|
GENOCIDE of the Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia 1944-1948 Until the publication of the
Leidensweg documentation there had been no
systematic description of the death camps which
were an essential instrument for the execution of
the premeditated genocide of the Danube Swabians in
Yugoslavia. The condensed descriptions on
these pages are based on the incidents in the death
camps as published for the first time in 1995 in
volume III of the documentation Leidensweg der
Deutschen im kommunistischen Jugoslawien
respectively in the Weissbuch der Deutschen aus
Jugoslawien. (The Tragedy of the Ethnic Germans
in Yugoslavia). They are the depositions of first
person experiences of the survivors of the death
camps. Most of the original reports are located at
the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz (German Federal
Archives at Koblenz). In addition to the numerous
local work camps and central camps the Titoregime
established a third category, "special camps." In
the Batschka, they consisted of the entire villages
Jarek, Gakowa and Kruschiwl. They were already
established during the end-phases of the war. In
the Banat too, entire villages such as Rudolfsgnad
and Molidorf were designated as "special camps."
For the relatively few Germans that did not flee
from Syrmia, the silk factory at Mitrowitz was
converted into the notorious liquidation camp,
whereas in Slavonia, sections of the villages
Kerndia and Valpovo were fenced in and made into
death camps. The first liquidation camp was
established on December 2, 1944 at Jarek and the
last, Rudolfsgnad, was closed in March 1948.
The following examples are
typical of the conditions in all liquidation camps.
The inmates of the liquidation camps were usually
those unable to work, people over 60, the infirm,
children up to 14 years of age and mothers with
children below two years old. These were usually
already separated from the able bodied at their
home communities. The heart-rending scenes at these
sites are described by the survivors in the
depositions. We just want to mention here that all
children over age two were literally torn from
their mothers or relatives. The mentioned villages in the
Batschka and Banat which served as liquidation
camps consisted of several hundred homes and were
not fenced in, presumably because there was not
enough barbed wire available. Therefore, they were
closely guarded around the clock by the partisans
or militia. The sentries were positioned every 100
meters. Leaving the camp was prohibited under
penalty of death. The houses, built closely
together as originally laid out by the Pannonian
plans, had closed-in yards but no front yards which
made it possible to imprison the people in the
houses as well. The houses, already completely
ransacked, were, depending on room-sizes, crowded
with 15 to 20 occupants per unheated room or
stable. As a rule, occupants had to sleep on the
bare floor, often without even any straw or
blankets. During daytime they also had to stay
indoors. Due to the insufficient hygienic and
sanitary conditions, they were defenseless against
the flees and lice, brought along by the soldiers,
which was particularly painful for the older
people. Food was scarce and often
withheld for days. When available, it consisted
mainly of ground-up corn or flour soup, barley or
pea soup, but without any salt or fat and a little
coarse corn bread. It is noteworthy that the
executive committee of the people's assembly of the
autonomous province Wojwodina decreed in December
1945 that the bread for all camp inmates had to be
made of corn flour without any wheat flour added.
Since no food was delivered
to the camps until mid-1946 and the attempted
begging trips by children and mothers with babies
to the neighboring villages of the Magyars and
Slavs was severely restricted, the predestined
annihilation by starvation of the inmates proved to
be very effective. The death tolls increased
rapidly. Initially, the camp
management made no efforts to provide any medical
service. The one or two Danube Swabian physicians
among the internees in the various camps had no
medications with which to treat the sick and
feeble. Personal hygienic and sanitary facilities
were utterly insufficient for the overcrowded
camps. Starvation diets, dystrophy and lack of
vitamins weakened all to diseases. Consequently, by
late autumn 1945, malaria, typhus, dysentery, etc.
reached epidemic proportions. The buildings which
contained the sick became death houses. The winter
months of 1945/46 were the worst in the liquidation
camps, the last of which existed until March 1948.
The facilities in which the
internees were contained had no heat even during
the frigid winter months of 1945/46. The use of any
kind of fuel such as wooden fences or empty sheds
was prohibited. No blankets were provided and their
only protection against the bitter cold was the
clothing they wore or the few covers some were able
to bring along. It was not until the spring of 1946
when DDT powder was shipped from the USA that the
lice problem could be contained and the death rate
drastically reduced. The use of DDT powder,
however, was only decided when the partisan guards
were about to contract the diseases and a
countrywide epidemic envisaged. A further
improvement of the conditions took place when the
partisan guards were replaced by the militia or
regular military. The burial of the poor
deceased was miserable and undignified as was their
suffering and dying. When disposing of them to the
mass graves they were roughly thrown onto wagons
like dead cattle. The farewell by the still living
family members was indescribably painful. As a rule
there was no clerical assistance and relatives were
not even allowed to attend the burial. The dead
were thrown, usually naked (as ordered by the camp
management) into the pits. Between the autumn of 1946
and autumn 1947, the guarding of the camps was
relaxed - apparently intentionally and due to
political considerations. Thus about 30,000 to
35,000 were able to escape to Hungary or Romania
and from there to Austria and Germany. Considering
the number of escapees, the year 1947 can be
considered as the peak escape year. The two Slovenian liquidation
camps Sterntal and Tüchern, as well as the two
Croatian camps Kerndia and Valpovo, were dissolved
one year after the end of the war. What was left of
the inmates was expelled to Austria or to the
Wojwodina. The camp Jarek in the Wojwodina was also
closed one year after the war ended and the inmates
transferred to Kruschiwl; Syrmian Mitrowitz and
Molidorf, two years after the war and the internees
of Molidorf were sent to Rudolfsgnad. Kruschiwl and
Gakowa closed after about 2½ years (beginning
January 1948) and their inmates sent to Rudolfsgnad
- the largest liquidation camp, was also the last
to close, March 1, 1948. Three years after the war
ended all camps were officially dissolved. At
Rudolfsgnad, the remaining Germans were forced into
mandatory three-year "work contracts" outside their
own home communities. Based on thorough research
presented by Mr. Karl Weber in volume IV of the
named documentations, the extent of the perished
victims in the liquidation camps, including the
work camps and central civilian internment camps
are illustrated on Table
1 These are low, conservative
figures. They are based on the investigations and
compilations by the communities which, after their
flight and after the war, settled in their new home
countries. Since up to 70% of the victims could be
accounted for by name and are documented in volume
IV of the before-mentioned series, the averages of
the casualties could be calculated. They are very
reliable figures. These somber numbers confirm the
fact that 90% of the victims lost their lives long
after World War II had ended. The physical and mental
anguish which the victims had to endure up to their
death cannot be adequately expressed in words or
print. The mass graves were purposely made
unidentifiable. Only in the late 1990's some
half-hearted efforts were made to make the mass
graves at Rudolfsgnad/Knicanin in the republic of
Yugoslavia and those at Kerndia in what's today
Croatia visible by markers. For the general public, up to
this day, the genocide of the ethnic German
citizens of the former Yugoslavia has remained a
"non-event." Nor have any of the murderers, several
of whom are still alive today, been charged in any
courts. "Austreibung" (expulsion) is
the term used by the Danube Swabians for their
permanent deportation from their homes and the
complete removal of the ethnic German inhabitants
of the German villages. The usual "modus operandi"
was as follows: Partisan commandos secretly
encircled the community and suddenly, beginning at
one end of the village, began to chase the
unsuspecting and unprepared inhabitants from their
homes. They were chased to the village pasture at
the edge of town where three to four thousand
villagers were awaiting their screening: The
separation of the able-bodied from those destined
for the death camp. If a child was two years old or
less, both mother and child went to the death camp.
But if the child was three years old, it was torn
from the mother and shoved to a grandmother or
other relatives or neighbors. The mother went to
the work camp, the three-year old or older child
with the transport to the liquidation camp. Many a
mother tried to smuggle herself over to her
children. The following description of
the expulsion in Filipowa is a typical
example of what happened in hundreds of villages.
On March 31, 1945, the
village of Filipowa in the Batschka, after having
been settled 182 years ago, ceased to exist as a
Danube Swabian community. Rita Prost-Pertschy, in
her book Das Heimweh der Simon Rita (The
Homesickness of Simon Rita) describes her expulsion
experience as a ten-year old: "Saturday before Easter
(March 31, 1945), the women were baking for the
Easter holiday when they heard loud cries and
sobbing from the street. To their horror they saw
people being chased from their homes at the lower
end of the village. Hastily my mother made me put
on several layers of clothing and my sister's new
coat. Then we collected food in a blanket, but it
was too heavy for me, so I threw half away and ran
into the house to find lighter items. When I got
into the courtyard, the partisans were already in
front of the gate. They shouted 'Napolje! Brze,
brze!' We did not understand those words, however,
when they started beating us with their rifles, we
knew it was a situation of survival. They were
beating mother, but she did not hurt too much since
she wore several dresses. "A long line of people was
moving past our house and we were shoved into the
line. We now realized we had to leave our home
forever. The women cried and prayed to God. The
partisans chased us like cattle from the village to
the pasture. There people were lying crowded
together like a herd of animals. Here we spent the
first day. "At daybreak they took every
second woman and chased her into a house. When the
women came out again, crying, they no longer had
their bundle and no more jewelry. Also part of
their clothing was removed. We met our aunt; she
only had the empty baby buggy left. She had to put
the baby into it without any bedding. When night
came we had to search for a place to sleep. The
partisans chased a group of 20 to 25 people into
the court yard of a house where we had to sleep in
the open. The next day it started all over. Back to
the street. People were robbed again of everything
they had. This continued for three days and nights.
We were sitting on our bundles in the dust and dirt
and found out that people were even shot. (In
Filipowa two men and a woman were shot.) I shall
never forget these days, full of tears and sorrow.
However, sometimes they were also full of hope,
when we were told we could go home tomorrow.
"The nights were particularly
difficult. The children cried because they were
hungry and freezing. Dogs were barking all night,
being hungry and left alone in the houses. A few
days later they were all shot. During the night you
could hear the women crying and praying. While we
were still under the stars of our homeland and the
wind was still the same; however everything else
had changed. I was particularly sad during the
nights. I was longing for my father and sisters. We
did not know where they were. "On the last day when the
plundering started again, it was my mother's turn.
The partisans dragged her from the column and into
a room. When I wanted to hold on to her I was
slapped in the face. I feIt no pain since my fear
for her was greater. I was happy when I saw her
emerge alive. But this joy did not last long.
Mother was ash-pale and her body shook. When she
wanted to say something to me, blood streamed out
of her mouth. Blood also dripped from her ears. Her
gold-covered teeth were broken out and the earrings
torn from her ears.... "The next day started with a
murder in front of our eyes. At daybreak we were
chased to the railroad station. In front of us
walked a man who continually laughed. I could not
understand this. Our situation was anything but
laughable. He wanted to join our row. When one of
the partisans saw this, he came to us in a rage and
shouted at the man, who continued laughing. The
partisan beat him with his rifle butt, however, the
man continued laughing. His wife tried to pull him
back, but then the rifle cracked and the man sank
to his knees. The blood spurted in a high ark out
of his body and his face turned pale. But his mouth
continued to laugh. At that moment, I developed a
fright of uniforms and weapons which will stay with
me for life. The women had to dig a hole right then
and there into which he was dumped, his body still
warm. "We were thinking of Easter,
but it was not a time to think about celebration.
We were stuffed into cattle cars. The partisans did
not care whether families stayed together. The cars
were sticky from the wet straw on which hundreds
were shipped days before, going in the same
direction. We were crowded with no place to lie
down. When the train started moving, I was glad the
doors were shut... We did not know where this trip
would take us. But we sensed we were going farther
and farther away from our homes. When, after many
hours of torture the doors were opened we saw that
we were shipped to the Gakowa liquidation camp."
Established: September 1945
for the ethnic Germans of the North and Middle
Banat Overview: The ethnic
Germans of Molidorf had to endure the revenge of
the local partisan chiefs even before the
establishment of the death camp. In addition to the
looting by the Red Army, partisans and particularly
the residents of the surrounding Serbian
communities, they immediately began with the
arrests and torture of ethnic German men and the
rape of women. Mayor Georg Haverkorn and four men
were brutally beaten to death. At Christmas 1945,
58 women and 8 men were deported to Russia.
Between September and
November 1945 the Yugoslav authorities began
cleansing some 20 local work camps of men and women
unfit for work, children and mothers with small
children were herded in long marching columns into
the Molidorf death camp. The community, which
originally had only 1,200 inhabitants, was stuffed
with 5,000 - 7,000 occupants. The camp administration often
withheld food for days. Breakfast usually consisted
of boiled water with ground corn, no fat nor salt.
Lunch was always pea soup, also without fat or
salt. Dinner consisted of 150 grams corn bread, no
fat. The hunger drove the inmates to catch and eat
the cats in the village and, during the nights, to
make their way into the neighboring villages, e.g.
Torda and Hungarian Zerne to beg for food. Whoever
was caught by the partisans was either brutally
tortured or immediately executed. The latter fate
was suffered by two mothers with children.
In addition to the starvation
and scurvy, the infestation with lice led to the
demise of many inmates. The end came always the
same way: the feet began to swell, then the face
and after a few days, death. The ones able to work were
separated from the unfit and had to perform hard
labor, day or night. Whenever the church bells rang
they had to report for work. The shifts often
lasted up to 20 hours. They also had to carry all
the wood, corn flour for bread and the entire
provisions for the camp from the railroad stations
of the neighboring communities. Many had to carry
loads of up to 30 kilos, with insufficient clothing
and bad shoes along snowy and icy roads. They were
slave caravans. Whenever somebody broke down, which
happened frequently, sympathetic men or women who
wanted to come to their help were beaten with rifle
butts and brutally mistreated. Camp inmates had to suffer
not only from starvation and lack of other
necessities, but also from continual torture and
mistreatments. These mistreatments were carried out
not only by the camp commander and the guards but
also by Serbs who came into the camp and picked out
their victims. In one instance, Marianne Haberkorn,
received repeated bloody beatings by her former
farmhand who shouted: "Now we subordinates are the
masters." The camp commander was a
sadist. Here is an example of his sadistic actions:
On February 18, 1946 at five in the morning he
chased thirty women, without any reason, into a
water ditch where they had to remain for half an
hour in the icy water and mud. Then they were
chased to work, in their dripping clothing. They
were given no food and after work, at about 17:30,
they were chased back. Three of the women were so
weak they collapsed. The first two were left where
they fell and died the same night. The third was
able to drag herself into the village. The first
two women were 25 and 27 years old and left behind
three small children. Seven other women became
seriously ill. According to statements of
Dr. Jenö Heger, himself an internee who was
allowed to function as camp physician between
January 1 and February 22, 1946, the health
condition of the inmates was extremely bad. There
were no sanitary installations, people had no soap
or other cleaning materials to keep themselves
clean. Rashes and other skin diseases were
widespread. Among the infectious diseases,
particularly typhus has to be mentioned, since it
spread rapidly because of the weak body resistance
of the inmates. During his position as camp
physician, the daily mortality rate was between six
and seven. In view of the hopelessness
of their situation and the inhuman torment, more
and more inmates risked their escape to Romania.
During one such attempt a young woman from Kesic
was killed. Since Dr. Heger could no longer
tolerate the barbaric punishment of women and the
reckless use of fire arms by the camp commander, he
filed a complaint against him and also fled to
Romania. Dr. Steiner, from Zerne, who
temporarily functioned as camp physician tried to
help the sick but his possibilities were very
limited. The only mediations available were some
aspirin, quinine, carbon dust against diarrhea and
a skin cream against skin diseases. Cold compresses
were the general treatment against all diseases.
There were no mass graves at
Molidorf. Twenty four old men, designated as grave
diggers, had to dig, in addition to the graves
required during the day, additional holes as a
reserve for the next day. The dead were sewn into
old blankets and buried without any ceremony.
Taking Dr. Heger's daily
mortality figures as a base, the extended number of
the casualties for 20 months would be about 4,000.
Mr. Karl Weber's estimate of 3,000, is also within
the same proximity. Two thousand and twelve are
documented by name in volume IV of the
documentation series Leidensweg der Deutschen im
kommunistischen Jugoslawien. At the end of April 1947 the
partisans dissolved the Molidorf liquidation camp
and transported the inmates to the camp Gakowa in
the Batschka. Only about 300 younger inmates who
were still able to work, in spite of all the
mistreatments, were retained and used for
agricultural work in the Molidorf area. This place of horror was
totally destroyed by a flood during 1955 and 1956
as if nature wanted to extinguish all memories of
it. Established: October 10, 1945
for unfit for work ethnic Germans, particularly of
the Middle and South Banat. Overview: The large
"special camp" Rudolfsgnad was located at the edge
of the ethnic German settlement area of the Banat.
Traffic-wise it was well-situated and easy to
control since it was positioned at the point where
the River Theiss flows into the Danube. Of the
town's 3,200 inhabitants, 900 did not flee.
Before all the camps in
Yugoslavia were officially dissolved, all their
remaining inmates were transferred to Rudolfsgnad.
There all remaining ethnic Germans were conscripted
into 3-year "work contracts," mostly serving in
areas outside their home territories, e.g. the
mines of Serbia and Kosovo and the marsh areas of
Baranja, Batschka and around Pantschowa.
The health conditions,
illnesses, treatments and mortality statistics were
well documented by Dr. K.F. Of all the camps,
Rudolfsgnad had the highest mortality rate with
11,000 deaths. Immediately after its
occupation, Rudolfsgnad experienced the fury of the
persecution. Responsible were the commanders Rado
Perz of Perles and Lazo Milenkovic of Tschenta.
Under their command, on October 16, the Danube
Swabians Jakob Werth, Franz Hess, Franz Metz and
Michael Wacker were tortured, shot and hung from
acacia trees. Johann Drumm, out of desperation,
hung himself. Anton Karl, 78, was shot for no
reason. Milenkovic wanted to execute all
Rudolfsgnad men but was prevented from doing so by
Russian officers. On December 27, 1944, 47
girls and women as well as 20 men were deported to
Russia as slave workers. On April 14, after the
village was completely ransacked, the Rudolfsgnad
inhabitants had to leave their houses. All the
women and children were concentrated in the school
building and the men age 14 and up in the
Kindergarten. The gypsy Gajo, also known by the
names Arandjelski and Bocarac commanded the guards.
As of October 10, 1945 the
Tito regime interned thousands of ethnic German
civilians, predominantly senior citizens, women
with children and children whose mothers were
shipped to Russia and concentrated them in the now
empty houses. The camp was guarded by about 80
armed militia. The arrivals, dressed with
only minimal clothing were crammed into the empty
houses, usually 20-30 to a room. They had no
blankets and were forced to lie on the floor which
was only barely covered with straw. During the
entire period of the camp's existence and up to its
dissolution in March 1948, the straw was never
changed nor replaced. Nourishment consisted of
ground corn soup, polenta (corn) mash, corn bread
and tea, no salt. Even babies and feeding mothers
received nothing else or any additional rations.
Initially, the usual camp soup was ladled out but
already in the winter 1945 and 1946 it was given
out scarcely and the inmates received only about 2
kgs raw ground corn per month. Soon there were no
more wooden fences, barns or fruit trees left. The
inmates had to cook their own meager rations which
they tried to augment by adding edible grasses or
clover to fill their empty stomachs. They gulped
down anything they could get their hands on.
Klara Deutsch, at that time
only 13 years old, records: "People became blind or
insane because of starvation, or they just lied
down, went into a stupor for a few days until they
fell asleep for good. The worst off were the ones
that became insane. They screamed day and night;
many walked around aimlessly, could not find their
way home and died in the street." Stray cats and dogs were
butchered, even dead ones were eaten. The
sufferings from diarrhea are indescribable; they
drained the last strength from their bodies and
also led to other diseases. Once hit by diarrhea or
dysentery, there was rarely a recovery. That winter
thousands died. These conditions forced
people to desperate attempts to slip out of the
camp and beg for food in the surrounding villages,
inhabited by other nationalities. The Catholic
priest Johann Nuspl, formerly priest at Tscheb in
the Batschka, remembers that during one of these
begging trips four women and five children were
shot by the guards. The ones caught were usually
locked into the cellar, called the "bunker,"
received almost no food but instead fierce beatings
which some did not survive. Cooking in the camp's kitchen
resumed in spring 1946 and was considered a luxury
not known for many months. The soup consisting of
peas and barley was, for those who survived this
terrible winter, the essence of delicacy. Beginning
1947 the food rations were somewhat improved;
however, the emaciated inmates hardly noticeable.
As of May the restrictions on receiving packages
was eased for the Serbs and non-camp internees.
Also, many who had related or acquainted Serbs
could occasionally benefit from these relaxed
restrictions. The CARE program and the
International Red Cross relief actions were
supplying some camps. Now even packages from
America arrived, sent by relatives who learned of
the misery at Rudolfsgnad, Father Nuspl reports.
Beginning May 1946 a "softer
touch" in the elimination started at Rudolfsgnad as
in other camps as well, apparently directed by
higher authorities and due to political
considerations. Now parcels could be shipped
directly into the camp. The larger aid program,
initiated by Peter Max Wagner and his Danube
Swabian Aid Society of Brooklyn, started towards
the end of 1946. The first phase of large-scale
parcel shipments from the USA probably reached the
camp around Christmas 1946. Starting spring 1946, Serbs
and Hungarians in the surrounding area could
"lease" camp inmates for work, at a rate of 50
Dinars per head. The Germans were often shamelessly
taken advantage of by their employers.
Nevertheless, the inmates eagerly competed for this
slave work since they received at least some food
whereas there was almost nothing to eat within the
camp. For many this outside work opportunity was a
lifesaver. Also, starting in spring 1946 and
particularly in 1947 many inmate workers took this
opportunity to escape. At an opportune moment they
would sneak away, searching a way to cross the
border into Hungary or Romania. It was always a
life threatening undertaking. The heroic endeavors of the
camp physicians and nurses, who themselves were
internees, to fight against diseases and the
epidemic were mostly in vain. The deplorable
hygienic conditions, the meager rations, lacking
salt and vitamins contributed to the spread of the
epidemic. The physical and mental deterioration of
the humans robbed them even of the strength to
defend themselves against the infestations of lice,
mice and rats that suddenly appeared in large
numbers. Where the rats didn't find anything to eat
they started to gnaw not only at the dead but also
the defenseless living. The mortality rate reached
its peak in February 1946. Finally, the spread of the
epidemic alarmed the authorities and a medical
commission arrived to investigate. Quarantine was
declared and the camp was sprayed with DDT powder.
The group of physicians and nurses, risking
infection themselves, worked selflessly to fight
the epidemic and to save the humans. Nevertheless,
many succumbed. In April 1946, after the epidemic
was eradicated, the quarantine was lifted and the
camp received a "clinic" for adults, a "children
clinic" and a "children home." There the food was
somewhat better than in the camp. The "homes for the aged" were
virtual dying places. Father Johann Nuspl, a camp
inmate himself, was allowed to visit the homes in
Molidorf as well as Rudolfsgnad twice a week. He
writes about his visits: "The sick and dying were
lying on the floor which was covered with a thin
layer of straw, tightly crammed together and
separated only by some loosely placed tiles. Dirty
bowls with rotten food leftovers, pots serving as
spittoons, unwashed bed pans, dirty rags, etc. were
scattered among the sick and dying; many in their
own feces. This was the last chapter of our
people's tragedy. I had never seen our people in
such misery and downcasts as here, however, at the
same time so heroic. Most of them died composed and
God-devoted. I remember with awe and reverence the
people in these homes." The partisans' treatment of
the ethnic Gerrnan children is one of the saddest
chapters in the chronicle of the Yugoslav
liquidation and slave labor camps. One has to keep
in mind that the initial occupants of the dying
camps consisted of boys and girls under fourteen
years of age. Lorenz Baron, assistant to
electrician Weissmann who had to install electric
lighting in the so-called "children home" writes:
"Upon entering the home one could hear a monotonous
hum. It was the song of the children dying. Every
room of the large building was full of defenseless,
dying children. Not able to express any feelings
myself, I climbed up the ladder and installed the
fixtures. Some of the skeletons below me were still
able to move somewhat and followed every move I
made. Some then fell back, their gaze still focused
on me - and were dead. Nobody showed any
compassion, knowing that we ourselves could be the
next to die." During the summer of 1946 the
authorities then began to allocate groups of
children to government children homes in order to
assimilate them as "good citizens" into the
national fold. The camp administration and
militia, belonging to the camp guards, were housed
in the town hall. Some followed their orders off
and on, others, however, were very evil. Franz
Apfel, fourteen years old, was caught going
begging, beaten unconscious by the guards and,
presumed dead, dumped into a manure pile. Regaining
consciousness, he mustered all his strength to free
himself and crawl to the next house where, with
some help, he could get back to his family.
Leaving the camp was strictly
forbidden. Dr. K. F. recorded eleven executions in
1946 and three in 1947. In spring 1947 two men
cutting down a tree were caught by a policeman and
shot. Out of desperation eleven inmates committed
suicide. Every death and cause was recorded. The
month of February had the highest mortality: 1,346.
February 4 had the highest daily number: 72. Total
deaths during the existence of the camp (October
10, 1945 - March 1948) were over 11,000.
The first mass graves were
dug at the village cemetery. Due to the floods in
spring 1946 no more dead could be buried there, but
had to be moved to the Teletschka hill, about 2 km
south of Rudolfsgnad. Concentration camp for the
unfit to work, primarily for the Middle and West
Batschka. Overview: On March 12,
1945 the two neighboring communities Gakowa and
Kruschiwl, situated near the Hungarian border
became the two large death camps for the ethnic
Germans of the West Batschka. The 6,000 ethnic
Germans of Apatin were the first inmates. Between
March 13 and October 17, 1945 the unfit to work
from 24 communities of the districts Apatin,
Hodschag and Sombor were interned in these two
camps. In the year 1931 the
community of Gakowa had 2,692 souls, 2,370 were
ethnic Germans. By the end of 1945, 17,000 were
crammed into the completely emptied houses of the
community. During the first ten months
approximately 4,500 had already died or were
murdered. Since both death camps were
not fenced in by barbed wire and watch towers, they
were guarded by patrols and sentries, placed about
100 yards or more apart. The camps were surrounded
by fields and meadows. Due to this arrangement it
was at times possible to sneak past the sentries
and go begging or to attempt escapes. The camp
commanders punished such attempts with executions,
incarcerations, beatings and witholding of food,
which many victims did not survive. The daily camp ritual was as
follows: The still somewhat able-bodied were chased
out by the guards and divided into work teams.
Under guard they had to work in the surrounding
fields, perform work in the camp or push carts
around the area to collect anything burnable for
the kitchen. For about a year, lasting to
May 1946, there was, according to the impression of
the inmates, a definite annihilation program by
starvation, exposure to cold and further aggravated
by unforeseen epidemics. During that time the
guards were particularly cruel. About half of the
8,500 victims died during the "months of death:"
November 1945 - March 1946. The attempted escapes from
Gakowa to Hungary started rather early. However,
more frequent and larger escapes began with the
loosening of restrictions and the replacement of
the cruel guards. Relatives, friends and other
helpful compassionate minorities also aided the
escapees. Most of them continued their flight to
Austria and Germany. Beginning late autumn 1946
and lasting into fall 1947, the so-called "white
escapes" were tolerated by the camp commanders. The
term "white escapes" was used in contrast to the
previous "black escapes" which were prohibited and
severely punished. The use of DDT powder in
March 1946 also brought an end to the "months of
death." The replacement of the partisan guards by a
militia in May-June 1946 also reined-in the worst
of the wanton physical mistreatments which, at that
time, were also officially prohibited. Apparently
the hard annihilation, policy was replaced by a
"softer" elimination process. Now the orphaned children
were taken to government education centers with the
intent to educate them to be "young pioneers,"
model fighters for communism. Four of such
transports of children from the Gakowa camp are
known to have taken place. Starting May 1946, people
outside the camp were allowed to bring or send
packages to camp inmates. However, there was no
mail service, only the receiving of packages was
tolerated. American food donations could be
distributed such as powdered food for
undernourished children. American CARE packages
began arriving by the end of 1946, shipped by the
Danube Swabian Aid Society of Brooklyn and American
relatives of camp inmates. The neighboring camp
Kruschiwl was dissolved on December 10, 1947 and
their inmates transferred to Gakowa. By the middle
of January 1948 the last inmates of Gakowa were
moved to the Banat liquidation camp Rudolfsgnad.
Peculiarities of the
Gakowa Camp The primary reason for the
rapidly growing mortality was due to starvation
which became more acute by the middle of October
1945. Josef Thiel narrates: "During
the winter 1946 the news was passed around the camp
that a horse died outside the camp. My sister and I
as well as a cousin slipped out of the camp, cut
off large pieces and brought them back to the camp.
Since there was almost no firewood the meat had to
be eaten half-raw. The cousin died from it.
Whenever a dog or cat was found it was caught and
eaten." During the summer and early
spring 1945 the first epidemics such as malaria,
dysentery and dystrophy began to appear and caused
numerous deaths. Chaplain Matthias Johler
voluntarily came to the Gakowa camp to look after
the spiritual welfare of the inmates. He himself
became sick with typhus and was bedridden for four
weeks. Here is an excerpt from his diary: "December
1, 1945. The Almighty also took my sister-in-law.
The funeral is supposed to be today. Deep in
thought and worrying about the young orphaned
children I went to the cemetery to see if the grave
had already been dug. Upon entering I noticed two
girls, shivering, trembling and weeping bitterly.
They were looking for their mother. They tell me
that a cart was passing by their house and picked
up their mother. It was the cart, picking up the
dead. 'Now we are all alone' lamented the older,
eleven-year-old. 'Only me and my sick little four
year old brother who is at home.' I ask: 'and whom
are you holding in your arms?' She replied: 'That's
my little brother, ten months old' and presses him,
covered in a piece of cloth, to her shaking bosom;
he was dead." In January 1946 the camp
command decided to order a regrouping of the
able-bodied, the children and the sick. This took
place during the worst three-day snowstorm of the
winter and had disastrous results. It was
apparently done on purpose to expedite the
annihilation. Eyewitness Eva Schmidt of
Filipowa: "A buggy went from house to house to
collect the dead who were loaded like pieces of
firewood. Those who could not be collected were
pushed to the cemetery on a wheelbarrow. This
manner of transporting the dead was a daily
occurrence. Others pushed their dead children out
into the street, children their mothers. Some
corpses were sewn into a piece of linen, but most
had only their faces and waists covered since there
was nothing available to cover the entire body. At
the cemetery the dead were piled up in the mass
graves like logs. The priest could only utter a
general blessing. No family members were allowed to
be present." During the period of March 5
to April 4, 1946, Wendelin Gruber relieved the
chaplains Johler and Pfuhl who were ill. In a
discussion with the camp commander he was able to
obtain the permission for the inmates to go to
church on Sunday evening, after completing their
allocated work duties. He was, however, not allowed
to conduct any service. But he disregarded the
order and did preach on March 24. The church was
too small to hold all the people; many were
standing outside. The church bells rang and someone
played the organ. During the service they repeated
the solemn promise that, should they survive, to
make an annual pilgrimage and should they be able
to get back their homes and possessions, to build a
church in the honor of the mother of Jesus Christ.
The Danube Swabian annual pilgrimage to
Altötting (Germany), taking place since 1959
is the redemption of this promise. The Chaplains Johler and
Pfuhl, after their recuperation continued to look
after the religious needs of the inmates, a heroic
achievement, considering the persecution of the
clergy by the Communists. In January 1946 the camp
administration attempted to prohibit further clergy
activity in the camp. Nevertheless, the clandestine
activity continued. On October 30, 1946, however,
both chaplains were also thrown into the camp as
inmates. The fate of the children was
deplorable, writes Chaplain Paul Pfuhl. "When a
child fell ill it was taken to the so-called
children hospital. This term, however, is
misleading. While it had some beds, they were too
few and often three to four children had to share
one bed. These children hospitals were the saddest
site in the whole camp. Reduced to skin and bones,
they were too weak to call for help and even their
weeping was feeble. Their eyes conveyed unspoken
sadness, like those of a wounded animal - and an
accusation for the injustice perpetrated upon them.
One had to muster all one's strength to leave
without shedding tears." Established: December 2, 1944
as a concentration camp for the unfit to work of
the South Batschka Overview: This
community consisted of about 350 houses and was
entirely ethnic German. Fortunately most of the
inhabitants fled before it was captured by the Red
Army and the partisans. Only 54 persons stayed
behind. The entire community was declared as the
first "Special camp" for those ethnic Germans of
the South and Middle Batschka that stayed behind.
It was planned for the unfit to work of the regions
Palanka, Neusatz, Schablj and Titel as well as some
communities of the Kula region. The liquidation
camp Jarek was also a collection point for the
ethnic Germans from the Batschka and Syrmia who
were put to work and survived, completely
exhausted, the notorious Syrmia work projects, such
as the rebuilding of the raillink Belgrade-Bosnian
Brod. At times the number of camp
inmates numbered as many as 15,000. It was
dissolved April 17, 1946 and the survivors were
transferred to the liquidation camp Kruschiwl.
During the existence of the camp at least 7,000
civilians became mortality statistics of the
mistreatments, stavation and epidemics. Mr. Karl
Weber registered 5,400 by name. The victims came
from 75 communities, predominatly from the South
and Middle Batschka as well as from Syrmia.
The peculiarity of the
mistreatments of the Jarek camp consisted in the
virtual confinement of the inmates to their
lodgings. They were only allowed to come into the
street to receive their meals, for which the church
bells were rung. According to the hometown
chronicle of Futok, the meals were dispensed from
19 kitchens. About 500-600 persons were served by
one kitchen. New arrivals, however, received their
first meal only after the eighth day. Normally
three meals a day were served. Breakfast consisted
of ground corn boiled in water; lunch was usually a
soup, some barley or peas, also boiled in water,
occasionally bugs included, and 200 grams of coarse
corn bread. Dinner was again soup. The first camp commander who
came from the neighboring village Katch was
relieved of his command because he was too humane.
In his place came Jana Dragojlovic from Banostor,
Syrmia. She was young but very much dreaded and
considered sadistic. She usually rode on horseback,
attacked unsuspecting women and children, pulled
them by their hair, whipped them, had them tied to
trees and beaten until blood flowed from their
noses and mouths. Her usual comments while perusing
the daily list of the dead was: "Not enough have
died, more have to die." When she was rotated she
remarked to the incoming commander: if he was going
to annihilate 7,500 Germans within five months as
she did, there won't be any left. The guards were considered
more sadistic than in other death camps and more
trigger-happy. According to Katharina Frank they
received for each kill a special furlough or other
bonus. Katharina Haller had to witness how her own
father was murdered. He was gunned down while
trying to get a few potatoes from a nearby field.
Fritz Ilg also reports:
"Daily the partisans came since some of us still
had good clothing. We had to give everything away
while being beaten. An old man used to ask: "Why
are you beating me? I gladly give you my shoes, you
don't need to beat me!" Susanne Harfmann tells of
three women who were murdered while coming back
from a begging trip: "The three women were lying
only 50 yards from the village; they were riddled
by bullets. Next to each was a small bundle with
food for themselves and their starving children."
Among the clergy interned at
Jarek were also Kornelius Weinmann, Franz Klein,
Karl Elicker and Kaspar Kopping. They were selected
for particularly rough mistreatments by the
partisans, ridiculed, beaten and had to perform the
most menial jobs. Martha Müller describes
the appalling conditions at the infirmary: "The
sick were lying on the floor on a bundle of straw
and waiting to die. They all had diarrhea and the
lice were crawling over their faces. As soon as
they were dead we took them out to the horse
stable. The camp commander Jana repeatedly jumped
on their chests and shouted: 'You Swabian, have you
kicked the bucket?' " Peter Wilpert, at that time
six years old, talks about a somewhat older boy who
climbed over fences to be with his mother who
became insane and was tied to a post. "Her gaze was
staring into a void. Her son sat in front of her,
weeping silently. Even though I was younger then
he, I sensed that it was his greatest pain to
realize his mother did no longer recognize him. For
me it was a heartbreaking scene." Martha Müller was
appointed head of the children home. She relates:
"The children were left to fend for themselves,
neglected, dirty and lice-infested. They were
sitting or lying around in the corners, usually in
a state of shock. Nevertheless, they continued
trying to break out of the home and go begging to
the neighboring town Temerin, an attempt that often
was fatal. There was nothing we could do to prevent
the mass dying; they were too weak and starving.
One day they were still playing in the yard, the
next day they were dead on their bundle of straw.
Maybe it was a blessing that many a mother does not
know how her child had to die. I repeatedly had to
witness that the last words of children were:
'Mother please give me a piece of bread.'"
Many of the inmates coming
from the village Bulkes in April 1945 collapsed
since they arrived during a period when no salt was
available. Ten to twelve inmates succumbed daily
due to starvation, diarrhea and exhaustion. No
medicine was available. The physician Dr. Hans
Müller and pharmacist Öhl, both inmates
themselves, tried to help and concocted some heart
drops from a mixture of herbs. Even though they
were not effective, they nevertheless had a
psychological benefit and people were grateful.
Katharina Haller describes
the misery and dying in Jarek: "Wherever you
looked, you saw people, shrunk to a skeleton, who
were trying to pick the lice from each other's
body. They were lying on their straw bundles,
conscious or unconscious and waiting for death to
arrive. Most of them had sores over their entire
bodies. Children had oversized heads and stomaches
and one could count each bone. Some slept and died,
others were struggling desperately with death. They
couldn't help one another since everybody was
helpless." When Agathe Prohaska visited
her great grandmother who was dying in the horse
stable, the latter whispered to her: "My child, the
dogs are biting at my legs." When she checked she
saw that the rats were gnawing at her great
grandmother's toes even though she was still alive.
Karl Weber who was eleven
years old at that time relates his feelings about
the dying children: "They died without their mother
and without loving care, medical help or
compassion. We were so stoic that we felt no sorrow
about somebody's death. On the contrary, we were
relieved that another crybaby disappeared.
Everybody was concerned only with his or her own
survival." Many of the surviving children report
that, after having been witness to so many
miserable deaths, they could no longer shed any
tears, even at the death of their own family
members. They were completely devoid of feelings
and in a state of shock. The last journey of the dead
was equally inhuman. The daily removal of the many
corpses had to be done with primitive means. A rack
wagon was the hearse. The corpses were thrown into
the wagon, one on top of the other, like the
disposal of dead stray animals. In the mass graves,
they were dumped, nude, in layers of up to five
deep and then covered up. Family members were not
allowed to be present, nor any clergy. The Bulkes community has
exact documentation on the perished occupants of
the former hometown Bulkes. According to these
records the chances of survival at the death camp
Jarek were as follows: for children up to and
including 14 years of age only about 50%. Adults
from 50 to 54 years old about 30% and from 55 to 69
about 10%; older ones practically nil. Established as a
concentration camp for the unfit to work of the
West and North Batschka. Overview: The village
Kruschiwl was only four km from the Hungarian
border. On March 12, 1945 it was designated as the
liquidation camp for the Danube Swabians of the
West and North Batschka. Between April 15 and 17,
1946 it received a significant increase in inmates
due to the transfer of survivors from the Jarek
camp. About 100 persons, mainly old people and
children were crammed into each house. The camp Kruschiwl was
particularly notorious for the cruelty of its
guards and series of public executions ordered by
the commanders. After being able to escape in 1946,
Therese Schieber reported the following events: "In
April 1945 we were forced to hand over all money,
watches, rings, earrings, jewelry and items of
value. At 4 o'clock in the morning we were called
out into the street and the process lasted until 5
o'clock in the morning of the 15th. We all had to
stand there during that time, including women with
babies. "Two women, Theresia Peller
and Rosalia Langbein, were found to have hidden
some change. Mrs. Langbein implored the partisan
not to shoot her since she had a five month old
baby. In vain, both women were executed. As a
deterrent for the others, the corpses were left in
the street until the next day. "On April 24, 1945 Anni
Schreiner, a 16-year old girl from Sonta and the
31-year old Elisabeth Piry were taking meals into
the field and then went to Stanischtisch to beg for
food. They were betrayed and upon return to the
camp arrested and locked in a cellar. Like
criminals they were taken before the camp commander
and given a short tongue-lashing. A partisan,
Hungarian, was ordered to execute them; however he
refused. The next partisan's rifle misfired and a
third was called. He first shot and hit Mrs. Piry
who fell down; then he shot at the girl but she was
only slightly wounded. She walked towards the
partisan and implored him to spare her. However, he
dispatched the girl with a bullet into the head.
The three grave diggers who were present were
ordered to put the two women onto a cart and take
them to the cemetery. "On the way Mrs. Piry
regained consciousness, asked for some water and
for her child. The six year old daughter was
walking along and praying next to the cart. The
mother told her to remain brave and tell her father
what was done to her. The partisan guard at the
village entrance noticed that Mrs. Piry was still
alive and notified Djevic Stanko the camp commander
who mounted his horse and rode to the cemetery.
There he ordered the gravediggers to put the
gravely wounded but fully conscious woman next to
the dug grave, shot her in the head and pushed her
with his boots into the grave." The two guard teams were
notoriously quick with cruel beatings. Mrs.
Schieber writes: "Women before being beaten had to
disrobe so that the whips and belts hit their bare
bodies. Just before Easter several women were
caught sneaking out of the camp to beg for food for
their children. First they were thrown into a
cellar and then brought to the guard house where
they had to disrobe. In the middle of the room were
two chairs, with the partisans sitting around them.
Always two women had to kneel down and grasp the
chairs with their hands. Then two partisans began
beating the bare backs of the women. When the two
were tired they were relieved by two others. The
women's backs were bloody and became festered. Most
of them died of their wounds. Only the 'third
generation' of camp guards, mostly Moslems, were
somewhat more humane. " The cold winter temperature
was also one of the premeditated procedures to
reduce the number of camp inmates. Another
draconian edict was that no heating of the inmates'
houses was allowed. According to Stefan Mutter,
"During Christmas and New Year 1945, the partisans
chased us barefoot during the nights repeatedly
across the yard and we had to stand for two hours
in the snow until we were stiff from the cold. Then
they chased us back into the camp. Most of the
people became gravely ill. I myself suffered from
an inflammation of the joints." During the autumn 1945, a
typhus epidemic spread throughout the Kruschiwl
camp, as it did in the neighboring death camp
Gakowa. Over 10 people succumbed daily to this
disease. Another major factor, in
addition to starvation and epidemic diseases, was
the lack of personal hygiene and washing
facilities, which caused infectious skin diseases.
This problem and the bites of fleas and lice
affected particularly children. The dead were
collected daily by a cart which at times had to
make two or three trips a day. |