קונגרס העולמי ה-18 למדעי היהדות

SITES OF MEMORIES- JEWS FROM CROATIA IN THE WWI”

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In this lecture "Sites of memories-Jews from Croatia in the First Word War" will talk about several war memorials erected to the Croatian-Slavonian Jews which died in the First World War, as fallen warriors of the Austro-Hungarian army during the Kingdom of SHS / Yugoslavia. Also, through several memoirs of former Jewish soldiers, their memory of the war misfortunes of the First World War will be discussed.

As citizens of a country at war, the citizens of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) participated in all wartime activities during the First World War, regardless of their faith or nationality. Therefore, the Jewish community of Croatia also adapted itself to the wartime circumstances and was included in all war-related activities. The number of mobilised Croatian Jews remains unknown, as does the number of their dead, since there are still no general summary data on the demographic losses of Croatia in the First World War (died in wartime operation, died of wounds, or died of epidemics which spread at the fronts). Dead Jewish soldiers were usually buried near the place of their death, leaving only a small number to be buried near their homes. Their names were only rarely inscribed on family tombs or recorded in registers of deaths. Only three of these have erected memorials to commemorate the Jewish soldiers who died during the First World War.