NOTEBOOK CONTAINING DATA ON WW2 VICTIMS DISCOVERED

( Editorial: --> 6185 ) ZAGREB, July 7 (Hina) - A notebook containing data on World War II victims was recently discovered at the Croatian State Archives. According to the notebook, compiled by the Land Commission for War Crimes right after the war, 15,792 victims from the territory of the former People's Republic of Croatia (NRH) were killed at Jasenovac concentration camp between 1941 and 1945. Besides data on Jasenovac victims, the notebook details the number of victims from 34 districts, as well as victims killed in foreign countries and concentration camps. According to Archives manager Josip Kolanovic, the notebook most probably dates from 1947, when the Land Commission was recording the victims of fascist terror on the territory of the NRH on the basis of data from town and district commissions. The notebook was recently found purely by accident, Kolanovic told Hina, adding the person who found it did not know what the notebook was about. This was determined by a subsequent analysis. "This is an exceptionally interesting document which has to be thoroughly investigated and compared with other data. Among other things, it must be determined whether the Romany from Croatia are recorded as well," Kolanovic said. The notebook contains data broken down by districts from letter P (Pakrac) to Z (Zupanja). A notebook with data up to letter P has not yet been found. The notebook also contains data on the number of NRH victims killed abroad, in Poland, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Norway, and at concentration camps in Dachau, Auschwitz and Gonads. In the notebook, Jasenovac victims are listed under number 38. According to this data, 15,792 victims from the territory of the NRH were killed at this concentration camp. These victims are listed by year: 2,891 were killed in 1941, 8,935 in 1942, 676 in 1943, 2,167 in 1944 and 1,123 in 1945. According to notebook data, 774 persons from the NRH were killed at Auschwitz, 160 at Dachau, 3,180 in Germany, 378 in Italy, etc. Unlike the number of Jasenovac victims, the numbers of victims broken down by districts of origin can be checked in other Land Commission documents at the Archives' disposal. These documents show that data in detailed victims lists correspond to data from the notebook. Kolanovic said that detailed victims lists have been preserved for all towns and villages in the former NRH, except for Jasenovac. He believes someone most probably abstracted the Jasenovac lists from the Land Commission material. However, a notebook remained and was found after 50 years, Kolanovic said. The district data on victims recorded in the detailed list and the notebook corroborates that the notebook is an authentic document, he told Hina, pointing out that the number of victims in for instance Sibenik (1,411), Zagreb (2,674) and elsewhere is the same in the detailed list and in the notebook. The detailed list contains statistical data on the victims, by name, date and place of birth, nationality, occupation, when and by whom they were killed. The notebook divides the victims in three categories: those whose exact date of death is known, those for whom only the year of death is known, and those for whom it is not known when they were killed. Vladimir Zerjavic, who conducted a three-year research into data on victims of war and the Jasenovac camp and published a book on the matter, said today that at the State Archives he saw the notebook and data recorded about Jasenovac. "It is a relevant indicator which must be taken into consideration and analysed," he said, adding at present it could not be said how correct this data is. (hina) ha as /mbr 071700 MET jul 98