200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ZAGREB

Motif: The facade of the demolished synagogue in Praška Street and Chanukkiyah The Jewish Community of Zagreb was founded in the year 1806 by the representatives of some twenty Jewish families who have moved and settled in Zagreb about two decades previously. The Community as an institution was the only one allowed to act on behalf of the Jewish community and its members regarding the authorities and could present it to the public. Moreover, from the very beginning the Community was the foundation of the overall development of the Jewish community and its identity. Several generations had to pass along a toilsome road until they could acquire legal citizens’ rights to equality and be integrated into the society of Zagreb and Croatia. All these decades the community was increasing, their members were included into the life of economy, little by little into the society as well; they won favourable repute and became Zagreb citizens. The synagogue, built in the city centre and consecrated in 1867, was the symbol of the existence of the Jewish community and its social recognition. Until the end of the 19th century the community numbered more than 3,000 members, many of them outstanding and prosperous merchants and entrepreneurs, industrialists and bankers, physicians, lawyers, intellectuals and artists. This growth and development continued into the 20th century, so that in the year 1941 the community rose up to almost 12,000 members. The period between the two world wars was the time when the Zagreb Community flourished, when it actively participated in the European and world Jewish organizations but at the same time also in the overall progress of the city of Zagreb. It was the strongest and best developed Jewish Community in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Zagreb Community embraced the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, Reform and Conservative, with a small Orthodox minority which had their own separate community at two intervals (from 1879 to 1906, and from1926 to 1941) and which was the seat of Zionism. After the Holocaust the community dropped to a tenth of the pre-war membership. Those who survived started slowly restoring the life of the Community, its social and cultural institutions, gathering everybody: the believers and the atheists, traditionalists and avant-gardists. The dissolution of Yugoslavia also meant the dissolution of the Federation of the Jewish Communities with their seat in Belgrade. In 1992 the Zagreb Community initiated the gathering of the Jewish Communities in Croatia, and in 1995 the Co-ordination of the Jewish Communities in the Republic of Croatia was founded which represents the common interests of ten Communities and promotes their independence and identity. The achievement of independence particularly stimulated cultural activity: publishing, discussion panels and scientific symposia, exhibitions, protecting the heritage and organizing concerts, but no less care has been dedicated to social welfare and education. Owing to the restitution of a part of its property, the Jewish Community of Zagreb has acquired the basis for its development and plans. The greatest project among them – having been prepared with great intensity since the year 2000 – is the construction of the Jewish Centre with a synagogue on the site of the former temple demolished in 1941/2 at the time of the NDH (Independent State of Croatia) and at the height of the Holocaust. Within the framework of the Jewish Community Zagreb we can find several institutions and activities: the kindergarten “Mirjam Weiller”, elementary school “Lauder-Lea Deutsch”, senior citizens’ home “Lavoslav Schwarz”, Research and Documentation Centre for the Victims of the Holocaust, Gallery “Milan and Ivo Steiner”, Dance group “Or Hashemesh”, Cultural Society “Miroslav Šalom Freiberger”, B’nai B’rith Unit “Gavro Schwarz” and the Association of Survivors of the Holocaust. Among the published editions the most important are the monthly “Ha-Kol”, the biennial “Voice” in English and the magazine dedicated to Jewish culture “New Omanut”. Within the framework of the library there is the collection “Library of Lavoslav Šik” with valuable works from the field of Judaism (iudaica). The art collection of other works of art contains mostly sacral heritage, and in the course of the last decade it has been completed by donations and buy-offs of other works of art and historical documentation. Dr. Ognjen Kraus