From Zagreb to Palestine. Yugoslav Zionist Aid Networks for European Jews, 1933-1941
Marija Vulesica (Berlin)
- Beginning:
- Thursday, 19 November 2026 14:15
Abstract:
The study “From Zagreb to Palestine. Yugoslav Zionist Aid Networks for European Jews, 1933-1941” examines the history of Jewish refugee relief in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, focusing particularly on the activities of the Zionist-led Zagreb Local Relief Committee. Based on extensive multi-archival research, Vulesica reconstructs a largely overlooked infrastructure of assistance that enabled thousands of Jewish refugees to navigate persecution, displacement, and restricted migration regimes. She demonstrates how a relatively small Jewish community of approximately 75,000, situated in a politically fragile young state, interwar Yugoslavia, succeeded in developing effective national and transnational networks in order to help the refugees.
A central intervention of the study lies in its critical reassessment of long-standing historiographical narratives. The book corrects inflated refugee figures that have been uncritically reproduced for decades and replaces them with empirically grounded estimates. At the same time, it challenges the persistent interpretation of refugee aid as a predominantly humanitarian enterprise. Instead, it shows that these efforts were deeply embedded in Zionist political strategies and ideological commitments.
By bringing together regional history, transnational analysis, and a critical engagement with established narratives, Vulesica’s book expands both the geographical scope and the conceptual framework of Holocaust research. It offers new insights into the relationship between ideology, organisation, and survival, and provides a compelling case for understanding Jewish refugee aid as a politically charged and strategically shaped response to persecution.
Dr. Marija Vulesica is a historian and Alfred Landecker Lecturer at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her research focuses on antisemitism, Zionism and the Holocaust, with a particular emphasis on Southeast Europe. She received her PhD from the Technische Universität Berlin with a study of the emergence of political antisemitism in Habsburg Croatia and Slavonia, and went on to work at TU Berlin’s Center for Research on Antisemitism. Her latest book, From Zagreb to Palestine: Yugoslav Zionist Aid Networks for European Jews, 1933–1941, was published in November 2025. She is currently researching the history of the Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia through a biographical lens. She is also the editor of Hinko Gottlieb’s novel Der Schlüssel zum großen Tor (2023).
Cooperation:
Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World
Venue:
GS OSESUR, Landshuter Straße 4, 93047 Regensburg, Room 017 (ground floor)