Professional paper
ICRC DELEGATE'S VISIT TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS OF JASENOVAC AND STARA GRADIŠKA IN THE SUMMER OF 1944
Mario Kevo
; Croatian Institut of History-Section for Slavonia, Syrmia and Baranya, Slavonski Brod, Croatia
Abstract
On the basis of original archival sources the author described a visit of Julius Schmidlin to the Ustasha concentration camps of Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška and camp’s farm at Gređani Salaš. J. Schmidlin was an ICRC delegate in the Independent State of Croatia during the Second World War. In the summer of 1944 Croatian authorities allowed him a visit to mentioned concentration camps. The delegate was accompanied by Dr. Milutin Jurčić, the main director of the Main directorate for public order and security of the Ministry of internal affaires of the Independent State of Croatia, and some other state
functionaries. They spent four days in concentration camps, mostly in concentration camp of Jasenovac. Croatian authorities had forbidden to Schmidlin every possibility to take photos or to take serious conversation with the camp inmates. However, the delegate had made some connection with the camp inmates. Dr. Mile Bošković had become an unofficial commissioner of interned civilians in the matter of humanitarian Aid. Simply, he was the connection between the ICRC delegate in Zagreb and the camp inmates. He had an obligation
to inform delegate Schmidlin about the humanitarian funds sent to the
camp and about the distribution of it to the camp inmates. The article is divided into two parts. The first is that of the visit itself. The second part content a transcription of original report on German language concerning the specified visit which was written by delegate Schmidlin. The delegate had sent the report to the ICRC Headquarter in Geneva, respectively to the Jean-Etienne Schwarzenberg, a member of the ICRC Secretariat and head of the ICRC Special Aid
Division. The translation of the report in Croatian language is also given.
Keywords
Second World War; Independent State of Croatia; International Committee of the Red Cross; Charity; Julius Schmidlin; Jasenovac; Stara Gradiška; Camp Inmates; Prisoners of War; Interned Civilians
Hrčak ID:
30613
URI
Publication date:
7.10.2008.
Visits: 5.520 *