On the same day that the German army entered Zagreb, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a German and Italian collaborationist state led by the Ustasha – members of a Croatian separatist, nationalist and terrorist organization – was proclaimed. Shortly after the establishment of the NDH, Ivan Werner mayor of Zagreb signed the decision to demolish the synagogue in October 1941 claiming that the synagogue did not fit into the urban plan of the city.
The demolition began in October 1941 and was completed only in the spring of 1942. The entire process was photographed, and this material became part of the anti-Jewish exhibition, which was opened in May 1942 in the Art Pavilion in Zagreb. The exhibition then traveled to all major cities of the NDH. The demolition of the synagogue, a symbol of Zagreb and Zagreb's Jewry, was a painful blow to the city's Jewish community.
Listen to the excerpt from the interview to hear how Emile Svarc remembers the moments of the synagogue's destruction. Read his short biography as well.
Emile Svarc was born in 1936 in Yugoslavia. Emil's parents were in a mixed Jewish-Christian marriage. His carefree childhood changed at the beginning of the war in 1941. Emile remembers all the major restrictions of that period; his parents lost their jobs, and for the then 5-year-old Emile, even a walk in the park became impossible. After the establishment of the NDH and its antisemitic laws, his father (who had since converted to Christianity) and grandmother were forced to wear the yellow star, while Emile and his mother were exempted from it. Emil's father and uncle were arrested and deported to Jasenovac, from where his wife saved Emil's father, and the uncle died in an escape attempt on 22 April 1945. Emile immigrated to Israel in 1965, and later to the United States and Canada.
What did the Ustasha regime want to further emphasize by setting up a traveling exhibition about the demolition of the synagogue?