STATEMENT OF A SERB FROM PAKRAC WHO ESCAPED FROM THE JASENOVAC CAMP, I.E. STARA GRADIŠKA, AFTER BEING DETAINED FROM THE END OF DECEMBER 1941 UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY 1942.[1]
1. III[2] 12 May 1942
Hz/Br. – 539
15/5
III A for GA
(atrocities)
TRANSLATION
My life in the clutches of the Ustashas from December 23, 1941 to January 15, 1942.
The journey to the Jasenovac camp, life in the Jasenovac camp, the Stara Gradiška penitentiary and my escape from it.
—————
On 23.12. at 11 pm, the Ustashas knocked on my window and told me that I had been arrested on the orders of their officers.[5] I got up and two Ustashas and one policeman, Marko Kobetić, took me to a gathering place in the warehouses. Other arrested men were also here, the Serb inhabitants of Pakrac. The picking up lasted until 4 o’clock in the morning. Of the arrested Serbs, I know of the following by name:
Blagojević Mihajlo, merchant
Štulić Jovo ″ Vučković, tax clerk
Marković Pajo ″ Vučković Nikola, mun. [icipal]
treas. [urer]
Marković Vlado ″ Tomić Branko
Marković Braco, student Lončar Vlado, forest ranger
Marković Bibe Ilić Vlado, judge
Todorović Kosta, butcher Sudar Gavro, landowner
Todorović Milan ″ Lukić Mile,
Utješinović Jovo, a peasant from Koreničani
Radić Đuro, tailor Mišćević Božo, pensioner
Milaković Jovo ″ Mišćević Rade, teacher
Orozović Lazar ″ Kovačević Dušan, tailor
Pokrajac Stanko, fin.[ancial] clerk Todorović Ico, butcher
Šepelj Mane, fin.[ancial] clerk Pavlović Jovo, shoemaker
Gavrilović Lazar, pensioner Vukašinović Vukašin, clerk
Šušnjar Lazar, pensioner Bosanac Vaso, landowner
Blanuša Nikola, merchant BANJA LIPIK
Vukobradović Ljubomir, innkeeper Divjak Joco, hotel keeper
Mirković Raden landowner Radaković, blacksmith
Ugrica landowner Radaković, landowner
Bjelic Nikola, surveyor Radaković, ″
Suvajdžić Nikola, electrician Vrhovac Stevo, miller
Šakić Luka, pensioner Dakić Stevo, landowner
Labus Marko, landowner Dakić Pero, landowner
Labus, ″ Dakić Mišo, ″
Savić Ranko, merchant Dakić (father), ″
Blanuša Đuro, coppersmith Arbutina Simo, muni.[cipal] notary
Hinić Nikola, pensioner Kovačević, innkeeper
Bogojević Nikola, landowner Mirković, innkeeper
Orozović Đuro, tailor Vukmirović Todor, pensioner
Krlić Mirko, court clerk
On the morning of the 24th at 6:30 the door of the warehouse where we were imprisoned opened and several Ustashas with chains entered. They asked us who tried to escape during the arrest. Two men answered, Šepelj Mane and Radić Đuro, who were tied with chains and went to the train station with the others. We walked in rows of four and were followed by almost all the inhabitants of Pakrac, armed, with weapons at the ready, together with the Ustashas. The night was clear and terribly cold with frost. Of those arrested, only four had their own blankets, while the rest did not have these because they had been told they were only going to be interrogated. We reached the station, where we boarded a freight car and were transported to Lipik. Several arrested Serbs from Lipik came into our car. There were exactly 74 persons in it. Then we were taken to Nova Gradiška. It was very difficult for the older people, because they could not sit down and had to stand all the way. We arrived in Nova Gradiška at 10 o’clock in the morning, and then we were lined up in front of the car in pairs. At first it was not clear to us why we were placed in front of the car. It was the evening before Christmas, so we believed that a lot of people gathered at the train station because of that. However, one could see that the locals had been informed about our arrival. The day before, there was a combat between Ustashas and Partisans[6] in the wider vicinity of Pakrac, during which several Ustashas from Gradiška were killed. To appease the residents and families of the dead, they were told that many Partisans had been captured.[7] In order to prove that, they arrested Serb residents from Pakrac and Lipik and brought them to the station in Gradiška, where people were told that we were the captured Partisans. At the head of our group was an invalid without one leg and one arm. When the citizens saw him, they asked him if he was also in the forest, to which the Ustasha replied: “You believe that if someone does not have arms or legs, he does not have a tongue and cannot be in the forest?” A similar case happened with Milan Todorović, who was recognized by a townsman and asked: “You were in the forest too? You didn’t have anything smarter to do?” To which Milan replied, “Don’t be crazy, we were all taken from our beds.”
When he said that, the Ustasha struck him on the head with the butt. It was clear to all of us why we were in Nova Gradiška. After being set up for an hour, we boarded the train car again. The route now led to Jasenovac, “the Serbian cemetery” or, as the Croats themselves call it, “the death camp”, or rather “the metropolis of Croatian culture”. We arrived in Jasenovac on December 24 at around 4.30 and remained closed without food and water until half past 9.
On December 25, at half past nine, the real Golgotha and our suffering began. The Ustashas came and opened the railcar. These were Ustashas from the Jasenovac camp, who took us over from the Ustashas from Nova Gradiška. We left the station in rows of two to the Catholic church and from there to Ozren Bačić’s brickyard, where the Jasenovac camp is located. On the way from the station, 30 Ustashas escorted us. The inhabitants of the part of Jasenovac earlier settled by the Serbs who no longer live there and have been replaced by Croats, stood in front of Serbian houses and mocked us with the most insulting words. We entered the camp.
The camp consists of two parts. The first part consists of the brickyard and a sawmill[8]. The Ustashas call this part “prijavka”[9]. The second part, which extends behind the first, is bounded on one side by a wire fence, and on the other by the Sava river and one sandbar. In the second part, a two meters high embankment was erected. This embankment appears to have been erected for fear of flooding. The soil for the embankment was taken from the camp and the camp itself looks like a cauldron. In front of the embankment, 7 little houses were built on pillars with mounted machine guns and permanent guard. Escape from the camp was absolutely impossible. People lived in barracks that were so precisely built that rain and snow could easily pass through their construction. As the rain fell in the fall, water that could not drain away accumulated, and in order for people not to lie in the water itself, the boards had to be placed two fingers apart. There used to be straw on the boards, but when we arrived, there was only straw dust through which one could see the frozen boards. Poor and innocent Serbs spent their last hours in life there only because they are called Serbs, and had to feel the thousand-year-old culture of the treacherous Croatian nation.
We arrived in double rows and stood in front of the office of the former company. We stood there for a few minutes and then an Ustasha under the name “Ljuba the First Lieutenant” came. He stood in front of us, looked at us all and shouted angrily: “Don’t they know that there are more camps in Croatia other than Jasenovac, and do they think that I have to kill all the Serbs.” He then said that everyone had to hand over whatever they had with them, except clothes and shoes. Two Ustashas came with a basket and started collecting the handed things and money. Other Ustashas with rifles and two machine guns were standing around us. When it was over, Ljuba said: “Did you hand everything over? If I find a single kuna or something, a bullet will follow.” There was silence and no one said a word. Every further moment was harder, and the cold was getting stronger and stronger. Two by two were searched, they had to strip themselves naked. Jovan Štulić was found with 10 kunas, which he himself did not know about, but he was punished. During that time, the Ustashas drank brandy brought by a Jew[10] who constantly poured it for them. When the search was over, Ljuba said the following: “The Chetniks sent to me the message that I should roast for them a black billy goat for Christmas, and look, they sent me such beautiful roasts.” The Ustashas were still drinking, and to us every minute was getting heavier and we were terrified. Ljubo jumped on it, his hair fell over his eyes, his hat was down on his forehead and he shouted: “Who is a lawyer here?” Mr. Ilić Vladimir, head of the court in Pakrac responded. “Step forward!” When he stepped forward, he asked the man: “How many Croats have you sentenced to death?!” The answer followed: “I am not a county judge, but a district judge. I have judged according to the law and justice.” To this, Ljuba said: “You condemned many of our Croat brothers and drove them to their deaths.” He took his carbine and called him to stand in front of the brick pillar that was in front of all of us, and aimed at him. As the man had not taken off his coat and glasses, he ordered him to take them off, raised his rifle and fired at him 3 times, at which point the man dropped down. The first victim fell and the impression made on us was indescribable. Then two young people came and asked if anyone from Lika was among us. They all responded, including:
Šepelj Mane
Pokrajac Stanko
Mirković Rade
Šakić Luka
Labus Marko
Šušnjar
Labus junior
They were all called to step out of the line. When they arrived in front of us, two by two of the wretched men were taken into a circle of six Ustashas. The first two were Šepelj and Pokrajac, who entered the circle of six Ustashas and were stabbed with knives approximately 40 cm long, until they dropped dead with utmost moaning. Their calls for help were indescribable and their last words were addressed to their wives and children. In the same way, the other named above were killed. When this was happening, three Ustashas came, scrutinized us and chose 11 people they liked:
Todorović Kosta a man from Lipik
Gavrilović Lazar Mirković,
Bogojević Đuro innkeeper from Lipik
Krlić Mirko Dakić from Lipik, I don’t know which one
Lukić
Kovačević from Lipik
a peasant from Koreničani
Like the preceding group, these men had to take off their coats and stay in their shirts when they [the Ustashas – Translator’s note] started cutting the necks with knives. They did this with greatest skill, from which it could be concluded that they had enough practice in this business. Of these men, Kosta Todorović was not slaughtered well enough, and at his great request, the Ustasha refused to finish him off, and a doctor came from the infirmary and put iodine on his severed neck and applied an adhesive bandage. But not even 10 minutes passed when another Ustasha came, who wanted to slaughter him by force. This time the pleas did not help and he was completely slaughtered. All these slaughtered people were lying on a pile in front of us. We all had to watch and laugh and every one of us was scrutinized thereby. There was a remark about Divjak Joca and he was immediately pulled out of the line. The poor man saw what was awaiting him and, praying, he said that he was related to a sub-prefect. The Ustasha replied: “This is the kind we need.” He had to take off his coat and shirt, lie down on the already slaughtered men and show with his hand where his heart is. Then one Ustasha sat on his head, another one on his legs and two on his arms and they took out his heart. The Ustasha who took out his heart, licked the knife and said that the Serbian blood was sweet. Blanuša Đuro and four others, who could not watch, were also slaughtered. At that, Lieutenant Ljuba told us: “You have been saved, you have been pardoned by the Supreme Leader.” An Ustasha named Slobodan,[11] who was the warden of the Serbian part of the camp, approached and took us to another part of the camp. It is a real tomb of the living. When we arrived, we stood in that cold until the evening in small groups in front of the barracks. The scariest picture was provided to us by our friend Sima Arbutina, a notary, a tall man with brown hair, whose hair turned completely gray after these horrible scenes. The next day, the poor notary went insane. At around 6 in the evening, they forced us into a barrack with the other detainees. The barracks were made for 200 people, but this evening there were 526 people inside. So we remained throughout my stay in the camp.
The first night, between the 25th and the 26th, passed in peace. It was most difficult for M. Blagojević, who was ill and weak from the journey and was constantly asking for water. There was no drinking water in the camp at all. Whoever was thirsty, took the snow. The snow was also used for washing. The 26th or second day of Catholic Christmas passed peacefully in the camp itself, but there were killings at the entrance like on the first day. All day long, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., we stood outside watching the old detainees of the camp clean up lice, which were plentiful in the camp. The day was terribly cold. To our great surprise, the old detainees of the camp showed no interest in life outside the camp. This is no wonder, because after two days I saw that, apart from those who were set aside for special work, ordinary detainees in the camp could spend a maximum of 1 month and a half in such circumstances. During my stay in the camp, my diet was as follows: nothing in the morning, water with a little corn flour at noon, bitter without salt and fat, potato soup without potatoes in the evening. We got 5 dcl at noon and 4 dcl in the evening of such food. I can also emphasize that there was no bread during all the time.
On the 26th, a group of 80 people from the vicinity of Banja Luka arrived, who were immediately tied and driven to a field outside the camp, where they had to sing. The dead were buried there and they were all killed there with mallets. For us detainees, that day passed in peace. On the 27th, 80 of us from the camp were assigned to dig graves and bury those who had been killed the day before. That field was about the size of one jutro[12] and was full of grave holes. The holes were wide for two people and long for 10 people. Digging would be done until water emerged, usually after depth of 2 m. The dead were placed inside with their feet facing each other, while the next row lay with their heads facing each other. So the dead were put inside and trampled so as to make more room. They were put inside naked. There was a space of approximately 40-50 cm above to be covered with earth. The graves didn’t have their edges so you wouldn’t know where each one was. The graves were separated from each other by the length of one spade. While we were returning to the camp, we saw that the Ustashas were taking out two bodies from the Sava river, they were Ustashas, which is why 75 people were taken from our camp the next day. We couldn’t lie down that night or the previous one because there was no room.
On the 28th we got up as usual to work. New barracks were erected. I hear that according to the plan, 40 barracks were to be built, but only 9 were built. 75 people from our barracks were chosen that day, tied up and brought in front of a barn where they were killed with mallets. These were the victims for the two Ustasha corpses mentioned earlier.
The 29th passed in peace and the 75 people who were killed the day before were buried. The night passed easier for us, because there were fewer people and it was easier to stand and there was less depression. I consider it my duty to state this observation here as well. On the same evening, Jovo Štulić, a merchant from Pakrac, said in front of me, and I believe in front of Nikola Zjalić or Jovo Milaković, that in case anyone leaves here alive, he would leave his entire property to his brother’s children, because his wife who is a Croat was to blame for all this, that he was here in the camp.
On the 30th, due to cold and hunger, some people could not go to work. There were 130 of them who did not go to work and did not leave the barracks, and because of that they were killed in the following way: at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the Ustashas came and drove everyone out of the barracks. Those who could not walk because of weakness or because their legs were swollen were beaten dead in front of the barracks. The others, who were able to walk, were tied with wire, driven to the front of a barn and beaten dead with mallets. They were hit on the temple with the mallets. The next day they were buried where everyone else was. From Pakrac among them were the following, whom I remember:
- Blagojević,
Štulić Jovo
Hinić Nikola
Marković Vlada
Bosanac Vaso
Vukmirović Todor
Vučković Nikola
Ranko Savić (father)
Malešević Mile
the latter had been in Koprivnica and told me the following: From Koprivnica they took us first to Gospić, from Gospić to Jadovna.[13] We stayed in Jadovna for a month. One morning they tied us two by two with a thick wire, and in the middle they tied everyone again with a wire and they drove them so, as they said, somewhere to Mt. Velebit. There were about 4,000 people in this party. I don’t know what happened to those people, but the Ustashas boasted that they had killed them like this: twenty people were brought to the abyss, tightly tied with wire, then killed with mallets, and when the first ten gathered together, they would pull the others into the abyss and so our poor Serbs left their bones in Mt. Velebit. The 500 survivors were sent to Gospić, from there to a place near Karlovac, and from there 3 came to Jasenovac: Professor Mudrić, his son and me, Mile Malešević. Many of us from Pakrac and Lipik were killed in this party, but I do not know their names. So that day passed and we had even more place to sleep. For the first time that night, we were able to stretch out. It was our first lying position since the night of the 23rd.
The 31st 12/41 and 1st, 2nd and 3rd/I 42 were calm and without killing, we just had to work from morning to night in indescribable cold. Those were terrible days. Our legs were swelling and people were simply thinning from hunger.
On the morning of the 4th, we were all called in front of the office, and that is where the selection of the men who were to go to Stari Jasenovac for some so-called brushing started. Tailors and shoemakers were selected for Stara Gradiška, and the rest were kept in the camp. We heard about the first ones, those envisaged for the so-called brushing, from a Jew, who was like an Ustasha, that they, like the previous ones, were killed. Among them from Pakrac were the following:
Misćević Rade
Blanuša Nikola
Todorović Milan
Utješinović
Ugrica
Vučković, t.[ax] clerk
Tomić Branko
and all others who will not be named afterwards.
From Pakrac, the following were chosen for Stara Gradiška:
Orozović Lazo Radić Đuro
Orozović Đuro Kovačević Dusan
Milaković Jovo Pavlović Jovo
Sudar Gajo
On the 5th at around 10 o’clock in the morning, we were taken to the Jasenovac station, from there to Okučani, and from there on foot to Stara Gradiška. As we were passing through the village of Novi Varoš, where Đuro Radić was born and where his parents lived, he begged for some bread being brought by his family, but the Ustashas said that whoever brought him bread would die.
Of those from Pakrac in the Jasenovac camp, the following survived:
Marković Pajo Suvajdžić Nikola
Marković Braco Todorović Ico
Marković Bibe Vrhovac Stevo
Zjalić Niko Vukobradović Ljubomir
Lončar Vlado
We arrived in Stara Gradiška at 9 o’clock in the evening, and we had not got anything to eat during the whole day. When we arrived, we asked and got some potato soup. Here, like in Jasenovac, we did not get bread. The food was the same as in the camp itself. The only change was that we lay in rooms and got straw. We did different jobs here, but we did not sew as we had been assigned in Jasenovac, but we carried wood, threw snow and garbage and performed various jobs. Work outside the penitentiary was allowed only to the Jews those who were emigrants, who did not speak our language. Exceptionally, local Jews were also allowed to work outside the penitentiary if necessary. Fortunately for us, Mrs. Radić managed to send a package of bacon and sausages through one soldier. There was a Jew there who gave assignments to work, so when the package arrived, Radić also gave that Jew some bacon and sausages, for he has had the same food as we had. It was self-evident that this had a background, since we were constantly thinking about escaping. And we succeeded in that.
On January 15th, at our request, we were assigned to work outside the penitentiary. Work was done on loading potatoes and cloth in Okučani. Therefore, one convenient opportunity to escape was there. We were so weak and lacking strength that we were afraid that, once given an opportunity to flee, we would not have enough strength. We came to the station in Okučani, started working and around 10 o’clock Milaković Jovo and I noticed, without a previous agreement, that Radić Đuro was not there and we got very frightened that we would be shot dead. Somewhat later, the Ustashas noticed that they did not pay enough attention to us, because when we arrived in Okučani, a Croat Ustasha commented that he knew us, that we were decent and honest people and that he did not know why we were imprisoned. When the Ustashas noticed that Radić was not there, they said that they would find and shoot him (swearing words not missing). When the work was finished and we left for Gradiška, there was a big crowd at the very entrance and fortunately many Ustashas and soldiers were coming from a combat somewhere. Our Ustashas had a conversation with the newcomers about the events and we took the opportunity. I sent Milaković to ask a peasant for bread, and he got into the sleigh just as the peasant was leaving. When I saw that, I froze completely, because I didn’t think that Milaković would leave. I had no choice. Our Ustashas did not pay any attention to us, I jumped into the station building and started to run towards Novska. When I crossed the railroad switch, I turned and continued to walk along the main road in the direction of Lipik. I came under Bela Stena[14] and slept in a peasant’s home, and from there, as I knew the surroundings well, being a hunter, I continued to Brusnik, a place located in the Papuk mountain above Pakrac. I stayed there with my customers for a while, until I recovered and from there I went to the vicinity of my hometown. After 3 months, I finally managed to escape from the damned clutches of the Ustashas as if I had been the greatest of bandits and not an innocent and honest Serb, and I have managed to save my bare life in the happy and blessed Mother Serbia.
B 700 – 701[15]
[1] АВ, Ф. 562, 3.1.1.2 (519-530), translation from Serbian; АВ, Ф. 562, 3.1.1.2 (531-535), original. The document was published in translation from German and was compared with the original. See document number 59 in this book.
[2] L. III, head (Leiter) of the III Department (Security Service, Sicherheitsdienst, SD) in the Police Operational Group (EG Sipo-SD), from the end of January 1942 in the institution of the Commander of the Police in Belgrade, i.e. in Serbia (BdS). SS Major Hans Rexeisen was at the head of Department III.
[3] V.B. is abbreviation for liaison officer/commander (Verbindungsführer/Befehlshaber) which was the official designation of SS Major Weinmann. And the initials with the date 15/5 are probably his.
[4] On the original handwritten note in translation: Atrocities of Croats in Croatia. It is further unclear. The following are the marks of the case handler, section III A in the BdS institution. The scope of work of the Department included law, administration and internal policy.
[5] In the original: “po naređenju satnika” (“by order of the captain”).
[6] In original: “šumskih” (“forest men”).
[7] In original: “da su ti ljudi pohvatani u šumama” („that those men had been caught in the woods”).
[8] In original: “i lančare” (“and chain factory”).
[9] Reception/check-in desk. – Subeditor’s note.
[10] In original: “Židov”.
[11] Slobodan Micić from Janja near Bijeljina, see: A. Miletić, Koncentracioni logor Jasenovac 1941-1945. Dokumenta, Vol. 1, Beograd, Jasenovac: Narodna knjiga, Spomen-područje Jasenovac, 1986, 220; I. Goldstein, Jasenovac, Novi Sad: Akademska knjiga, 2019, 233, 236-238.
[12] Approximately, an acre. – Subeditor’s note.
[13] Jadovno.
[14] Bijela Stijena, village in Mt. Psunj near Okučani. – Subeditor’s note.
[15] Coded name of the Commissioner.