A Witness of the Holocaust
Memories of Jasenovac "

Just another story from Jasenovac the WWII Catholic Nazi organized Hell on Earth. Ustasha (Croatian Nazi) "craftiness" on display.

EXCERPT from the above book.

Chapter Title:

The Redhead

Quote:

Immediately upon arrival at Jasenovac, friends and acquaintances who had already been in the camp and had gained experience at how to avoid the dangers from the Ustasha criminals had warned us whom we had to guard. The first person what we should watch out for the camp entrance was Nisim Montiljo from Kiseljak near Sarajevo, a few years older than I. My family used to go to Kiseljak every summer for the holidays, so that we had been friends for many years. Among the useful advice he gave us there, was a warning to be aware of an Ustasha sargeant, called the Redhead. In order to recognize him easily, Nisim described to me in detail his appearances, emphasizing the main sign of recognition, his red hair, and big yellow mustache, horizontal, and curled, a man of middle height and a short, fat neck. He told me to run away from him and to avoid any contact with him.

Once, around noon, while arranging the dispersed bricks in the vicinity of the kiln, I saw the Ustasha sargeant matching entirely the description of the Redhead. I had just stacked a pillar about a meter high and was just preparing to set up the second one. The Redhead was passing at a distance of only a few meters from me. I realized that I was in danger, so I sought shelter behind the pilled bricks. An exhausted and hungry camp inmate in a long black coat was coming towards him. He looked like an educated man. He moved slowly, with difficulty, and when he came near the Redhead, according to the regulation in the camp, he stood at attention position and took of his cap with his right hand. The Redhead approached him, measuring him darkly from head to foot. This lasted for a long time, and then his rasping, penetrating voice resounded. He asked the man where he was from, at which the inmate said in a fearful voice that he was from Zagreb. The Redhead asked him what his nationality and profession were. The inmate replied that he was a Jew, an attorney by profession. At that the Redhead laughed cynically and fell upon the unlucky man:

- So you are that Jewish swine and bloodsucker attorney! You have been robbing us and sucking our blood, we will kill all of you!

Peeping behind the bricks I saw that the man became petrified. The Redhead ordered him to turn with his hands on his back and then took a piece of already prepared wire from his belt and quicky tied his hands. Then he ordered the tied man to turn towards him, which he did. The Redhead took the man by his hair and with a sudden, skilful movement using the Ustasha dagger with a black handle, pierced him in the neck so that its sharp peak protruded on the other side. Obviously, the killer was very adept in this way of killing, as the man remained on his legs. The Redhead did not wish to slaughter the victim right away, so he took care that the knife passed between the windpipe and the larynx. On both sides of the victim's neck the blood was flowing in thin sprays and the killer could slowly enjoy the fear in his eyes.

This horrible sight made me forget Nisim's warning. Paralyzed by the monstrous scale of the evil, I continued watching what was happening. The man opened his mouth as the blood flowed out. He was still standing as if dug in, while the Redhead slowly took a box of Herzegovian tobacco from his pocket, opened it, took some cigarette-paper, put it between two fingers of the left hand and packed the tobacco evenly in order to roll a cigarette. Once he made the cigarette, he licked the paper with his tongue, took out his lighter and lit it. After the first inhaled smoke, he again started to curse the Jews and attorneys, threatening all of them with a most cruel death. Slowly, with pleasure, he inhaled the smoke, and blowing it in the victim’s face. When he finished smoking his cigarette, he pressed the butt onto the forehead of the petrified man. Suddenly, with a swift movement of his right hand he grasped the handle of the dagger and simultaneously, with the left hand he hit the man’s forehead. These two motions of the hands cut the man’s larynx and the neck’s artery and he fell to the ground. From the severed neck the released blood suddenly sprayed. The man was lying shaking in a death rattle, as the Redhead licked both sides of the dagger and speaking to himself muttered.

- How sweet is Jewish blood.

In order to clean the dagger fully, he bent and wiped it on the coat of the dying victim. When he stood up, a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face while putting the dagger back in its holster. Then he looked left and right and in a shrill voice cried out:

- Gravediggers! Gravediggers!

At once two inmates appeared with a stretcher. As if they had been ready, and had known in advance where and when the crime would occur. Quickly, they put the poor man who was still wheezing on the stretcher and took him away. The Redhead, pleased, tightened his belt and with a firm step continued his bloody walk through the camp, looking for new victims.

For a long time I stood leaning on the bricks, petrified, not believing what I had seen. For the thousandth time Iasked myself why they were doing it, and making up the most cruel ways of destroying us. Would we ever find an answer to that question?

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