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This is a relatively new workshop. It was founded by pure chance. Several very old oak-trees had to be cut since the vegetables were not getting any sunshine due to their huge crowns.
How could we use this large quantity of useful and expensive timber? The solution was soon found. Coopers needed! Now they are here and already working hard. A good quantity of excellent, oak staves for barrels has already been made but only for the needs of the Institution. If we obtain the raw materials required, this workshop could provide services for outside customers, too.
The Institution's Farm
Our farm owns and cultivates 53 acres of arable land, of which 2.5 acres are inside the Institution walls. The land consists of tilled fields and some orchards ( 160 trees). Cereals (wheat and corn) are grown on the land outside the walls, and vegetables inside. The produce is primarily used by the Institution and the excess is for free sale. In addition to the land owned by the Institution, two farms are rented, one of 12 acres and another of 9 acres. Pigs are bred there (at present there are 49 pigs). This will become an important breeding station.
Poultry Farm
Six months ago a poultry farm was founded as part of the Institution's farm, equipped with devices for artificial hatching (probably incubators - author's comment). The prisoners have built fine purpose-built facilities for this form of farming from utterly deserted ruins. So far, 772 chickens and 212 ducklings have been hatched in three incubators with a capacity of 440 eggs, while goslings are soon to be hatched there too. The results achieved have fulfilled all expectations. According to reports from other poultry farms, this year our farm was the first to hatch chicks in the entire country. In time, once we have solved the problem of the supply of selected eggs, our poultry farm will become a model selection station for poultry breeding.
Power plant
One of our comrades said that our power plant was our heart. And this is true! For our Institution, the electric power plant is the same as the heart is for the human body. It gives us power, it gives us light. It operates machinca and helps men whose strength is limited.
The Ustashas completely destroyed the old power plant before escaping with the modern machines and other equipment. We found bare, burnt and demolished walls and some remains of blown-up machines - a pile of useless iron waste.
At first we were supplied with power from Bosanska Gradiška. The light we had was feeble and did not suit our requirements and it was particularly inadequate for the needs of our workshops. We decided to take things into our own hands and started looking for a solution.
He who seeks, finds! In a hidden corner we found two steam locomotives in such bad condition that even the Ustashas, that had destroyed everything that could be of any value or use, left them apparently not believing that this old junk could ever be used again.
But little by little, finally from the skeletons of these former locomotives, we made useful machines. The many components that were missing were made in our workshops. Today, our power plant is in operation, our heart is alive. It gives us bright light and supplies all the power we need. The excess power is used by the outside world.
The locomotive uses 4-5 m3 of wood. The water is provided directly from the River Sava by electric pumps that had been seriously damaged and unusable but were then successfully repaired in our workshops.
Our own power plant has enabled us finally to organise our steam kitchen and bathroom.
Bookbinder's Shop and Cardboard Workshop
All forms of bookbinding activities are carried out here, from simple paper binding to luxurious bindings in cloth, leather etc. Cardboard items (chocolate boxes, various gift boxes, painting mounts, frames for photos etc.) are of original design and decorated with water- colours and other similar decorations. Until recently, cardboard suitcases were made, but this had to cease due to lack of raw-materials. This workshop takes part in the May 1 st competition with well-designed writing blocks made exclusively out of waste paper.
Printing Workshop
One cupboard with letters and a little "Viktoria" printing machine were all we had at the beginning. Everything else was later brought from Zagreb, dismantled and for the most part damaged and lacking some components. Thanks to a great effort and the skill of our print workers, two large printing machines have been completely repaired, while one is still being installed. The printing workshop makes all types of labels, posters, business books etc. The very height of its capabilities can be seen in the printing of our newspaper, "Prosvjetnik''. Only an expert could make an adequate assessment of the success of our typically mercantile printing workshop, with its manual styling, poor choice of letters and lack of basic technical aids.
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