
.
Andrija Artuković Andrija Artuković (19 November 1899 – 16 January 1988) was a Croatian lawyer, politician, and senior member of the ultranationalist and fascist Ustasha movement, who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Justice in ...
who was Minister of Interior of the NDH ordered
sodium hydroxide Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions . Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and alkali ...
to be added to the food of the children in order to exterminate them in a timely fashion. The murder of children was deemed a priority by the NDH as they saw Serbian children as 'seeds of the beast'.


Clearing the camp

In early April 1945, when the
Partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...
s were fighting nearby Stara Gradiška, the Ustaše began clearing the camp, killing some of the inmates and transporting others to
Lepoglava Lepoglava is a town in Varaždin County, northern Croatia, located southwest of Varaždin, west of Ivanec, and northeast of Krapina. Demographics A total of 8,283 residents in the municipality (2011 census) live in the following settlements: * ...
and from there to Jasenovac, where they were to be exterminated. Several survivors, like Šimo (or Šime) Klaić, who stressed at Šakić's trial that Lepoglava "was horrible, as if all the evil from Stara Gradiška and Jasenovac had concentrated there", fled from the train cart in which they were to be transported to Jasenovac. Klaić later learned, as he testified in the court, that the other two carts in the transport were torched in Jasenovac. The camp was liberated in April 1945 by the Partisans.


List of notable prisoners

*
Vlado Singer Vlado Singer (21 October 1908 – October 1943) was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia politician and a prominent member of the Croatian Ustaše movement. Biography Singer was born in Virovitica on 21 October 1908 to a Croatian Jewish family.Davor Kovačić ...
, Croatian politician and member of the Ustaše movement. * Magda Bošković, Croatian communist, Partisan and member of the women's rights movement. * Nada Dimić, Croatian Communist and Partisan activist of ethnic Serb descent.


See also

* Stara Gradiška prison


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stara Gradiska concentration camp Concentration camps of the Independent State of Croatia History of Slavonia Jewish Croatian history History of the Serbs of Croatia Jasenovac concentration camp