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Antisemitism: Overview of data available in the European Union 2008-2018
Date: 2019
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Hate crime, Law, Government, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: Antisemitism can be expressed in the form of verbal and physical attacks, threats, harassment, discrimination and unequal treatment, property damage and graffiti or other forms of speech or text, including on the internet. Antisemitic incidents and hate crime violate fundamental rights, especially the right to human dignity, the right to equality of treatment and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The present report provides an overview of data on antisemitism as recorded by international organisations and by official and unofficial sources in the 28 European Union (EU) Member States, based on their own definitions and categorisations. ‘Official data’ are understood here as those collected by law enforcement agencies, other authorities that are part of criminal justice systems and relevant state ministries at the national level. ‘Unofficial data’ refers to data collected by civil society organisations. This is the 15th edition of FRA’s report on the situation of data collection on antisemitism in the EU (including reports published by FRA’s predecessor, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia).
Sephardic and Oriental Oral Testimonies: Their Importance for Holocaust Commemoration and Memory
Author(s): Kerem, Yitzchak
Editor(s): Roth, John K.; Maxwell, Elizabeth; Levy, Margot; Whitworth, Wendy
Date: 2001
Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Holocaust Survivors, Oral History and Biography, Sephardi Jews
Abstract: In the absence of documentation, oral testimonies of Sephardic and Oriental Holocaust survivors serve as important sources for remembering and learning about the Holocaust in the Balkans, North Africa, and Iraq during World War II. Furthermore, the published testimonies are an additional way of including Sephardic and Oriental Jewry in the Holocaust historiography, which has largely ignored the non-Ashkenazic Jews who suffered in the Holocaust in the death camps, in hiding, or during their escape from their home countries. Since Holocaust museum exhibitions have often failed to represent Sephardic Jewry as Holocaust victims, Sephardi oral testimonies are educational tools and vehicles for raising public awareness about the theme.
Restitution of Jewish Property in Croatia
Translated Title: Povrat židovske imovine u Hrvatskoj
Author(s): Dobrovšak, Ljiljana
Date: 2015
Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Restitution and Reparations, Law
Abstract: This paper discusses the restitution of Jewish property in Croatia from 1990 on, having in mind that the question has not yet been resolved and that progress towards this has been very slow due to sketchy laws which are being implemented only partially. Th is issue usually receives more attention only when a Croatian government fi gure meets someone from Israel or the US Administration. Current legislature enables restitution only of Jewish property seized after 1945, while property seized during the NDH (Independent state of Croatia) remained intact, " protected " by laws passed at the time of Yugoslavia. Current restitution of seized property is performed according to the Law on Restitution/Compensation of Property Taken during the Time of the Yugoslav Communist Government, which came into eff ect in 1997, so the right to restitution or compensation applies only to Croatian citizens of the fi rst order of succession. Th at property seized between 1941 and 1945 is not restituted is still an accepted practice, despite the fact that it is in this period when the majority of Jewish property was seized. Th e right to restitution is still limited to the fi rst order of succession, while the deadline for applications remains too short. Towards the end of mandate of the Jadranka Kosor government there were some attempts to change that and enact a new law, but the proposal for that law got stuck somewhere in parliamentary procedure so it is not yet clear when it will be passed. Until now, judging by unoffi cial data, less than 30 percent of Jewish families of those who perished in the NDH have achieved the return of immobile property, so the government of Prime Minister Zoran Milanović donated a building in the centre of Zagreb to the Jewish municipality, as a kind of compensation for property seized during Ustasha regime.
Jews of Former Yugoslavia and Their Decline After Wars In Yugoslavia: Legal and Material Positions in Serbia, Croatia And Bosnia & Herzegovina 1991-2016
Translated Title: Jevreji Bivše Jugoslavije i Njihovo Opadanje Nakonratova u Jugoslaviji: Pravni i Imovinski Položaj u Srbiji, Hrvatskoj i Bosni i Hercegovini 1991-2016
Author(s): Dajč, Haris
Date: 2017
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Community, Restitution and Reparations, Law, Finance, Economy
Abstract: Once one of the most numerous and prosperous minorities in Yugoslavia, the number of Jews declined from over 80,000 to 15,000 in the years aer WW2. is number further decreased due to migration to Israel in the first post-war years, and further impoverishment took place because of confiscation and restitution of the majority of private and communal Jewish property, and enforced renouncing of Yugoslav citizenship. e first multi-party elections in Yugoslavia brought to power nationalist elements in all republics, which was followed by civil war, and the breaking of socialist Yugoslavia. Jews of Yugoslavia found themselves on different warring sides. Fragmentation on all confronted sides made the Jewish community even more vulnerable. A huge majority of former Warsaw Pact members aer the Berlin wall fell passed laws for restitution of property taken by the state in post WW2 period. Jews of Yugoslavia, in several new states, had promises from state offi cials that their property would be restituted and errors made half a century ago would be rectified. e only case where such a promise came true was Serbia. In 2011 Serbia passed General Restitution Law concerning individuals, therefore also Jews. In 2006 Serbia passed Law on property of the religious communities that also included Jewish community and that helped restitution of the Jewish communal property. e state of Serbia is the only state in the region that passed the Jewish Lex Specialis that concerns on Jewish property with no successor but also unclaimed Jewish property in February 2016. Croatia passed a General Restitution Law in 1996, and amended it in 2002, but it only affects property nationalized aer May 1945. at Law is limited to direct successors who are Croatian citizens or citizens of countries which have bilateral agreements with Croatia. Due to very high taxes, in some cases reaching 25% of property value, a lot of Jewish requests remained unsolved. Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the rare European countries that did not pass such a law. Moreover, the BIH constitution declares three constituent nations: Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, while others as minorities cannot be nominated for state positions, according to chapters IV and V of the BIH constitution (Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina). is paper aims to give insight into the economic power of Jews just before the breakdown of Yugoslavia, and the current economic situation of Jewish communities in Serbia, Croatia and BIH, with a special emphasis on their economic, legal and social position in the last two decades. is restitution issue is very important for it shows how much goodwill states have for helping their local Jewish communities. e research material is obtained from local Jewish communities, periodicals, reports, interviews, conferences, scientific journals and statistical data of all three states and various Jewish organization. Facing the past, admitting and rectifying remain open issues in those countries, and they are excellent indicators of the progress achieved in the last 25 years.
Jewish Communities in The Political and Legal Systems of Post-Yugoslav Countries
Author(s): Vukićević, Boris
Date: 2017
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Community, Minorities, Restitution and Reparations, Politics, Law
Abstract: After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Jewish community within Yugoslavia was also split up, and now various Jewish communities exist in the seven post-Yugoslav countries. Although all of these communities are relatively small, their size, influence, and activity vary. The political and legal status of Jewish communities, normatively speaking, differs across the former Yugoslav republics. Sometimes Jews or Jewish communities are mentioned in constitutions, signed agreements with governments, or are recognized in laws that regulate religious communities. Despite normative differences, they share most of the same problems – a slow process of return of property, diminishing numbers due to emigra­tion and assimilation, and, although on a much lower scale than in many other countries, creeping anti-Semitism. They also share the same opportunities – a push for more minority rights as part of ‘Europeanization’ and the perception of Jewish communities as a link to influential investors and politicians from the Jewish diaspora and Israel.
Perceptions of antisemitism
Date: 2018
Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Surveys, European Union
Abstract: Summary:

This Special Eurobarometer survey on 'perceptions of antisemitism' was carried out in December 2018 and presents a snapshot of the way European perceive antisemitism.

Further information:

The Report shows that perceptions among Europeans on this issue are very divided - while every other European considers Antisemitism to be a problem in their country, 4 in 10 Europeans actually do not consider it to be an issue in their country. The results also show that there is a perception gap on Antisemitism: while 89% of Jews say that Antisemitism significantly increased over a period of 5 years, only 36% of the general public consider it has indeed increased.
Holocaust Remembrance Project: How European Countries Treat Their Wartime Past
Author(s): Echikson, William
Date: 2019
Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Holocaust Commemoration, Holocaust Denial, Holocaust Education, Memory, Nationalism, Restitution and Reparations, Antisemitism
Abstract: This first-ever report rating individual European Union countries on how they face up their Holocaust pasts was published on January 25, 2019 to coincide with UN Holocaust Remembrance Day. Researchers from Yale and Grinnell Colleges travelled throughout Europe to conduct the research. Representatives from the European Union of Progressive Judaism (EUPJ) have endorsed their work.


Key Findings:

●Many European Union governments are rehabilitating World War II collaborators and war criminals while minimising their own guilt in the attempted extermination of Jews.
●Revisionism is worst in new Central European members - Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Lithuania.
●But not all Central Europeans are moving in the wrong direction: two exemplary countries living up to their tragic histories are the Czech Republic and Romania. The Romanian model of appointing an independent commission to study the Holocaust should be duplicated.
●West European countries are not free from infection - Italy, in particular, needs to improve.
●In the west, Austria has made a remarkable turn-around while France stands out for its progress in accepting responsibility for the Vichy collaborationist government.
●Instead of protesting revisionist excesses, Israel supports many of the nationalist and revisionist governments.
Yugoslav Jewry. Aspects of Post-World War II and Post-Yugoslav Developments
Author(s): Kerkkänen, Ari
Date: 2001
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Post-1989, Post-War Jewish History, Nationalism, National Identity, Communism
Voices of Yugoslav Jewry
Author(s): Gordiejew, Paul Benjamin
Date: 1998
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Secularity, Nationalism, Oral History and Biography, Post-1989, Post-War Jewish History
Abstract: Voices of Yugoslav Jewry emphasizes the role of history in shaping Yugoslav Jewish identity. World War II imposed irreversible effects on this population of Jews, leaving them with an acute sense of disjuncture and fragmentation. This once-unified Jewish community lost its secure place in the politico-symbolic order of a single multiethnic state, and the surviving local Jewish communities, which are now a part of new states, face the task of refashioning their identities once again. The process of creating the new Yugoslavia has allowed for the emergence of a new Jewish collective voice, one that blended harmoniously with the emerging voice of Tito. This collective voice manifested itself by using language, material culture, and dramaturgical performances in ways that exhibited high public integration with the symbolic order of the new state. In searching for the voices of individuals and listening to them closely, a wide range of diverse individual experiences and ways of constructing meaningful Jewish selves can be heard. It is these voices that constitute the core of the book.
Demografska istraživanja židovske populacije u Hrvatskoj
Translated Title: Demographic research on the Jewish population in Croatia
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Date: 2005
Topics: Main Topic: Demography and Migration, Demography, Censuses
Abstract: Koliko ima Židova u svijetu, gdje se nalaze, kamo idu i odakle dolaze, koliko ima starih, a koliko mladih itd. pitanja su koja stalno postavljaju ne samo stručnjaci demografi već i političari, sociolozi, ekonomisti, genetičari pa i rasisti. Poznati židovski demografi zabrinuto konstatiraju da smo sve stariji, a da mladi više ne mare za židovstvo, a svaka židovska zajednica koja drži do sebe prebrojava i istražuje svoje članstvo. Istraživanja židovske populacije su veoma težak zadatak, jer se radi o dinamičnoj kategoriji stanovništva, koja se stalno mijenja. Neki kriteriji se primjenjuju na istraživanja svih populacija (npr. omjer između nataliteta i mortaliteta), a neki su specifični samo za židovsku populaciju, kao što je to pitanje osobne ili grupne identifikacije sa židovstvom. U Izraelu pitanje « tko je Židov » ne ovisi o osobnoj identifikaciji, koja je česta u dijaspori, već o zakonskim i rabinskim rješenjima (halaha). U našoj, relativno maloj Židovskoj zajednici, godinama se prate demografske promjene, a u ovom članku prikazati ćemo, uz ranije, i prve rezultate naših novijih istraživanja. Židovska populacija u Hrvatskoj Za istraživanje židovske populacije preporučuje se kombinacija različitih izvora podataka: popisa stanovništva, podataka iz židovskih općina i rezultata posebnih istraživanja. U popisima stanovništva Hrvatske, poslije II. svjetskog rata, broj Židova ne može se smatrati potpunim, dijelom zbog metodologije popisivanja, a i zbog iskustva Židova u II. svjetskom ratu. Ni broj Židova koji su članovi židovskih općina, (koji se razlikuje od podataka popisa stanovništva), nije potpun, jer ima Židova koji nisu članovi općina, a u općine su učlanjeni i ne-Židovi, supružnici iz mješovitih brakova. Tako su u prvom poslijeratnom popisu stanovništva bivše Jugoslavije, 1948. godine, bila popisana 6.853 Židova, a u isto vrijeme bilo je 11.934 članova židovskih općina.
Jewish Identities in Croatia – a Social Psychological Perspective
Translated Title: Židovski identiteti u hrvatskoj – sociološko-psihološki aspekt
Author(s): Šiljak, Lea
Date: 2003
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Jewish Community, Psychology, Interviews
Abstract: The present study focuses on the way in which Zagreb Jews make sense of themselves and their world. It investigates how historical and socio-political changes have influenced transformations in Jewish identities, and how three generations of Croatian Jews living in Zagreb, the eldest (aged 70+), middle (aged 40–55) and younger (aged 20–30) generation, respond to changes in their social milieu. The study hinges on the premise that identity cannot be formed in isolation, but its emergence and development can only be achieved through social interaction. Embedded in a historical and social context, identity is treated as a product of the interaction between an individual and his environment, in which an individual is an active participant. This qualitative research, based on individual interviews (with the older and middle generation) and group interviews (with the younger generation) demonstrates that the Jews of Zagreb are active participants in their identity construction. Influenced by external factors, especially the Holocaust, the communist regime and the rise in Croatian national consciousness, Jews negotiate a sense of continuity via their own self-narratives, relating it to the self-narratives of others in their environment. A sense of self as a Jew develops from social interactions and meaningful relationships.
Jewish Identity and Community Participation in the Era of Croatian Neoliberalism
Author(s): Hofman, Nila Ginger
Date: 2018
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Jewish Community, Post-1989, Attitudes to Jews, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations
Abstract: This paper explores Jewish identity and community life in Croatia in the new millennium. Examining the interconnectedness of neoliberalism and the politics of rewriting and suppressing historical narratives, I consider Jewish identity negotiation and community participation in a post-socialist capitalist system. With Croatia’s unsettling history and changing political economy as the backdrop, I examine how the expansion of neoliberal cultural values has made room for multiple views of Croatian history: I argue that the sociocultural climate has produced an essentialized view of Jews and the Jewish community, whose survival is not aided by populist historical revisionism. In line with the changing political economy, Jewish community leadership has adopted a more restricted understanding of the survival of Jewish identity and community participation. I suggest that the perceived monocausal disappearance of the Croatian Jews and the one-size-fits-all solution is problematic given the particular sociocultural context of Croatian Jewry. I further suggest that the promotion of individualism over collectivism, popularized through the neoliberalization of Croatian society, has negatively affected the Jewish communities in Croatia.
Fourth Survey of European Jewish Community Leaders and Professionals, 2018
Author(s): Kosmin, Barry A.
Date: 2018
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Religious Denominations, Security, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity
Abstract: The Fourth Survey of European Jewish Community Leaders and Professionals, 2018 presents the results of an online survey offered in 10 languages and administered to 893 respondents in 29 countries. Conducted every three years using the same format, the survey seeks to identify trends and their evolution in time.

The survey asked Jewish lay leaders and community professionals questions regarding future community priorities, identifying the main threats to Jewish life, views on the safety and security situation in their cities, including emergency preparedness, and opinions on an array of internal community issues. Examples include conversions, membership criteria policies on intermarriage, and their vision of Europe and Israel.

The respondents were comprised of presidents and chairpersons of nationwide “umbrella organizations” or Federations; presidents and executive directors of private Jewish foundations, charities, and other privately funded initiatives; presidents and main representatives of Jewish communities that are organized at a city level; executive directors and programme coordinators, as well as current and former board members of Jewish organizations; among others.

The JDC International Centre for Community Development established the survey as a means to identify the priorities, sensibilities and concerns of Europe’s top Jewish leaders and professionals working in Jewish institutions, taking into account the changes that European Jewry has gone through since 1989, and the current political challenges and uncertainties in the continent. In a landscape with few mechanisms that can truly gauge these phenomena, the European Jewish Community Leaders Survey is an essential tool for analysis and applied research in the field of community development.

The Survey team was directed by Dr. Barry Kosmin (Trinity College), who has conducted several large national social surveys and opinion polls in Europe, Africa and the U.S., including the CJF 1990 US National Jewish Population Survey.
Political memory, ontological security, and Holocaust remembrance in post-communist Europe
Author(s): Subotic, Jelena
Date: 2018
Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Holocaust Commemoration, Memory, Communism, Post-1989, Antisemitism
Abstract: Post-communist states today are dealing with conflicting sources of ontological insecurity. They are anxious to be perceived as fully European by “core” European states, a status that remains fleeting. Being fully European, however, means sharing in the cosmopolitan European narratives of the twentieth century, perhaps the strongest being the narrative of the Holocaust. Influencing the European Union’s own memory politics and legislation in the process, post-communist states have attempted to resolve these insecurities by undergoing a radical revision of their respective Holocaust remembrance where the memory, symbols, and imagery of the Holocaust become appropriated to represent crimes of communism. By rejecting the cosmopolitan European narrative of the Holocaust, post-communist states have also removed anti-fascist resistance from the core memory of the Holocaust, allowing for a revival and ideological normalisation of contemporary fascist ideological movements. I illustrate the argument with an overview of contemporary Holocaust remembrance practices in the EU’s youngest member, Croatia.
Bringing the Dark Past to Light The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe
Editor(s): Himka, John-Paul; Michlic, Joanna Beata
Date: 2013
Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Memory, National Identity, Antisemitism, Holocaust Memorials, Holocaust Survivors, Holocaust Commemoration, Jewish Revival, Post-1989, Communism, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations
Abstract: Despite the Holocaust’s profound impact on the history of Eastern Europe, the communist regimes successfully repressed public discourse about and memory of this tragedy. Since the collapse of communism in 1989, however, this has changed. Not only has a wealth of archival sources become available, but there have also been oral history projects and interviews recording the testimonies of eyewitnesses who experienced the Holocaust as children and young adults. Recent political, social, and cultural developments have facilitated a more nuanced and complex understanding of the continuities and discontinuities in representations of the Holocaust. People are beginning to realize the significant role that memory of Holocaust plays in contemporary discussions of national identity in Eastern Europe.

This volume of original essays explores the memory of the Holocaust and the Jewish past in postcommunist Eastern Europe. Devoting space to every postcommunist country, the essays in Bringing the Dark Past to Light explore how the memory of the “dark pasts” of Eastern European nations is being recollected and reworked. In addition, it examines how this memory shapes the collective identities and the social identity of ethnic and national minorities. Memory of the Holocaust has practical implications regarding the current development of national cultures and international relationships.

Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
John-Paul Himka and Joanna Beata Michlic
1. "Our Conscience Is Clean": Albanian Elites and the Memory of the Holocaust in Postsocialist Albania
Daniel Perez
2. The Invisible Genocide: The Holocaust in Belarus
Per Anders Rudling
3. Contemporary Responses to the Holocaust in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Francine Friedman
4. Debating the Fate of Bulgarian Jews during World War II
Joseph Benatov
5. Representations of the Holocaust and Historical Debates in Croatia since 1989
Mark Biondich
6. The Sheep of Lidice: The Holocaust and the Construction of Czech National History
Michal Frankl
7. Victim of History: Perceptions of the Holocaust in Estonia
Anton Weiss-Wendt
8. Holocaust Remembrance in the German Democratic Republic--and Beyond
Peter Monteath
9. The Memory of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Hungary
Part 1: The Politics of Holocaust Memory
Paul Hanebrink
Part 2: Cinematic Memory of the Holocaust
Catherine Portuges
10. The Transformation of Holocaust Memory in Post-Soviet Latvia
Bella Zisere
11. Conflicting Memories: The Reception of the Holocaust in Lithuania
Saulius Sužied<edot>lis and Šarūnas Liekis
12. The Combined Legacies of the "Jewish Question" and the "Macedonian Question"
Holly Case
13. Public Discourses on the Holocaust in Moldova: Justification, Instrumentalization, and Mourning
Vladimir Solonari
14. The Memory of the Holocaust in Post-1989 Poland: Renewal--Its Accomplishments and Its Powerlessness
Joanna B. Michlic and Małgorzata Melchior
15. Public Perceptions of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Romania
Felicia Waldman and Mihai Chioveanu
16. The Reception of the Holocaust in Russia: Silence, Conspiracy, and Glimpses of Light
Klas-Göran Karlsson
17. Between Marginalization and Instrumentalization: Holocaust Memory in Serbia since the Late 1980s
Jovan Byford
18. The "Unmasterable Past"? The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Slovakia
Nina Paulovičová
19. On the Periphery: Jews, Slovenes, and the Memory of the Holocaust
Gregor Joseph Kranjc
20. The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Ukraine
John-Paul Himka
Conclusion
Omer Bartov
Contributors
Index
Antisemitism: Overview of data available in the European Union 2006-2016
Author(s): European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Date: 2017
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Hate crime, Law, Government, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: Antisemitism can be expressed in the form of verbal and physical attacks, threats, harassment, property damage and graffiti or other forms of speech or text, including on the internet. Antisemitic incidents and hate crime violate fundamental rights, including the right to human dignity, the right to equality of treatment and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

This annual overview compiles the available evidence on antisemitic incidents collected by governmental and non-governmental sources, covering the period 1 January 2006– 31 December 2016, where data are available. In addition, it includes a section that presents evidence from international organisations. No official data on reported antisemitic incidents in 2016 were available for 11 Member States by the time this report was compiled in September 2017.

‘Official data’ are understood here as those collected by law enforcement agencies, other authorities that are part of criminal justice systems and relevant state ministries at the national level. ‘Unofficial data’ refers to data collected by civil society organisations.
Reconstructing Jewish Identity in Croatia: Towards a Refined Symbolic Ethnicity
Author(s): Hofman, Nila Ginger
Date: 2001
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Ethnicity
Abstract: This paper has two aims. To begin, it examines whether the symbolic ethnicitymodel is relevant to identity negotiationamong Croatian Jews. In symbolicethnicity, individuals are not so muchinterested in the maintenance of traditional lifestyles as they are with choosing how toexpress cultural identity. In the past,scholars have either employed the model todiscuss identity negotiation among ethnicsin the United States and other coresocieties, or they have dismissed it altogether. The second aim describes theexisting tension between the self-images of the Croatian Jews and those projected onthem by others. Both Croatian “cultural diversity campaigns” and international Jewish support organizations consider Jewish identity to have an essentiallyreligious core. Programs sponsored bythese constituencies have constructed pronounced cultural differences betweenCroatian Jews and non-Jewish Croatians
The Jewish community of Zagreb: Negotiating identity in the new Eastern Europe
Author(s): Hofman, Nila Ginger
Date: 2000
Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Ethnicity, Ethnography, Jewish Community
Abstract: My dissertation addresses the sociocultural processes which contribute to the construction of ethnocultural identity among Zagrebian Jews. I argue, contrary to the often essentialized perception of Jewish identity imposed by e.g. the Croatian government and Jewish international organizations, that Jewish identity in Zagreb is actively chosen in ways that are both idiosyncratic and contingent upon the surrounding sociocultural environment. At the heart of my argument is an appeal to the dynamic and contextual nature of identity negotiation, and the influence this has on the maintenance and survival of the Zagrebian Jewish community. In support of this, I have employed ethnographic methods to assess (i) the ways in which Jewish identity is negotiated by community members and (ii) the ways in which the meaning of Jewish community is sustained in Zagreb. With regards to (i), I conclude that Zagrebian Jews understand their identities in terms of symbolic ethnoreligiosity, i.e. in terms of feelings and nostalgic ideas about Jewish culture and tradition. With regards to (ii), I show that the history and development of Jewish identity in Zagreb can be traced through patterns of membership participation in various Jewish organizations prevalent in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These patterns reveal the predominantly secular nature of the Zagrebian Jewish community. In light of this, I argue that community for Zagrebian Jews is ultimately defined symbolically through various types of social interaction among members. It is for this reason that the recent attempts of both international Jewish organizations and the Croatian government to impose an essentialized image of Jewish identity on the community are at odds with, and ultimately destructive to, the secular and improvisatory self-images of the members themselves.
Overview of Immovable Property Restitution/Compensation Regime - Croatia (As of 13 December 2016)
Author(s): European Shoah Legacy Institute (ESLI)
Date: 2017
Topics: Holocaust Survivors, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Restitution and Reparations, Holocaust
Abstract: The Holocaust (Shoah) Immovable Property Restitution Study is the first-ever comprehensive
compilation of all significant legislation passed since 1945 by the 47 states that participated in
the 2009 Prague Holocaust Era Assets Conference and endorsed the 2009 Terezin Declaration
that came out of the Prague conference.

The Terezin Declaration (and its companion document, the 2010 Guidelines and Best Practices,
endorsed by 43 countries) focuses in substantial part on the treatment of immovable (real)
property restitution: private, communal, and heirless property. The Study examined private,
communal, and heirless property as discrete components of each country’s restitution efforts
from 1944 to 2016.

Croatia endorsed the Terezin Declaration in 2009 and the Guidelines and Best Practices
in 2010.
As part of the European Shoah Legacy Institute’s Immovable Property Restitution Study,
a Questionnaire covering past and present restitution regimes for private, communal and
heirless property was sent to all 47 Terezin Declaration governments in 2015. As of 13
December 2016, no response from Croatia has been received.
Report on issues related to property restitution and compensation in former Communist countries
Author(s): Naamat, Talia; Ilan, Ronna
Date: 2012
Topics: Law, European Union, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial
Antisemitism: Overview of data available in the European Union 2004–2014
Author(s): European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Date: 2015
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Hate crime, Law, Government, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: Antisemitism can be expressed in the form of verbal and physical attacks, threats, harassment, property damage, graffiti or other forms of text, including on the internet. This report relates to manifestations of antisemitism as they are recorded by official and unofficial sources in the 28 European Union (EU) Member States.

‘Official data’ is understood here as that collected by law enforcement agencies, criminal justice systems and relevant state ministries at the national level. ‘Unofficial data’ refers to data collected by civil society organisations.

This report compiles available data on antisemitic incidents collected by international, governmental and non-governmental sources, covering the period 1 January 2004– 31 December 2014, where data are available. No official data on reported antisemitic incidents were available for seven Member States at the time this report was compiled: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Malta and Portugal.
Third Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers, 2015
Author(s): Kosmin, Barry A.
Date: 2016
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Religious Denominations, Security, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity
Abstract: Launched by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s International Centre for Community Development (JDC-ICCD), and conducted by a research team at Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut, USA) between June and August 2015, the Third Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers presents the results of an online survey administered to 314 respondents in 29 countries. The survey was conducted online in five languages: English, French, Spanish, German and Hungarian. The Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers is conducted every three or four years using the same format, in order to identify trends and their evolution. Findings of the 2015 edition were assessed and evaluated based on the results of previous surveys (2008 and 2011). The survey posed Jewish leaders and opinion formers a range of questions about major challenges and issues that
concern European Jewish communities in 2015, and about their expectations of how communities will evolve over the next 5-10 years. The 45 questions (see Appendix) dealt
with topics that relate to internal community structures and their functions, as well as the external environment affecting communities. The questionnaire also included six open-ended questions in a choice of five languages. These answers form the basis of the qualitative analysis of the report. The questions were organized under the following headings:• Vision & Change (6 questions)
• Decision-Making & Control (1 question)
• Lay Leadership (1 question)
• Professional Leadership (2 questions)
• Status Issues & Intermarriage (5 questions)
• Organizational Frameworks (2 questions)
• Community Causes (2 questions)
• Jewish Education (1 question)
• Funding (3 questions)
• Communal Tensions (3 questions)
• Anti-Semitism/Security (5 questions)
• Europe (1 question)
• Israel (1 question)
• Future (2 questions)
• Personal Profile (9 questions)
Jüdische Gemeinden in Europa: Zwischen Aufbruch und Kontinuität
Translated Title: Jewish communities in Europe: Between Emergence and continuity
Editor(s): Ungar-Klein, Brigitte
Date: 2000
Topics: Jewish Revival, Assimilation, Jewish Identity, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: Porträts von 17 jüdischen Gemeinden in Europa.

Am Ende eines für Europa geschichtsträchtigen und vor allem für Juden tragischen Jahrhunderts entwerfen 18 Autoren individuell gestaltete, einander ergänzende Porträts jüdischer Gemeinden, die Auskunft geben über das Leben und Wirken der Gemeinschaften, über deren Gegenwart und Vergangenheit, ihre Strukturen und Voraussetzungen. Diese Bestandsaufnahmen des jüdischen Lebens führen quer durch Europa: nach Österreich, England, Frankreich und Deutschland. Es folgen Beiträge über die Türkei, einen jahrhundertealten Zufluchtsort für Juden, den jüdischen Nachwuchs in Osteuropa, über Thessaloniki, die Juden im Gebiet der ehemaligen Sowjetunion, deren Gemeinschaft durch anhaltende Emigration bedroht ist, und über die wirtschaftliche und soziale Not der ukrainischen Juden. Der Leser erfährt von der Entwicklung der kleinen aber dynamischen jüdischen Gemeinde von Litauen, von jener in Estland und von der unerwarteten Wiedergeburt des Judentums in Polen, dem einzigen Land in Europa mit einer wachsenden jüdischen Bevölkerung. Nach einem Beitrag über die neuerwachten Gemeinden Prag und Bratislava gibt der Band einen Überblick über die Geschichte des Judentums im Rumänien des 20. Jahrhunderts, erzählt von der »ungarischen Renaissance« und porträtiert die kroatische jüdische Gemeinde, die nun, nach beinahe 50 Jahren wieder einen Rabbiner hat. In einem abschließenden Essay fordert die französische Historikerin Diana Pinto das Wiederentstehen einer europäischen jüdischen Identität und gemahnt die Gemeinden an ihre Pflicht der Erinnerung.
Survey Results: General Assembly Budapest 2004
Date: 2004
Topics: Jewish Organisations, Jewish Community, Jewish Identity, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Antisemitism, Affiliation and Belonging, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: This survey was given to participants in the 3rd General Assembly of European Jewry, which was held in Budapest in May 2004. Participants were asked how many Jews participate in community programs in their respective cities; the programs and activities their Jewish community offers; and how they believe their community could be more effective in attracting more members.
Second Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers, 2011
Author(s): Kosmin, Barry A.
Date: 2012
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Religious Denominations, Security, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity
Abstract: unquoted attribute value: &quot;margin-left: 4
Social Survey for the Jewish Community Members in Zagreb Aged 65 Years and More
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Date: 2006
Topics: Elderly Care, Ageing and the Elderly, Surveys, Main Topic: Demography and Migration
Abstract: The initiative for Survey is given by Research and Documentation centre for
Holocaust victims and survivors in Zagreb, with support by Jewish community
Zagreb, Claims conference research funds and JOINT.
This is the second social Survey on the same population of Jewish community in
Zagreb. First survey which was realized before ten years – in 1995, had a great
success by providing with relevant data social and humanitarian work in Community,
what was important at that time, after the war in ex-Yugoslavia.
With the present research in 2005, we wish to obtain a key informant survey to
facilitate community social work, with respects to the needs of the Jewish elderly and
the implication of the aging in the Jewish community.
Objectives of the survey is to describe actual and recent situation and needs for the
elderly members of community older than 65 years, and to renew and support social
work, voluntaries actions and solidarity in the Jewish communities.
In the last ten years, between two surveys, we can perceive several mayor changes
in demographic, social, economical and health situation of the elderly, mainly
holocaust survivors:
‰ Increased proportion of elderly persons in the Jewish population in Croatia
‰ Increased proportion of persons, aged 75 years and more in the population of
elderly
‰ The rise in the number of persons aged 75 and more, increase the number of
disabled elderly
‰ Restrictions of public basic medical care and decline of public social welfare
expenditure
‰ Worsening of the economical situation and lowering standard of living
‰ Changes in the role of the Jewish family in caring for the elderly
‰ Lack of the data in community on the needs of the elderly
Židovska populacija i popisi stanovništva
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Topics: Censuses, Demography, Main Topic: Demography and Migration
Holocaust Survivors in Croatia
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Topics: Holocaust Survivors, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Ageing and the Elderly
Jewish (religious) Population in Croatia: According to the Census Data 1880-2011
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Topics: Demography, Censuses, Main Topic: Demography and Migration
Židovska populacija u Hrvatskoj i Zagrebu
Translated Title: The Jewish population in Croatia and Zagreb
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Date: 2010
Topics: Demography, Censuses, Main Topic: Demography and Migration
Abstract: Ova je knjiga rezultat dugogodišnjih istraživanja Židova u Hrvatskoj u kojima su korišteni podaci iz popisa stanovništva od 1857. do 2001. godine. Kako je riječ o dinamičnoj skupini stanovništva koja se stalno mijenja korištena je komparativna i analitičko-sintetička metoda u istraživanju. Korišteni su i podaci Židovskih općina, rezultati anketa i podaci Istraživačkog i dokumentacijskog centra u Zagrebu. Dan je i prikaz prostornog smještaja židova u Zagrebu od 1900. do 2001. kao i socioekonomska obilježja od 2001.-2005. godine.
Jews in Croatia. Holocaust victims and survivors
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Date: 2000
Topics: Holocaust Survivors, Demography, Main Topic: Demography and Migration
European Jewish Digest: July 2015
Author(s): Goldstein, Richard
Date: 2015
Topics: Main Topic: Other
Abstract: JPR’s monthly European Jewish digest provides a concise look at some of the major events impacting on Jewish life around Europe.
European Jewish Digest: June 2015
Author(s): Goldstein, Richard
Date: 2015
Topics: Main Topic: Other
Abstract: JPR’s monthly European Jewish digest provides a concise look at some of the major events impacting on Jewish life around Europe.
Jewish Women in the Former Yugoslavia
Author(s): Lebl, Ana
Editor(s): Epstein, Helen
Date: 1999
Topics: Jewish Women, Jewish Organisations, Small Jewish Communities, Post-War Reconstruction, Communism, Conflict, Main Topic: Other
Abstract:

The author provides an overview of Jewish history in the former Yugoslavia, with an emphasis on the lives and activities of women. Until the Holocaust, the diverse Jewish community prospered and Jewish women's organizations multiplied and grew. Jewish women were active in organizing and providing aid, in supplies and medical work, in every Balkan war. After the decimation of the Holocaust, only a fraction of the community remained. Yugoslavia enjoyed relative freedom of movement and freedom of religion under communism, however, and eventually some women's organizations were rebuilt and were able to continue their benevolent work throughout the modern conflicts, even at the high point of violence in Sarajevo. Each of the new countries continues to have its own women's organizations, even in smaller communities like Split, where the Jewish population is only 120.
Antisemitism: Summary overview of the situation in the European Union 2003-2013
Author(s): European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Date: 2014
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Hate crime, Law, Government, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: The present update relates to manifestations of antisemitism as they are recorded by official and unofficial sources in the 28 European Union (EU) Member States. ‘Official data’ is understood here as that collected by law enforcement agencies, criminal justice systems and relevant state ministries at the national level. ‘Unofficial data’ refers to data collected by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs). This update compiles available data on antisemitic incidents collected by international, governmental and non-governmental sources, covering the period 1 January 2003–31 December 2013. No data on manifestations of antisemitism were available for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia at the time this update was compiled.

This is the 10th in a series of yearly updates about data collected on antisemitism published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and its predecessor, the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC).
Antisemitism: Overview of data available in the European Union 2005-2015
Author(s): European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Date: 2016
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Hate crime, Law, Government, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: ‘Official data’ are understood here as those collected by law enforcement agencies, authorities that are part of criminal justice systems and relevant state ministries at the national level. ‘Unofficial data’ refers to data collected by civil society organisations.

This annual report compiles the available evidence on antisemitic incidents collected by international, governmental and non-governmental sources, covering the period 1 January 2005–31 December 2015, where data are available. In addition, it includes a section that presents evidence from international organisations. No official data on reported antisemitic incidents in 2015 were available for eight Member States by the time this report was compiled in September 201
Renewed survival: Jewish community life in Croatia
Author(s): Hofman, Nila Ginger
Date: 2006
Topics: Jewish Revival, Jewish Identity, Jewish Culture, Jewish Community, Jewish Continuity, Assimilation, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: Renewed Survival is an ethno-historic account of Jewish community life in Croatia. It traces the community's turbulent history from its inception in the late eighteenth century to the shifting political climate of the 1990s following the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Croatia's separation from Yugoslavia is explored ethnographically by examining the lives of the members of a small community of largely intercultural Jews. Particular attention is paid to the impact of local and transnational cultural changes during this period, wherein Jewish community life in Croatia became the focus of a number of institutional forces such as market capitalism, government-sponsored diversity campaigns, and transnational identity politics (the post-communist 'meaning makers' of Jewish identity). By exploring the multiple strategies employed by Croatian Jews in refashioning their identities, this work challenges both the nostalgic image of a thriving presence of Jewish culture in Croatia as well as the (more prominent) view that Jewish communities in Croatia are on the brink of extinction. The author suggests that the latter view-the 'disappearance thesis'-is belied by the experiences of many Croatian Jews, who continue to derive meaning from Jewish community life, notwithstanding their lack of religious commitment and cultural hybridization.
European Jewish Digest November and December 2014
Author(s): Goldstein, Richard
Date: 2015
Topics: Main Topic: Other
Abstract: JPR’s monthly European Jewish digest provides a concise look at some of the major events impacting on Jewish life around Europe.
European Jewish identity at the dawn of the 21 century: A working paper
Author(s): Graham, David
Date: 2004
Topics: Jewish Identity, Ethnicity, Jewish Revival, Secularity, Holocaust, Censuses, Surveys, Demography, Research, Methodology, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: David Graham's important study argues that contemporary Jewish identity has been heavily shaped by three key developments: the rise and fall of Communism; the Holocaust; and the increasing secularisation of European society. It notes that existing social research demonstrates a revival of Jewish life in Europe that, whilst heavily influenced by the various broader cultures in which it is located, nevertheless shows striking similarities across national boundaries.

As well as listing and referencing the major studies conducted on different European Jewish communities, it calls for a more unified approach to Jewish social research in Europe, and the collation of key sources into a centralised databank.
Sefardska židovska općina u Zagrebu i Holokaust
Translated Title: The Sephardic Jewish community in Zagreb and the Holocaust.
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Date: 2015
Topics: Holocaust Survivors, Demography, Sephardi Jews, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial
Zidovi u Hrvatskoj: Migracije i promjene u zidovskoj populaciji
Translated Title: Jews in Croatia: Migration and Changes in Jewish Population
Author(s): Švob, Melita
Date: 1997
Topics: Demography, emigration, Main Topic: Demography and Migration
The Jewish Dimension of the Yugoslav Crisis
Author(s): Golub, Jennifer L.
Date: 1992
Topics: Main Topic: Other, Conflict
Antisemitism: Summary overview of the situation in the European Union 2001-2012
Author(s): European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Date: 2013
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Hate crime, Law, Government, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: This update compiles available data on antisemitic incidents collected by international, governmental and non-governmental sources, covering the period 1 January 2002–31 December 2012, where data are available. No data on manifestations of antisemitism were available for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Romania at the time this update was compiled.