Sisak children's concentration camp

Sisak children's concentration camp was a concentration camp during World War II, set up by the Croatian Ustaše government for Serbian, Jewish and Romani children. The camp was located in Sisak, Croatia. It was part of the Jasenovac cluster of concentration and death camps created and managed by the Nazi-affiliated Ustaše.

Prelude

Children in Sisak concentration camp

In the town of Sisak, near the town of Jasenovac, Ustaše presence was vigilant. Early in 1942, The local synagogue was robbed utterly, and the building later housed a worker's hall.[1] The settlers of Sisak were quickly brought to Ustaše attention, and those of them that were of Serbian or Jewish kinship were tormented. One example is Miloš Teslić, a Serb whose eyes were cut out, arms sawn off, chest burned with a hot iron and heart cut out.[2]

The camp

The camp held more than 6,600 Serbian, Jewish and Roma children throughout World War II. The children, aged between 3 and 16, were housed in abandoned stables, ridden with filth and pests. Malnutrition and dysentery seriously impaired the children's health. They were fed daily with a portion of thin gruel and treated horribly by the Ustaše guards. "Witnesses recount seeing an Ustasha soldier pick up a child by the legs and smash its head against a wall until it was dead, ..."[3] The Red-Cross noticed the existence of the camp, and reportedly tried to aid the children, subsequently obtaining the release of some, while others were poisoned with caustic soda later on.[4] It is estimated that this camp's death count was nearly 4,000.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Menachem Shelach (ed.), "History of the Holocaust: Yugoslavia", p. 162
  2. ↑ Avro Manhattan, The Vatican's Holocaust.
  3. ↑ Sremac, Danielle S. "War of Words: Washington Tackles the Yugoslav Conflict", Praeger (30 October 1999); ISBN 0-275-96609-7, ISBN 978-0-275-96609-6, pp. 38-39
  4. 1 2 Watson, Paul (24 July 2000). "The Heirs to Kindness in Croatia". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 April 2012.

Coordinates: 45°29′43″N 16°21′56″E / 45.49528°N 16.36556°E / 45.49528; 16.36556

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