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"Genocide Carried out by the Tito Partisans"
Österreichische
Historiker-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Für Kärnten und Steiermark (Austrian Historian Working
Group for Kärnten and Steiermark)
Translated by
Henry Fischer | Published at dvhh.org by Jody McKim Pharr,
Sept. 2006.
Chapter 4: Tito's
Starvation Camps:
Slavonia
Esseg-Josipowatz
Esseg (Osijek)
is the capital
city of
Slavonia, it is
an old military
fortress city,
and since the
expulsion of the
Turks had a
large German
population.
With the passage
of time there
was a gradual
assimilation of
the Germans with
the Croatian
population, but
there was
ongoing German
influence on the
life of the
city. But the
large increase
in the Croatian
population also
played a major
role in
lessening the
German influence
on Esseg. In
the previous
decades an
important German
Catholic weekly
newspaper,
“Christliche
Volkszeitung”
had wide
circulation both
in Srem and
Slavonia as well
as the
Batschka. A
much larger
German
population could
be found in the
vicinity, among
which were some
purely German
villages and
communities.
After the
evacuation of
the German
troops from the
area only a
small proportion
of the German
population in
the area
remained
behind. But
there was
actually one
transport that
was retrieved by
the Partisans in
Austria and
brought back to
Yugoslavia. The
minority, who
remained behind,
still amounted
to thousands and
ended up in the
camps at Valpovo
and Josipowatz.
The total number
of inmates at
the Josipowatz
camp began with
four thousand
persons, mostly
women and
children. The
youth of the
children rich
German families
in Slavonia was
totally
annihilated.
Hunger and
accompanying
diseases made
quick work of
them.
Valpovo
The
largest
internment camp
in Yugoslavia by
far was in
Valpovo. There
was a small
German
population in
Esseg along the
Danube, where it
was almost
submerged with
the much larger
Croatian
population among
whom they
lived.
The German
population of
Esseg and its
vicinity, who
had not been
consigned to
slave labour in
Josipowatz, were
expelled from
their homes in
May of 1945 and
brought to
Valpovo. The
number of
inmates in the
camp at the time
was in the
neighbourhood of
some five
thousand. In
the summer of
1945 and
frightful typhus
epidemic broke
out in the camp,
and claimed some
three thousand
victims. In May
of 1946 some of
the inmates of
the camp were
brought to Esseg
to stand on
trail before the
Peoples’ Court
and were
condemned to
prison at
Lepoglava for
several years,
and a smaller
number were
released. About
eight hundred
persons were
transferred to
Rudolfsgnad and
the camp in
Valpovo was
closed.
Like all of
the camps in
Slavonia, this
camp was not
exclusively an
internment camp.
It involved a
large number of
able bodied
workers, who
made up at least
half of the
inmates and who
served as slave
labour. As it
was true
throughout
Slavonia, their
methods here
were brutal, but
there was far
less in the way
of shootings and
torture. Here
the objective
was the quick
death of
thousands of
persons through
hunger to assure
there could be
no resistance,
and make them
susceptible to a
host of fatal
diseases. The
Partisan
sentries adhered
to the code,
“Don’t murder
any. Just leave
it to the
cauldron to do
the work for
us.” After May
of 1945 the
countless and
often daily and
weeklong
detention in
punishment
cells, along
with torture and
abuse no longer
took place.
There was only
one case where a
man was shot in
the back of the
neck for having
left the camp
and gone begging
for food in the
neighbouring
village.
Nutrition
consisted of a
breakfast,
consisting of
tea brewed from
various kinds of
leaves. There
was no sugar.
For lunch there
was soup, in
which you meant
find potato
peelings or the
pods from which
beans were
taken.
Otherwise it was
clear water
without lard or
salt. There was
bread twice a
day, about 15
Dekagrams. It
was baked out of
barely or oats.
For shelter
there were
barracks,
without windows,
without heat,
and without
light. Lice and
fleas and other
insects were
everywhere among
the three
hundred inmates
in each
barrack. They
were also the
cause of many of
the illnesses
and epidemics
which followed
and affected all
of the inmates
at one point or
another. Only
after the
inmates arrived
from the city
was there any
effort made to
control the lice
and fleas,
without any
concern about
those who were
already ill.
Valpovo,
Semlin,
Mitrowitz and
Jarek were
millstones whose
task was to
grind to death
as many of the
people as
possible. Once
you were caught
in it, few would
be able to come
out of it
alive. This
quartet made
complete and
quick work of
its victims.
Djakovo
Only
a few Germans
lived in the
Episcopal city
Djakovo. But in
its surrounding
territory there
were a large
German
population. The
evacuation of
the scattered
German
populations in
Slavonia had
been a difficult
undertaking. It
is no wonder
that in the area
around Djakovo
there were large
numbers of
Germans who had
remained
behind. They
were all taken
to Krndija.
From among all
of the camps in
Slavonia this
one earned its
reputation for
brutality.
Thousands of
people were here
on the shortest
way to death,
through hunger
and disease.
From among
almost four
thousand
inmates, after a
short period of
time, only
eighteen hundred
remained.
Pisanitza
Even in
central Croatia,
the Partisans
established
their
extermination
camps for the
Germans. In
Pisanitza by
Bjelovar they
held thousands
of them in a
concentration
camp. The
inmates came
from Croatia,
Slavonia and
Srem. Most of
them had been
evacuated but
after the war
was over they
had returned
home. Among
them were also
families from
the Wojwodina
(Batschka). On
arriving in
Agram (Zagreb),
everything they
had was taken
away from them.
They had been
given provisions
and food from
UNRRA and other
relief
organizations
for their
journey “home.”
This was all
booty from the
point of view of
the Partisans
who were only
too happy to
take it. The
treatment of the
people in
Pisanitza was
such that one
thousand persons
died of hunger
or its
consequences.
In September of
1945 all young
women and girls
were ordered to
report for
assembly. They
had to submit
themselves to an
examination by
the Partisans to
determine
whether they
were carriers of
sexually
transmitted
diseases and in
the process
sexually abused
many of them.
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