According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jasenovac's victims included "between 45,000 and 52,000 Serb residents of the so-called Independent State of Croatia; between 12,000 and 20,000 Jews; between 15,000 and 20,000 Roma (Gypsies); and between 5,000 and 12,000 ethnic Croats and Muslims, who were political and religious opponents of the regime."
There are many different documents from the time that Jasenovac existed, written by many different people. At the time, the Germans and Italians were fighting Yugoslav Partisans for control of Yugoslavia. People from both sides of that fight wrote about Jasenovac. The Ustaše themselves also wrote about the camp; so did the Vatican. Comparing all of these different accounts can help with estimates of how many people died at the camp.
As the war went on, German generals wrote reports on the number of Serbs, Jews, and others killed in the Independent State of Croatia. In 1943, three different generals estimated that 300,000 to 400,000 Serbs had been killed. By March 1944, Ernst Fick wrote that 600,000 to 700,000 Serbs had been killed. Hermann Neubacher wrote:
"When prominent Ustashi [Ustaše] leaders claimed that they slaughtered a million Serbs (including babies, children, women and old men), that is, in my opinion, a boastful exaggeration. On the basis of the reports submitted to me, I believe that the number of defenseless victims slaughtered to be three quarters of a million. (Neubacher, Dr. Hermann. Special Assignment in the Southeast, p. 18-30.)
Italian generals reported similar figures to their commanders. The Vatican's sources also wrote of similar figures. For example, Eugen Tisserant reported that 350,000 Serbs had been killed by the end of 1942. Godfried Danneels estimated that a total of "over 500,000 people" were killed.
The Ustaše themselves claimed that they had killed many more people. Vjekoslav "Maks" Luburić, commander-in-chief of all the Croatian camps, once bragged about Jasenovac's "efficiency." At a ceremony on October 9, 1942 - just a year after the camp was created - he said: "We have slaughtered here at Jasenovac more people than the Ottoman Empire was able to do during its occupation of Europe." The Ustaše general headquarters once published a pamphlet that said: "the concentration and labor camp in Jasenovac can receive an unlimited number of internees [prisoners]." Finally, Miroslav Filipovic-Majstorovic, once captured by Yugoslav forces, tried to minimize the crimes committed in Jasenovac by saying that during the three months that he ran the camp, 20,000 to 30,000 people died. In other sources, that three months' death toll is displayed as 40,000.
In 1945, the new Yugoslavian government, led by Tito, paid for a report by the National Committee of Croatia. The report looked into the crimes committed by the Ustaše and their allies. The report, dated November 15, 1945, stated that 500,000 to 600,000 people were killed at the Jasenovac complex. These figures were used by researcher Israel Gutman in the "Encyclopedia of the Holocaust"; by the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and by others.
Logically, the number of deaths in Jasenovac would depend on a few different things:
Also, crematories were built in Jasenovac as far back as January 1942, because the Ustaše were having trouble burying all of the camp's dead bodies. This suggests that many people were already dying at the camp. In addition, later that year, prisoners were being killed with poison gas in Stara-Gradiska, in both gas chambers and vans.
Some of the camp's officials and their post-war fates are listed below:
The Jasenovac Memorial Museum was temporarily abandoned during the Yugoslav wars. In November 1991, Simo Brdar, a former associate director of the Memorial, collected the documentation from the museum and brought it to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Brdar kept the documents until 2001, when he gave them to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, with the help of SFOR and the government of Republika Srpska.
With the help of former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner, the New York City Parks Department, the Holocaust Park Committee, and the Jasenovac Research Institute created a public monument to the victims of Jasenovac in April 2005 (on the sixtieth anniversary of the camp's liberation). Ten Yugoslavian Holocaust survivors were there, along with diplomats from Serbia, Bosnia, and Israel. It is the only public monument to Jasenovac victims outside of the Balkans. Ceremonies are held there every April.
Geshe Sonam Rinchen
Geshe Sonam Rinchen was born in Kham in Eastern Tibet in 1933. In 1945, he joined Dhargyey Monastery, and entered Sera monastery in Lhasa in 1952, where he studied until he was forced to leave Tibet in 1959.
In India he completed his studies for the degree of Geshe Lharampa which he received in 1980. He also received the degree of Acarya from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath. He was appointed resident teacher at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India in 1978, where he teaches Buddhist philosophy and practice, mainly to westerners. He has also taught in Japan, Australia, Great Britain, South Korea, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden
Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden leads the Tibetan Buddhist Society in Australia. Geshe Loden established the Peaceful Land of Joy Meditation Centre in Victoria, and has written many books. In 2011, he was named Hume Citizen of the Year.
Born in 1924, Geshe Loden became a monk at the age of seven. Completing his study of all divisions of Buddhist philosophy, he was awarded the Geshe Lharampa degree from Sera Monastery in Tibet, and an Acharya degree from Varanasi's Sanskrit university in India. He also gained a Master's qualification in Vajrayana Buddhism after six years' study at Gyudmed Tantric College. Geshe Loden originally came to Australia in 1976 as a Tibetan refugee.
Geshe Loden has written many books on Tibetan Buddhism, including:
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
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Gerhard Tremmel
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He played in the youth teams of Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich and was transferred to SpVgg Unterhaching where he made his senior debut. He left Bavaria in 2002 and played for Hannover 96, Hertha BSC Berlin (1st and 2nd team) and for Energie Cottbus. After four seasons with Cottbus he intended to go back to Berlin, but finally he signed one year for FC Red Bull Salzburg to replace the injured goalkeeper Eddie Gustafsson. He only got 13 goals in the 2010/11 season, this made him to the best goalkeeper in the Austrian Bundesliga.
In 2011 he went to Swansea City which plays in the Premier League.
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Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Victor Argo, Forest Whitaker, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing and Harold Perrineau Jr. all appear in the movie.