The Jasenovac Memorial Site - A Place of Remembrance

The Jasenovac Memorial Site is a memorial complex erected on the site of the former concentration camp, a place of remembrance of the victims and of education for younger generations.

Establishment

• 1945 - Immediately after the liberation, the site was declared a "natural monument"
• 1960 - The decision to erect a memorial complex
• 1966 - The Flower Monument was opened, the work of the architect Bogdan Bogdanović
• 1968 - The museum was opened

The Flower Monument

Architect: Bogdan Bogdanović (a Serbian architect, later mayor of Belgrade) Description:

• A monumental concrete sculpture 24 metres high
• The shape of a flower - symbolising life that flourishes in spite of death
• The petals of the flower - six petals, symbolising the six main groups of victims
• The colour - raw concrete, never painted - a deliberate decision (symbolising the cruelty)

The museum

Location: Near the monument Exhibition:

• Photographic documentation - photographs of the camp, of the victims
• Personal belongings of the victims - clothing, shoes, spectacles
• Ustaša documents - orders, lists of prisoners
• Testimonies - video recordings of survivors
• An interactive database - 83,145 names of victims

The database of victims

The most important part of the memorial centre:

• 83,145 documented names
• Data: first name, surname, date of birth, place of birth, date/place of death (if known)
• Available online: www.jusp-jasenovac.hr
• Constantly updated with new research

• 1990s-2000s - systematic collection
• Sources: archives, church registers, testimonies, exhumations
• Each name is verified by at least two sources
• The process is still ongoing - new names are being added

The annual commemoration

Date: 22 April - the Day of the Liberation of the camp (1945) Programme:

• Laying of wreaths
• Reading of the names of the victims
• Testimonies of survivors (ever fewer, as most have passed away)
• A cultural programme
• Politicians from the region (when they are not in conflict)

• 2016-2018 - Serbian officials boycotted it because of the use of Ustaša symbolism in Croatia
• 2019 - Visits were normalised after tensions eased

Educational programmes

The Memorial Site organises:

• Schools - guides for pupils
• Seminars - for history teachers
• International programmes - exchanges with Auschwitz, Yad Vashem
• Research projects - cooperation with universities

Visits

• Number of visitors: 50,000-100,000 a year (depending on the political situation)
• International visitors: from Israel, Germany, the USA, Italy
• Free entry - financed from the Croatian budget

Exhumations and research

In the area of the memorial complex and its surroundings:

• 1945-1950 - The first exhumations, several thousand bodies found
• 1964-1966 - Exhumations before the construction of the monument
• The 2000s - New exhumations with modern forensic methods
• Expectation - The finding of new mass graves is still ongoing

The ossuary

Part of the memorial complex:

• It contains exhumed remains that could not be identified
• Respect for the unknown victims

International cooperation

The Jasenovac Memorial Site cooperates with:

• Yad Vashem (Israel) - exchange of data on Jewish victims
• The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - digitisation of the archive
• The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial - exchange of best practices
• The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)

Financing and challenges

• Financed by: The Government of the Republic of Croatia
• Challenges:
  • Politicisation - the budget is sometimes reduced for political reasons
  • The ageing of witnesses - ever fewer living survivors
  • Denial - the struggle against revisionism
  • Maintenance - the monument and the building require investment

Virtual tour

Since 2020 the following is available:

• A 3D virtual walk through the museum
• Online access to the database
• Video testimonies of survivors
• Educational materials for schools

The significance of the memorial centre

• A place of remembrance - for the families of the victims
• Education - teaching the young about genocide
• Research - an archive for historians
• A symbol - the struggle against oblivion
• A warning - "Never Again"

"This is not only a Serbian memorial. This is a memorial to all the victims of fascism - Serbs, Jews, Roma, Croatian anti-fascists. This is a place of remembrance of humanity." - Nataša Mataušić, director of the Memorial Site (2006-2018)