Jastrebarsko concentration camp

Jastrebarsko
Concentration camp
Location of Jastrebarsko in the Independent State of Croatia
Coordinates	45°40′19″N 15°39′4″E / 45.67194°N 15.65111°E / 45.67194; 15.65111Coordinates: 45°40′19″N 15°39′4″E / 45.67194°N 15.65111°E / 45.67194; 15.65111
Location	Jastrebarsko, Independent State of Croatia
Operated by	Ustaše Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul
Commandant	Sister Barta Pulherija
Original use	Castle Monastery Barracks Brickworks
Operational	12 July – October 1942
Inmates	Serb children
Killed	449–1,500 (estimated)
Liberated by	Yugoslav Partisans

Jastrebarsko concentration camp held Serb children who had been brought there from various areas of the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) during World War II. It was established by the Ustaše-led government, and was located in the town of Jastrebarsko, about 37 kilometres (23 mi) southwest of the NDH capital, Zagreb, operating from 12 July until October 1942. Camp administration was provided by nuns of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul order, with Ustaše guards.

Children arrived at the camp in an emaciated and weak condition from other camps within the Ustaše camp system, with a total of 3,336 children passing through the camp. Between 449 and 1500 children died there, mainly from disease and malnutrition. A sub-camp was established in nearby Donja Reka. The Yugoslav Partisans liberated about 350 children from the main camp in August 1942. In October 1942, about 500 of the surviving children were dispersed among local families by the Catholic aid group, Caritas; 1,637 boys and girls were taken in by families in Zagreb, Jastrebarsko and surrounding villages, and another 113 were relocated to Bosanska Gradiška.

The decision to establish the camp was taken due to the large numbers of Serb children who had been rounded up during genocidal anti-Serb massacres conducted by the forces of the government of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) since April 1941. Children had also been taken during anti-Partisan operations conducted by German, NDH and collaborationist forces between April 1941 and June 1942. Their parents and older siblings had often been killed, or had been sent to labour camps both within the NDH and elsewhere in Axis-occupied Europe. Those children that had not been killed in the massacres and counter-insurgency operations were rounded up, as their villages had in most cases been burned to the ground, and they had no means of support.