Slana Camp (Pag) - The Island of Death

The camp on Pag (Slana and Metajna) was an auxiliary camp within the Jadovno system, perhaps the most brutal site of killing in the early months of the NDH.

Location

The camp was located on the northern part of the island of Pag, in the desolate regions of Slana and Metajna. Two sub-camps:

• Slana - the main camp
• Metajna - a site of executions

Operating period

Early June - 21 August 1941 - only 2.5 months.

Number of victims

The estimates are:

• Official (Jasenovac Memorial Site): 4,500-5,000
• Some researchers: up to 8,000

• Serbian women and children from Lika: ~1,500
• Serbian men: ~2,000
• Jews: ~700
• Roma: ~300

Methods of killing

Pag was known for its particular brutality:

• Being thrown into the sea - victims bound, a stone tied to their feet, thrown from a cliff (Metajna)
• Throat-cutting - knives, mallet
• Torture - before being killed, people were tortured for days
• Sexual violence - women were systematically raped before being killed

A sheer cliff 30-40 metres high, dropping straight into the sea. The Ustaše led prisoners there, tied a stone around their neck or feet, and threw them into the sea. The sea would wash some of the bodies ashore in the following weeks.

Testimonies - Italian soldiers

When Italian soldiers entered Pag on 21 August 1941, they found gruesome scenes. Captain Giuseppe Masucci wrote in a report: "The shore was covered with bodies in various stages of decomposition. The stench was such that we could barely breathe. We saw the bodies of women and children. Some bodies had stones tied to their feet. They had clearly been thrown into the sea alive. Never in my life have I seen anything so terrible. This was not done by the Germans - it was done by the Croats."

The Italian soldier Antonio Zerbini: "We entered the camp. We found a few people still alive, more dead than alive. They told us terrible things. Before fleeing, the Ustaše had killed all they could. Bodies were everywhere - in the camp, on the shore, in the sea."

Photographic documentation

The Italians photographed the scene of the crime - these photographs are today held in:

• The Italian State Archive (Archivio Centrale dello Stato)
• The Museum of Genocide Victims, Belgrade
• The Jasenovac Memorial Site

• Mass graves
• Bodies on the shore
• Surviving prisoners - emaciated, exhausted

Liquidation of the camp

When the Ustaše learned that the Italians were coming (20 August 1941):

• They killed all the remaining prisoners - over 300 people
• They tried to burn the barracks
• They tried to fill in the graves
• They fled the island

Commanders

• Viktor Tomić - camp commander - killed by the Partisans in 1943.
• Mirko Puk - deputy - fled, never captured
• Friar Ante Đurić - a Franciscan, took part in the killings - fled to Australia, died 1989.

Today

At the site of the camp:

• Slana Memorial Cemetery - opened 1988.
• Memorial ossuary - containing exhumed remains
• Commemoration - every year, on 21 August (the day of liberation)
• Museum - with Italian photographs and documents

Why does Pag matter?

• Documented by Italian photographs - it cannot be denied
• Italian reports - a neutral party (allies of the Germans) documented the Ustaša crimes
• Particular brutality - throwing living people into the sea
• Women and children - systematically killed

"Pag was an island of death. Here the Ustaše showed their true face - the face of beasts." - Giuseppe Masucci, Italian captain, August 1941.