 The location ofCroatia (dark green) in theEuropean Union (light green) | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 509[1]–2,500[2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Hebrew,Ladino,Croatian, andYiddish | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ashkenazi Jews,Sephardi Jews |
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Thehistory of theJews inCroatia dates back to at least the 3rd century, although little is known of the community until the 10th and 15th centuries. According to the 1931 census, the community numbered 21,505 members, and it is estimated that on the eve of theSecond World War the population was around 25,000 people.[4] Most of the population was murdered during theHolocaust that took place on the territory of theNazi puppet state called theIndependent State of Croatia. After the war, half of the survivors chose to settle inIsrael, while an estimated 2,500 members continued to live in Croatia.[2] According to the 2011 census, there were 509 Jews living in Croatia, but that number is believed to exclude those born of mixed marriages or those married to non-Jews. More than 80 percent of the Zagreb Jewish Community were thought to fall in those two categories.
Today, Croatia is home to eight synagogues and associated organizations, located inZagreb,Rijeka,Osijek,Split,Dubrovnik,Čakovec,Daruvar,Slavonski Brod.[5] Of these, theZagreb community is the largest and most active, organizing events such as the annualZagreb Jewish Film Festival to promote Jewish culture and identity.
Jewish traders and merchants first arrived in what is now northern Croatia in the first centuries of theCommon Era, whenRoman law allowed free movement throughout theEmpire.[6][7] Archaeological excavations inOsijek reveal asynagogue dating to the 3rd century AD,[8] and an excavation inSolin discoveredJewish graves from the same period. A Jewish community inSplit was found to have also emerged in the 3rd century. In the 7th century Jews sought refuge inDiocletian's Palace after theDalmatian capitalSalona was overrun by theAvars. A synagogue was built into the western wall of the palace in the 16th century, and descendants of the Salona refugees are still living in the area.
One of the oldest written sources, which could indicate the presence of Jews on Croatian territory, comes from the letter of the vizierHasdai ibn Shaprut, which was sent toKing Joseph of theKhazars. This letter from the 10th century refers to the "King of the Gebalim - Slavs", see the articleMiholjanec, whose country borders the country of theHungarians. The King sent a delegation, which included "Mar (Aramaic:"Lord") Shaul and Mar Joseph", to the CaliphAbd-ar-Rahman III of Córdoba. Delegates reported thatmar Hisdai Amram came to the Khazar king's palace from the country where the "Gebalim" lived. InHebrew "gebal" means "mountain". Hungarian sources reported, that avineyard near Miholjanec was named "master of the mountain". Croatia is also represented as a country of "Gebalim" in a letter of Bishop Gauderich addressed to Anastasius as a co-author of the legend of Cherson in the 9th century.[9][10][11][12]
The Jewish communities of Croatia flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries, with the communities enjoying prosperity and peaceful relations with theirCroatian neighbors.[13]
This ended in 1456, when Jews, along with most non-Catholic Croats, were forced out. There followed 200 years where there are no records of Jews in Croatia.[13] In those 200 years Jews from Croatia were usually on diplomatic missions toBosnia on behalf of theRepublic of Venice.[14]
The 15th century saw increasing persecution of Jews in areas of Spain retaken in theReconquista. From 1492 onward, Jewish refugees fleeing theSpanish andPortuguese Inquisitions arrived inOttoman territories, including theBalkan provinces ofMacedonia andBosnia. Some of these refugees found their way to Croatia, in particular toSplit andDubrovnik, on theDalmatian coast.[6]
In 1622, ablood libel case emerged in Dubrovnik (then Ragusa), when a Christian girl was found murdered in the home of a woman who was deemed mentally unstable. The woman claimed that Isaac Jeshurun, a Sephardic Jew, had persuaded her to commit the murder for ritual purposes. Jeshurun was initially given a severe sentence, but after three years, his sentence was commuted, an outcome viewed as miraculous by the Jewish community.[15]
In the 17th century, Jews were still not permitted to settle in northern Croatia. Jews traveled to Croatia as traveling merchants, mostly from neighboringHungary. They were generally permitted to stay only a few days.[7] In the early part of the century, theCroatian Parliament ("Sabor") confirmed its ban on permanent settlement when a Jewish family attempted to settle inĐurđevac.[7]
In 1753, although still officially banned, Jews were allowed to settle inBjelovar,Koprivnica andVaraždin, by General Beck, the military commander of theVaraždin region. In order to streamline the treatment of Jews in Croatia, Count Franjo Patačić, by order of the Royal Office in Varaždin, wrote a comprehensive report advocating Jewish permanent residence in Croatia on the basis that "most of them are merchants, and trade makes towns flourish".[7]
The prohibition against Jewish settlement in northern Croatia lasted until 1783, until the1782 Edict of Tolerance issued by theHabsburg Monarch EmperorJoseph II went into effect. Jews were subsequently allowed to settle in Croatia, but were not allowed to own land or engage in any trade protected by a guild, and were not allowed to work in agriculture.[7] Despite these measures, Jews settled inZagreb and Varaždin.
In 1840, the Sabor (parliament) voted to"gradually" allow full equality for the Jews, and over the next 33 years there was gradual progress.
| Year | Legislation[7] |
|---|---|
| 1843 | Range of occupations open to Jews extended |
| 1846 | Possibility to buy freedom through payment of a "tolerance tax" |
| 1859 | Jews allowed to buy houses and land |
| 1873 | Full legal equality |
In 1867 the newZagreb Great Synagogue was inaugurated and Rabbi Dr.Hosea Jacobi became Chief Rabbi of Zagreb. In 1873,Ivan Mažuranić signed the decree allowing for the full legal equality of Jews and, as with other faiths, state funds were made available for community institutions.[16]
By 1880, there were 13,488 Jews in Croatia, rising to 20,032 by 1900. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 21 Jewish communities in Croatia, the largest being in Zagreb (3,000 people) andOsijek (3,000 people). The Jewish community of Croatia became highly successful and integrated. By 1900, 54% of Zagreb Jews and 35% of all Croatian Jews spokeCroatian as their mother tongue. Despite their small numbers, Jews were disproportionately represented in industrial and wholesale business in Croatia, and in the timber and food industries. Several Jewish families were amongst Croatia's wealthiest families. Despite the apparent wealth, most Jews were middle class, and many second generation Croatian Jews were attracted to the fields of law and medicine.
World War I brought about the collapse of theAustro-Hungarian Empire, and upheaval for the Jewish communities of the region. After the war, Croatia joined withSlovenia,Serbia which includedVardar Macedonia andMontenegro, andBosnia and Herzegovina to form theKingdom of Yugoslavia.
Prior to World War II, the Croatian, and especially theZagreb Jewish community, was the preeminent community of Yugoslavia. In 1940 there were about 11,000 Jews living in Zagreb: about 76% wereAshkenazi Jews, 5%Sephardi Jews, 17% unaffiliated and the remainder beingreligious.[7]
On 25 March 1941,Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, an ethnic Serb, signed Yugoslavia's alliance with theAxis powers under theTripartite Pact. The decision was unpopular in many parts of the country,[17] and massive demonstrations took place in the Yugoslav capital,Belgrade. Prince Paul was overthrown, and a new government underPeter II andDušan Simović, also ethnic Serbs, took power. The new government withdrew its support for the Axis but did not repudiate the Tripartite Pact. Nevertheless, Axis forces, led byNazi Germany,invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941.
With Germany and Italy's support, the Croatian ultra-nationalistUstaše movement came to power in the newly establishedpuppet state called theIndependent State of Croatia (NDH). The Ustaše were notoriouslyantisemitic,[18] and wasted little time in instituting anti-Jewish legislation and persecuting the Jews under their control. Like Nazis forced Jews to wear armbands with a yellow Star of David, the Croatian Ustaše regime forced Jews to wear armbands with the letter "Ž" for "Židov", the word for “Jew” in Croatian.[19] NDH Interior MinisterAndrija Artuković said in 1941 upon the proclamation of ethnic laws: "The Government of NDH shall solve theJewish question in the same way as the German Government did".[20] Already in April 1941, theUstaše and Volksdeutsche burned the synagogue and destroyed the Jewish cemetery in Osijek,[21] while theUstaše mayor of Zagreb,Ivan Werner, ordered the destruction of the main Zagreb synagogue, which was completely razed in 1942[22] The Ustaše set up a number ofconcentration camps with the most notorious beingJasenovac in which 20,000 Jews were murdered.[23]
During the Holocaust, a total of 29–31,000 Jews in the NDH were killed, around 75% by the Ustaše and around 25% by the Germans. This constituted 79 percent of the country's pre-war Jewish population,[24] including 20,000 of the 23,000-25,000 Croatian Jews.[25] Only 5,000 Croatian Jews survived the war, most as soldiers inJosip Broz Tito'sNational Liberation Army or as exiles in the Italian-occupied zone. After Italy capitulated to theAllied Powers, the surviving Jews lived in free Partisan territory.[26]
When Yugoslavia was liberated in 1945, Croatia became part of the new Yugoslav federation, which eventually became theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
After 1945, atheism became the official policy ofYugoslavia and Croatia, and because of this there were norabbis in Croatia until the mid-1990s. Most Croatian Jews identified asYugoslavs, or as Serbs or Croats.[27] After the founding ofIsrael, about half of the survivors renounced their Yugoslav citizenship as a prerequisite for leaving the country and acquiring Israeli citizenship. Those who opted to leave for Israel signed a document by which they left all property, land, and other unmovable property to Yugoslavia.
The post-war Jewish community of Croatia became highly assimilated, with 80% of Zagreb's 1,500 Jews either born intomixed marriages, or married to non-Jews. In 1991, there were approximately 2,000 Jews in Croatia.
The 2001 Croatian census listed only 495 Jews, with 323 inZagreb. Approximately 20 Jews lived in each ofPrimorje-Gorski Kotar County,Osijek andDubrovnik.[28]
The Jewish community in Croatia is organized into ten Jewish "municipalities" (Croatian:Židovska općina) in the cities ofČakovec,Daruvar, Dubrovnik,Koprivnica, Osijek,Rijeka,Slavonski Brod,Split,Virovitica, Zagreb. Since 2005, Zagreb also has a separate Jewish organization named "Bet Israel", formed by a splinter group in the original organization led byIvo Goldstein and others. AChabad organization is also registered in Zagreb and held most Jewish activities around the year.
Jews are officially recognized as an autonomous national minority, and as such, they elect a special representative to theCroatian Parliament, shared with members of eleven other national minorities.[29]
The Jewish communities of the Croatian coast ofDalmatia date back to the 14th century CE. A letter from 1326 refers to a Jewish doctor inDubrovnik. The community remained small throughout the years (100-330 members), although the community distinguished itself in trade and medicine. The community was augmented from 1421 by refugees fleeing increasing persecution in Spain, and then from 1492 as Jews fled theSpanish andPortuguese Inquisitions.[30]
The Jewish synagogue in Split is more than 500 years old and is the third oldest active synagogue in Europe. Except for a brief period during WW2 the synagogue has been in continuous use since it was established. Although there is no rabbi in Split, the 100-member strong community conducts regular Friday eveningShabbatservices (the Jewish sabbath) and akosher meal is prepared and served to all who come. The synagogue is open every day from 9 am until around 2 pm for tours. Although the interior of the synagogue was restored in 1996 the interior is from the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Antisemitism, based on the attitudes of the Catholic Church and onVenetian law (which applied at the time), was a constant issue for the community, which lived inghettos in Dubrovnik andSplit. When Dalmatia was occupied byNapoleonic forces, the Jews attained legal equality for the first time.[30] In 1814, when theAustrian Empire annexed Dalmatia, legal equality was again withdrawn. Jews were granted legal equality under Croatian law in the mid 19th century.[7]
