ZAGREB, Apr 12 (Hina) - The main hearing in the trial against war crimes suspect Dinko Sakic resumed at the Zagreb County Court on Monday with the testimony of Gabrijel Winter, 81. Sakic, former commander of Jasenovac, a Croatian
concentration camp in World War Two, is accused of war crimes against humanity. Winter was imprisoned at Jasenovac on two occasions, between August and December 1941, and between June and October 1942. He does not know anything about the defendant, and the first time he heard of him was when Sakic was extradited to Croatia last year. "I can't say anything good or bad about him, because the time of my imprisonment and the time he commanded the camp don't coincide." The witness said at the beginning of his testimony the Jasenovac camp was primarily a "death camp, not a labour camp." "They took people there to kill them, not to re-educate them," Winter said. He was arrested and brought to the ca
ZAGREB, Apr 12 (Hina) - The main hearing in the trial against war
crimes suspect Dinko Sakic resumed at the Zagreb County Court on
Monday with the testimony of Gabrijel Winter, 81.
Sakic, former commander of Jasenovac, a Croatian concentration
camp in World War Two, is accused of war crimes against humanity.
Winter was imprisoned at Jasenovac on two occasions, between August
and December 1941, and between June and October 1942.
He does not know anything about the defendant, and the first time he
heard of him was when Sakic was extradited to Croatia last year. "I
can't say anything good or bad about him, because the time of my
imprisonment and the time he commanded the camp don't coincide."
The witness said at the beginning of his testimony the Jasenovac
camp was primarily a "death camp, not a labour camp." "They took
people there to kill them, not to re-educate them," Winter said.
He was arrested and brought to the camp because of his Jewish
origin. Even though he had not been put to trial, the ruling after
the first arrest was a two-year imprisonment, i.e. transfer to the
camp.
Upon arriving at Jasenovac, he was placed with some 30 other inmates
in a temporary camp several kilometres from the main one, commanded
at the time by Miroslav Majstorovic-Filipovic.
The Ustashi immediately killed two inmates from his group, the
Preder brothers, Jews, who were hiding money inside their socks. On
that occasion, the witness saw Majstorovic personally kill an
inmate who was hiding a piece of bread.
After five months, Winter was released thanks to his wife, who later
told him he had been released because she was "Aryan", i.e. a
Croat.
He heard in Zagreb in February of 1942 that Jews married to "Aryan
women" were no longer being released, but arrested again. For a
while Winter was in hiding, but was eventually arrested and taken to
the camp. At first he worked like other inmates, at a "frenetic
pace, with extremely poor nutrition." He then worked as a coachman.
"At that time, for me life was somewhat easier than for the
others."
The witness remembered when Captain Pudic took him and four other
coachmen to Gradina, a site across the Sava river, where they came
across a group of Romany who were covering up freshly dug graves.
Winter also remembered when Pudic, returning from Gradina, in front
of him shot a young Jew from Pakrac in the head. Going to Gradina, he
would regularly see imprisoned women in a fenced house, he said,
adding he knows nothing about their fate.
The "most horrible" were the regular musters, which usually took
place twice a month. Weak, exhausted inmates who were unable to work
any longer would be singled out and executed during the night,
Winter said.
"When I heard moaning coming from across the Sava, I knew they were
killing the newly-arrived inmates, who were fighting for their
lives, while 'older', exhausted inmates, would go to the executions
in a calm manner," Winter said.
New inmates arrived at the camp, which numbered between 3,000 and
3,500, daily. "The executions of the weak and sick were carried out
so that the new inmates, fit for labour, could have room at the
camp," he said, adding mass executions were taking place in 1942.
Inmates were taken away in mass at the time of an offensive on
Kozara, a mountain in north-western Bosnia. The women and the
children were taken away in carriages whose destination was Zemun,
to the east, while younger ones were kept at the camp, the witness
said.
He also spoke about the section of the Jasenovac camp called III C,
which housed labour-capable men, mainly Romany, who were left to
die of hunger and illness.
Winter also recalled a muster at which four labour group
supervisors, inmates themselves, Bruno Diamanstein, an inmate in
charge of the camp section, and an inmate brought from the hospital
were shot in the head for "lack of discipline and disobedience." He
subsequently heard the managers' families who lived in the town of
Jasenovac were also killed.
The witness asserted the Ustashi made no attempts to cover their
crimes.
"Everyone could see what was going on at the bank across the Sava.
The inmates were taken to the Bosnian side in boats, where a waiting
Ustashi killed them with a mallet one by one," Winter said, adding
his guard, nicknamed "the Photographer", cried at the sight.
Winter escaped from the camp when he was taken to pick apples across
the Sava with several other inmates. They were guarded by two
Ustashi. "At one moment the guards moved away, we took the chance
and escaped to the woods."
Speaking about his family, Winter said two of his brothers were
killed in Belgrade, the third brother and mother in Zagreb, while
one sister was killed in a Nazi camp in the Czech Republic. Two other
sisters were in the partisans, one of whom was also imprisoned at
Jasenovac, but was exchanged. His relatives were also killed in the
war.
After Winter's testimony, the panel of judges retired for
counselling. They ruled the defendant's detention is to be
extended.
The main hearing will continue on Tuesday.
(hina) ha jn