VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE AND FREEDOM FIGHTERS
By Jasa Romano
(From the English summary in the book Jevreji Jugoslavije 1941-1945. Zrtve Genocida I Ucesnici Narodnosloodilackog Rata, Belgrade: Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia, 1980; pp. 573-590.)
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The Ustashe organized several concentration camps as well, notably in Kerestinac, Jadovna, Metajna and Slana on the Island of Pag, as well as in Jasenovac - which had branch-camps in five localities. The level of cruelty exercised and the number of crimes committed in these camps put them very high on the list of the most ill-famed ones which existed during WWII. Inmates of the Pag camp (men, women and children) were exposed to the most cruel tortures, were sent to hard labor in quarries and actually starved to death. The women were raped, the abdomen of pregnant women were cut open and their fetus pulled out. Mass killings were carried out by hammering nails into tile inmates' head, by cutting their throat or by applying strokes of a mallet. Many of the inmates were simply hamstringed and thrown down into the abysses of the Velebit mountain.
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About 30,000 Jews were victims of genocide on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia.
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Actually, the Italians were the ones who have introduced measures to protect the Jews in Zone 2 from the reoccurrence of such Ustashe crimes. The Ustashe were very persistent in demanding from Italians the handing over to them of all the Jews in that Zone. To avoid disputes with Ustashe the Italians decided, however, to confine the Zone 2 Jews to camps administered by Italian military authorities. Consequently, at the beginning of November 1942 the Jews were interned in four camps: one was near Dubrovnik, one in Kraljevica and one each on islands of Hvar and Brac. At the beginning of June 1943 the Jewish inmates of these four camps were concentrated in one camp, that on the island of Rab. In this camp about 3,500 Jews were interned.
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For the full citation see: http://www.jasenovac.org/images/jews_of_yugoslavia_1941_1945.pdf