Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.31953/sz.52.1.5
TOWN OF SENJ – FOREIGN JEWISH REFUGEES ON THE PATH TO THE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION STRUGGLE (LESSONS IN DEALING WITH ANTISEMITISM)
Anna-Maria Grünfelder
Sažetak
Although there are no archaeological finds or documents that would testify to the continuous presence of Jews in the town of Senj, an important link to the significance of Senj for Jews is their participation in the people’s liberation struggle. Jews who fled the Independent State of Croatia, as well as Jewish refugees from all European countries under the yoke of Hitler’s Germany, in
1941 sought refuge from Ustasha persecution in the Independent State of Croatia under Italian occupation, in the Croatian Littoral and in Dalmatia. The camps of Kraljevica (from 1st November 1942 to May 1943) and Kampor on the island of Rab (from May 1943 to the capitulation of Italy on 8th September 1943) served precisely to protect the persecuted Jews. When Italy was hastily leaving its occupation zone from 10th September 1943 onwards, members of the NOV (People’s Liberation Army) from the hinterland of the Kvarner islands evacuated the Jews to the mainland, in order to protect them from the German occupiers. In these rescue operations, Senj made a significant contribution to the transfer of the rescued civilians, who sailed to Senj’s port, on their way to Lika via Vratnik. The "Jewish Battalion", which was established in Rab, consisted of 350 young, military-trained Jews who set off on foot from Senj’s port, and all of these actions took place while Senj, which had been Partisan territory since
14th September 1943, was experiencing the heaviest air attacks by German air forces from 7th-9th October. About twenty people, both residents of Senj and "foreigners who happened to be in the town" (as eyewitnesses wrote in the chronicles), were killed, and many were injured, and almost 50% of the buildings and cultural and historical monuments were destroyed. The Jews who remained in the Italian camps of Kraljevica and Kampor, and who were later rescued by the Partisans, decided to join the Yugoslav Peoples’ Liberation Struggle out of gratitude. What remains of the history of the Partisan rescue of Jews is the Jewish contribution to the Partisan struggle. The rescue of Jews and their joining the Partisans is also part of the history of Senj.
Ključne riječi
Senj; Jews; People’s Liberation Struggle; Kampor camp; Kraljevica camp; Partisan rescue
Hrčak ID:
340825
URI
Datum izdavanja:
21.12.2025.
Posjeta: 555 *