Miroslav Šalom Freiberger

Miroslav Šalom Freiberger
Born	1904 Zagreb, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, (now Croatia)
Died	c. 01943-05-03 May 3, 1943 Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland
Nationality	Croat

Miroslav Šalom Freiberger (born 1904 Zagreb, Croatia, died c. 01943-05-03 May 3, 1943 Auschwitz) was chief rabbi of Zagreb and a catechist, translator, writer and spiritual leader. He was educated as a lawyer and doctor of theology.

Biography

Freiberger's first work in the Jewish community was as a rabbi in Osijek, Slavonia. When he was 34 years old he became chief rabbi of Zagreb, where he became popular among the younger Jews, thanks especially to his communicativeness. In the years prior to the onset of World War II, he was a strong advocate of Zionism and the return of Jews to what was then the British Mandate for Palestine. However, he decided to stay in Zagreb while there was still even one Jew left there.

With the foundation of the Independent State of Croatia and the first application of racial laws, Freiberger made efforts to rescue the Jews there. He had many connections with Jewish organizations in Italy, Hungary and Switzerland, and extremely good relations with the Catholic Church in Croatia, especially with Alojzije Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb. Archbishop Stepinac urged Freiberger and his family to take refuge in his court until the end of the war. However, Freiberger declined the offer since he wanted to share the destiny of his people.^[1][2] At the end of 1942 he escorted the last group of rescued Jews to Budapest and Istanbul, from where they were transferred to the British Mandate for Palestine. Among them, with ten underage girls and boys, was his sixteen year old son Ruben. The group had received travel documents only after Stepinac and Vatican officials had intervened with the Croatian authories.^[3]

Despite the efforts of Archbishop Stepinac to save him, in the spring of 1943 Freiberger was arrested by the Ustasha regime, when Heinrich Himmler himself arrived in Zagreb, dissatisfied with the way the regime was "solving the Jewish question" in Croatia. Stepinac immediately sent a request for his liberation to state officials, but without success.^[2] On May 3, 1943, with the last transport of Jews from Croatia, the Nazis transported him from Zagreb Main Station to Auschwitz.^[2] He was killed at the camp entrance when he protested against the inhumane procedures inflicted on the members of his community.^[4][5]

Amiel Shomrony, Freiberger's former secretary, and Igor Primorac filed two motions to recognize Stepinac as righteous among the nations for helping Freiberger in saving the Jewish people of his community.^[2]

Bibliography

Even as a rabbi in Osijek, Freiberger was a noted writer, dealing especially with issues of the organization and operation of the Jewish community in the European diaspora during the middle and modern ages. His articles were published in the Jewish community magazine Jew. Since he always considered himself both a Jew and a Croat, he expressed his dual background with alternative versions of his name. His works in the field of spirituality, originally intended for the Jewish community, he signed as "Shalom M. Freiberger", while those of a wider public and secular interest he signed as "Miroslav Š. Freiberger". Among other things, Freiberger translated a prayer from Hebrew, which was released by the Jewish National Library in Zagreb 1938 and reprinted by the Jewish Community of Zagreb in 1998.

References

1. ^ ""Otvoreno pismo Zidovskoj opcini u Zagrebu i Drustvu Hrvatsko-izraelskog prijateljstva"". Hrvatski Informativni Centar. http://www.hic.hr/dom/262/dom19.htm.  (Croatian)
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Zubrinic, Darko (1997). ""Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac and saving the Jews in Croatia during the WW2"". http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/jews.html. Retrieved January 19, 2011. 
3. ^ Goldstein, Ivo (2001). Holokaust u Zagrebu. Novi Liber. p. 441.  (Croatian)
4. ^ Šaškor, Ines (November 8, 2010). "Treba li povući tužbu za genocid?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. http://www.danas.org/content/Treba_li_povuci_tuzbu_za_genocid/2214229.html.  (Croatian)
5. ^ Goldstein, Slavko (2006). "Moj otac". Matica hrvatska. ISSN 1331-0992. http://www.matica.hr/Kolo/kolo2006_1.nsf/AllWebDocs/goldstein.  (Croatian)

Persondata
Name	Freiberger, Miroslav Šalom
Alternative names
Short description	Croatian rabbi
Date of birth	1903
Place of birth	Zagreb, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
Date of death	1943
Place of death	Auschwitz concentration camp, Oświęcim, Poland