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Jasenovac Memorial Site Natasa Jovicic

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Jasenovac Memorial Site Natasa Jovicic Jasenovac Memorial Site Natasa Jovicic NATAŠA JOVI ČIĆ (CV) From recommendation for Rockefeller Foundation : Ms. Nataša Jovi čić, Director, Holocaust Museum, Jasenovac Memorial Site, Republic of Croatia, former Assistant Minister of Education In her humaniterian work she contributes significantly to understanding among children, women and nations. As Assistant Minister of Education, she defencs children's rights, trying to establish Children's Holocaust Museum- Against Violence and is changing the Croatian perception on peace and reconciliation. As Director at the Holocust Museum she establihsed new educational programme at the new Memorial Museum about education about genocide and Holocaust as a base to teach human rights. She attends Ministerial conferences on education about Holocaust and human rights in Europe, Canda and the U.S.A. whetre she participated with video examples on combating racism, xenophobia and all manner of violence. As a humanist , educator and art historian she is changing the politician's image throrough scolarly work on Holocuat education where she is openly presenting , promoting and maintaining peace worldwide. Her ideas on democratic citizenship evoke deep emotions towards justice and peace. She opened new permanent exhibition ( November 27 th 2006) of the Memorial museum and new Educational Center at the Jasenovac Memorial Site as a new way of representing Genocide and Holocaust. Ms Jovicic is active in defense of human rights, her contribution in sharing understanding among people and nation, her work with disabled shildren ( she is taking care of 21 year old young man who was blinded in his five in land mine explosion) and her action to establish Holocuast Museum in Jasneovac, Croatia- against Racjsm, Hate and all Kinds of Violence. CV Education: M.A. in Art and Multicultural Education, Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) 2001. Doctoral student: Union University, Graduate College, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, 2000, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. with the thesis in Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education for People with Disabilities. Additoinal training: Certificate in English Braille, 2000, Hadley School for the Blind, Winnetka, Illinois, U.S.A. Humaniterian demining and land mine awareness training ( June 1998, Fort Belvior, The Pentagon, Washington D.C) School for Land Mine Assistance and Land Mine Awareness ( 1999. International red Cross, Zagreb, Croatia) Humanitarian Work and Actions. homepage 1 www.jusp-jasenovac.hr Natasa Jovicic Curriculum vitae • Graduate/postgraduate theses in the area of art and multicultural education, Columbia College Chicago, 2000, USA. Scholarships and stipends: 2006: Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio Study Centre, 30 January-12 February 2006) for the project for a new identity for the Memorial Museum and Educational Centre, Jasenovac Memorial Site. 2002/3: American Association of Museums/International Partnership Among Museums, for study period at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., USA. 1997-2000: Columbia College Chicago, for undergraduate/graduate studies. Employment: • Director, Jasenovac Memorial Site, Jasenovac, Croatia (2002 – present day) • Assistant Minister, Ministry of Education and Sport, Directorate for International Educational Co-operation, Zagreb, Croatia (2000-2002) • Adjunct Professor, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA – Women and War, Justice and Diversity, Uncovering Women's Heroes (1999-2000) • Assistant Field Consultant, Ecumenical Women's Solidarity Fund, World Council of Churches, Zagreb/Geneva (1996) Publications • 2006: Jasenovac Memorial Museum’s Permanent Exhibition – the Victim as an Individual, Croatian Institute of History, II. no 1, 2006, Zagreb • 2006: Alkemija cvijeta- Jasenova čki cvijet Bogdana Bogdanovi ća” (The Alchemy of the Flower – the Jasenovac Flower by Bogdan Bogdanovic) a monography of Jasenovac, Jasenovac Memorial Site, 2006, Zagreb • 2002: Apsolutno paf with Bogdan Bogdanovi ć, Zagreb, Meandar • 2002: Na kojim se vrijednostima odgajaju i obrazuju mlade generacije u Republici Hrvatskoj (The Value Basis of the Education of the Younger Generation in the Republic of Croatia), Nauman Stiftung, Zagreb • 2000: Curriculum for elementary schools in the Republics of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the dangers of landmines, Zagreb, NONA, used by the International Red Cross • 1995: Collection of essays, Peti kvadrant (Fifth Quadrant), NONA, Zagreb From 1985 to the present day, published articles in the areas of art history and education. 2007: Several prestigious awards were given for the project for the new Permanent Exhibition and the Educational Centre, Jasenovac Memorial Site, including the Carlo Scarpa Prize, 2 Fundacionne Benetton, Treviso, Italy, for the best conceived museum space in Europe in 2007, the Bernardo Bernardi Prize for the architectural design of the Memorial Museum, designed by Helena Njiri ć, and the First Prize awarded by the Salon of Architecture for the Memorial Museum, designed by Helena Njiri ć. 2006: Awarded a Rockefeller Foundation prize for the project for the new identity of the Memorial Museum and Educational Centre, Jasenovac Memorial Site, with a research scholarship to Bellagio Study Centre (30 January – 12 February 2006). December 2002 and May 2003: study trips awarded by the International Partnership Among Museums to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, USA. April 2001: awarded the Soroptimist International Prize for work in the area of human rights. 2000-2002: participated as a civil servant in ministerial conferences on education in EU countries and the USA. 3 PROJECT ABSTRACT JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP The Independent State of Croatia was founded on 10 April 1941, with the full support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. During the four years of its existence, the Independent State of Croatia was ruled by the Ustasha movement and its leader (Poglavnik), Ante Paveli ć, who had made plans for the extermination of the Serbs while still an émigré. On 7 June 1941, on the occasion of Paveli ć’s first visit to Hitler, the Ustasha movement gained the full support of Nazi Germany for carrying out genocidal policies aimed at the Serbian population. At a meeting with the German ambassador in Zagreb on 4 June 1941, it was concluded that the Serbian question could be resolved by the mass removal of Serbs to Serbia, mass executions in the field, and deportations to concentration camps. The Government of the Independent State of Croatia, at their own request, were included in the transfer plan, and promised to deport to Serbia 30,000 more Serbs than the number of Slovenes who would be transferred to Croatia from the Third Reich. Since the coming to power of the Ustasha movement had been entirely dependent on the policies of the Third Reich and, initially, of Fascist Italy, Paveli ć and his closest colleagues were under the domination and complete influence of these states. This was clearly reflected in the setting of state borders. A large part of the Croatian coastline, Gorski Kotar and part of Dalmatia (from Zadar to Split), the eastern part of Konavle and Boka Kotora, and almost all the islands (except Bra č, Hvar and Pag) were annexed to Italy. Horty’s Hungary annexed Me đimurje in December 1941. The remaining parts of Croatia, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Srijem region formed the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. There was a population of about 6,640,000 living in an area of 102,725 km², including Croats, Serbs, Jews, Germans, Hungarians, Roma, Czechs, Ruthenians, Slovenes, Slovaks, Ukrainians, and others. The largest concentration camp in the NDH was Jasenovac Concentration Camp. 26 It was established not far from the village of Jasenovac, on the left bank of the River Sava, in the summer of 1941. There were several reasons why this location was chosen. One was its undoubtedly convenient position on the railway line between Zagreb and Novska, which meant that prisoners could be transported relatively quickly. Due to frequent flooding caused by the Sava, Una and Veliki Strug rivers, the entire area was rather inaccessible for most of the year. Plans for the reclamation of the nearby marshlands of Lonjsko and Mokro Polje gave the Ustasha authorities a public explanation for concentrating large numbers of people in one place. No less important was the fact that the entire area downriver from Jasenovac (the villages of Uštica, Mlaka and Jablanac) was mostly populated by Orthodox Serbs. These people were interned in the camp as soon as it opened, or were liquidated. The deserted industrial plant formerly belonging to the Serbian Ba čić family (a brickworks, sawmill, chain factory, mill and small generator), who had escaped in fear of their lives, provided opportunities to get free labour out of the future internees. The concentration camp was composed of several camp units, 4 founded within a short space of time, all relatively close to the village of Jasenovac: Camp I (Bro čice), Camp II (Krapje), and Camp III (Brickworks). Stara Gradiška Camp was formed in February 1942, in the buildings of a former penitentiary and prison. Although it was practically independent, with its own commandant, who was in direct contact with Section III, which was responsible for all camps in the NDH, it nonetheless had unbreakable links with Jasenovac Concentration Camp. 27 The fact that the two camps were so close to each other meant that prisoners were frequently transferred from one to another, and internees from both camps
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