In May 1941, in a desert-like bay Slana (=uvala in Croatian, so that later it bacame known as "Uvala Slana") behind Metajna on the island of Pag, Ustase (Croatian fascist military during the WWII) started to organize the concentration camp ((c) for all the photos Miki d'Kolan):
At the time, the island of Pag was shortly under the jurisdiction of NDH (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska = Independent State of Croatia, a marionette fascistic government in Croatia 1941-1945), before it was (again) taken by Italy, contrary to the still fresh agreement with Ustase government in Zagreb, by which the islands of Hvar, Brac and Pag were supposed to stay under the NHD jurisdiction. Ustase were not taken seriously even by their allies, and Italians used every chance to estrange the people along the coast from any Croatian government.
According to M. Suic ("Pag", Zadar 1953; history of Pag, published for the 510'th anniversary of the new city of Pag), in Slana were brutally killed "some thousands of Jews, Serbs and Croats", numbers reaching ten thousand or more in some local accounts in communist times. The communist regime of Yugoslavia was readily using and exaggerating such events from the, luckily, short reign of NDH, to deal with the "internal enemy", so their numbers have to be handled with care. As confirmed by the Jewish victim organisations in the other cases like Jasenovac concentration camp, the correct number is usually 10 times smaller than the official one.
Interestingly enough, even in the Yugoslavian times, for 30 years there was no any sign about atrocities at the site of the former camp. No usual plate with the names of fallen comrades and unavoidable red star, to remind us who were the bad and who the good guys.
It was only in September 1975 that a comemorative plaque was posted at the beach in Slana, with the participation of the local government in the city of Pag. It rested in peace until 1990-ies. At that time, fighting for independence from Yugoslavia, Croatian leaders used the extremist nationalist sentiments to fight the much stronger "People's" army. This, unsurprisingly, encouraged the courageous local macho fighters to leave their beer for a moment and "fight" against stone plaques, too. The plaque in Slana was broken. As the organisation of the descendants of the victims-now under the foreign flag of Serbian part of Bosnia and Herzegovina managed to put it again, it happened for two more times. This are the remains of the last one, of which I took the photo in 2018:
Locals mostly do not know more than "there was a concentration camp", and some obviously know there is a commemorative plaque to destroy it. Such antics became a "fashion" after the last Balkan wars. Civilisation is obviously slow in its reach to some places. Ironical fact is-and this might be the reason beyond the local denial of those crimes-that villages along Velebit coast and nearby islands are often inhabited by Serbs who moved from Serbia in the Turkish times. Few generations back all of them still honoured their Orthodox protector saints. Of one thing we can be certain: no sane saint would ever sanctify any of the murders in Slana. We know "saints" were often not so sane, so we should keep the record and know better.
In December 2004, when I took the pictures below, there was no plaque, there were only few remnants of unfinished administrative buildings of what was to be a concentration camp:
"Nest" for the guards above the camp:
and a short road to the northern coast:
I learned later that this road was built by prisoners. It goes to a small bay called Baska Slana, the "bay of Bag", as it is facing the "Bag", which was the old name for Karlobag, a town in the mainland, below the Velebit mountains:
From Karlobag victims were transported to the camp by small private boats, which could transport at most 20 people or less. This also limits the number of people which could reach Slana. It is not realistic that tens of thousands of people would be transported by small boats of the locals during only the three months of the camp's existance. When Italians captured the island, the "brave" Ustase escaped to the mainland, and Italians immediately closed the concentration camp. The Italian military ordered, after a sanitary inspection, burning of the remains found at the site, and duly recorded that they found about 1000 bodies. If we add to this number few hundreds of bodies allegedly thrown into the sea, we obtain about 1.5 thousands of victims. There could not be much more, as there were no cases of the bodies washed ashore.
To be sure, it is one and a half thousand or 15 000, if there was another way of transport, too many. Nothing can explain away bestiality of those involved in such atrocities. They should be condemned as ultimate bastards, unworthy of the label of humanity. They were not alone in that business, ustase were not the only masters of the war in Balkans. For example in Serbia general Nedic boistered to their German masters that they were more successful in solving the "Jewish problem" than Germans themselves, as Serbians managed to "exterminate all their Jews". Croatian warlords were not so "successful" and places as Jasenovac and Jadovno, Metajna and, at the end of this horrible line, Slana, were part of the plot in the NDH to exterminate Serbs, Jews, Roma and unwanted (non-collaborating with fascist) Croats. Local opinion of the elderly who would speak about it is that there were 90% Jews, and the rest were Serbs. There was a female part of the camp in a house in Metajna, where the women with children were interned, probably until the (wooden) barracks would not be built for them in Slana.
Today various organizations of victims' descendants and their followers record the suffering and pain of both their victims and their families. If their work is to bring positive results, and not only incite the new hatred, the truth has to be documented, published and contemplated. Without fabrications in name of this or that national, religious or political belief. Victims should obtain their place in history. And their commemorative plaque in Slana.
Access to Slana is easy both from the sea and land. In the first case you need a boat from Pag, Metajna or so, which will bring you here (the memorial plaque place was here just behind my back):
In the second case, you should follow some of paths through the terrain near the Rucica beach, the furthest you can reach by car towards Slana from Metajna. The path is not demanding for anyone capable of a hour or two of casual walk. Be sure to wear a good pair of walking shoes, though, it is not for slippers or high-heels. The Moon-like views pay well for the effort. A moment of reflection in the desert of Slana will be the best bow to those who perished there.
