Kruščica concentration camp

Kruščica was a concentration camp established and operated by the fascist, Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement near the town of Vitez, in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), between August and October 1941, during World War II.

The camp's establishment was ordered by Vjekoslav Luburić, the head of the NDH's system of concentration camps, in July 1941. Prior to the establishment of the NDH, Kruščica had been used to detain members of the Ustaše movement. The first transport of 1,100 Jewish women and children arrived from Gospić on 28 August via Slavonski Brod. On 3 September, around 500 Jewish men, women, and children from Sarajevo arrived at Kruščica, followed by an additional 500 six days later. The prisoners were forced to live in semi-finished barracks, half with no floors, in poor sanitary conditions which resulted in the spread of lice among most of the camp's population. The inmates were given a ladle of bean soup each day and soon resorted to eating grass and pumpkin leaves to survive. On 1 October, 250 Jewish males were deported from Kruščica to Jasenovac. Between 5 and 7 October, 1,200 Jewish women and children, as well as 170 Serb women and children, were deported to Loborgrad. The Kruščica camp was subsequently dissolved.

Up to 5,000 inmates passed through the Kruščica camp over the course of its existence and as many as 3,000 lost their lives. Following the war, the campsite was converted into a memorial area, which included a museum, a monument and several commemorative plaques. During the Bosnian War, the museum's contents were removed. In 2014, the site was declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.