Editing Jasenovac concentration camp (section)

===The influence of Nazi Germany===
On 10 April 1941, the Independent State of Croatia was established, supported by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, and it adopted similar racial and political doctrines. Jasenovac contributed to the Nazi "final solution" to the "Jewish problem", the killing of Roma people and the elimination of political opponents, but its most significant purpose for the Ustaše was as a means to achieve the destruction of Serbs inside the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).{{sfn|Kallis|2009|pp=236–244}}

Jasenovac was located in the [[German occupation zone of the Independent State of Croatia]]. The Nazis encouraged Ustaše anti-Jewish and anti-Roma actions and showed support for the intended extermination of the Serb people.{{sfn|Shah|Bazyler|Lee Boyd|Nelson|2019|pp=83–85}} Soon, the Nazis began to make clear their genocidal goals, as in the speech Hitler gave to [[Slavko Kvaternik]] at a meeting on 21 July 1941:<blockquote>The Jews are the bane of mankind. If the Jews will be allowed to do as they will, like they are permitted in their Soviet heaven,{{clarify|reason=heaven or haven??|date=June 2022}} then they will fulfill their most insane plans. And thus Russia became the center to the world's illness ... if for any reason, one nation would endure the existence of a single Jewish family, that family would eventually become the center of a new plot. If there are no more Jews in Europe, nothing will hold the unification of the European nations ... this sort of people cannot be integrated in the social order or into an organized nation. They are parasites on the body of a healthy society, that live off of expulsion of decent people. One cannot expect them to fit into a state that requires order and discipline. There is only one thing to be done with them: To exterminate them. The state holds this right since, while precious men die on the battlefront, it would be nothing less than criminal to spare these bastards. They must be expelled, or{{spaced ndash}}if they pose no threat to the public{{spaced ndash}}to be imprisoned inside concentration camps and never be released.<ref>Hilgruber, Staatsmanner und Diplomaten bei Hitler, p. 611.{{publisher missing}} {{ISBN missing}}</ref></blockquote>

At the [[Wannsee Conference]], Germany offered the Croatian government transportation of its Jews southward, but questioned the importance of the offer as ''"the enactment of the final solution of the Jewish question is not crucial, since the key aspects of this problem were already solved by radical actions these governments took."''<ref>Wannsee, Nuremberg trial documents, NG-2568-G.</ref>

In addition to specifying the means of extermination, the Nazis often arranged the imprisonment or transfer of inmates to Jasenovac.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=166–171, 185–189, 192, 194–196, 208, 442–443}} Kasche's emissary, Major Knehe, visited the camp on 6 February 1942. Kasche thereafter reported to his superiors:
<blockquote>Capitan Luburic, the commander-in-action of the camp, explained the construction plans of the camp. It turns out that he made these plans while in exile. These plans he modified after visiting concentration-camps installments in Germany.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|p=195}}</blockquote>

Kasche wrote the following:<blockquote>The Poglavnik asks General Bader to realize that the Jasenovac camp cannot receive the refugees from Kozara. I agreed since the camp is also required to solve the problem in deporting the Jews to the east. Minister Turina can deport the Jews to Jasenovac.<ref>A.A. Nachlass Kasche, p. 105{{publisher missing|date=June 2022}}{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}}</ref>{{verify source|date=May 2022}}</blockquote>

Stara-Gradiška was the primary site from which Jews were transported to Auschwitz, but Kashe's letter refers specifically to the subcamp Ciglana in this regard. In all documentation, the term "Jasenovac" relates to either the complex at large or, when referring to a specific camp, to camp nr. III, which was the main camp since November 1941. The extermination of Serbs at Jasenovac was precipitated by General [[Paul Bader]], who ordered that refugees be taken to Jasenovac. Although Jasenovac was expanded, officials were told that "Jasenovac concentration and labor camp cannot hold an infinite number of prisoners". Soon thereafter, German suspicions were renewed that the Ustaše were more concerned with the extermination of Serbs than Jews, and that Italian and Catholic pressure was dissuading the Ustaše from killing Jews.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|pp=207–339}}

The Nazis revisited the possibility of transporting Jews to Auschwitz, not only because extermination was easier there, but also because the profits produced from the victims could be kept in German hands, rather than being left for the Croats or Italians.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990|p=153, n. 20}} Instead Jasenovac remained a place where Jews who could not be deported would be interned and killed: In this way, while Jews were deported from Tenje, two deportations were also made to Jasenovac.{{sfn|Shelach et al.|1990}}

It is also illustrated by the report sent by [[Hans Helm (SS)|Hans Helm]] to [[Adolf Eichmann]], in which it is stated that the Jews will first be collected in Stara-Gradiška, and that "Jews would be employed in 'forced labor' in Ustaše camps", mentioning only Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška, "will not be deported".<ref>''Adolf Eichmann's Crimes in Yugoslavia: Facts and Views'', pp. 8–9.{{ISBN missing|date=June 2022}}{{publisher missing|date=June 2022}}</ref>{{verify source|date=June 2022}} The Nazis found interest in the Jews that remained inside the camp, even in June 1944, after the visit of a [[International Red Cross|Red Cross]] delegation. Kasche wrote: "Schmidllin showed a special interest in the Jews. ... Luburic told me that Schmidllin told him that the Jews must be treated in the finest manner, and that they must survive, no matter what happens. ... Luburic suspected Schmidllin is an English agent and therefore prevented all contact between him and the Jews".<ref>M. Persen, ''Ustaski Logori'', p. 97</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2015}}

Hans Helm was in charge of deporting Jews to concentration camps. He was tried in Belgrade in December 1946, along with other SS and Gestapo officials, and was sentenced to death by hanging, along with [[August Meyszner]], [[Wilhelm Fuchs]], Josef Hahn, Ludwig Teichmann, Josef Eckert, Ernst Weimann, Richard Kaserer and Friedrich Polte.{{sfn|Božović|2003|p=89}}