Momčilo Damnjanović war crimes statement
Source: State Commission; February 7, 1945; Witness: Momcilo Damnjanović, from the village of Vrhovac
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STATEMENT:
Source: State Commission; February 7, 1945; Witness: Momcilo Damnjanović, from the village of Vrhovac
As soon as we came to Jajinci, we were chained, while a German lieutenant gave us a short speech telling us that we were doing a job that was useful for the German Reich and that we would be compensated, but if one of us tried to escape, he would be immediately executed. As it was already evening, they took us and closed us up in a room where there were another 90 people of which 55 were Jews and 35 Gypsies. From them, we heard that we would be working on digging up and burning corpses.
The next day, we were all taken from the room and began work under the supervision and guidance of the Germans. Our work consisted of exhuming bodies from graves. Corpses were placed on a canal bed in the same manner as you would stack wood. First one line, then a second across it and so on. By dinner, we managed to make a stack that was 7 to 8 meters long, 2 to 2.5 meters high, and 4 meters wide (because two dead bodies were placed next to each other, usually head to head). This one stack consisted of about 700 corpses. This large number of corpses could fit in such a small space because the bodies were dry. For this heap alone, a bonfire was built up a half a meter from the ground and we laid out wood and poured motor oil on it. When this was completed, we ignited the pyre. We added oil until the fire was well lit. As the bonfire began to burn, we were counted and taken to eat dinner. Our dinner came from the camp in Banjica brought by Germans themselves, since no one else had access. As it appeared to the Germans that the work was not progressing quickly enough, the next day we were ordered to build two bonfires. We acted in the same fashion, working on the third day after my arrival in Jajinci.
On the fourth day, the Germans received a coal wagon. On that wagon, there were four beams which were connected in the middle as one, about a meter and a half tall, and on those beams there was a metal bar about 6 to 7 meters long, and on its front end, there was a large shovel. This lever could move up and down, like a seesaw, and was also able to move left and right.
When they brought in this wagon, first a small bonfire was made, to which the vehicle continuously transported corpses to be burned. This job was done in the following manner: 3 to 4 meters from the bonfires, rails were built for the wagons with the devices as I described. Then, the upper arm of the lever would come forward and two corpses would be placed on the shovel. As the lever came down, the bodies would be lifted and the wagon would glide toward the fire, then the shovel would turn and the corpses would fall into the fire. In this way, the job went much faster so that it was possible to burn 1200 corpses daily. Thus we worked all the way up until my escape... I escaped after 36 days. Overnight, the fire stopped burning and work began again at 6:30 a.m. with a new fire. The bonfire was always in the same place the entire time that the bodies were brought from pits, which were nearby. Once a pit was emptied, then the fire was moved closer to newly excavated graves. For the time taken to build a new bonfire, one group worked on excavating, placing, and transporting corpses using the wagons; one group on the field collected scraps of rotten clothing that remained as evidence of the corpses and threw them into the fire; while another group was distributing ashes from burnt corpses in the field. If one found unburned bones or remnants of burned bones, those bones would be crushed and spread in the field like sand for mortar, but the sieve was small and the ashes were also scattered on fields in Jajinci. As I worked on mining and burning corpses, I noticed that the bodies had no signs of being shot. I found that their clothes were not bloody, the bodies had no wounds on them, and I suspected that these were the bodies of people who had been suffocated. This is my opinion, supported by the fact that the bodies were completely naked, while, when I was working on the Jajinci excavation, in two or three graves, victims had been stripped of outer-clothing and I saw traces of blood on their underwear and wounds on their bodies. In addition, the pits where people were executed[shot] were characterized by blood visible on the pit walls, while in most of the pits we excavated, there was none.
During the excavation of bodies, we were ordered to take gold teeth, rings, and watches from the cadavers. These things were all sorted, and in the evening after the end of our work day, presented to the Germans. One time, we found the corpse of a woman holding a box that resembled a 100-cigarette box, in which there were brilliant rings and other jewelry worth 22,000,000 dinars (according to the Germans) and which they took.
When one of us who worked in Jajinci grew weak and could no longer work, he would be killed and thrown on the bonfire. I was present when a tall, swarthy Jew, who was rumored to be a musician, was so exhausted that he could not even refill the pits from which corpses had already been removed and burned, and Dr. Jung, who attended the burning, was disgusted and grabbed the young man and pushed him toward the fire. As the victim struggled and finally jumped from the shovel end of the lever, Dr. Jung ordered the boy to take off his coat and to lie face down on the ground. When this was done, he ordered Sergeant Stageman to kill him, which he did by shooting him in the head. After this, the young man was put on the shovel and thrown on the pyre.
As I suspected that the Germans would shoot all of us once we had finished the job, I, along with Bozidar Drcan, Radoslav Zecevic and Zlativoje Jakovljevic agreed to make a plan for an escape, which we eventually accomplished.
As we were told to count the corpses that were burned, to my knowledge, in Jajinci 68,000 corpses were burned, and there remained 1400 corpses unburned, one pit with another 1200, and two other pits with 100 bodies in each.
…...............................................................................................
This transcript is truthful to his original claim:
Secretary
Legal Department,
This is true to the original copy which is located in the archives of the State Commission under the Inventory. no. 4394, affirmed by:
Official
{signature unintelligible}
{seal of State Commission for the Investigation of the Crimes of the Occupiers and their Collaborators; Federal Peoples’ Republic of Yugoslavia}
Jewish Historical Museum - Belgrade
Reg. No. {“Signatura”} Negative No.
159-2 K.24-2-2/17 {null data}
Source: State Commission; February 7, 1945; Witness: Momcilo Damnjanović, from the village of Vrhovac
As soon as we came to Jajinci, we were chained, while a German lieutenant gave us a short speech telling us that we were doing a job that was useful for the German Reich and that we would be compensated, but if one of us tried to escape, he would be immediately executed. As it was already evening, they took us and closed us up in a room where there were another 90 people of which 55 were Jews and 35 Gypsies. From them, we heard that we would be working on digging up and burning corpses.
The next day, we were all taken from the room and began work under the supervision and guidance of the Germans. Our work consisted of exhuming bodies from graves. Corpses were placed on a canal bed in the same manner as you would stack wood. First one line, then a second across it and so on. By dinner, we managed to make a stack that was 7 to 8 meters long, 2 to 2.5 meters high, and 4 meters wide (because two dead bodies were placed next to each other, usually head to head). This one stack consisted of about 700 corpses. This large number of corpses could fit in such a small space because the bodies were dry. For this heap alone, a bonfire was built up a half a meter from the ground and we laid out wood and poured motor oil on it. When this was completed, we ignited the pyre. We added oil until the fire was well lit. As the bonfire began to burn, we were counted and taken to eat dinner. Our dinner came from the camp in Banjica brought by Germans themselves, since no one else had access. As it appeared to the Germans that the work was not progressing quickly enough, the next day we were ordered to build two bonfires. We acted in the same fashion, working on the third day after my arrival in Jajinci.
On the fourth day, the Germans received a coal wagon. On that wagon, there were four beams which were connected in the middle as one, about a meter and a half tall, and on those beams there was a metal bar about 6 to 7 meters long, and on its front end, there was a large shovel. This lever could move up and down, like a seesaw, and was also able to move left and right.
When they brought in this wagon, first a small bonfire was made, to which the vehicle continuously transported corpses to be burned. This job was done in the following manner: 3 to 4 meters from the bonfires, rails were built for the wagons with the devices as I described. Then, the upper arm of the lever would come forward and two corpses would be placed on the shovel. As the lever came down, the bodies would be lifted and the wagon would glide toward the fire, then the shovel would turn and the corpses would fall into the fire. In this way, the job went much faster so that it was possible to burn 1200 corpses daily. Thus we worked all the way up until my escape... I escaped after 36 days. Overnight, the fire stopped burning and work began again at 6:30 a.m. with a new fire. The bonfire was always in the same place the entire time that the bodies were brought from pits, which were nearby. Once a pit was emptied, then the fire was moved closer to newly excavated graves. For the time taken to build a new bonfire, one group worked on excavating, placing, and transporting corpses using the wagons; one group on the field collected scraps of rotten clothing that remained as evidence of the corpses and threw them into the fire; while another group was distributing ashes from burnt corpses in the field. If one found unburned bones or remnants of burned bones, those bones would be crushed and spread in the field like sand for mortar, but the sieve was small and the ashes were also scattered on fields in Jajinci. As I worked on mining and burning corpses, I noticed that the bodies had no signs of being shot. I found that their clothes were not bloody, the bodies had no wounds on them, and I suspected that these were the bodies of people who had been suffocated. This is my opinion, supported by the fact that the bodies were completely naked, while, when I was working on the Jajinci excavation, in two or three graves, victims had been stripped of outer-clothing and I saw traces of blood on their underwear and wounds on their bodies. In addition, the pits where people were executed[shot] were characterized by blood visible on the pit walls, while in most of the pits we excavated, there was none.
During the excavation of bodies, we were ordered to take gold teeth, rings, and watches from the cadavers. These things were all sorted, and in the evening after the end of our work day, presented to the Germans. One time, we found the corpse of a woman holding a box that resembled a 100-cigarette box, in which there were brilliant rings and other jewelry worth 22,000,000 dinars (according to the Germans) and which they took.
When one of us who worked in Jajinci grew weak and could no longer work, he would be killed and thrown on the bonfire. I was present when a tall, swarthy Jew, who was rumored to be a musician, was so exhausted that he could not even refill the pits from which corpses had already been removed and burned, and Dr. Jung, who attended the burning, was disgusted and grabbed the young man and pushed him toward the fire. As the victim struggled and finally jumped from the shovel end of the lever, Dr. Jung ordered the boy to take off his coat and to lie face down on the ground. When this was done, he ordered Sergeant Stageman to kill him, which he did by shooting him in the head. After this, the young man was put on the shovel and thrown on the pyre.
As I suspected that the Germans would shoot all of us once we had finished the job, I, along with Bozidar Drcan, Radoslav Zecevic and Zlativoje Jakovljevic agreed to make a plan for an escape, which we eventually accomplished.
As we were told to count the corpses that were burned, to my knowledge, in Jajinci 68,000 corpses were burned, and there remained 1400 corpses unburned, one pit with another 1200, and two other pits with 100 bodies in each.
…...............................................................................................
This transcript is truthful to his original claim:
Secretary
Legal Department,
This is true to the original copy which is located in the archives of the State Commission under the Inventory. no. 4394, affirmed by:
Official
{signature unintelligible}
{seal of State Commission for the Investigation of the Crimes of the Occupiers and their Collaborators; Federal Peoples’ Republic of Yugoslavia}
Jewish Historical Museum - Belgrade
Reg. No. {“Signatura”} Negative No.
159-2 K.24-2-2/17 {null data}
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