What Was Croatia's Largest Extermination Camp?
Jasenovac Extermination Camp.
Extermination camps were camps developed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, In order to kill millions of people by execution, generally by gassing and torture. Jasenovac was Croatia's largest Extermination camp and by far the worst, It had a network of several sub-camps and Its main victims included Serbs, Romas, Croat partisans and Jews. Jasenovac was well know for its extreme cruelty in which its victims were tortured and killed.
Jasenovac was located on 220 acres of land Southeast of Zagred, Croatia. It was made up of 5 main camps. All camps were designed by Vjekoslav Luburic. Camp 1 was called 'Brocica' and was established in 1941 along with Camp 2 which was also established in 1941 and was called 'Krapje.' …show more content…
Camp 3 named 'Ciglana' served as the main camp and was also the largest. It held mostly wooden barracks aswell as the stone built crematorium where they would burn prisoners alive aswell as all the already dead bodies. There was tunnel buildings, 'The tunnel of death' where prisoners would be immediately gassed before even stepping onto the grounds, a saw mill and brick factory aswell as others. Camp 4 was called Kožara and remained functional until the end of the war. Lastly camp 5 'Stara Gradiška' Was first used as a holding area for political prisoners, but was then later on converted to a Womans camp. Aswell as these main camps there was also others such as The Womans labour camp and The Gypsies camp. Each one of these camps just as inhumane and torturous as the other.
While all the killing in Sobibor, Auschwitz and Treblinka was carried out on an industrial basis, In Jasenovac the Ustasha guards competed in artisanal killing contests and other competitions such as 'Most amount of personal kills.' They took such pride in preserving their bullets, that the most artisanal kill was deemed a honorable achievement.
As an alternative to bullets, they used mainly Knives, hammers, axes and saws. Although the alternative torture methods used in Jasenovac were horrid and most definetly inhumane. For an example, In Jasenovac survivor Cadik Danon's book, 'The smell of human flesh' he tells a story about a specific torture method. In the middle of the severe winter, a Young boy had stolen a single corncob and was told that 'According to our Ustasha camp regulations,you are to be punished. This time, the winter will carry out the punishment.' The guard had then, in front of a line of other prisoners ordered the boy to strip naked in the middle of the snow, 2 Ustasha guards then tied him to a pole. They then continued to pour 2 large buckets of water over his head and onto the young boys naked body, the water pouring down him didn't reach the ground before freezing over him instantly, slowly freezing him to death. The young boy was then left on the pole for several days until the ice melted and his corpse started to smell. That was just one of many torture methods, others including being burnt alive, Throats sliced by their invention 'The slaughter
knife', Heads sawed of with hack saws, Gassings and many more. Although, There was more than just killing of the prisoners but the labor crews working the the gassing chambers were also killed after their job was down and many other guards aswell.
Despite the amount of deaths and the cruelty of Jasenovac's execution camp, there was however survivors, This was only possible due to this event that had happened in the final days of the war. On April 21st 1945, The Jasenovac staff had planned to kill the remaining 2000 prisoners, by taking them all to the Woman's camp and executing them there. This action was however postponed to the following day. Early morning, April 22nd 1945, the remaining prisoners stormed the Eastern gates armed with whatever weapons they could get their hands on. Up to 520 of the escapee's were killed in the event, around 80 had gotten free and survived and the remaining prisoners were executed in the camp like planned. Early May, discovered by Partisans was what was left over of the Jasenovac camp, which was only smoldering remains of the camp structures along with hundreds of skeletons and corpses. The only reminder of the former prisoners.
In conclusion, Jasenovac was the largest, most torturous death camp made up of many sub camps, developed by Nazi Germans to kill millions of people during the holocaust.
Maddison Coulston.
Extermination camps were camps developed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, In order to kill millions of people by execution, generally by gassing and torture. Jasenovac was Croatia's largest Extermination camp and by far the worst, It had a network of several sub-camps and Its main victims included Serbs, Romas, Croat partisans and Jews. Jasenovac was well know for its extreme cruelty in which its victims were tortured and killed.
Jasenovac was located on 220 acres of land Southeast of Zagred, Croatia. It was made up of 5 main camps. All camps were designed by Vjekoslav Luburic. Camp 1 was called 'Brocica' and was established in 1941 along with Camp 2 which was also established in 1941 and was called 'Krapje.' …show more content…
Camp 3 named 'Ciglana' served as the main camp and was also the largest. It held mostly wooden barracks aswell as the stone built crematorium where they would burn prisoners alive aswell as all the already dead bodies. There was tunnel buildings, 'The tunnel of death' where prisoners would be immediately gassed before even stepping onto the grounds, a saw mill and brick factory aswell as others. Camp 4 was called Kožara and remained functional until the end of the war. Lastly camp 5 'Stara Gradiška' Was first used as a holding area for political prisoners, but was then later on converted to a Womans camp. Aswell as these main camps there was also others such as The Womans labour camp and The Gypsies camp. Each one of these camps just as inhumane and torturous as the other.
While all the killing in Sobibor, Auschwitz and Treblinka was carried out on an industrial basis, In Jasenovac the Ustasha guards competed in artisanal killing contests and other competitions such as 'Most amount of personal kills.' They took such pride in preserving their bullets, that the most artisanal kill was deemed a honorable achievement.
As an alternative to bullets, they used mainly Knives, hammers, axes and saws. Although the alternative torture methods used in Jasenovac were horrid and most definetly inhumane. For an example, In Jasenovac survivor Cadik Danon's book, 'The smell of human flesh' he tells a story about a specific torture method. In the middle of the severe winter, a Young boy had stolen a single corncob and was told that 'According to our Ustasha camp regulations,you are to be punished. This time, the winter will carry out the punishment.' The guard had then, in front of a line of other prisoners ordered the boy to strip naked in the middle of the snow, 2 Ustasha guards then tied him to a pole. They then continued to pour 2 large buckets of water over his head and onto the young boys naked body, the water pouring down him didn't reach the ground before freezing over him instantly, slowly freezing him to death. The young boy was then left on the pole for several days until the ice melted and his corpse started to smell. That was just one of many torture methods, others including being burnt alive, Throats sliced by their invention 'The slaughter
knife', Heads sawed of with hack saws, Gassings and many more. Although, There was more than just killing of the prisoners but the labor crews working the the gassing chambers were also killed after their job was down and many other guards aswell.
Despite the amount of deaths and the cruelty of Jasenovac's execution camp, there was however survivors, This was only possible due to this event that had happened in the final days of the war. On April 21st 1945, The Jasenovac staff had planned to kill the remaining 2000 prisoners, by taking them all to the Woman's camp and executing them there. This action was however postponed to the following day. Early morning, April 22nd 1945, the remaining prisoners stormed the Eastern gates armed with whatever weapons they could get their hands on. Up to 520 of the escapee's were killed in the event, around 80 had gotten free and survived and the remaining prisoners were executed in the camp like planned. Early May, discovered by Partisans was what was left over of the Jasenovac camp, which was only smoldering remains of the camp structures along with hundreds of skeletons and corpses. The only reminder of the former prisoners.
In conclusion, Jasenovac was the largest, most torturous death camp made up of many sub camps, developed by Nazi Germans to kill millions of people during the holocaust.
Maddison Coulston.