Cemeteries 'neglected, abandoned due to persecution of Jews'

Croatia moves to protect 52 Jewish cemeteries after decades of neglect, destruction

Law stipulated that graves could be reassigned if fee not paid, meaning remains of over 3,000 Jews were exhumed because families decimated by Holocaust had nobody left to pay

This photograph, taken on September 20, 2024 shows a Star of David on a Jewish tombstone at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb, Croatia. (Damir Sencar / AFP)
This photograph, taken on September 20, 2024 shows a Star of David on a Jewish tombstone at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb, Croatia. (Damir Sencar / AFP)

ZAGREB, Croatia (AFP) — Croatia is moving to protect its Jewish cemeteries after decades of devastation and neglect that saw the remains of more than 3,000 people exhumed from their graves in Zagreb’s main cemetery.

A law from the 1950s, when Croatia was part of the former Yugoslavia, stipulated that graves could be reassigned if the applicable fee had not been paid for a decade.

In many Jewish families’ cases, there was no one left to pay.

Croatia’s Jewish community practically vanished under the country’s pro-Nazi regime during World War II, when hundreds of thousands of Jews, ethnic Serbs, Roma and anti-fascist Croatians were persecuted and killed.

Jewish graves were neglected, and the remains of more than 3,000 Jews were exhumed from the capital’s Mirogoj cemetery, the leader of Croatia’s Jewish community, Ognjen Kraus, told AFP.

A Star of David atop one of Mirogoj’s domes reminds visitors they are entering its Jewish section.

This photograph taken on September 20, 2024 shows a tombstone of Jewish people buried at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb, Croatia. (Damir Sencar / AFP)

“Even at the very entry to Mirogoj’s Jewish part, the graves are not Jewish anymore,” Kraus added bitterly.

Many Jewish graves at the multi-confessional Mirogoj were taken over by Catholics, Croatia’s dominant faith, who completely changed their look.

Around 120 Jewish cemeteries, including the one at Mirogoj, which is known for its monumental 19th-century architecture, largely went to seed.

Croatia’s conservative government moved to protect Jewish cemeteries and announced in September that 52 would be protected as “memorial heritage” to preserve the memory of those who were persecuted during World War II.

Another 15 are already protected as independent cultural sites, as well as several others that have a Jewish section, including Mirogoj.

Leader of Croatia’s Jewish Community Ognjen Kraus poses at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb, Croatia, September 20, 2024. (Damir Sencar / AFP)

Cleaned and rebuilt

“Since they were neglected and abandoned due to persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, we decided to protect them,” Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek told AFP.

The cemeteries will now be carefully marked, cleaned and gradually renovated to keep alive the memory of Jews who died during World War II, she said.

This will be financed by the government and local authorities. The European Union has also given funding to protect and preserve Jewish gravesites in eastern Europe, including Croatia.

Before World War II, Croatia was home to some 25,000 Jews, of whom nearly 80 percent were killed during the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime.

Croatia’s pro-Nazi past has become less taboo in the country in recent years. Critics, including the country’s Jews, accuse authorities of failing to condemn the use of Ustasha symbols.

Croatia’s Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek (L) listens to a museum official as she visits the Jewish Museum in Zagreb on September 20, 2024. (Damir Sencar / AFP)

The 2021 census puts the number of Jews at a mere 410 out of a total population of 3.8 million people, while the Jewish community says there are about 2,000 of them.

If the devastation of cemeteries continues, the “memory of Jews will disappear,” Kraus warned.

He said Jews had “made Zagreb and other Croatian cities central European,” referring to their contributions to the country’s architecture, science and arts.

The first person buried at Mirogoj, inaugurated in November 1876, was a Jew — Friedrich Miroslav Singer.

The sports instructor introduced physical exercise in Zagreb schools and headed Croatia’s first gymnasium.

This photograph taken on September 20, 2024 shows the grave of Jewish Croatian Friedrich Miroslav Singer, the first person buried at the Mirogoj cemetery in November 1876, in Zagreb. (Damir Sencar / AFP)

Milestone

Srdjan Matic, a prominent member of the country’s Jewish community who participated in the project, hailed the move to safeguard the cemeteries as a milestone.

“Jewish cemeteries are now recognized as part of Croatia’s cultural heritage, and this paves the way for a strategy for their actual protection,” he said.

“They are practically the last tangible reminders of the existence of the Jewish community in Croatia. This is also very important for us from the religious perspective,” he added.

The removal of remains from their burial site is banned in Judaism.

Experts underscore that the protection of such sites is key to the nation’s cultural identity.

This photograph taken on September 20, 2024 shows Jewish graves at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb. (Damir Sencar / AFP)

“Mirogoj’s conception as a multi-confessional cemetery is part of the cultural heritage that should be absolutely protected,” said Alan Braun, senior lecturer at the Zagreb University Faculty of Architecture.

Croatian Jews say that the cemeteries are not the only part of their heritage that has been neglected.

“The issue of museum pieces, books and archives remains,” said Matic.

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