A Witness of the Holocaust
Memories of Jasenovac "

"In... Jasenovac the liquidation was done 'manually' i. e., 'craftsmanly'. Here the [Nazi Catholic Croats] Ustashas came into direct contact with the victim, killing him passionately with a knife, club, dagger or a bullet."

EXCERPT from the above book.

Chapter Title:

Foreword

Quote:

Six million European Jews perished in the Holocaust (Shoa). In this number the Jews from Yugoslavia, casualties of the Holocaust, are also included. Out of 82,000 Jews who lived on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941, 67,000, i. e., 82% perished in the period from 1941 to 1945.

In Jasenovac, and in the system of the Jasenovac camps (Stara Gradiska), the majority of the Jews from Croatia (including the inhabitants of Zemun [suburb of Belgrade], Sremska Mitrovica and Ruma [now Vojvodina, part of Serbia]) and also from Bosnia, were savagely killed. In Jerusalem, in the 'Hall of Reminiscences' in 'Yad Vashem' slabs are placed on which the names of the most notorious Nazi death camps are inscribed. In that Hall there is a special tablet with the name of the Jasenovac camp. The number of casualties in Jasenovac with respect to Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor is much smaller but, unfortunately, according to the atrocities committed in Jasenovac this camp does not lag far behind the other death camps. Jasenovac was intended for the execution of all the Jews who were taken there. Unlike the exterminating Nazi camps in Germany, Austria and Poland, Jasenovac's administration and executors were not the Germans but exclusively the Croatian Ustashas. The author of this book, not big by the number of its pages, but very touching, is one of those rare camp inmates who survived.

All those who survived Jasenovac are witnesses of the horrors through which they, their relatives and the Jewish people in general passed. Their sole sin was to belong to a people condemned to death by the Nazis and their satellites. Some survivors wrote their reminiscences and dedicated them only to their families. However, the majority of the survivors did not have the strength to put down their memories on paper; they did not even have the strength to tell their story to a narrow family circle.

The author of this book, Cadik Danon “Braco,” had sufficient courage to record, in his late years, his reminiscences of Jasenovac and his sufferings and those of his family. He took a step further by taking part in an anonymous literary open competition of the Federation of Jewish Communities and he won the first award in a strong competition of professional writers. The jury highly evaluated his exposition and description of events so that his memories, presented in this way indeed deserve to be published.

As I am not a literary critic, I am not competent to evaluate the literary merits of this work. However, as one of those innumerous people who survived the Holocaust and with a rich personal experience of various prisons and camps in Hungary and Germany (Auschwitz, Flosenburg), I am quite competent to compare the sufferings in German concentration camps with those which took place in Jasenovac.

At the beginning the German executors killed the Jews by firing squad. Later on this procedure was replaced by killing in gas chambers. It was in fact an 'industrial' manner of killing, precisely elaborated, according to a previously set technology. Practically, there was no contact between the victim and the executor.

In contrast to this in Jasenovac the liquidation was done 'manually' i. e., 'craftsmanly'. Here the [Nazi Catholic Croats] Ustashas came into direct contact with the victim, killing him passionately with a knife, club, dagger or a bullet. The difference was only in the method, the result being always the same - certain death was awaiting all the camp inmates.

Nowadays the question could be asked whether it is justifiable to publish these reminiscences, almost six decades after the time these tragic events occurred. Unfortunately, the categorical reply to this question is, Yes. There are serious reasons for this - it is not the opinion only of us, the survivors, and the Jewish people in general. The International Forum on the Holocaust in Stockolm, held in January 2000, gathered representatives from 41 countries at the highest level (among the participants there were 22 presidents of States or Governments). This gathering, among other things, promised that the governments of the participating States would fight against genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, antisemitism and xenophobia. The Declaration issued by the gathering stated - 'The obligation of all of us is to repeat the terrible truth about the Holocaust contrary to those who negate it. '

This book on Jasenovac, written on the basis of personal memory and without entering into political discussions, is a witness to the fact that Jasenovac was one of the most terrible slaughter houses of the Serbs, the Romas and particularly of the Jews. The content of the book and its publication is entirely in agreement with the aforementioned Declaration of the Forum. At the same time it is the reply to all those who wish to decrease or even to negate the role of Jasenovac in the Holocaust, which took place on the territory of Independent State of Croatia and where entire families were swept away, from babies to old men.

Unfortunately, the horrors of Jasenovac are insufficiently known to younger generations. Especially in the world, little is known about Jasenovac. My modest opinion is that it would be very useful and educative for this book to be translated into English as being trustworth evidence of past crimes.

Aca Singer
President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of
Yugoslavia.
Belgrade, June 2000.

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More about the book and how to order it.

Other survivors of Jasenovac speak

What was Jasenovac?

Who were Nazi Croats - the Ustashas?

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Nazi Croatia TODAY!!!