Keraterm Death Camp
Another one of the three death camps in Prijedor, the Keraterm Death Camp was located on the site of a ceramics factory. It opened in late May of 1992 and housed between 1500 and 3000 prisoners at any given point in four rooms in an old brick building at the camp.
The stories
Keraterm was meant to be an interrogation camp just like Omarska. Over half the prisoners were interrogated at one point or another and all were beaten during their interviews.
Prisoners were kept in their rooms all day except for one hour when they were allowed to go outside and wash and relieve themselves. Their rooms had no eye-level windows and no ventilation. If a prisoner had to use the bathroom at night, they were told to use a small bucket in the corner. The second room was particularly crowded and the bucket often overflowed. During the day, they were allowed to use the small bathroom in the building, but they were beaten and verbally assaulted if they chose to do so.
Sometimes prisoners would be removed to do manual labor. They would collect corpses and cut firewood and do anything needed to help the war effort. They never returned to the camp.
Every day, prisoners would have their names called out. They would be taken by guards and beaten almost to death and then returned to their rooms. No reason was given as to why they were chosen.
In July of 1992, there was a mass execution of the prisoners in Room 2. They were taken outside to the parking lot to be beaten and then put back into their room. It was over 100 degrees outside and they had not been given water for three days. The heat and hydration got to them and they started to hallucinate and strip off their clothes, despite warnings from the guards that they would be killed if they did so. They continued, and the guards shot them down with machine guns. Over 100 of the 300 prisoners in the room died.
Prisoners were kept in their rooms all day except for one hour when they were allowed to go outside and wash and relieve themselves. Their rooms had no eye-level windows and no ventilation. If a prisoner had to use the bathroom at night, they were told to use a small bucket in the corner. The second room was particularly crowded and the bucket often overflowed. During the day, they were allowed to use the small bathroom in the building, but they were beaten and verbally assaulted if they chose to do so.
Sometimes prisoners would be removed to do manual labor. They would collect corpses and cut firewood and do anything needed to help the war effort. They never returned to the camp.
Every day, prisoners would have their names called out. They would be taken by guards and beaten almost to death and then returned to their rooms. No reason was given as to why they were chosen.
In July of 1992, there was a mass execution of the prisoners in Room 2. They were taken outside to the parking lot to be beaten and then put back into their room. It was over 100 degrees outside and they had not been given water for three days. The heat and hydration got to them and they started to hallucinate and strip off their clothes, despite warnings from the guards that they would be killed if they did so. They continued, and the guards shot them down with machine guns. Over 100 of the 300 prisoners in the room died.