Jadovno Camp - The First Death Camp in the NDH

Jadovno was the first concentration camp and death camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), established only a month after the NDH was proclaimed.

Location and period

The camp was located on the Jadovno plateau, at the foot of the Velebit mountain, about 20 km south of Gospić. It was operational from May to August 1941 - only 3-4 months, but in that short period it became a site of mass murder.

Establishment

The camp was established on 6 May 1941 by decision of the Ministry of the Interior of the NDH. Its first commander was Juco Rukavina, an Ustaša colonel.

The camp system

Jadovno was not a single camp, but a system of several locations:

• Jadovno I - the main camp
• Jadovno II (Šaranova jama pit) - the pit into which victims were thrown
• Slana (island of Pag) - an auxiliary camp on the island
• Metajna (island of Pag) - a site of mass executions

Number of victims

Because of the short operating period and the destruction of documentation, the exact number of victims is difficult to establish:

• Museum of Genocide Victims: at least 10,000
• Simon Wiesenthal Center: 12,000-15,000
• Some researchers: up to 40,000 (including mass massacres in the surrounding area)

• Serbs: ~80%
• Jews: ~15%
• Roma: ~5%

Methods of killing

Jadovno was a transit camp - people were brought in, held briefly, then killed:

• Being thrown into pits - Šaranova jama, Jadovno II
• Drowning in the sea - from the cliffs on Pag (Slana)
• Throat-cutting - knives, mallet, srbosjek (a curved killing knife)
• Shooting - less common

A natural pit more than 50 metres deep into which the Ustaše threw living and half-dead people. According to testimonies, the victims were often still conscious as they fell into the pit.

Testimonies

Very few survived, because the aim was rapid killing. Jovan Mitrović, one of the few survivors: "They brought us in trucks. There were about 200 of us. They led us towards the pit. I heard the screams of those who were falling. I managed to escape during the night while they were drunk. I fled through the forest for days."

Salko Ledić, a Jewish survivor: "We saw columns of people going towards the shore. We knew what awaited them. The Ustaše tied stones to their feet and threw them into the sea. The water was red with blood."

Closure of the camp

The camp was closed in August 1941 for several reasons:

• The Italians took over the zone and protested (their soldiers had seen the mass graves)
• International pressure - news of the camp had begun to leak out
• The Ustaše opened Jasenovac - a new, "better organised" camp

• The Ustaše killed all the remaining prisoners
• They tried to destroy the evidence - filling in the pits, burning the barracks

Italian reports

Italian soldiers who entered the zone after the camp was closed wrote reports: "We found mass graves. The stench was unbearable. Bodies in various stages of decomposition. Women, children, old people. Some had clearly been buried alive. This was not done by the Germans - this was done by the Croats." - Report of the Italian colonel Mario Roatta, August 1941.

Exhumations

After the war, exhumations were carried out:

• 1941-1942 - partial exhumations (while the Italians held the zone)
• 1945-1950 - systematic exhumations
• Šaranova jama pit - several thousand skeletons found
• Pag - Slana - the sea washed up hundreds of bodies in August-September 1941.

Commanders and those responsible

• Juco Rukavina - first commander - fled to Argentina, died 1976.
• Viktor Tomić - commander on Pag - killed by the Partisans in 1943.
• Vjekoslav Luburić - organiser of the camp system - fled to Spain

Today

At the site of the camp:

• Jadovno memorial ossuary - opened in 2010.
• Memorial park
• Commemoration - every year, at the end of June
• Research - research and exhumations are still ongoing

Why does Jadovno matter?

• The first death camp in the NDH - it showed the intent of genocide from the very beginning
• A prototype for Jasenovac - here the Ustaše "learned" how to kill on a mass scale
• Documented by Italian reports - evidence that cannot be denied
• An example of the speed of genocide - in only 3 months, more than 10,000 dead

"Jadovno was a pilot operation for Jasenovac. Here they tested the methods of mass murder." - Dr Đuro Zatezalo, historian