This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com THE JEWSOFYUGOSLAVIA This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com THE JEWS OFOF YUGOSLAVIAVIAVIAVIA VIA A Quest for Community HARRIET PASS FREIDENREICH This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com Varda Books skokie, illinois, usa - 5761/2001 Copyright © 2001 by Varda Books Original copyright © 1979 by The Jewish Publication Society of America All rights reserved This ebook has been published with permission of The Jewish Publication Society (Philadelphia). The printed book, which served as a basis for this book is catalogued by the Library of Congress thus: Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Freidenreich, Harriet Pass, 1947– The Jews of Yugoslavia. (Jewish communal and public affairs) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Jews in Yugoslavia—History. 2. Yugoslavia— Ethnic relations. I. Title. II. Series. DS135. Y8F73 949. 7'004'924 79–84733 ISBN 0–8276–0122–0 Designed by Adrianne Onderdonk Dudden Photographs of the interior and exterior of the Ashkenazic synagogue, Zagreb, are from Encyclopaedia Judaica 16:870, 918. All other photographs are courtesy of Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia, Belgrade. This book is a volume in the series JEWISH COMMUNAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS in cooperation with the Center for Jewish Community Studies Jerusalem / Philadelphia New ISBN 1-59045-496-0 Library PDF No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage retrieval system, except for brief passages in connection with a critical review, without permission in writing from the publisher. This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com Prepared as an ebook by Varda Graphics, Inc. TO PHILIP This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com << Chapter >> Home | TOC | Index CONTENTS List of Tables ix Preface xi Introduction 3 PART ONE: The Setting: Meeting of East and West 1 Sarajevo: City of Four Faiths 11 2 Belgrade: The Serbian Capital 26 3 Zagreb: Croatian Citadel 41 4 Between Two World Wars 55 PART TWO: The Jewish Community 5 Local Structure 71 6 National Institutions 97 7 Social and Cultural Organizations 115 PART THREE: The State and the Jews 8 Crisis of Identity 139 9 The Pressures of Politics 171 Epilogue: The Surviving Remnant 190 Appendix 1. Tables 213 Appendix 2. Minorities Treaty, 1919 225 Appendix 3. Constitution of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, 1921 (Excerpts) 230 Appendix 4. Law on the Religious Community of Jews in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1929 232 Appendix 5. Anti-Jewish Legislation, October 1940 239 Abbreviations 245 Bibliography 249 Notes 271 This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com Index 311 Maps follow p. 8 Illustrations follow pp. 60 and 142 << Chapter >> Home | TOC | Index This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com << Chapter >> Home | TOC | Index TABLES* 1. Population of Sarajevo by Religion, 1885–1921 213 2. Jewish Residential Distribution in Sarajevo, 1885–1910 214 3. Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Zagreb: Growth of Cities and Jewish Population 215 4. Linguistic Acculturation of Sarajevo Jewry, 1910–31 215 5. Linguistic Acculturation among Serbian Jewry, 1895–1931 216 6. Linguistic Acculturation among Croatian Jewry, 1880–1931 217 7. Jewish Population Distribution by Banovina 218 8. Rate of Natural Increase per 1,000 in Zagreb Ashkenazic and Sarajevo Sephardic Communities, 1894–1939 219 9. Occupational Distribution of Active Population in Yugoslavia 219 10. Yugoslav Jewry by Occupation, 1938 220 11. Language Distribution among Yugoslav Jewry by Banovina, 1931 221 12. Jewish Attendance at Primary and Secondary Schools, 1938/39 222 13. Jewish Attendance at Universities, 1928/29 and 1938/39 222 14. Marriages Between Sephardim and Ashkenazim in Sarajevo, 1908–40 223 This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com 15. Occupational Distribution of Yugoslav Jewry in Postwar Period 224 *In text, references to percentages appearing in tables are rounded off. << Chapter >> Home | TOC | Index This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com << Chapter >> Home | TOC | Index PREFACE Jewish historians know very little about Yugoslavia, and Yugoslav scholars have paid scant attention to the Jews of their country. This study of Jewish communities in interwar Yugoslavia is, then, a ven­ ture into hitherto unexplored territory. It is designed to help fill a lacuna in both Jewish and Yugoslav historiography, but it is also in­ tended to serve a broader purpose, namely to further enrich the field of Jewish communal research. Each Jewish community has its own particular characteristics and yet Jewish communities, wherever they may be found, tend to share at least certain elements in common. Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Zagreb represent a variety of Jewish communal experiences with­ in the Yugoslav context; nevertheless, they demonstrate many strik­ ing similarities with one another and with other twentieth-centu- ry Jewish communities in Europe and elsewhere. It is hoped that this work will provide new insights into the organization and de­ velopment of postemancipation Jewry and help confirm the impor­ tance of the Jewish community as a vehicle for Jewish survival in the modern world. The traditional Jewish community in the preemancipation era displayed a basic uniformity, with some regional variations, wher­ ever it occurred in the Western world. In corporate medieval socie­ ty the Jewish community enjoyed a considerable degree of self-gov- ernment, wielding extensive authority in judicial matters, taxation, and economic life, as well as religious affairs. With the advent of This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com emancipation, however, conditions changed and the Jewish commu­ nity was forced to undergo far-reaching adaptations in order to ad­ just itself to modern times. No longer could the community exercise << Chapter >> Home | TOC | Index xii The Jews of Yugoslavia complete control over its members in such areas as civil law and education. Instead, its jurisdiction was restricted primarily to the religious sphere, as well as charitable and cultural concerns. Eman­ cipation meant the evolution of the Jewish community from a state within a state to a religious denomination, generally recognized by the state and often retaining the power to tax its adherents for its own purposes. Outside influences became more decisive in shaping Jew­ ish society, and the differences among Jewish communities in diverse countries increased. While, on the one hand, the pressures toward integration tend­ ed to undermine the strength of the community, on the other hand, the forces of tradition and continuity sought to preserve and main­ tain communal authority and institutions. Despite the impact of emancipation, the Jewish community nevertheless managed to retain many of its essential characteristics and institutions, albeit often in a considerably modified form. But the Jewish community did not survive into the twentieth century merely as an anachronistic rem­ nant from the Middle Ages; it demonstrated an ability to adjust its organization and activities to the needs of the times and frequently exhibited a new vitality and creativity of its own. The study of the modern Jewish community ideally should be conducted on a comparative basis using varied types of communi­ ties in order to determine common Jewish traits as well as local dis­ tinctions. The advantages inherent in dealing with Jewish commu­ nities in Yugoslavia can be discovered in the existence of several quite distinct types of communities within the framework of one political entity, interwar Yugoslavia; hence, one may attempt a comparative survey on a miniature scale. Here we can trace the development of traditional Sephardic communities, as in Sarajevo and Belgrade, and contrast them with modern, fairly assimilated Ashkenazic commu­ nities, as in Zagreb. Within the religious sphere, we find both Neo­ logues (those wishing to modernize religious practices) and Ortho­ dox, with a few shades in between. We encounter integrationists and Zionists, along with Jewish nationalists of the Sephardic brand. Not only do the Jews differ among themselves as to historical origins and outlooks, reflecting the heritage of both the Ottoman and Habsburg empires, but also their neighbors constitute separate nationalities, including Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks, and different religions, Ortho­ This Library PDF version is for the use on an institutional computer only. To purchase your own copy of the book with enhanced functionality go to www.publishersrow.com dox, Catholic, and Muslim. Thus, within one geographical unit, we are confronted with a wide variety of regional diversity and an en­ tire spectrum of Jewish issues in the twentieth century.