Jewish leaders in the Yugoslav republic of Croatia are worried that mounting Croatian nationalism may prompt a resurgence of anti-Semitism, similar to the anti-Semitism that has recently emerged elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
“The mood is concerned, not fearful as a Slovakia or Hungary,” said Nenad Porges, president of the approximately 1,500 member Zagreb Jewish community. About 12,000 Jews lived in Zagreb before the Holocaust.
“It would take a crystal ball to predict what will happen,” he said. “The rise of democracy means that people now can openly vent their feelings and frustrations, but it’s important not to confuse the political situation with the Jewish situation.
“So far there has been no overt anti-Semitism, and on the government level there has been nothing — but there surely is anti-Semitism below the surface.”
Multi-party elections in Croatia put into power a non-Communist local government whose main platform is Croatian nationalism.
During World War II, Croatia was a fascist Nazi puppet state whose leadership, the Ustashi, carried out a brutal anti-Semitic policy, as well as a brutal policy against Serbs.
Recent developments in Zagreb have given rise to fears that the extreme nationalism may result in persecution of people perceived as non-Croatian.
DOWNTOWN SQUARE RENAMED
One such development was the decision of Zagreb authorities this fall to rename Victims of Fascism Square in downtown Zagreb as Great Croatians Square.
The decision, along with a plan to turn a major building at the square into a mausoleum for Croatian heroes, prompted outrage not only from Jews but from many Croatians, including veterans who fought Croatian fascists during the bloody Yugoslav civil war, which took place at the same time World War II was raging.
“The Jewish community protested the change of name,” said Ljubo Weiss, secretary of Zagreb’s Jewish cultural society, named after the community’s last rabbi, Miroslav Shalom Freiberger.
Weiss described a mass protest in November, when about 5,000 people carrying candles and flowers gathered in the renamed square for a silent demonstration that lasted about two hours.
“Three political organizations also took part,” he said. “There were no speeches, no noises. It was the first time since the war that Jews here made an open demonstration on the street.”
Weiss agreed with Porges that outright, open anti-Semitism did not exist in Zagreb.
“The situation today is good,” he said, but “the stereotype of Jews exists.”
Weiss said that he had noted anti-Semitic trends in the electoral campaign waged by nationalist leader Gen. Franco Tudjman.
Zagreb, like Belgrade, is one of Yugoslavia’s largest and most active Jewish communities.
The vitality and optimism of Jewish life in the city could be seen during the Chanukah party this year. It was standing room only in the community’s large function room for a program consisting of music and performances. Most of the participants were children.
“We didn’t expect so many people,” said a harried volunteer trying to find space for coats. “It’s the first time in 10 years so many people have come to Chanukah.”
NEW, YOUNGER LEADERSHIP
A new, young community leadership is partly responsible for the boom. “The entire leadership is under 50,” said Srdjan Matic, the community’s executive vice president.
Matic said one of the dreams of the community, a dream which may soon be realized, is to build a new synagogue in Zagreb to replace, after nearly 50 years, the one destroyed in 1941.
For decades, the place where the synagogue stood had been a vacant lot. It is now used as a parking area. A plaque on one of the surrounding buildings memorializes the synagogue.
Local Jews worship in a prayer room in the current community headquarters and, from time to time, at a prayer room in the Jewish home for the aged.
Matic said local authorities have given the go-ahead for construction of a new synagogue and community center, and much has been written about the possibility in the local press.
“We will open an international design competition for the center in March,” Mastic said.
If the project comes through, it will be the first new synagogue built in Yugoslavia since the war — in which about 65,000 of Yugoslavia’s prewar population of 80,000 Jews perished.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
