Stara Gradiska

About thirty kilometres east of Jasenovac along the river Sava lies the village of Stara Gradiska. In May 1941, the Ustasha regime established a concentration camp in an old prison from 1799. First, influential and wealthy Serbs and Jews from nearby communities were imprisoned. Later in 1941, prisoners were transferred from Zagreb area to Stara Gradiska. In addition to men, a large number of women and children were also imprisoned. Ustasha also conducted experiments with both sulfur dioxide and Zyklon-B. First they used horses as guinea-pig and later on human beings (women and children). The experiments were conducted in a building that had been converted into a provisional gas chamber (it was later destroyed). Gas wagons were also used in June and July 1942 to murder prisoners who had arrived from a camp in Djakovo. Stara Gradiska was liquidated when Yugoslav partisans approached in April 1945. Almost 13,000 confirmed deaths have been recorded. After the war, former members of Ustasha, Nazis and fascists were imprisoned in Gradiska. 280 catholic priests were murdered in prison by the communists. The prison existed until 1990, only to be used again as a prisoner-of-war camp by Serbian forces during the Croatian war of independence that began in 1991.