Concentration Camps for Serbs
The Most Notorious Camps in B&H
The following list is limited to only the most notorious concentration camps in Bosnia & Hercegovina where Serb civilians and prisoners of war were subjected to the most heinous forms of war crimes by Muslim and Croat perpetrators. The numbers below reflect the situation during 1992 and 1993. Many of the camps continued to operate during 1994 and 1995 and into 1996.
Location Facility No. Prisoners Livno Old Town 950 Tomislavgrad school 500 Tomislavgrad Rascani village 1,000 Bugojno Serb home 50 Bugojno factory S. Rodic 700 Jajce fortress 500 Bihac football stadium 900 Orasje football stadium 100 Odzak* school 400 Odzak* "Stolit" factory 150 Odzak* Novi Grad village 1,000+ Odzak* Poljari village school 59 Odzak* Rabici mil. depot 300 Konjic Bradina tunnel 3,000 Hadzici Pazaric cult. center 150 Hrasnica "A. Santic" school 160 Pazaric warehouse 140 Mostar District Gaol 300 Gorazde Vitkovici village 380 Gorazde Sasici village 100 Capljina Dretelj village 400 Tarcin Wheat silo 600 Novi Travnik "Bratstvo" fact. shaft 100 Ilidza "Famos" stadium 800 Tuzla "Tusanj" stadium 4,000 Bosanski Brod suburb400 Zenica town prison 2,000 Jablanica Celebici villagge 500 Kladanj Stupari village 50 Sarajevo "V. Nazor" school 200 Sarajevo Central Prison 600 Sarajevo "Kosevo" stadium unknown Sarajevo Skyscraper #2 " Sarajevo "Zetra" sports center " Sarajevo Railway station " Sarajevo "Mladen Stojanovic" " Sarajevo "May 25" Nursery " Sarajevo "Sipad" warehous " Sarajevo "Pofalici" reformatory " Sarajevo "Viktor Bubanj" 250 Sarajevo bank vault 170 Sarajevo Zetra Camp 1,500 Sarajevo R. Togliati Street 580 Konjic New housing 1,500 Konjic Donje Selo village 500 Konjic Buturovic Polje 200 Zenica Prison Pavilion #5 300 Ljubuski Prison 80 Grude garage complex 30 Bugojno "Rostovo" ski resort 150 Bugojno High School 200 Bugojno Mine "Gracanica" 200
Notes to List of Most Notorious Camps Holding Serbs
All of the camps mentioned above were facilities where unimaginable cruelty prevailed. Noted below are just some of the more unique characterastics of some of the facilities. Of extreme significance is the data showing that a large number of the most notorious camps were located in Sarajevo. The murdered victims of these facilities were thrown into some of at least 36 mass graves of Serb corpses located in the city of Sarajevo.
- Two capms in the Odzak Municipality, one in the Novi Grad Village, and the other in "Famos" football stadium were camps holding manily women and children, where the victims were subjected to the most heinous crimes.
- In the Stupari Village camp in the Kladanj Municipality the policy which was implemented was that each day the guards took out one inmate and hung them.
- The imprisoned in the Railway Station in Sarajevo were women.
- In the "Viktor Bubanj" facility in Sarajevo many were murdered and otherwise abused. It had the distinction of being staffed with 20 mujahadeen guards (foreign Muslims).
- In the Bank Vault facility in Sarajevo of the "Privredna Banka Sarajevo" the treatment of the imprisoned was such that the Croatian guards working there called it the "torture house for Serbs".
- In the facility Skyscraper #2, in Sarajevo mass murders of those imprisoned there were carried out over the River Miljacka; one night alone 27 Serbs were murdered.
- In the Zetra Camp facility in Sarajevo 300 inmates are known to have been murdered. It is especially noteworthy that the commander of the camp was Safet Isovic who was an Assembly Member of the Government of Bosnia & Hercegovina.
- In the Dretelj Village facility in municipality of Capljina the personnel who carried out the abuses included mercenaries from Italy, Germany, France, England and US.
Brothels and Rape Centers Holding Serbian Women
(formed by the Muslim and Croatian Forces)
The data below was obtained from interviews with female victims imprisoned in the above centers by Professor Dr. Biljana Plavsic and the State Documentation Centre for the Investigation of War Crimes of the Serb Republic of Bosnia-- Herzegovina. It reflects approximations of detainees as retold by the rape victims. These 16 brothels/rape centers held approximately 800 Serb women who were imprisoned and sexually abused by the members of the Moslem TD of B&H and the Croatian Army. A full report of the testimonies by these vicitims is available in a United Nations document A/47/813 S/24991 dated December 18, 1992. Other similar places existed and data continues to be collected from former victims raped there.
Brothel/Rape Facility No. of Rape Victims Held Sarajevo: " Zagreb Hotel" basement. 40-50 Sarajevo: "Bjelave" student hostel 30 Sarajevo: "Zetra" sports center 30 Sarajevo: "Borsalino" cafe 10 Sarajevo: "Djordjevic" (former) company brick kiln 30 Sarajevo: Faculty of Civil Engineering; the mnager of the brothel was Mirza Delibasic, the famous international basket-ball player 30 Urduk: village near Pazaric in the Municipality of Hadzici 10 Tarcin: elementary school building in the municipality of Hadzijci 50 Tuzla: S econdary school premises 100 Tuzla: Student hostel 200 Tuzla: Private house on the road to Srebrenik near Previle 15 Bugojno: "Rostovo" ski center 30 Bugojno: House belonging to the murdered Serb Reljo Lukic 15 Konjic: Village of Buturovic Polje 50 Konjic: "Amadeus" cafe in town center 20 Bihac: Restaurant belonging to Mustafa Vukovic who is also the manager of a brothel containing 30
THE SILO CAMP IN TARCIN
Tarcin is located on the road Sarajevo-Konjic-Mostar, which connects Bosnia with Hercegovina. Tarcin is in the municipality of Hadzici, suburb of Sarajevo. Before the war, the city had an elementary shcool, city hall, post office and an ore factory. In the vicinity of Tarcin was the recreation center for tuberculosis patients.
At the beginning of 1992 the Muslim authorities formed their reserve militia and assumed full power in the area of Tarcin and Pazaric, an adjoining town. At the outbreak of the civil war, in April 1992 the Muslims forces launched their first military actions. At this time any movement of the civilian population was prohibited and the Muslims established a camp in a wheat silo in Tarcin and a camp in Krupa-Pazarici. They took in the male civilian population, the youngest being 17 years of age and the oldest 70 plus. Until late June 1992 approximately 800 men and several women were held captive in these two camps. Some 30 old and disabled men were the only ones in the area who were not imprisoned. The women that were left behind in their houses were exposed to various forms of physical and psychological maltreatment.
At the beginning of the formation of the silo camp in Tarcin, approximately 600 Serbs were held prisoner in 15 prison cells. Each cell was 10x5 meters with 5 meters in height and without a roof. During rainy days and storms a plastic sheet was spread over the opening. Because more than 40 persons were in each cell they could sleep only on their sides or take turns to lay down. For the first few months prisoners slept on the bare concrete without any blankets. Only much later, after the Red Cross was finally allowed to visit in November 26, 1992 did they receive blankets and wooden planks on which to sleep. Guards did now allow prisoners to go out of the cells so they were forced to urinate and defacate into plastic cans too small for the number of people in the cell. For six months inmates were allowed to bed only two times and they could not change or wash their clothes. They had one meal a day at 5 p.m., usually a squash soup with few crumbs of bread. A 600 gram loaf of bread was divided between 12 or more prisoners. By the witnesses' testimonies even such portions were not regular, sometimes they did not receive any food for periods of 2-3 days. A liter of water given every 24 hours was shared by 5 prisoners. Due to this kind of nourishment and hard physical labor many inmates lost 30-40 kilograms in the first few months. Prisoners were exposed to regular torture and beatings, rapes and hunger. Many died as a result of the abuse.
Prisoners in the camp were forced to do hard labor. Guards themselves beat the prisoners daily and organized mass beatings forcing prisoners to beat fellow prisoners. As an example, on June 4, 1992 camp warden Becir Hujic ordered guards to open the prison cells and while armed soldiers were posted outside the prison cells, 15-20 men and one woman Jasmina entered the cells and proceeded to beat the prisoners with metal and wooden sticks and fists. The beatings lasted from noon to 2 p.m. Afterwards, many prisoners lost consciousness and were left lying on the concrete floor in pools of their own blood. After a while, the prison warden ordered prisoners to hand over all valuables they still possessed, gold watches etc. which were collected by masked soldiers. The soldiers stayed at the silo through June where they tortured prisoners daily led by thier commander "Zuko" . The imprisoned Serbs lived in the silo camp in Tarcin in the worst conditions never having been officially charged or sentenced. The Muslim authorities released the last of the remaining prisoners in January 1996, only because the US Government finally applied pressure for them to do so.
THE VILLAGE OF BRADINA
Bradina is a village in the municipality of Konjic. It is also the birthplace of Dr. Ante Pavelic, leader of the Nazi Independent State of Croatia, which included Bosnia-Hercegovina in Hitler's Europe. Continuing attacks by the Moslem-Croat coalition in May 1992 forced 500-600 Serb refugees from Konjic, Mostar, Bijelo Polje, Jasenjan, Ostrozac, Dobrigosca, Pozetve, Nevizraka and Sarajevo to flee to Bradina. During the first half of May approximately another 1000 people, men, women and children, entire families fled to Bradina from Ljuta, Zlatar, Brdjani and from the burned villges of Blace and Dzepi. On May 12 Bradina wihtstood an attack, but another took place on May 25, with fatal consequenes for the entire population. Upon attacking the village, the Muslim/Croat forces burnt all Serbian homes forcing the population that survived the fire to leave. Literally whole families were annihilated, including children and old men. Captured younger men were shot on May 26, their corpses left exposed for two days. The Muslim/Croat coalition forced Serb prisoners to load the bodies onto vehicles and move them to the grounds of the Serbian Orthodox church in Bradina where they were buried in a mass grave which was so shallow that parts of their bodies protruded from it.
THE MUSALA CAMP IN KONJIC
Konjic is located in the Central valley of Neretva River on the road to Hercegovina and the Adriatic Coast. Before the war Konjic was the cultural center of North Hercegovina. Tourism was developed, as Konjic has two lakes in the vicinity as well as the Ljuta River. There was a furniture factory in Konjic. Every year a competition of metal workers of Yugoslavia was held in Konjic. According to the 1991 census for the population of Konjic, Serbs made up 18.54 % but formed the majority in the following adjoining villages: Bjelovcina, Place, Borci, Bradina, Cerici, Cicovo, Dolovi, Donje Selo, Dubrevice, Jezero, Pula, Sitnik and Zagorica. In other neighboring settlements Serbs were in the minority.
Even though the sparse Serbian population did not present a threat to the majority Muslim and Croat population in the Konjic municipality, the Muslim and Croat authorities began to carry out total ethnic cleansing of the Serbian population from their districts starting at the very beginning of the war. Starting April 18, the survival of the Serbian population was threatened with the arrival of Croatian forces from Split to Konjic. By April 20, 1992 the Serb population was fleeing en masse to neighboring villages. For days the Serbs tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the Muslim/Croat coalition who demanded their expulsion. Those who refused to leave paid with their lives. By May 15, 1992 mass military attacks were mounted on the undefended villages where Serbs had fled. May 15th the village of Blace was attacked and almost the total Serbian population murdered. On May 21st the villages of Bjelovcina, Cerici and Donje Selo were attacked. Donje Selo was later turned into a camp for women and children. During the initial period the women were kept in a shool house where they were tortured, raped and beaten daily. All female captives, including women in their seventies were included in this treatment.
During the second half of May 1992 the sports hall, Musala, in Konjic was transformed into a prison camp in which many Serbs from the Konjic municipality were imprisoned. The first prisoners in Musala, as far as it can be established, were Serbs arrested in Donje Selo. They were taken to the camp on May 22, 1992. Before the existence of this camp was revealed to the International Committee for the Red Cross, the Croatian and Muslim captors murdered camp inmates in the most horrifying manner. They murdered 13 people on June 15, 1992 in a part of the camp they blasted with artillery shells from an immediate vicinity.
The systematic rape of the imprisoned Serbian women in Musala was carried out before they were deported to a village prison camp of Donji Selo.
The Musala camp in Konjic was operated until October 6, 1994 when the last Serb prisoners were released after spending over two years there never having received any charges or sentences and without knowing why they had been imprisoned.
THE VILLAGE OF DONJE SELO
Donje Selo is a Serbian village about 7 km. from Konjic. It was transformed by the Croatian/Muslim authorities on June 22, 1992 into a village prison camp to which Serbs who were captured in the municipality of Konjic were deported. Those Serbs deported there as well as those who had lived in the village earlier but who had not been murdered or taken to the camps in Celebici or Konjic were forbidden to leave the village. A strong guard unit was set around the village.
Not only was the movement of the Serbs limited to Donje Selo but they were also subjected to the worst forms of maltreatment in the village itself. Those who suffered the most were women and children. Women were beaten, raped, tortured and starved regularly.
A certain number of Serbs, especially the men were freed from imprisonment in Donje Selo either by payment of a ransom or in freelance exchanges. However, the position of those imprisoned in the village prison camp, deteriorated drastically during the fiercest battles between Muslim and Croat struggle for power and territory in the Konjic municipality.
THE CAMP IN CELEBICI
Before the war Celebici was a village where the Yugoslav National Army, YNA, had a military base. Immediately upon the outbreak of war, Croation/Muslim authorities occupied the military installations. Several days later, they issued an order to all Serbs in Celebici on April 22, 1992 commanding them to leave their homes and villages within two hours. Those who did not obey the order and did not move out were later arrested and sent to a Croatian-run camp in Grude.
In the ethnically cleansed village of Celebici where Muslims had already begun to move into former Serbian homes, a large concentration camp for Serbs was set up at the beginning of May, 1992. The camp was located in the former storage depot of the YNA and was encircled with barbed wire and mine fields. The first camp inmates were taken to this camp after Croatian Muslim formations attacked the Serbian villages in the Konjic municipality. Each village was attacked one by one and the inhabitants were either murdered or arrested.
The captured civilians from various places were taken to the camp of Celebici, also notorious for crimes against Serbs in World War II. Prisoners were shut in a tunnel known as #9 and from there transferred to a metal hangar #6 and the military arsenal called #22. There they were exposed to horrible torture and shut into concrete manholes in which they spent many hours without enough air and many died. There was no food, no water and no sanitation. Women, subjected to "special treatment" were also incarcerated in this camp. The commander of the camp of Celebici was
Zdravko Mucic called "Pavo", arrested in Vienna March 1996 and indicted March 21. His deputy in Celebici was
Hazim Delic also indicted March 21st. Celebici camp was dismantled at the end of December of 1992 and the inmates, exhausted from hunger and beatings were deported to Konjic to the camp Musala.
These war criminals should be brought to justic once and for all. It is amazing how nothing has come out with reference to this massacre all these years until now! :coffee 