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"Genocide Carried out by the Tito Partisans" Österreichische
Historiker-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Für Kärnten und Steiermark (Austrian Historian Working
Group for Kärnten and Steiermark)
Chapter
Four:
Syrem, Slavonia,
Baranya:
The Cauldron -
Translated by
Henry Fischer
Srem: When the Beasts
Ruled
“Whoever cannot
work will not be
allowed to live”
Semlin |
Ruma |
Mitrowitz |
Vukovar
Mitrowitz
In the city
of Mitrowitz
located in Srem,
there was only a
small German
minority that
lived among the
Croatian
population. But
close to the
city there were
numerous
communities,
among which
Germans formed
the vast
majority of the
population,
while some of
the villages
were entirely
German. It was
here in
Mitrowitz where
the Partisans
set up an
internment camp
in the local
silk factory,
which would
become the most
gruesome of all
of the Partisan
installations.
This was
especially true
in terms of the
high death rate
in this
facility. By
the beginning of
December 1945
there were at
least two
thousands
persons interned
here. In April
of 1946, only
four hundred and
fifty were still
living. In the
first half of
the month of
January, there
were days when
twenty four
persons died of
starvation. On
December 15th,
sixty-nine women
from Betschmann
were brought to
the camp in
Mitrowitz. By
mid-February
only eleven of
them were still
alive. On
January 6, 1946
there were still
sixty-four women
from Sektisch.
By April they
had all perished
except for
twelve. Of one
hundred and
fifty children
who were still
alive in
November 1945,
by April in 1946
they numbered
less than
fifty. When the
inmates of the
Semlin Camp were
brought to
Mitrowitz in
December 1945,
there were
seventeen men
from Karlsdorf.
In March of the
next year,
thirteen of them
had already
died. Enormous
were the numbers
who were shot
and beaten to
death by the
Partisans.
Twenty alone
were victims of
abuse and
mistreatment.
The Partisans
were not
prepared to wait
for people to
simply die on
their own. In
the early
evenings they
were taken out
of the camp to
the banks of the
Sava River,
where they were
shot and their
bodies were
thrown into the
river. Every
time they took
groups away like
that they were
always told they
were being taken
to a hospital.
The high death
rate was due to
the inhumane
mistreatment the
prisoners
experienced, but
above all it was
the lack of
nutrition. For
a long time,
there was only
soup twice a day
with only a
trace of grain.
But on Christmas
Day of 1945 they
were only given
soup once.
There were
months when they
received no
bread at all.
When there was
bread it was
only a small
chunk of corn
bread. The camp
was hermetically
sealed at all
times.
Even in
1946, long after
the war was
over, the camp
officials for no
reason at all
continued to
order the death
of German
civilians in
their hands.
They
demonstrated
special
brutality in the
butchering of
the German
physician, Dr.
Franz Ehrlich
and his helper
the nurse known
as Sister Juli
in September of
1946. Dr.
Ehrlich, in his
position as camp
doctor had the
duty to keep
medical records
of all of the
inmates,
recording their
illnesses and
the causes of
their deaths.
He did all of
this
conscientiously
and truthfully,
and if someone
died of
starvation he
recorded it as
such, and if a
prisoner was
beaten to death
by a Partisan he
reported it as
such. Because
of this he
greatly angered
the camp
commander who
then threatened
him. He was
instructed to
record other
illnesses as the
causes of
death. But the
doctor refused
to do so and
continued to
record the
truth. In
response the
commander
ordered that his
assistant, the
nurse, Sister
Juli a nineteen
year old from
Ruma be thrown
into the
punishment
bunker. She was
a very beautiful
young woman.
During the
night, the
commandant went
to the bunker
and raped her.
At her request,
Dr. Ehlers
examined her the
next day and he
noted the crime
in his medical
records.
Because of that
he was ordered
to appear before
the commandant,
who asked him to
change his
records. Dr.
Ehrlich refused
to do so. He
would not
falsify the
truth. He would
not lie.
Immediately
following his
interview, he
was taken out of
the camp that
evening. At the
same time the
young nurse,
Sister Juli was
also taken. The
two of them were
dragged to the
banks of the
Sava River.
There they were
tortured in
frightful ways
and then towards
morning they
were butchered
with knives.
Their bodies
were thrown into
the Sava. But
the bodies did
not float away,
but remained
there by the
river bank.
Their corpses
had been
decapitated.
Serbian
civilians had
witnessed this
massacre.
In the
spring of 1947,
the inmates of
the camp were
transferred to
Jarek where they
were housed in
an old
warehouse. From
among the many
thousands who
had been in the
camp at
Mitrowitz only
four hundred had
survived.
[Published at
DVHH.org,
Sept. 2006]
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