Established in a secluded area about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the town of Gospić, it held thousands of Serbs and Jews over a period of 122 days from May to August 1941.

The camp was closed on 21 August 1941, and the area where it was located was later handed over to the Kingdom of Italy and became part of Italian Zones II and III.

The camp site remained unexplored after the war due to the depth of the gorges where bodies were disposed and the fact that some of them had been filled with concrete by Yugoslavia's Communist authorities.

[3] NDH authorities, led by the Ustaše militia,[4] then implemented genocidal policies against the Serb, Jewish and Romani populations living in the new state.

[8] The Cyrillic script was banned, Orthodox Christian church schools were closed, and Serbs were ordered to wear identifying armbands.

[9] Similar measures were enacted against Jews, who were required to wear a yellow armband with a black-on-yellow Star of David for identification.

[10] Located in a secluded area about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the town of Gospić,[11] the Jadovno camp was formed during the early stages of the persecution of Serbs in the NDH[12] and was placed under the command of the Ustaša Juco Rukavina [sr; hr].

[12] The Jadovno camp itself was surrounded by such abysses (Serbo-Croatian: jame) which were difficult to gain access to and characteristic of the karstic mountain range.

In September 1941, two Italian army medical teams were sent to investigate reports of mass graves contaminating drinking water across the Velebit mountains and on the island of Pag, all part of the Jadovno system of Ustaše camps and killing pits.

This description of the Plana pit, located above the village of Buđak, on Velebit, is from the report filed by Dr. Finderle Viktor:In the area around the pit I found pieces of chains, padlocks of various sizes and shapes, railway employee badges, ribbons from trousers of Yugoslav customs officers, toothbrushes, pocket mirrors, combs, and very interestingly, emptied and torn wallets.

Dr. Vittori notes that due to very difficult terrain and the locals not assisting out of fear of Ustashe retaliation, they were unable to locate other suspected killing pits.

[24][23] The number of deaths at the camp is difficult to establish as many inmates often went unregistered as they were taken directly to the edge of ravines and murdered.

[12] The highest recorded estimate of Jadovno deaths was made in 1942 by a former inmate of the Gospić prison, who claimed that 120,000 people were killed.

[18] The Jadovno camp site remained unexplored after the war due to the depth of the gorges where bodies were disposed of and the fact that some of these had been filled with concrete by Yugoslavia's Communist authorities.

[12] Commemoration ceremonies honouring the victims of the camp have been organized by the Serb National Council (SNV), representatives of the Jewish community in Croatia, and local anti-fascists since 2009.

A monument commemorating those who perished was constructed in 1975 and stood for fifteen years before being removed in 1990 prior to the outbreak of ethnic violence during the Croatian War of Independence.