Metadata: Card Register of the Prisoners of Crveni Krst Camp
Collection
- Country:
- Serbia
- Holding institution:
- National Museum Niš
- Holding institution (official language):
- Народни музеј Ниш (Narodni muzej Niš)
- Postal address:
- Generala Milenka Lešjanina 14, 18 105 Niš, Republic of Serbia
- Phone number:
- (+381) 18 248189
- Web address:
- http://narodnimuzejnis.rs/
- Email:
- info@narodnimuzejnis.rs
- Reference number:
- NmN, KL
- Title:
- Card Register of the Prisoners of Crveni Krst Camp
- Title (official language):
- Збирка докумената и личних предмета заточеника Логора на Црвеном крсту-картони логорисаних
- Creator/accumulator:
- National Museum Niš
- Date(s):
- 1950/1999
- Date note:
- second half of the 20th century
- Language:
- Serbian
- Extent:
- 4.8 linear metres (16 boxes)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The cards of the prisoners were created by museum curators who wanted to create a unique register of the individuals who were arrested and brought to Crveni Krst camp during the Second World War. The collection includes 1558 cards of prisoners who were detained in the camp in the period from 1941 to 1944. Each card includes following information: first and last name, father’s name, mother’s name, date of birth, place of birth, residence and address at the time of arrest. The cards also provide data on the prisoner’s profession, reason for the arrest, time spent in the camp, number of the room where he or she was incarcerated, the reason for leaving the camp (transfer to another camp, internment, execution, escape or release), place and address of residence (of a former detainee or his family) and remarks. The remarks include information on whether the name of a prisoner was mentioned in any other list or publications.
The card register of the prisoners also includes cards of Jews who were detained in the camp. The reason for the arrest of a Jew was always “Arrested as a Jew”.
- Archival history:
- The collection was formed by the National Museum of Niš during research for a monograph on the camp Crveni Krst.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The camp Crveni Krst (Red Cross) was opened in 1941 in a former storage building of the cavalry regiment “Miloš Obilić”. At the beginning it was used as a camp for prisoners of war. In September 1941, after the internment of the prisoners of war, it became the central concentration camp for prisoners from the territory of the former Feldkommandanture 809. In October 1941 the site known as Bubanj, which was used as training grounds for the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, became the killing site for the camp’s detainees. According to the assessment of the Commission for Determining War Crimes, about 10,000 people were shot at Bubanj. Crveni krst was active until 14 September 1944 when the last group of 36 prisoners was shot within the grounds of the camp.
After the Second World War, abundant material on the camp and its prisoners was gathered including records, identity documents, weapons and personal belongings of the detainees. In 1961 the building and all found items were renovated. The People’s District Committee of the City of Niš bought the camp’s building and donated it to the Museum. On 12 February 1967 the first museum exhibition was presented in the camp’s building.
- Subject terms:
- Holocaust
- Holocaust--Concentration camps
- System of arrangement:
- The cards of the prisoners were arranged in 16 boxes in three main groups: executed, interned and survived.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory of the collection exists. It is available online.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://narodnimuzejnis.rs/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ZRTVE-LAGERA-NIS.pdf
- Yerusha Network member:
- Historical Archives of Belgrade
- Author of the description:
- Ivana Gruden Milentijević; National Museum Niš; 2021
