Valpovo work camp
Valpovo | |
---|---|
Work camp | |
Location of Valpovo within Yugoslavia | |
Coordinates | 45°40′N 18°25′E / 45.66°N 18.42°ECoordinates: 45°40′N 18°25′E / 45.66°N 18.42°E |
Location | Valpovo, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia |
Operated by | Yugoslavia |
Operational | May 1945 - May 1946 |
Inmates | Primarily Volksdeutsche |
Killed | 1,074 |
Notable inmates | Viktor Axmann |
The Valpovo work camp (Croatian: Radni logor Valpovo, German: Arbeitslager Walpau) was a camp set up by the communist regime of Yugoslavia for Germans and Austrians in the aftermath of the Second World War. The camp operated from 1945 to 1946.
Germans and Austrians on Croatian territory were considered by the Yugoslavian to be collectively guilty for Nazi crimes.[1] With the fall of the Independent State of Croatia in May 1945, camps for Croatian Germans were formed in Valpovo, Josipovac, and Krndija.[1] Three thousand people passed through the camp.[2] From May 1945 to May 1946, 1074 people are known to have died at the camp.[3] Prisoners fell victim to hunger and typhus, among other factors in their harsh living conditions.[4]
In 2003, a monument to the camp's victims was raised.[2] The unveiling was attended by Croatian German officials and the mayor of Valpovo, and was accompanied by a mass by the bishop of Đakovo Marin Srakić.[2]