Croatian-Slavonian Jews in the First World War

Abstract

This paper seeks to present various levels of the Croatian-Slavonian Jews’ experience of the First World War. To begin with, although several war memorials are known to have been preserved, the scope of Jewish casualties remains unknown, having been a controversial theme within the former Yugoslav framework. However, recent research has reconstructed the patriotic and social care activities of Jewish societies for the period of 1914–1918; this research additionally charts the life paths of various notable individuals, both Zionist and assimilationist. Furthermore, although various sources attest to an increase in the negative perception of Jews as a result of the war, which in turn contributed to the mass looting of 1918-1919, one can reach no simple conclusions about the character of this changed perception. Similarly, although Zionist representatives publicly vested great hopes in the emancipatory potential of the new Yugoslav state, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had for all intents and purposes have shown themselves to be not so deficient after all.

Ovaj rad nastoji da prikaže različite nivoe iskustva hrvatsko-slavonskih Jevreja u Prvom svetskom ratu. Za početak, iako se zna da je sačuvano nekoliko ratnih spomenika, obim jevrejskih žrtava ostaje nepoznat, jer je bila kontroverzna tema u okvirima bivše Jugoslavije. Međutim, novija istraživanja su rekonstruisala patriotske i društvene aktivnosti jevrejskih društava za period 1914-1918; ovo istraživanje dodatno ucrtava životne puteve raznih značajnih pojedinaca, kako cionista, tako i asimilacionista. Štaviše, iako različiti izvori svedoče o porastu negativne percepcije Jevreja kao posledica rata, što je zauzvrat doprinelo masovnoj pljački 1918-1919, ne može se doneti jednostavan zaključak o karakteru ove promenjene percepcije. Slično tome, iako su cionistički predstavnici javno polagali velike nade u emancipatorski potencijal nove jugoslovenske države, Austro-Ugarsko carstvo se pokazalo da ipak nije bilo toliko manjkavo.