Croatia

EARLY HISTORY

• 300 000 Neanderthal presence in the area
  1000 Indo-European Illyrians migrate into region
  500 Illyrians dominate while Greeks establish trade on Adriatic coast
  11 Rome rules most of present-day Croatia. Create network of trade & towns
  
• Jews settle in Roman towns, including in Savona (near modern-day Split)

• 600 Croats and other Slavic tribes arrive from today’s Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus
  Under threat from Croats, walled city of Split becomes Roman stronghold
  The walled city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) also established on Adriatic Coast
  
• Limited evidence suggests small Jewish communities active, including in Split
  
• 800 Croats begin accepting Christianity, strengthening collective identity
  925 Kingdom of Croatia established but independence and stability fragile
• Little is known about extent, if any, of Jewish population in this period

A CROSSROADS OF EMPIRES, FAITHS, ETHNIC GROUPS

• 1100 Venice and Italian elites control most of southern coast for next 700 years
  Northern Croatia under Hungarian rule. Town of Zagreb grows in importance
  
• Jewish communities settle in Zagreb and elsewhere in northern Croatia
  1402 Synagogue built in Dubrovnik (independent city-state on southern coast)
  1456 Jews expelled from Hungarian-controlled northern Croatia
  
• 1493 Ottoman Empire conquers Bosnia and Serbia, makes inroads into Croatia
  1526 Northern Croatia (and Hungary) absorbed into Habsburg (Austrian) Empire
  
• No Jews in north Croatia, Sephardi immigration boosts south coast communities
  Sephardi immigrants play important role in southern maritime trade
  1537 Cemetery in Split (one of oldest still used today) established
  
• 1600 Much of northern Croatia now under Ottomans Turks except around Zagreb
  Serbian Orthodox settlers come to Krajina to help under-siege Habsburgs
  Krajina becomes a key area for the substantial Serbian minority in Croatia
  1683 Ottomans defeated. Habsburgs regain control of northern Croatia
  Period of stability brings many immigrants from different groups
  1738 Living conditions on southern coast declining greatly
  
• Jews in previously tolerant southern coast (Split, Dubrovnik) confined to ghetto
  1773 25 Jewish families in Austrian-ruled northern Croatia, est. 600 Jews in south
  1782 Austrian Emperor grants religious freedom to Jews
  1806 Jewish immigration (Ashkenazi) increases, main settlement Osijek in northeast

NATIONALISM ON THE RISE

• 1815 Austrian Empire gains control of south coast
  Austrian Empire allows Hungary to rule north Croatia
  Hungary tries to impose language and culture on north Croatian population
  1848 Croatians fail to overthrow Hungarian control in north and east
  Croatian nationalist efforts strengthen but split into two camps
  Some favor unity with Serbia in autonomous South Slavic entity (Yugoslavia)
  Others favor Croatian independence and oppose alliance with Serbia
  1857 Croatia pop. 2.1 million and growing. Economy based on agriculture
  
• 1870 Population grows. 10,000 Jews in Croatia, mainly merchants and artisans
  
• 1900 Croatia remains a poor, overwhelmingly rural, society with low literacy levels
  Extreme poverty on southern coast sparks large-scale migration
  
• 20,000 Jews in 33 communities. Zagreb is and will remain largest community
  Most Jews in north. They are mainly middle-class, urban, Ashkenazi
  They are influenced by German and Hungarian culture, Reform movement
  Southern Jews mainly Sephardi. Active in trade, religious, and secular culture

CROATIA AS PART OF THE KINGDOM OF YUGOLSAVIA

• 1914 Nationalism grows among Croats, Serbs, and Austro-Hungarian Empire
  Serb assassination of Austrian Archduke in Sarajevo, Bosnia sparks World War I
  1918 Austro-Hungarian Empire collapses following defeat in WWI
  Fearful of Italian and Hungarian intentions, Croats join Kingdom of Yugoslavia
  A diverse, multicultural kingdom of 12 million with all men able to vote
  Serbs (mainly Orthodox Christians) 38% of population
  Croats (mainly Catholic) 24%, Bosnian Muslims 6%. Many other groups
  Kingdom based in Belgrade, Serbia. Heavy Serbian influence in politics, army
  
• 65,000 Jews in Yugoslavia, 100 communities with considerable diversity
  Some Croatian anti-Semitism but Jews generally accepted in Yugoslav kingdom
  
• 1920 Croatian peasant revolt a sign of wider ideological and national tensions
  1928 Serbian politician assassinates Croat leaders in Yugoslav parliament
  Fearing civil war, King Alexander declares royal dictatorship
  Ante Pavelic establishes Ustaŝe, a Croatian separatist, anti-Serb terror group
  Ustaŝe seek independent, fascist-Catholic Croatia including in all of Bosnia
  1934 Ustaŝe and Macedonian nationalists assassinate King Alexander

A MURDEROUS WORLD WAR II

• 1941 Axis nations (Germany, Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria) occupy and divide Yugoslavia
  Germans establish puppet state of Croatia (includes north Croatia, Bosnia)
  Is ruled by the Ustaŝe. They decimate political opponents & non-ethnic Croats
  Jasenovac concentration camp system established by the Ustaŝe
  
• Ustaŝe kill 340,000 Croatian Serbs. Roma population of 27,000 devastated
  Ustaŝe kill most Croat Jews, many at Jasenovac
  Others handed to Germans and deported to Auschwitz
  Southern Croatia under Italian rule; only place of protection for Yugoslav Jews
  
• 1945 Communist partisans led by Josip Tito (a Croat) liberate Yugoslavia
  One in eight Yugoslavs (mainly civilians) killed in war, one of highest ratios in Europe
  
• 67,000 Yugoslav Jews (including over 30,000 in Croatia) killed; 14,000 survive

CROATIA AS PART OF COMMUNIST YUGOSLAVIA

• 1945 Yugoslavia is the only Communist state without direct Soviet control
  One of Europe’s poorest, most multi-national states. Mainly rural, religious
  Pop. 15.7 million including 6.5 million ethnic Serbs, 3.8 million ethnic Croats
  Tito launches “ultra-Bolshevik” economic and political program
  Executes opponents, including Croatian fascists and Catholic leaders
  1946 Federal Yugoslavia has 6 republics including Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia
  Serbia largest republic but Tito prevents nationalist conflict & Serb dominance
  
• Yugoslav Jews (with JDC help) re-establish communities including in Croatia
  
• 1948 Soviets break with Yugoslavia: Stalin condemns ambitious, independent Tito
  
• 8,000 Yugoslav Jews leave for Israel in next four years. Just 6,500 remain
  
• 1949 Fearing economic collapse & Soviet invasion, Tito accepts huge US financial help
  He keeps political control but finishes purges & allows more economic flexibility
  1960 Socio-economic improvements; “repressive but not oppressive” political system
  
• 1967 Govt. breaks with Israel but local Jews retain communal and religious freedoms
  
• 1968 Economy boosted by Yugoslav “guest workers” in booming Western Europe
  1970 Zagreb’s population has doubled to 560,000 over last 20 years
  Croatian Spring: Zagreb students demand more liberties and Croatian autonomy
  1974 Keeping the peace: new constitution gives greater rights to Croatia
  Yugoslavia a land of overlapping minorities. Each republic has multiple groups
  A more secular, integrated Yugoslavia emerging, especially in growing cities
  Both Serbs & Croats speak Serbo-Croat (different alphabets but similar verbally)
  1975 Croatian-Swiss scientist Vladimir Prelog wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  1980 Tito dies. Presidency rotated among leaders of 6 republics to maintain balance
  Northern republics of Slovenia and Croatia wealthier than others
  They are concerned by federal govt. economic policies and its massive debts
  
• 5,500 Jews in Yugoslavia (2,000 in Croatia), increasingly secular communities
  
• 1989 Communist control weakening like in much of Eastern Europe
  Croatia worried by Serbian nationalist leaders including Slobodan Milošević
  1990 Yugoslav inflation (1240% per year) another factor in Croatian separatism
  Croatian republic elect anti-Serbian nationalist Franjo Tudjman
  This in turn alarms the 560,000 Serbs living in Croatia, 12% of total population
  
• Tudjman also makes anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim remarks

WAR & ETHNIC CLEANSING RETURN TO EUROPE

• 1991 Both Croatia & Slovenia declare independence from Yugoslavia
  Germany & European community quickly recognize these new sovereign states
  Serb-dominated Yugoslav army launches attacks on these “rebel republics”
  Over next 8 years, there will be 5 main Yugoslav wars. Three involve Croatia
  New Croatian state at war with its Serb minority (backed by Serbia-Yugoslavia)
  Massacres, ethnic cleansing, many Croats displaced by Serbian forces
  
• Jewish community buildings in Zagreb and Dubrovnik damaged in bombings
  
• 1992 Fragile ceasefire declared in Croatia. Serbs hold part of Croatia (Krajina)
  Bosnia (led by local Muslims & Croats) declares independence from Yugoslavia
  War in Bosnia. Bosnian Serbs versus local Muslims & Croats (backed by Zagreb)
  1993 Bosnian Croats seek to establish own state (Herzegovina) & link it to Croatia
  Croatia & Bosnian Croats now at war with Bosnian Muslims & Bosnian Serbs
  War in Croatia breaks out again. Croatia eventually recaptures Serb-held Krajina
  Estimated 200,000 ethnic Serbs flee or are expelled from Croatia
  1995 Croatia wins its war of independence. Dayton agreement ends Bosnian conflict.
  1999 Last Yugoslav war (in Serbian province of Kosovo) ends after NATO bomb Serbs
  In all of former Yugoslavia, estimated 140,000 dead (20,000 killed in Croatia)
  Over 2 million refugees & displaced people after widespread ethnic cleansing
  Worst European violence since WWII. Multinational communities destroyed

A NEW NATION, A NEW BEGINNING?

• 2000 New, more moderate leadership: Tudjman dies, Milošević overthrown in Serbia
  Increased democracy in Croatia & a fast-growing economy
  
• Estimated 1,700 Jews in Croatia, mainly Zagreb
  
• 2005 Tourism boom: Lonely Planet calls Croatia world’s best spot to visit
  2007 Income has doubled in Croatia since end of war
  2008 Global financial crisis hits Croatia hard. Public spending slashed
  2012 Croatia education system voted 22nd in world (equal with Austria)
  2013 Croatia joins EU. Economy recovering somewhat but 17% unemployment
  Most Serb refugees do not return. Croatia now 90% Croat, just 4% Serb
  2015 Over 700,000 refugees from Syria and elsewhere pass through Croatia
• Croatian President visits Israel; condemns Ustaŝe’s role in Holocaust
  However, Croatian Jewish leaders condemn increasing Holocaust revisionism
  
• 2018 A small nation, a soccer giant. Croatia reaches final of World Cup
  2019 Population of Croatia: 4.1 million
  Jewish population: 1,700