Sisak children's concentration camp officially called "Shelter for Children Refugees" was a concentration camp during World War II located in Sisak, set up by the Usta?e government of the Nazi-puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, for Serbian, Jewish and Romani children. It was part of the Jasenovac extermination camp. The camp's commander was Antun Naj?er, MD, who is remembered as the Croatian Mengele.
Video Sisak children's concentration camp
Prelude
During the existence of Independent State of Croatia, the Croatian Usta?e established numerous concentration camps like those in Jasenovac, ?akovo, and Jastrebarsko in which many Serbian, Jewish and Romani children have died as inmates. Among them, there was Sisak concentration camp which was specially formed for children, created as a part of Jasenovac concentration camp.
In the town of Sisak, near the town of Jasenovac (Croatia), Usta?e presence was vigilant. Early in 1942, the local synagogue was robbed utterly, and the building later housed a worker's hall. The settlers of Sisak were quickly brought to Usta?e attention, and those of them that were of Serbian or Jewish kinship were tormented. One example is Milo? Tesli?, a Serb whose eyes were cut out, arms sawn off, chest burned with a hot iron, and heart cut out.
Maps Sisak children's concentration camp
The camp
The concentration camp was founded on 3 August 1942 following the Kozara Offensive. It was part of an assembly camp, officially named the "Refugee Transit Camp",. This concentration camp consisted of special part officially called "Shelter for the refugee children" which were under the auspices of the "Ustasha Female Lineage" and "Ustasha Security Service", and under the direct control of Dr. Antun Naj?er. The camp was located in several buildings in Sisak; former Yugoslav Falconry Association (the so-called "Sokolana"), Sisters of St. Vincent nunnery, saltwork Rice warehouse, Rajs Saltworks warehouse, Novi Sisak elementary school and the so-called "Karantena" (Quarantine). All these buildings were utterly unsuitable for the housing of children. For example, in the Falconry association, there were no doors; it was drafty because the whole construction was set up for drying the salt. Children, even the smallest ones who were only a few months old, had to lie on the floor with only a thin layer of straw, without any clothes or blankets.
The first group of children arrived on 3 August 1942; there were 906 of them. The very next day another group of 650 children was brought; in the third group (arrived on 6 August ) was 1,272 children. In Teslic glasshouse and the newly built barracks, named "Karantena", a general concentration camp for men, women, and children had been established. During August and September 1942, Usta?e deprived 3,971 children of parents who were selected for forced labor in Nazi Germany. Thus from August 1942 to 8 February 1943, there were 6,693 detained children, mostly Serbs from Kozara, Kordun, and Slavonia. Despite the actions of Diana Budisavljevi? and tireless group of humanists - Jana Koh, Vera Luketi?, Dragica Habazin, Ljubica and Vera Beci?, Dr. Kamil Bresler, Ante Dumbovi? and sisters of the Red Cross, up to 40 children were dying every day.
When typhus epidemic broke out, Dr. Naj?er ordered the transfer of the infected children to the improvised hospital, which however increased mortality among the children.
Testimony of Jana Koh, the Croatian Red Cross secretary that time:
The barracks were connected by the corridors guarded by the Ustashas. Not far from the ambulance, from another barracks, the sad cries of the children were heard. There was set, on the bare floor, four hundred children: newborns, children from a few weeks or months, up to ten years of age. How many children came, and where they were dispatched, could no longer be found out. The children in the childrens barracks cried inexorably and were calling their mothers, who were only a few steps away from the children, but the fascist criminals did not let mothers to approach their children. Older children tell us through tears, that they can not calm the little ones, because they are hungry, there are no one to change diapers of the little ones, and they are afraid that everyone will die. These children, who have not yet reached the age of ten, swear to us, "Come on, sister, bring us mothers, bring at least mothers to these little ones. You will see, if you do not bring them their mothers, they will suffocate, by the tears alone."
Testimony of Lazar Marguljes, a physician from Osijek, Croatia:
I've noticed that the Zagreb Red Cross food shipments were never handed out to the children. By conducting medical examination of the children, I often visited these places: the unfinished Sokols home, in which the children were lying on a bare concrete floor or, at best, to a little straw. In the so-called Hospital, in a small school in Old Sisak, in which there were no beds, the children were lying on the floor with some strawn and contaminated straw, clad in bloody feces and covered with swarms of flies. The children were naked and barefoot, without blankets. When the typhoid fever broke out in Sokols home, physician Naj?er ordered that the infected children be transferred to the so-called Hospital, in which there was no infection, what has caused a mass death of the children there.
Coroner Dr. David Egi? officially recorded that out of 6,693 children, 1,152 died in the Camp, while teacher Ante Dumbovi? later claimed that the number was 1,630.
The Ustashi children's camp (for "upbringing and re-education") in Sisak was established upon Pavelic's order and operated within a period of five months (from August 1942 to January 1943). 6,693 children passed through its gates, out of which records say between 1,152 and 1,630 died. It was the only concentration camp in Europe for children. The children, of Serbian, Roma, and Jewish origins, aged between 3 and 16, were housed in abandoned stables, ridden with filth and pests. Malnutrition and dysentery seriously impaired the children's health. They were fed daily with a portion of thin gruel and treated horribly by the Usta?e guards. "Witnesses recount seeing an Ustasha soldier pick up a child by the legs and smash its head against a wall until it was dead, ..." The Red Cross noticed the existence of the camp, and reportedly tried to aid the children, subsequently obtaining the release of some, while others were poisoned with caustic soda later on.
Humanitarians managed to move 2 200 children from the camp to Zagreb. Families from Sisak and surrounding villages took from the camp and sheltered 1 630 children and 1 691 children were returned to their families after the war.
After the war
After the war, those people who had survived concentration camps came from Germany as war prisoners started searching for their children. The files keeping records about each child moved from the camp to Zagreb during the war were maintained by Diana Budisavljevic. There were 30,000 records about these children in the files. These files were confiscated by Yugoslav OZNA and the files were prohibited from public use.
On the Reis saltworks building a memorial plaque was erected for the children who died in the camp - in the year of 1958. In early 1990s this memorial plaque was destroyed. A monument dedicated to the children imprisoned in the camp was erected nearby the Sisak Cultural Center and a commemorative plaque erected on the Center building. This commemorative plaque was also destroyed in the early 1990s.
The camp children's cemetery was landscaped in 1974 and a monument erected. Today the cemetery is not maintained and in a ruined state. On the monument it is recorded that the cemetery contains 2,000 childrens' graves.
See also
- Jasenovac concentration camp
- Jastrebarsko concentration camp
Notes
Source of article : Wikipedia
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