About 100 Jews from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia gathered at the newly-renovated Jewish cemetery in the eastern Croatian town of Djakovo on Sunday to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust.
The commemoration was organised by the Jewish Community from Osijek and was led by Rabbi Luciano Mose Prelevic.
Many Jews come to the cemetery every June to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, mainly Jews from Bosnia and Herzegovina, killed in a transit camp in Djakovo. About 3,000 Jewish women and children from Bosnia and Herzegovina passed through the camp during its brief existence from late 1941 until early 1942. For many of them, the Djakovo camp was just a stop on their way to Jasenovac or Auschwitz.
The Jews killed in the Djakovo camp were buried in the town's Jewish cemetery, and thanks to the undertaker Stjepan Kolb, the victims' names and basic details were preserved and written on black iron plates that were placed on each grave.
