Stara Gradiška prison
Prison in Croatia from 1799 to 1993
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stara Gradiška prison is a former prison at Stara Gradiška, Croatia.
The prison site was first established in 1799.[1]
During World War II, the former Austro-Hungarian fortress was used by the Ustaša regime as the Stara Gradiška concentration camp, a part of the Jasenovac complex, the largest extermination camp in occupied Yugoslavia.
From 1945 until the late 1980s, the prison at Stara Gradiška held political prisoners of the communist regime.[2][3]
The detention facility was shut down by the Republic of Croatia in 1990, a decision made formal in February 1991.[4] However, from October 1991 until July 1993, the prison was again re-opened by the Krajina Serbs, who captured and detained numerous Croats in the facility during the Croatian War of Independence.[5]
As of 2007[update], the municipality planned to turn the site into a museum.[6] As of 2012[update], the Catholic Church planned to build a memorial church in the area.[7]