Execution of hostages at Deliblato. Three Jewish hostages throwing the body of their shot compatriot into a pit, supervised by a German soldier, who hid his hands behind his back (the Germans did not want to get their hands dirty and left all the hard work, such as digging pits and dragging corpses, to the victims themselves). After they are done, the three of them would line up above the pits themselves, and peacefully go to death. This bizzare obedience of the hostages certainly was not the product of naivety or a submissive mentality, but of a special condition, known in psychiatry as "delusion of reprieve" (Ger. Begnadigungswahn – a condemned person's delusion, immediately before his execution, that he might be reprieved at the very last moment; moreover, the hostages were tricked into believing that they were only going to work and did not know the real reason for coming to the forest until the very end). The firing squad commander, Lieutenant Walter Liepe, wrote the following in his report about their conduct: "The prisoners' conduct during the shooting was calm. Two men tried to flee and were shot immediately. Some expressed their attitude by hailing Stalin and Russia." The execution of hostages in the forest near Deliblato was carried out by members of the 521st Army Signal Regiment (12th Army) in retaliation for the Partisan attack on a German supply column on the Topola–Kragujevac road, which resulted in the deaths of 22 German soldiers. At Deliblato, they shot 180 persons (Jews and Roma from the Belgrade camp), out of the ordered 2200 (100 for each German killed). During the second shooting, in the vicinity of Belgrade, they killed 269 more people. The execution of the remaining hostages was then entrusted to the 449th Mountain Corps Signal Battalion (XVIII Mountain Corps).
Text: Ivan Ž.
Photographer: Gerhard Baier, 690th Propaganda Company.
Date: 9 October 1941.
Location: Deliblato (district of Kovin), Yugoslavia.
Original caption: unknown.
Sources: ECPAD, DAT 3694 L36; Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933–1945, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin, 2017, vol. XIV, pp. 383–385; Viktor E. Frankl, ... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen – Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, DTV, München, 1998, p. 20; Walter Manoschek, Holokaust u Srbiji – Vojna okupaciona politika i uništavanje Jevreja 1941–1942 (trans. Agnes Eremija et al.), Službeni list SRJ, Draslar partner, Beograd, 2007, p. 87. (Photo restoration: Ivan Ž.)
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Pogubljenje talaca kod Deliblata. Trojica jevrejskih talaca ubacuju leš svog streljanog sunarodnika u raku, pod nadzorom jednog nemačkog vojnika, koji je svoje ruke sklonio iza leđa (Nemci svoje ruke nisu želeli da prljaju i sve teže fizičke poslove, kao što su kopanje jama i odvlačenje leševa, prepustili su samim žrtvama). Po obavljenom poslu, i njih trojica će se postrojiti iznad jama, i mirno otići u smrt. Ova bizarna poslušnost talaca nije, svakako, bila posledica naivnosti ili podaničkog mentaliteta, već jednog posebnog stanja, poznatog u psihijatriji kao "deluzija pomilovanja" (nem. Begnadigungswahn – deluzija osuđenika na smrt, pred samo pogubljenje, da će u poslednjem trenutku biti pomilovan; povrh toga, taoci su bili obmanuti da idu na običnu radnu akciju, i do samog kraja nisu znali pravi razlog svog dolaska u šumu). Komandir streljačkog voda, poručnik Valter Lipe, napisao je o njihovom držanju u svom izveštaju sledeće: "Držanje zarobljenika prilikom streljanja bilo je pribrano. Dva čoveka su pokušala da pobegnu i odmah su ustreljeni. Pojedinci su iskazali svoja ubeđenja kličući Staljinu i Rusiji." Pogubljenje talaca u šumi kod Deliblata izvršili su pripadnici 521. armijskog puka veze (12. armije) u cilju odmazde za partizanski napad na nemačku kolonu za snabdevanje na putu Topola–Kragujevac, u kojem su ubijena 22 nemačka vojnika. Kod Deliblata su streljali 180 lica (Jevreja i Roma iz beogradskog logora), od propisanih 2200 (po 100 za svakog ubijenog Nemca). Pri drugom streljanju, u okolini Beograda, ubili su još 269 ljudi. Pogubljenje preostalih talaca potom je povereno 449. brdskokorpusnom bataljonu veze (XVIII brdskog korpusa).
Tekst: Ivan Ž.
Fotograf: Gerhard Bajer, 690. propagandna četa.
Datum: 9. oktobar 1941.
Mesto: Deliblato (srez Kovinski), Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: nepoznat.
Izvori: ECPAD, DAT 3694 L36; Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933–1945, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin, 2017, tom XIV, str. 383–385; Viktor E. Frankl, ... trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen – Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, DTV, München, 1998, str. 20; Walter Manoschek, Holokaust u Srbiji – Vojna okupaciona politika i uništavanje Jevreja 1941–1942 (prev. Agnes Eremija et al.), Službeni list SRJ, Draslar partner, Beograd, 2007, str. 87. (Foto-restauracija: Ivan Ž.)
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