A Witness of the Holocaust
Memories of Jasenovac "

Just another story from Jasenovac the WWII Catholic Nazi organized Hell on Earth. The types of torture, the humiliating ways to die in Jasenovac were many.

EXCERPT from the above book.

Chapter Title:

The Icy Pillar of Death

Quote:

The severe winter of 1941-1942 began early and lasted a long time, causing great hardship in our enslaved country. No one will ever know how many people perished of that white death that exacted its ransom in broad sweeps. I was a witness of its numerous victims in Jasenovac, where it mercilessly reigned in the inhuman camp conditions.

One such instance, the death of a young camp inmate punished for having stolen a single corncob, was the consequence of the deadly frost as much as of the even colder bestiality of his slayers.

We were returning from our labours outside the camp, anxious to get to our wooden beds and cover ourselves with the shabby blankets, the only ones given to us upon entering the camp. As we marched in double file, every now and then an exhausted inmate would fall to the ground. The Ustasha guards would finish him off with blows of their rifle butts. When we reached our barracks, we were faced by the camp commandant Ljubo Milos and his deputy, Friar Filipovic-Majstorovic. They were flanked by the most hardened cutthroats in the camp. I immediately sensed that they were making ready to commit a monstrous crime to satisfy their basest passions. In their midst there stood a young, exhausted inmate holding a corncob in his hand. At the command of line up all of us stood at attention in double rows. Then the rasping voice of Ljuba Milos was heard:

- While working in the storehouse, this prisoner stole a corncob. According to our Ustasha camp regulations, he is to be punished. This time, the winter will carry out the punishment.

He then ordered two buckets of water to be brought. In front of the barracks there was a two-meter high pole dug deep into the ground. We did not know what its purpose was but we soon realized that it had been placed there for a very specific one. The young man was led to the pole and sharply ordered to undress. The youth unbuttoned his coat and dropped it on the snow at his feet. The order to undress was repeated and the youth lifted his sweater over his head. The command to undress was repeated a few times more until the young man was entirely naked. Lastly, he was ordered to take off his shoes. He stood barefoot on the snow, lifting his legs alternately as the bitter cold of the snow and ice cut into his soles like the blades of a knife.

Two of the Ustashas made him lean against the pole and tied his hands behind his back. A rope was tightened across his chest and tied to the pole. Then one of the two Ustashas, took the corncob that the young; man had been holding in his hand and said:

- Here, take it, and have a good meal!

Working quickly, the soldiers poured the water from the buckets on the naked youth. The last rays of sunlight lit up the naked body that was convulsing. The young man was obviously handsome but now his face was rapidly becoming contorted, his eyes bulging and his mouth gaping in the effort to breathe his last. The water dripping down his body did not even reach the ground as it froze on him forming icy layers. A cheerful murmur rose from the Ustashas who were clearly delighted with this scene. The commandant ordered his men to keep pouring the water on the youth while one of them came up to him and slowly poured the water on the top of his head. The frost was such that the water in the buckets was iced over so that the soldiers had to break the thin icy film on top with their boots. Before our eyes we were watching a human body being turned into a frozen statue. The youth's face was no longer visible; the ice covered his eyes and where his mouth had been there was an icy hole, the last mute sign of his agony.

Throughout this act, the young inmate had let out only one cry, when the first bucket of water was poured over him.

We were ordered to enter the barracks. Most of us rushed to the iron furnace vainly trying to gain some warmth against the unbearable cold.

The following morning when I walked out from the barracks, I looked at the pole in the strong early daylight and saw the sun's rays glistening on the iced body of the hapless youth. The corncob was no longer at his feet. One of the famished inmates had obviously risked his life in creeping up to the pillar of death during the night and picking up the corncob. The frozen corpse was still pressed against the pole as if awaiting warmer weather. Several days later a south wind began blowing and melting the ice. Then the order was for the corpse to be removed by the gravediggers as they did every morning when collecting the dead. The corpse was loaded on a vehicle and taken away. The severe winter slowly slackened. Spring was making itself felt in the air while the pole was still in its place.

We, the inmates, did not experience it as a warning but rather as mute witnesses of a bestial crime.

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