Đakovo internment camp
The camp was established on the site of an abandoned flour mill that was once used by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek and was initially run autonomously by the Jewish community.The NDH's ruling Ustaše movement subsequently assumed direct control of the camp and many detainees were consequently subjected to torture, rape and degradation.In 2013, a sculpture titled Peace in Heaven, by Croatian-born Israeli sculptor Dina Merhav, was unveiled in Đakovo to commemorate those who were interned at the camp.The Ustaše were outlawed in Yugoslavia, but received covert assistance from Benito Mussolini's Italy, which had territorial pretensions in Istria and Dalmatia.The Ustaše carried out a number of actions aimed at undermining Yugoslavia, most notably the Velebit uprising in 1932 and the assassination of King Alexander in Marseilles in 1934.Following Alexander's assassination, the Ustaše movement's senior-most leaders, including Pavelić, were tried in absentia in both France and Yugoslavia and sentenced to death, but were granted protection by Mussolini and thus evaded capture.[5] Intending to secure his southern flank for the impending attack on the Soviet Union, German dictator Adolf Hitler began placing heavy pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Axis.Two days later, a group of pro-Western, Serbian nationalist Royal Yugoslav Air Force officers deposed the country's regent, Prince Paul, in a bloodless coup d'état.They placed his teenage nephew Peter on the throne and brought to power a "government of national unity" led by the head of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force, General Dušan Simović.[13] The establishment of the NDH had been announced over the radio by Slavko Kvaternik, a former Austro-Hungarian Army officer who had been in contact with Croatian nationalists abroad, on 10 April.[17] On 17 April, the Ustaše instituted the Legal Provision for the Defence of the People and State, a law legitimizing the establishment of concentration camps and the mass shooting of hostages in the NDH.[18] Đakovo, located about 197 kilometres (122 mi) southeast of Zagreb, is notable as the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek, and prior to and during World War II, was the home to one of Croatia's largest concentrations of ethnic Germans.Local Jewish youths quickly converted a 40-metre (130 ft)-long, three-storey abandoned flour mill that had once been used by the archdiocese into a refugee camp to house the women and children.[19] The policemen allowed detainees to leave the camp to purchase necessary goods in the town, to visit the hospital in Osijek and to call relatives and friends.[32] On 18 May 1942, the Ministry of Health asked the Directorate for Public Order and Security (Croatian: Ravnateljstvo za javni red i sigurnost; RAVSIGUR) to dissolve the camp within one month.[19] This message was personally relayed to RAVSIGUR by the Minister of Health, Ivo Petrić, who proposed the "relocation" or "closing down" of the camp together with the provision of "improved and increased food for the prisoners".[21] In August 1942, around 1,200 Jews were deported from Osijek, leaving all but 40 to 50 of the Jewish foster children that had been taken from the Đakovo camp left in the town.[19] In September 1952, the Union of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia unveiled five monuments to the victims of the Holocaust in Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Novi Sad and Đakovo.[19] In June 2013, a sculpture titled Peace in Heaven, by Croatian-born Israeli sculptor Dina Merhav, was unveiled in Đakovo to commemorate those who were interned at the camp.
Internment campDina MerhavĐakovoIndependent State of CroatiaCroatiaUstašeFlour millJewishinternmentWorld War IIRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijektyphoid feverMinistry of HealthJasenovac concentration campcommunistYugoslaviagas stationthe Holocaustinmate numbersCroatsWorld War Iinterwar periodPuniša RačićStjepan RadićAlexanderroyal dictatorshipAnte PavelićCroatian nationalistfascistBenito MussoliniIstriaDalmatiaVelebit uprisingMarseillesin absentiaAnschlussNazi GermanyAustriaAxis powersinvadedAlbanianeutralityHungaryRomaniaTripartite Pactinvaded GreeceBulgariaimpending attackSoviet UnionAdolf HitlerSerbian nationalistRoyal Yugoslav Air ForceregentPrince Paulcoup d'étatDušan SimovićinvasionVersaillesSerbophobesubhumanGermanNew Order of EuropeBalkan Warpuppet stateCroatianBosnia and HerzegovinaSerbiaSlavko KvaternikAustro-Hungarian ArmyZagrebPoglavnikAryansCyrillic alphabetRoman CatholicArchdiocese of Đakovo-OsijekGermansOsijekJasenovacSarajevoPožegaPakracSlavonskiBosanski BrodNova GradiškaZenicaTravnikZyklon Bprice gougedtyphoidStara GradiškaaccordionDirectorate for Public Order and SecurityLieutenantRomaniYad VashemMiroslav Filipovićinmate numberBauer, YehudaGlenny, MishaGoldstein, IvoGoldstein, SlavkoHoare, Marko AttilaPavlowitch, Stevan K.Ramet, Sabrina P.Roberts, Walter R.Tomasevich, Jozovan Arsdale, Peter W.Concentration camps in the Independent State of CroatiaDanicaGornja RijekaGospićJadovnoJastrebarskoKerestinecKruščicaLepoglavaSajmišteSlavonska PožegaVilla LuburićGenocide of Serbs in the Independent State of CroatiaDemographics of CroatiaSerbs of CroatiaSerbs of Bosnia and HerzegovinaSerbs in VojvodinaAnti-Serb sentimentNazi racial policy