ZAGREB, May 5 (Hina) - Josip Erlih, aged 71, from Belgrade, is the first one of the four witnesses from Yugoslavia, to testify on Wednesday before the Zagreb County Court at the trial of Dinko Sakic, a commander of the World War II
concentration camp Jasenovac. In his testimony, Erlih accused Sakic of having killing Mile Boskovic and two Jewish prisoners, as well as to have ordered numerous musters during which the Ustashi selected prisoners for execution. "During the time of his command, executions by hanging and before a firing squad took place regularly", Erlih said. Describing a muster in 1944, during which 20 inmates from Boskovic's group were hanged, Erlih said Sakic was the one to order their hanging after having read out their death sentences."Mile Boskovic asked him (Sakic) not to be hanged, since he was a Montenegrin, but to be shot, and Dinko Sakic took out his gun and shot him dead
ZAGREB, May 5 (Hina) - Josip Erlih, aged 71, from Belgrade, is the
first one of the four witnesses from Yugoslavia, to testify on
Wednesday before the Zagreb County Court at the trial of Dinko
Sakic, a commander of the World War II concentration camp
Jasenovac.
In his testimony, Erlih accused Sakic of having killing Mile
Boskovic and two Jewish prisoners, as well as to have ordered
numerous musters during which the Ustashi selected prisoners for
execution. "During the time of his command, executions by hanging
and before a firing squad took place regularly", Erlih said.
Describing a muster in 1944, during which 20 inmates from
Boskovic's group were hanged, Erlih said Sakic was the one to order
their hanging after having read out their death sentences.
"Mile Boskovic asked him (Sakic) not to be hanged, since he was a
Montenegrin, but to be shot, and Dinko Sakic took out his gun and
shot him dead by firing a bullet to his head", the witness said,
adding he believed Boskovic's body had been hanged after the
execution.
Erlih described in detail a muster during which Sakic killed two
Jewish inmates.
"That muster was the most difficult one for me, and it had been
ordered because Jewish prisoner Wollner had allegedly escaped.
Sakic was looking at his watch and asked that prisoners from the
construction group, who socialised with Wollner, step out.
As no one stepped forward, he ordered that a machine-gun and the
list of all Jews be brought to him from the command building. When
Captain First Class Mihic told him that two prisoners (Leon Perera
and Avram Montiljo) were laughing at him, Sakic called them out,
ordered them to kneel and shot them dead with two shots to the back
of the head and to the temple, Erlih said.
"After that, he ordered the Jews, whose names had been called up, to
step forward, and one 'grupnik' (an inmate in charge of the camp's
labour section) asked him not to take those Jews who were
indispensable in the workshops. Sakic told him that they were all
dispensable, Erlih said, adding the Jews were then taken to the
'Zvonara' building, from where they did not return.
"Those musters were the best way to intimidate us", the witness
added.
Erlih, a Jew born in the village of Koska near Nasice, was taken to
the Stara Gradiska concentration camp in early September 1942,
where, he said, he had witnessed the execution of a man and a woman
who were prisoners, and the execution of eight inmates, killed with
gunshots by Miroslav Filipovic-Majstorovic.
He also heard about the execution of some 50 farmers from the Srijem
region.
Speaking about the camp conditions, Erlih said meals were meagre
and poor and "ticks were eating on prisoners in winter and bedbugs
in summer". He contracted typhus while at the camp.
In June 1943, Erlih was taken to Jasenovac, which at the time was run
by Friar Brkljacic, who was succeeded by Sakic. The witness could
not specify the time span of Sakic's command of the camp. He
remembered prisoners being taken away from dormitories, the
hanging of a group of Chetniks and executions carried out by
Zrinusic. He also heard about the execution of a group of prisoners
who were killed with axes by the Ustashi at Granik.
He did not witness any mass executions because they were usually
carried out by night. He heard about many "Ustashi crimes and
horrors of the Jasenovac camp" from other prisoners, but he did not
witness them. He said he had been beaten up three times, adding that
abuse and beating took place on a daily basis, as well as that "every
Ustashi officer had unlimited power and the possibility to kill
without being punished". Erlih, like other witnesses, confirmed
that prisoners had been allowed to receive packages from home.
Erlih claims that the Ustashi had tried to burn the bodies in the so-
called Picili's incinerator, but gave it up because of the terrible
stench. He also claims that the Ustashi tried to make soap from
corpses, but had to give that up too, because "prisoner corpses were
so frail and there was not enough fat in them for that", he said.
According to the witness, in late 1944 and early 1945, new prisoners
were constantly arriving at the camp but the number of inmates never
exceeded 3,000. That was the time when preparations for the
dismantling of the camp began. "Fire from burnt bodies was burning
at Gradina night and day", Erlih said, adding in late 1945 the
Ustashi executed two groups of prisoners, as well as women and
children from the women's section of the camp. "They knew where they
were going, but they did not cry. They were singing", he said.
The night before the prisoner breakthrough, the Ustashi started
mining and setting fire to the camp, and on the next morning, April
22, Erlih joined other prisoners in the breakthrough, after which
he joined the partisans.
"In German camps 'industrial killings' were committed - in gas
chambers and incinerators; in Ustashi camps executions were
carried out 'manually': with axes, picks, mallets, knives, pistols
and shotguns, Erlih said, adding that none of his family and
relatives survived. "Between 30 and 40 persons were killed on my
mother's side", he said and added the bodies of about 350,000
inmates had been buried at Gradina only, of whom 40,000 were
Gypsies. Erlih claims that only one Romany managed to "save his
skin" in Jasenovac.
During his testimony, Erlih offered as evidence a book called "The
Jewish Memories of Jasenovac", which also includes his testimony.
Answering to a question by the County State Attorney Radovan Santek
about the executions, Erlih said that "it was genocide that took
place in Jasenovac", after which he was warned by the president of
the panel of judges, Drazen Tripalo, to refrain from comments and
speak about the events he himself had witnessed or experienced.
After testifying for more than five hours, Erlih thanked the panel
of judges for having organised well his arrival at the court.
Today's hearing was also attended by Petar Boskovic, the brother of
the killed inmate Mile Boskovic, who said he expected Dinko Sakic
"to be given a just sentence as the incarnation of a (Ustashi)
movement".
"I believe it is in the interest of the Croatian state and people
because the Ustashi regime never represented the will of the
majority of Croat people", Boskovic told reporters. "Justice is
slow but it can be achieved", said Boskovic, who is represented by
attorney Cedo Prodanovic.
The trial will continue tomorrow with the testimony of witness
Mihajlo Maric from Yugoslavia.
(hina) rml