On the Road to a Vibrant Jewish Future

Following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the Jews of a newly independent Croatia faced a precarious era of war and transition during which they were buoyed by JDC support. At the same time, JDC enabled them - after nearly fifty years of assimilation and limited Jewish communal activity - to begin a return to their Jewish roots.

Gradually over the years, proceeds from restituted communal property in the capital, Zagreb, have enabled Croatian Jews to assume financial responsibility for their basic programs. With the community's self-sufficient future on the horizon, JDC now provides technical assistance to develop a strong cadre of local leaders and invests in initiatives that will meet long-term needs.

Increasingly, JDC assists the community in its efforts to attract a wider Jewish population to ongoing and new programming. With a growing number of individuals looking to learn about their heritage, JDC participates with the rabbi - Croatia's first in more than fifty years - in his efforts to make the synagogue a greater focus of Jewish life. To revitalize the small, outlying Jewish communities, such as Osijek and Split, JDC offers holiday celebrations and training opportunities that fortify Croatian Jewry as a whole.

JDC also nurtures the Zagreb community's role as a positive force for Jewish communities both nationwide and throughout the Balkans. A funding partnership with Zagreb has renewed the longstanding tradition of gatherings at its summer camp in Pirovac on the Dalmatian coast. And, with JDC support, the community plays host to regional activities, including the annual Beyachad Jewish cultural festival and regular student seminars that have created a multi-generational network among former Yugoslav Jewish communities.

Thanks to general political stability and steady income from restituted communal property, the Croatian Jewish community has come a long way in the more than a decade since the fall of the former Yugoslavia. Drawing on the strength of its past traditions and its partnership with JDC, it is now a symbol of hope and potential for the entire region with a vibrant, self-sufficient future on the horizon.