The Concentration Camp That Scared Even The Nazis: Jasenovac Concentration Camp

Regardless of the exact number, between the years of 1941 and 1945, thousands upon thousands of people passed in various concentration camps in Croatia. The numbers remain contested, and range anywhere between 40,000 and 97,000. 



There is no way for anyone to really know since people were taken so indiscriminately.  The Jasenovac camp consisted of five sites grouped around the town of Jasenovac. Known as the "Auschwitz of the Balkans," the camps sat on marshland and fell under the control of the Croatian police, called the Ustaše, sometimes spelled "Ustache." 


Though the police used the camp primarily for extermination. The camps were encouraged by members of the Catholic clergy, and a lot of forced conversion happened. When Roma, Orthodox Serbs, or whoever else, resisted these conversion efforts, they were felled.


Though Croatia took inspiration from German soldiers when creating concentration camps, most of those targeted in Croatia during WWII were Serbs rather than Jews. But, much like German camps, basically anyone other than Catholics, fascists, or Croatians was subject to horrible treatment in these camps, including Roma and anti-fascists.


The conditions at Jasenovac were brutal to say the least. Poor sanitation led to rampant disease; prisoners slept in tunnels, on stone, or even outside, and had no access to clean water. A large part of the experience at Jasenovac came from the guards.  


Some guards held contests to see who could take out the most prisoners.  One of the most infamous techniques to emerge from Jasenovac was the Srbosjek or "Serb Cutter," a special tool designed to take people out. Basically, this was a tool attached to what looks like a fingerless glove, the cutter allowed for close-range and swift extermination.

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