Introduction
Introduction
The German part of the camp was under the direct command of Gestapo. Gestapo also had the last saying in decision making on detainees’ fate in Serbian part of the camp, from where detainees had often been taken for further interrogations or executions. Since the end of August 1941 detainees from all over Serbia had been brought to the Camp thus it soon surpassed the function of local camp and came under direct command of German Military Commander of Serbia.
Contrary to the common Nazi practice across Europe, the Banjica Camp, as well as the Sajmište camp, was exposed to a view of every citizen of Belgrade as a warning and with a goal to intimidate.
“Death Factory” on the periphery of Belgrade, the Banjica concentration camp, admitted its first inmates on July 9th 1941 and until October 3rd 1944, when the camp was disbanded, almost 30.000 prisoners passed through the gates of this camp - people of different nationalities, professions, age, ideologies… Total number of executed inmates is 4.286.
The particularity of the Banjica Concentration Camp, regarding its organization, was the existence of duality of the inner command and the split of authorities among the collaborators and Germans in Camp administration. The split of the authorities among the “Serbian” and the “German” part of the camp had been introduced for practical reasons and it wasn’t a sign of inequality of two administrations.
The particularity of the Banjica Concentration Camp, regarding its organization, was the existence of duality of the inner command and the split of authorities among the collaborators and Germans in Camp administration. The split of the authorities among the “Serbian” and the “German” part of the camp had been introduced for practical reasons and it wasn’t a sign of inequality of two administrations.
The German part of the camp was under the direct command of Gestapo. Gestapo also had the last saying in decision making on detainees’ fate in Serbian part of the camp, from where detainees had often been taken for further interrogations or executions. Since the end of August 1941 detainees from all over Serbia had been brought to the Camp thus it soon surpassed the function of local camp and came under direct command of German Military Commander of Serbia.
Contrary to the common Nazi practice across Europe, the Banjica Camp, as well as the Sajmište camp, was exposed to a view of every citizen of Belgrade as a warning and with a goal to intimidate.
The Books of evidence of detainees of the concentration camp Banjica have been preserved in the Historical Archives of Belgrade since October 1968, when they were taken over from the Republic Secretariat for Internal Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Serbia, together with other documentation of the fonds Administration of the City of Belgrade – Special Police Department. Eight books were taken, but during the relocation of the Archives in the new building in Palmira Toljatija Street in New Belgrade, the seventh book was lost; however it was successfully reconstructed according to the data from other archival material. Since the books were frequently used in court trials after the Second World War, they arrived in the Archives in poor condition, with damaged sheets and covers. The damages were restored in the Archives by various methods of conservation and restoration.
The data recorded for each detainee in the books of evidence are following: name and surname, profession, date and place of birth, parents’ names, marital status, residence, sometimes nationality, date of the arrival to the camp, institution which brought him/her and further fate. The data was registered chronologically, according to the date of the arrival to the camp and an ordinal number (a registration number) is written in front of each name. The number of the detainees in the camp depended on the intensity of the repression, but it is assumed that between one and three thousand detainees were incarcerated in the camp in each moment, crammed into small camp premises.
Original Books of evidence of the detainees of the concentration camp Belgrade – Banjica were published by the Historical Archives of Belgrade in 2009. Besides introductory study which provides detailed analysis of the idea of a camp as a laboratory of totalitarian regimes and historical explanations of the camp’s administration expansion across Serbia, the publication also offers statistical analysis of detainees’ nationality structure as well as gender, age, social and professional structure. The books also contain additional explanations, literature, registers, photo material. It should be emphasized that all data were controlled and compared to the data preserved in other archival material and sources, therefore new number of detainees emerged. It was determined that some people were imprisoned, but their names were not registered in the books of evidence. The authors of the texts in the introductory study are Prof. Dr. Milan Ristović and Prof. Dr. Ljubodrag Dimić, archivists Evica Micković and Milena Radojčić. The introductory study was also published in English language as a separate edition of the Historical Archives of Belgrade in 2014 and it is available on the Archives’ website. (Banjica Concentration Camp – Introduction to the Books of Evidence of Detainees)
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Banjica Camp in 2024, the Historical Archives of Belgrade has prepared an on-line platform with searchable database containing personal information for more than 23.500 prisoners, registered in the original books which are preserved in the Archives.
The data from original books of detainees make the foundation of this database. During the process of database creation, all data were reviewed and minimal corrections had been made. The control of detainees’ personal data from the seventh book led to the discovery of new information for an inmate earlier unknown. In the field “note” appears additional information for an inmate, found in other archival material preserved in the Hisotrical Archives of Belgrade.
Besides being useful to scholars and for educational purposes, this web edition of the Books of Evidence of Banjica Camp will also be useful to the wider public, first of all to the descendants and relatives of the victims. It is our belief that this way, victims will not be forgotten and will be honored once again.
Detainees of the Banjica Concentration Camp:
[Database]
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