Jewish communities have a long and rich history in Croatia, dating back to the Roman era. The Jewish presence became more prominent during the medieval period, with the establishment of several Jewish communities. The Holocaust inflicted a devastating toll on Jewish communities across the Independent State of Croatia. Jewish shops were expropriated, and Jews were subjected to arrests and deportations to concentration and death camps. Besides the tragic loss in human life, the Ustaša regime systematically destroyed synagogues along with other cultural institutions.
Vukovar was a city in the eastern reaches of the Independent State of Croatia. Exceptionally diverse, Vukovar was home to fourteen ethno-confessional groups on the eve of the Second World War—Croats, Serbs, Jews, Germans, Roma, Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Ruthenians, and others
The Jewish community of Sarajevo dates to the 16th century when the Sephardim who fled the persecution in Spain and Portugal settled in Ottoman-dominated Bosnia. By 1779 there were already 1100 Sephardic Jews in Sarajevo. The Austro-Hungarian occupation in the 29th century changed the fabric of the Jewish community in Sarajevo due to the migration waves of Ashkenazi Jews, who began to settle in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time in city’s history. After the First World War, Jews from the rural areas started to migrate to larger urban centers such as Sarajevo in pursuit of better educational and career opportunities.
Before the Second World War, the city of Osijek had around 40,000 citizens. The multiethnic city was a home of the thin Croatian majority, followed by a large population of ethnic Germans Serbs, Hungarians and Jews. Immediately afterwards Jews were exposed to a pogrom, arrests, forced labor, violence and organized extortion. Initially the persecution of Jews was spearheaded by the members of the German minority in Osijek and its surroundings.
Before the Second World War, the city of Osijek had around 40,000 citizens. The multiethnic city was a home of the thin Croatian majority, followed by a large population of ethnic Germans Serbs, Hungarians and Jews. While the Ustaše started to take over the power in the city already on the 10th of April 1941, the German military entered the city the day after. Immediately afterwards Jews were exposed to a pogrom, arrests, forced labor, violence and organized extortion. Initially the persecution of Jews was spearheaded by the members of the German minority in Osijek and its surroundings.
