The dossier has in total 624 pages or 348 documents.
The missing pages are: 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 141, 142, 203, 204.
It refers to the BdS documents, hearings at the Commission for Refugees in Belgrade, official reports by all kinds of German institutions and individuals, the organization of Chetniks accodring to the instructions by Lazić and Đurišić dated to the 20th of December 1941, corespondence between the Nedić Government and Turner and other German documents, reports by the Feldkommandantur, Volksdeutsche organizations, Dr. Heinrich from Sarajevo, photos of Ustashe atrocities (pages 241 – 269 and 547 – 590). There are also other interesting documents: a raid in Sarajevo, a letter from Dr. Heinrich from Jablanica, a letter to Rexeisen about the atrocities in Tuzla, a massacre in an area near Banja Luka, Koprivnica concentration camp (Danica), excerpts from a report of the 714th infantry division, 717th division of Glaise von Horstenau, Command of the Tuzla area, BdS of Serbia, from Prnjavor, Prijedor, Sanski Most, reports from Obrad Mičić etc. letters of Chetniks to the Ustashe commanders as well as diaries and similar things.
About the atrocities and their locations: Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Bobanski Brod, Bosanska Krupa, Brćko, Cetingrad, Dvor at Una, Glina, Gospić, Gračac, Kalesija, Ključ, Konjic, Ljubovija, Magle, Olovo, Ogolin, Osijek, Parkrac, Petrinja, Prijedor, Prnjavor, Sanski Most, Srebrenica, Topulsko, Trebinje, Tuzla, Velika Kladuša, Glasenica, Vočin, Vojnić, Vrgin Most…
The folder also contains all kinds of declarations, some are ours but some are by Chetniks, Germans, Ustashe, as well as some fliers etc. Regardless of the details, all topics connected to Ustashe (and Chetnik) atrocities should be studied from this folder.
Ustashe Atrocities – partial content
- Resolution by Muslims of Sarajevo dated to the 12th of October 1941 (p. 4 – 8)
- comment by Arthur Haeffner with the Resolution by people of Sarajevo (8 – 11)
- Haeffner’s report to Glaise about relations in the Domobran units dated to the 10th of November 1941 (12 – 13) –
- a letter of protest by Muslims of Banja Luka to the Ustashe Minister Kulenović and the engineer Bešlagić dated to the 12th of November 1941 (14 – 17)
- a report by Sargeant Franz Bublik, interpreter at the Command in Serbia in Abteilung 1C dated to the 17th of November 1941 titled ”Croatian State Secretary Eugen Kvaternik and his influence on the persecution of Serbs” (22 – 25)
- a letter by Gozdić Dušan, a merchant from Bjelovar, to Dr. Turner dated to the 24th of September 1941 about misdeeds and robbery committed by the Ustashe against him (32 – 34, in German), same: in Serbian language –
- a report by Franz Bublik dated to the 26th of November 1941 to BdS about ”Communists among the Ustashe” (37 – 39) –
- a report by a refugee from the surroundings of Dvor at Una – a report by the Volksdeutsche from Brčko dated to the 7th of December 1941 (42 – 43)
- about Ustashe burning and killing in the villages Čolić and Koraj – instructions by the headquarters of the Chetnik unit (Dašić and Đurišić) and the goals of the Chetnik movement dated to the 20th of December 1941 (44 – 48, German translation)
- the hearing of Jovan Selajčić in the Commissariat for Refugees dated to the 9th of October 1941 after his escape from Osijek (49 – )
- a call by the Ustashe military unit to the Orthodox population of Konjica dated to the 24th of December 1941 (50),
- among the listed documents often times could be found excerpts from other short-lived documents who aren’t registered here
- an excerpt from Haeffner’s report dated to the 8th of January 1942 about Jasenovac
- reports about atrocities in Topusko dated to the 5th of January 1942 (63 – 64)
- hearings in the Commissariat for Refugees of Julka Škara dated to the 5th of January 1941 about Ustashe atrocities in Topusko (65 – 68)
- Nedić’s letter to Turner dated to the 27th of December 1941 about atrocities in Croatia with attachments (69 – 76)
- atrocities in Kometnik (Vočin), Lisičina, near Brčko, reports dated to the 19th of January 1942 (77 – 78)
- about the attack on Jasenovac, the page isn’t numbered, 15th of January 1942, right after page 78 a written paragraph about Jasenovac
- a letter from Jablanica dated to the 19th of January 1942 ”an die ”Gestapo” Sarajevo” obviously written by Emma Szedressy (79) –
- a letter by Toma Maksimović dated to the 26th of January 1942 to Dr. Weinmann, SS major and Commissioner for refugees
- an excerpt from a report by a retired captain Arthur Haeffner about the condition in the Croatian concentration camp Jasenovac dated to the 8th of January 1942
- Ustashe atrocities – Journal num. 206/41 VB Ma., Belgrade, dated to the 6th of January 1942 – For the Liaison Officer for Serbia at the German mission in Zagreb, SS-Major Beisner, Zagreb – Case: a report by Prime Minister Nedić to the Commander for Serbia
- Commisioner for relocation and protection of refugees, num. 2003 , Belgrade dated to the 26th of January 1942 – Cabinet L/L – Case: Horrible conditions in the Jasenovac concentration camp and the last atrocity committed by the Ustashe in Brčko
- Commisioner for relocation and protection of refugees, Belgrade, dated to the 26th of March 1942 based on a letter by a Croatian who reports the following to the Archbishop of Zagreb: “As proof of these atrocities, the Italians took photos which included: 1 pot full of Serbian eyes, weighting around 3 1/2 kg, a picture of a Croatian with a necklace made out of Serbian eyes and then another Croatian from Dubrovnik with a belt made of two rows of Serbian tongues. In the Jasenovac concentration camp thousands and thousands of Serbs die even as we speak, the people who live in badly damaged barracks without enough hay and blankets are exposed to hunger and the cold winter which leads to their death….”
- an excerpt from a note for the document K III = Rx/Pli = dated to the 9th of April 1942 – Case: Croatian concentration camps – volksdeutscher Karl Heger reports: The main concentration camp where the Orthodox Serbs are located is in Jasenovac.
- an excerpt from a record about the situation on Drina by the lead medical officer for the comanding general and commander in Serbia dated to the 21st of April 1942: “The main force that initiated the slaughter by the Ustashe is the Roman Catholic Church. The priests were enticing the Ustashe to murder…”
- a record dated to the 26th of February 1942 and comprised in the Commisionary for relocation and protection of refugees in Belgrade – “Čalić Đorđe a city police officer from Vukovar, a reserve offier imprisoned by Germans and taken to Germany whereby in July of 1941 he returned back with the other officers from Croatia, but was taken by the Ustashe to the concentration camps Gospić, at first, and then to Jasenovac.”
- Chief of the shock troops security police and the security service of the shock troops Command in Zagreb – Zagreb dated to the 18th of March 1942 – B. Nr. 104/42 – Schu/Fe – CLASIFIED! – For the Commander of the security police and security service – in person to SS-Major Weinmann – Belgrade – Case: report by the Prime Minister Nedić to the Commander for Serbia – Atrocities in Croatia aka Croatian atrocities in Serbian villages.
Project description
The Deportation of the Jews of Bačka 1944 book (75 years/75 testimonies)
General Remark
The deportation of the Jews of Bačka in 1944 is not a well-known subject. This atrocity was committed by the German Nazi Army and police, with the assistance of the Hungarian Army, police and a certain amount of Nazi oriented inhabitants of Bačka. It was actually an important part of the final phase of the Holocaust, during which around 440.000 Jews in Hungary have been interned. This obviously refers to Hungary under the rule of Mikloš Horti, which invaded the territories of some of its neighboring countries, among whom was Bačka.
Unfortunately, little can be known about the deportation of the Jews of Bačka from the literature published in Yugoslavia, Serbia and Hungary.
According to some information, in the spring of 1944, around 12.000 Jews from Bačka were taken away, mostly to Auschwitz, whereby only 2.500 of them survived to be liberated. Because of diseases and exhaustion, some of the survivors didn’t make it back home.
The deportation, whose 75th anniversarry will take place in 2019, started in Novi Sad (April) and ended in Subotica (June). The unfortunate people were taken to Auschwitz in boxcars. Somewhere between 80 and 100 people, young, old, women, children, even infants, as well as men, disabled and sick, were put into the boxcars. Upon their arrival in Auschwitz the women were separated from the men, after which the ”medical commission” of Dr. Josef Mengele (often with him personally in charge) chose who will be sent to the gas chambers (most of them), and who was fit for labor.
Facts
According to the mutual vision by the Archives of Vojvodina and the Danubius Association, the bilingual book, both in Serbian and English, will be comprised of two volumes.
During this autumn the ”The Deportation of the Jews of Bačka 1944” book will be presented to the public in the synagogue in Subotica, whereby an agreement was signed with the President of the City Assembly of Subotica, Tivadar Bunford, who is also the President of the steering committee of the Subotica synagogue foundation. Exactly 500 copies of the book will be printed.
Conception
According to the conception, the first part of the book will contain a foreword (by Dr. Nebojša Kuzmanović, director of the Archives of Vojvodina), after which there will be a general overview of the deportation of the Jews of Bačka (by historian Petar Đurđev, director of the Historical Archives of the City of Novi Sad), as well as a list of victims.
Concerning the list of victims, it should be noted that there are several lists of victims, former residents of Bačka. Unfortunately, among them there exist some differences, but without any significant distinction, because some of them were being verified decades after the end of the Second World War. This is why the authors intend to combine the existing lists (Vladimir Todorović, journalist), so that this way we can compose a more or less relevant list.
The second part of the book (archivist Aleksandar Bursać, the Archives of Vojvodina) will contain the documents of the Hungarian Government during the Second World War, which dealt with the deportation of the Jews of Bačka, as well as selected 75 testimonies of survivors who returned back. These testimonies were collected in 1945 by the Survey Commission for Crimes Committed Against Jews. This material is completely unknown and the Archives of Vojvodina will present it to the public for the first time. The reviewer of the book will be a university professor and historian, Dr. Ferenc Nemet.