Jews reached the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia at the time of the Roman Empire, but the community grew when additional influxes arrived during the Crusades and the expulsion from Spain. Following World War I, when Croatia joined the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that later became Yugoslavia, Croatian Jewry united with other Jewish communities under a Federation umbrella. The community was a mix of Ashkenazi and Sephardic congregations.

Immediately following Germany's April 1941 invasion of Yugoslavia, the puppet regime proclaimed an Independent State of Croatia. Jews, along with Serbs, Gypsies, and Croat communists were systematically exterminated at local concentration camps, among them Jasenovac, the largest and most notorious. Jewish communities along the Adriatic fell under more tolerant Italian control until 1943. At the same time, Jews throughout the former Yugoslavia played an important role in Tito's partisan struggle against the fascist regime.

After the war, about half of Croatia's surviving Jews left for Israel. Those who remained generally assimilated, though some retained limited cultural ties with their local communities and the Federation. During the socialist era, JDC funded cash relief for elderly survivors, the old age home in Zagreb and limited Jewish programming, including the delivery of matzah.

War immediately followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
JDC organized bus convoys to evacuate Jews and non-Jews from the besieged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo into Croatia. Based in the Zagreb Jewish community, a JDC-supported massive refugee relief effort enabled Bosnian Jews and their families to get back on their feet. All the while, JDC and the Jewish community worked together to continue regular Jewish programming.

As peace returned to the region, JDC emergency efforts evolved into ongoing programs that are the core of community activities today. In 2001, the Zagreb Jewish community assumed financial responsibility for welfare services throughout Croatia and for its own educational programming, putting it further down the path towards self-sufficiency.

2005