Zagreb Jews used to call the synagogue a temple, or templ. Even non-religious Jews visited the temple on important Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) and on Shabbat (Friday evening and Saturday morning). In the synagogue, women and men were separated: women would sit above the central area, on the balcony, while men would sit on the ground floor, where there was Aron Ha-Kodesh, cabinet in which Torah scrolls are kept in the synagogue’s sanctuary. Since the synagogue was neological, and belonged to a wealthy community, it also had an organ. The seats were leased every year, and having the best seats was the symbol of prestige.
Listen to a part of the interview with Ružica Breyer, to find out how she remembers the synagogue. Also, read her short biography.
Ružica Breyer was born in Zagreb in the Farkaš Family. Her father was a lawyer and the member of the Jewish community Council. The Farkaš Family was closely connected with the Jewish community at the time. Ružica finished primary and secondary school in Zagreb, and then learned and worked with children in Montessori School in London. Her husband was arrested in August 1941, and passed through many camps, Jadovno, Pag, then Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška. Ružica and her son were hiding, and stayed with her many friends in the city. At the end of 1941, her husband was liberated and sent, together with his family, to Zavidovići in Bosnia and Herzegovina, among a group of Jewish medical doctors, to suppress endemic syphilis. Soon, it became too dangerous for them to stay there. In 1943 they joined the People's Liberation Movement where Karlo was the head of the Medical Corps of the 27th Division. Her second son was born on the Partisan territory, where they stayed until the end of the war. They returned to Zagreb in 1947, when her husband was de-mobilized. Later, they moved to Sisak where her husband got a job at the new hospital.