Among the host of New Martyrs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, there is special place for the Holy Children of Jastrebarško and Sisak—thousands of innocent souls who met a martyr’s death during the years of the Second World War. Their sacrifice became a testimony of the faith and martyrdom of an entire people, and their innocent blood, shed in the concentration camps of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), sanctified the land that became their Golgotha.
Today, they stand before the Throne of God, reminding the world of the triumph of Christ’s truth and meekness, even in the depths of human cruelty.
In the Jastrebarško camp
Children’s Concentration Camps in the Territory of the Independent State of Croatia
In April 1941, following the occupation of Yugoslavia, a puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was established on part of its territory, under the rule of the Ustaše, the fascist regime of Ante Pavelić. From the very first months of its existence, this state legally sanctioned repressions against the Orthodox Church and the Serbian people.
Already by April, a law was enacted establishing people’s courts composed of three members. These “triads” had the authority to pass death sentences on anyone suspected of treason. On July 23, 1941, a law was adopted requiring the mandatory registration of Serbs, and shortly thereafter, the Serbs’ movements were restricted. On May 3, 1941, a law on religious conversion was passed, legally abolishing the name, “Serbian Orthodox Faith (Church).” In June, a linguistic ban was imposed on the use of the Cyrillic script, and all Serbian parochial schools were closed.1
Within the NDH, dozens of concentration death camps were established, many of which included special sections for children (such as Stara Gradiška, Jasenovac, Loborgrad, Gornja Rijeka). Children were often forcibly separated from their mothers to be placed in these separate camps. Any resistance typically resulted in the death of both mother and child.2
One girl, who survived among the imprisoned children, recalled her mother’s blessing, which helped her to endure:
“I remember the moments when I parted with my mother and her message to me: ‘May Saint Petka protect you.’ I believe that was the day of our eternal farewell…”3
Children newly arrived in Jastrebarško
Jastrebarško stood out as a camp established specifically for children, and there were no adults detained in it. The Sisak camp was comprised of two camps. In Sisak II, there were also only children. Over the several months of these camps’ existence (from June to October and from August to December 1942), around 2000 children died within their walls.
The Holy Church praises the podvig of these children-sufferers in hymns:
“Being free before Christ, the most glorious martyrs of Jastrebarško and Sisak do we commemorate, along with all infants who suffered for the faith throughout the world. O ye who are worthy of honor, pray for us who glorify your holy memory!4
Time will pass, and none of these happy children will remain. Jastrebarško
The cruelty of this mass genocide of children in the Jastrebarško and Sisak camps is comparable only to the first mass martyrdom for Christ that took place in ancient Judea, when 14,000 infants up to two years of age were torn from their mothers in Bethlehem and cruelly murdered. According to the Serbian historian Ognen Karanovich, during the whole war over 74,000 children of both sexes up to age fourteen were killed. The majority of these were of Serbian Orthodox origin.5 This is the numerically largest mass murder of children in recent times, not counting abortions.
And just as the Bethlehem infants in their time, who received death from Herod’s sword, became not only martyrs but also intercessor for all children, so also do the Serbian children, glorified by the Church, now stand before God as defenders of life and intercessors for all those whose voices were never heard on earth.
Erdödy Castle in Jastrebarško , where about 300 children were kept, many of whom stayed there until the end of the war
The Jastrebarško Camp
The Jastrebarško camp was officially called the “Refuge for Child Refugees.” One of the camp’s purposes was to gather children from other camps and indoctrinate them in the Ustaše spirit, modeled after the Janissaries. The children were divided into several categories; the older ones were forced to wear uniforms marked with the letter “U” (for Ustaše), study history, and pray according to Catholic rites.
The section of the camp designated for the youngest children and infants, primarily girls, was located in the lower chambers of the castle belonging to the noble Erdödy family. In reality, the most horrific atrocities and brutal murders of Serbian children occurred precisely in this part of the concentration camp.
This section of the camp was placed under the supervision of Catholic nuns from the Congregation of the Order of Saint Vincent de Paul.6
The nuns, who were tasked with overseeing the children, treated the children with cruelty, and some even acted as tormentors of the innocent sufferers. In the Zagreb newspaper Vjesnik, issue nos. 24–26 dated December 26, 1945, we read:
“In Jastrebarško , the children were doomed to certain death. Poorly clothed and weak, they appeared as living shadows and skeletons. They were subjected to all sorts of torture and torment. If a child found a crust of bread or ‘stole’ an apple, they were most often beaten to death. Those who tried to escape were killed. The children were dying…”
Children in the Jastrebarško camp
The children were kept in intolerable conditions: They slept on the cement floor, deprived of food, water, and elementary sanitary conveniences. When punished they were beaten with switches that had been soaked in salt water, in order to inflict a double torment on the sufferers.
The Serbian Church in its many hymns dedicated to the saints testify to their sufferings:
“Having endured fierce torment, tortured with salt, cut down by sickness, and committed to graves while still alive for the sake of the Orthodox faith. May we also preserve it. O holy martyrs of Jastrebarško and Sisak! show us your pure and uncorrupt fruits of righteousness you have brought to Christ…”7
Infants in the Jastrebarško camp
The Catholic clergy did not allow the young martyrs of the camp to be buried in proper cemeteries, because they were the children of Orthodox Serbs. And so they were buried in mass graves in fields outside the cemetery grounds.8
One of the most heart-wrenching documents published about the deaths of innocent children in the Jastrebarško camp is the notebook of the local gravedigger Franjo Ilovar. By order of the camp administration, he buried the dead children and kept a record of this in a diary, receiving payment for his work. The invoices were certified by the signature of the Catholic nun Gaudiencija, who was later convicted as a war criminal.
Franjo Ilovar’s notebook remains as a most grievous testimony to the children’s suffering in this Ustaše-run camp. On the very first page, it is recorded that on July 22, 1942, he buried 107 children. According to the gravedigger, the children’s bodies were packed into boxes and crates; and to fit as many as possible into one box, the crates were forcibly closed.
Next follows an account and receipt:
“Received 10,000 kunas for digging graves for one hundred buried children.”
On the following page, another note reads:
“Invoice for burial—243 girls and 150 boys—36,450 kunas.”
Children of Sisak camp
The Sisak camp
The second Sisak (Sisački) camp was officially named the “Transit Home for Refugees.”
Dr. Velimir Deželić, an employee of the Croatian Red Cross, testified before the Commission for the Investigation of the Crimes of the Occupiers and Their Collaborators. He stated that the Sisak camp was the most horrific:
“Children, taken from their mothers, were brought to the Home, then locked in rooms infected with spotted typhus and other contagious diseases. They were left without food and water until they died.”9
In the Sisak camp
The children were kept in unheated rooms, starved, and subjected to medical experiments.
Autopsy results of the innocent children from Sisak revealed that one of the causes of death was poisoning with caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), which was added to their food.10
A surviving prisoner of the camp, Smilja Timša, recalled that some substance was smeared around the children’s mouths, and as a result, they died of unbearable thirst.11
According to the testimony of Velimir Deželić, the camp overseer, Dr. Antun Najžer, mass-murdered Orthodox children with poisoned injections.
A child marked with a number, dying in the Sisak camp. Summer, 1942 In the camps, children were forbidden to be called by their names; instead, each child wore a tag with a number on their chest. But the name of Christ was inscribed on their bright souls.
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands... These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9, 14).
The Holy Church in hymns numbers the martyrs of Jastrebarško and Sisak among the martyrs described in the Apocalypse of St. John:
“Among them the Church of Christ in the Spirit beheld many new martyrs, the lamps of Jastrebarško and Sisak, who glorified the Lamb of God and were glorified by Him.”12
Monument on the grave of the children who perished in the Jastrebarško death camp The child martyrs began to be honored immediately after the end of World War II. Memorials were erected at the sites of their deaths, and many books and memoirs by survivors were published. However, the Church’s theological reflection on their martyrdom began much later, mainly in the 2010s, particularly in regions where the camps had been located.
The movement for the canonization of the child martyrs provoked a strong negative reaction from the Croatian episcopate and representatives of the Catholic Church, which had canonized Bishop Alojzije Stepinac, the spiritual inspirer of the NDH (Independent State of Croatia), who had blessed the Ustaše to commit genocide against the Serbian population.
The survived children of the children’s concentration camp, placing flowers
Despite attempts to erase the traces of this tragedy, the Church assumed the mission of restoring historical justice. Under the guidance of Bishop Gerasim (Popović), the Diocese of Gornji Karlovac carried out meticulous work, gathering extensive historical material on the horrific and unprecedented tortures of innocent children in the Jastrebarško camp.13
On May 23, 2022, the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church passed the following resolution:
“Based on the tradition of the Orthodox Church and in accordance with Article 69, paragraph 8 of the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to number the child martyrs of Jastrebarško and Sisak among the choir of saints.”14
The Holy Children-Martyrs of Jastrebarško and Sisak
The holy children did not preach sermons nor could they openly confess their faith, yet their martyrdom became a silent proclamation of Christ.
Their spiritual podvig also found liturgical expression: The day of their Church commemoration was set as June 30 (July 13 in the civil calendar), and a liturgical service was composed in honor of the “The Holy Children-Martyrs of Jastrebarško and Sisak.” In 2023, their commemoration was included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.15
The holy children did not speak sermons, nor could they openly confess the faith, but their suffering was a silent testimony to Christ. Like lambs led to the slaughter, they followed the path of the Savior, enduring torments without malice or resistance. Their tears, mingled with the dew of the fields of Jastrebarško and Sisak, became living water that nourished the parched land of the Serbian people.