Letter from Srećko Bujas to the Jewish Community of Zagreb

Even though the so-called Independent State of Croatia touted "independence" and "statehood" in its official name, it was actually divided and occupied by Germany and Italy. A line between the Italian and German zones ran from the northwest to the southeast, dividing the "state" in two. North of the line lay the German zone, controlled by the German army. South of the line was the Italian zone, which Italian forces occupied fully after the popular uprising against the Ustaše terror in the summer of 1941.¹

Sarajevo was the second largest city in the Independent State of Croatia, and it was located in the German zone. Sarajevo had two separate Jewish communities, a Sephardi and an Ashkenazi one.² Soon after the Ustaše takeover, two commissioners were appointed to supervise these communities. Srećko Bujas, the president of the District Court, became the commissioner of the Sephardi community, while Branko Milaković, a district judge, became the commissioner of the Ashkenazi one. Both men were well-respected non-Jewish ethnic Croats who took their new appointments to heart. Although they could not change German or Ustaše policies, they attempted to work in individual Jews' favor. For example, they argued against deporting Jews who had converted to Catholicism or Islam and tried to protect the employees of the two Jewish community organizations.³

Mass deportations from Sarajevo began in early September 1941. Local Ustaše deported about a thousand Jews to a camp built at Kruščica. Seizures of Jewish property and apartments continued into October and November. On November 15, Sarajevan Jews were systematically rounded up for immediate deportation.

The featured letter was written by Bujas amid this chaos and confusion. He wrote to the Jewish Community leadership in Zagreb, which was the most important Jewish communal organization in the country. Bujas thought that Jewish leaders in Zagreb might somehow be able to influence the Ustaše authorities, but they had no power to do so. The letter condemns the situation in which the Jews found themselves—referring to the "terrible tragedy that has befallen the Sarajevan Jewish community"—and might even have been written in consultation with local Jewish leaders themselves. The concern and sympathy shown by Bujas in this letter is not typical of other commissioners and trustees of Jewish organizations, firms, and properties elsewhere in the Independent State of Croatia and German-dominated Europe.

For more about the occupation zones in the Independent State of Croatia and the history of the war in Yugoslavia, see Jozo Tomasevich, War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001).

Most Jews in Bosnia-Herzegovina were of Sephardi origin, descendents of Jews expelled from the Iberian peninsula who had subsequently settled in the Bosnian region of the Ottoman Empire. With the Austro-Hungarian occupation (1878) and annexation (1908), waves of Jewish immigrants settled in the province. They were of Central European origin, and are called Ashkenazi Jews. "Spharad" in Hebrew means "Spain," while "Ashkenaz" is a historical name for the German lands. See the articles in the YIVO Encyclopedia for more on Sephardim and Ashkenazim in eastern Europe.

For a background on ethnic relations in Bosnia-Herzegovina during World War II, including a brief discussion of the two commissioners of the Jewish communities in Sarajevo, see Emily Greble, Sarajevo 1941–1945: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Hitler's Europe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011).

The petition is not included in the file with the archival document.

This refers to an extremely large amount of money. It is not clear what exactly was the occasion, and whether the transfer was initiated by the authorities or the Jewish communities in Sarajevo or Zagreb.

The camps mentioned here were sites of incarceration in which Jews did not spend a long time. Most Jews imprisoned in those camps were eventually transfered to Jasenovac, the largest and most infamous camp in the Independent State of Croatia. Roughly 100,000 people were killed there during the war, of whom about 20,000 were Jews. At least half of all Jasenovac victims were ethnic Serbs from Croatia. For more on Jasenovac and the broader camp landscape, see Ivo Goldstein and Slavko Goldstein, The Holocaust in Croatia (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016).

Commissioners for Jewish Religious Communities in Sarajevo

Srećko Bujas, President of the District Court

Branko Milaković, District judge

Sarajevo, November 23, 1941

To the Jewish Community

Zagreb

Today, on the eighth day of the terrible tragedy that has befallen the Sarajevan Jewish community, and for which there are no words to describe it, amidst great uncertainty, and having no direct contact with the relevant commander of the police, left to the difficult fate, we are addressing you, putting all our hopes in you to do whatever you can for these unfortunate hapless ones, who are to be decimated, and perhaps annihilated completely, by the brush of death, disease, and contagion.

These people have spent eight days already without care, without medicines, without enough warm food, without milk for the children—in short, without anything. They are living in great filth that is threatening to bring about a contagion that would spread around the city itself.

We visited the Grand Župan [the district governor] yesterday, to whom we submitted a written petition, a copy of which we are enclosing to this letter.¹ At the same time, in a lengthy conversation, we described the grave condition [of the Jews] and urged him to intervene with the authorities in Zagreb. The Grand Župan showed much understanding for our work and needs, and promised that he will immediately send, by radiogram, the suggestions from our petition, and also send by mail the petition itself to the relevant ministry in Zagreb. We are asking you to do the same.

Please confirm receipt of 600,000 kuna we have transferred to you.²

We have learned of the existence of a new camp for female inmates near Novi Marof, to which women from the last Sarajevan transport, and some from Lobor-Grad, have been sent. We are very interested in learning what is going on, where it is located, what are the possibilities for provisioning [food], and how many that camp can accommodate. Namely, we have received information from many quarters that the last transport of women would be returned to Sarajevo, but it has not arrived.³

In these times we especially need your daily briefings about your actions, whether on matters concerning us, or other general issues, and the issues of the Jewish communities. Especially the question of provisioning [food] and the parcels to Jasenovac.

Sincerely,

[signed] Srećko Bujas

President of the District Court

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