Concentration Camps for Women in Croatia in Yad Vashem Studies, Volume XX

A Contribution to the Study of Terror in the So-Called Independent State of Croatia: Concentration Camps for Women in 1941-1942

In Croatia the Ustasha regime introduced anti-Jewish measures and legislation following the promulgation of the special racial statutes in 1941. These included a yellow badge for Jews over the age of fourteen, confiscation of Jewish property, and deportation to forced labor in concentration camps established in 1941/42. The article gives details about the transit camp in Zagreb, and focuses on concentration camps in which most of the inmates were women and children: Kruscica, Lobor, Gornja Rijeka, Dakovo, and Tenje. Some of the inmates were transferred to the Jasenovac camp and murdered there or deported to Auschwitz. Also mentioned is the deportation and murder of the Croatian Gypsies. In conclusion it is noted that besides the huge numbers of Jews and Gypsies murdered in these camps, some 5,000 Jews were deported by the Germans themselves, with the consent of the Croatians.