A Tower of Skulls and the "Red Cross" Concentration Camp

Nis is a city in southern Serbia. It was the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor who established Christianity as the official Roman religion. In more recent history, Nis is know for being the site of the Skull Tower and a World War II concentration camp called "Red Cross".

The Skull Tower is the result of the an attempted independence movement by Serbs against the Ottoman Empire known as the "First Serbian Uprising" in 1809. The leader of the Ottomans sought to send a message to quell future indigenous ambitions by constructing a tower made out of the skulls of the Serbian battlefield casualties from the insurrection.

Detail of the remnants of skulls used as bricks from the inside of the tower.

The Red Cross Concentration Camp was operated by the German forces during World War II, from the initial German invasion in 1941 until it was liberated in 1944. The curiously ironic name of the camp originates from the camp's location, an neighborhood of Nis known as "Red Cross".

Near the entrance to the Red Cross concentration camp. The grey concrete building to the right is were prisoners were housed.

From the back corner of the camp facing the entrance. Note the interior barbed wire perimeter to keep prisoners away from the walls of the camp.

Prison cells on the third floor.

The camp was used to imprison and execute Serbs, Jews, and Roma from the area. Over the period of operation, 35,000 prisoners passed through the camp, with approximately 10,000 being executed. On February 12, 1942, there was a prison break, and fifteen prisoners managed to escape, though many others were killed in the attempt. The main street leading to the site is named "12th of February" as a tribute to the event.

The leaders of the February 12th outbreak.

 The museum also mentioned a second break that occurred on December 2, 1942, but the few prisoners who managed to break out of the compound were quickly captured and executed.

One location where mass executions of prisoners from the camp occurred on a hill outside of Nis called Bulbanj. The Yugoslav government erected a monument there to commemorate the horrific slaughter.

Identity card of Radoslav Velkovich, a 20 year-old man who was executed at Bulbanj.

The base of the memorial depicts a German firing squad shooting prisoners, and the resulting graves.

Three massive concrete fists rise high in defiance of Nazi brutality.