How to teach the Holocaust in Croatia according to MTF Summer Institute

1. How to teach the Holocaust in Croatia according to MTF Summer Institute Guidelines for teachers Mirela Balesic Dijana Dijanic

2. Define the term ‘’Holocaust’’

3. Avoid comparisons of pain Mara was one of six children born into Serbian family. She was baptized in the Serbian Orthodox faith. In 1944 Croatian police arrested Mara, because she was prominent Serbian nationalist. After refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism, she was deported to Jasenovac, a Croatian-run concentration camp. Mara died in Jasenovac in the late 1944. She was 43 years old. Mara Jovicic PopovicBorn Foca, Yugoslavia July 1901

4. Avoid simple answers to complex history Political cartoon entitled, "Will the Evian Conference guide him to freedom?" that was published in the Sunday, July 3, 1938 edition of The New York Times.

5. Just because it happened does not mean it was inevitable

6. The Savors and the Survivors The Savor (file 10169) : Oruzec Djuro & the late Kata The Survivor: Biserka Glavas and her grandmother In 1943 most of the Croatian Jews were in the concentration camps. The Stibilj family (Jews) had lived before the war in Zagreb. The father had died before the war. The mother joined the Partisans during the war and daughter Biserka moved to her grandmother’s, Hermina Weinberger, house in Sesvete. On July 7 1943 the grandmother got an evacuation order. She had to leave the house within 24 hours. Oruzec, farmers who lived in Galisce near Sesvete allowed the grandmother and 3 years old Biserka to live with them and agreed to hide them until the end of the war in May 1945. (The Oruzec family had 2 children of their own, 12 and 18 year old and three more children of a deceased sister). The grandmother was hidden in the attic and Biserka grew up as normal child in the village. The children who lived on the farm always made sure to inform them if the Ustasa patrol was coming.

7. Marija Grguljak testifies that she lived near Ozurec family and went to school with one of their daughters. She said that in the Oruzec family house there were many children and they were a poor family. In spring 1943 Hermina Weinberger and her grandchild Biserka joined the Ozurec family. Mrs. Weinberger was the owner of a restaurant and a store in Sesvete. In our village there were only 15 houses, so all of us knew each other. All of us knew that Hermina Weinberger was Jewish and understood that we had to take care of her. I visited their house and saw that Hermina’s bad was hidden, and Biserka played with other children, but only in the backyard. If there were any danger we informed them and they ran to hide. I know that they couldn’t pay because all their property was confiscated. Velimir Skaric, Biserka’s cousin tells: My mother is Biserka’s mother sister. My mother married a Catholic man, which allowed us to hide in my father’s family house. I know that in 1943 my grandmother and Biserka were forced to leave their house without any property, and they found a place to hide with a poor family (Oruzec) who had many children. Both of the testimonies indicate that the survivor’s story is true. I recommend for Oruzec Djuro and the late Kata to be aknowlidged as Righteous among the Nations.

8. Survivors gathered in the First International Conference about JasenovacNew York, October 1997

9. Strive for precision language Four ceramic miniatures made by Slavko Bril, a Croatianinmate who was killed in the Jasenovac camp. MEMORIJALNI MUZEJ JASENOVAC – Croatia, (OAN; neg. N08131, Collections: 2002.537.4) USHMM Photo Archives N08131

10. Adolf Hitler greets Ante Pavelić, leader of puppet Independent State of Croatia, Berchtesgaden, Germany, 9. 6. 1941. Vladko Macek leader of Croatian peasant party

11. Corps of killed prisoners of Jasenovaccamp

12. Female prisoners labor in a sewing workshop in the Jasenovac III concentration camp. This photograph was used for propagandistic purposes by the Ustasa (March 1942.). Source: MEMORIJALNI MUZEJ JASENOVAC - Croatia; neg. 10116(Collections: 2002.537.4) USHMM Photo Archives 46625

13. Prisoners labor in the kitchen of the Jasenovac III concentration camp. This photograph was used for propagandistic purposes by the Ustasa (March 1942.). Source: MEMORIJALNI MUZEJ JASENOVAC - Croatia; neg. 10116 (Collections: 2002.537.4) USHMM Photo Archives 46621

14. Make careful distinctions about sources of information Dinko Sakic was the commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II. He was put for a trial in 1998 for his crimes and sentenced to 2o years of jail.

15. Confiscation of Jewish property (izseljavanje iz stanova i kuća)

16. Other ways of persecution

17. Try to avoid stereotypical descriptions A Jewish prisoner is forced to remove his ring upon hisarrival in the Jasenovac concentration camp. Serbs and Romas that were under ustasa watch gathered before deportation to Jasenovac

18. Do not romanticize history to engage students’ interest Estimated number of Jewish victims in Jasenovac is 8 000 to 20 000, Croatian victims 5 000 to 12 000, Serbs 45 000 to 52 000, Roma victims 8 000 to 15 000.

19. Happiness for proclamation of Independent State of Croatia Contextualize the history you are teaching

20. Minorities in Croatian culture Roma’s skirt Members of a Zionist youth group in Pozega, Croatia. Famous Croatian scientist Nikola Tesla born into Serbian family

21. Translate statistics into people A young Jewishwoman, Florica Kabilio, playing her accordion (Zagreb, circa 1939). Photo Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Flory Kabilio Jagoda USHMM Photo Archives 42652

22. Portrait of a young Jewish girl, Zdenka Aplerwearing a fancy party dressin Ludbreg, Croatia (May 5, 1934). Photo Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Theodora Basch Klayman USHMM Photo Archives 56538

23. Portrait of a young Jewish woman, Silva Deutsch wearing her sash, who just won the MissDance Cotillion contest (Ludbreg, cca. 1925 – 1935). Photo Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Theodora Basch Klayman USHMM Photo Archives 56520

24. Be sensitive to appropriate written and audiovisual content Announcement issued by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior's Office of Public Obedience and Security. The text states, in part, that five Croats were arrested for distributing Communist leaflets. Four were executed and one was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The announcement goes on to declare that three people, two Jews and one Serb, were convicted of counterfeiting and selling official stamps. The two Jews were executed. The Serb middleman was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

25. A brochure called “Jews” that accompanied an antisemitic exhibition in Zagreb, May–June 1942.

26. Strive for balance in establishing whose perspective informs your study of the Holocaust Inside of a page of brochure that maps the location of Croatian Jews and charts the number of Jewish-owned businesses in relation to non-Jewish Croatian businesses.

27. Select appropriate learning activities Scheme of Jasenovac concentration camp today

28. Tombs shows mass graves and symbolized killings of prisoners Hills shows Ustasha barracks

29. Railway for prisoners

30. Remains of Jasenovac concentration camp today

31. Survivors from Jasenovac and USHMM lecturer

32. Yellow cotton Star of David patch withstamped 'Z' for Zidov, the Croatian word for Jew. The patch was glued to awooden carved cigarette box. MEMORIJALNI MUZEJ JASENOVAC - Croatia; (OANneg.N08128407; Collections: 2002.537.4) USHMM Photo Archives N08128

33. Reinforce the objectives of your lesson plan