"Stolperstein" in Memory of WWII Zagreb Chief Rabbi Reinstalled

ZAGREB, 6 February, 2021 - The stumbling block in memory of Miroslav Šalom Freiberger, the Zagreb chief rabbi in WWII who was killed in Auschwitz in 1943, was re-installed in Zagreb's Amruševa Street on Friday after it was destroyed a month ago, the Zagreb-based NGO Centre of Tolerance reported.

During his term as the chief rabbi in Zagreb, Freiberger managed to save many members of the local Jewish community but was killed in Auschwitz right after disembarking from the train because he objected to Nazi brutality.

The first memorial, called 'stumbling block' or Stolperstein, commemorating victims of the Ustasha and Nazi regimes in Croatia, was installed on 1 October 2020 in Zagreb's 29 Gunduliceva Street, for Jewish child theatre prodigy Lea Deutsch, who lived at that address. 

Last year, a total of 20 stumbling blocks ("Stolpersteinen") were erected in Zagreb.

On 28 December, such memorial was installed in 8 Amruševa Street for the chief rabbi Šalom Freiberger.

The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate individuals at exactly the last place of residency. This project has been implemented in more than 2,000 cities and towns in 25 countries. 

In attendance at Friday's re-installation of the "stumbling stone" in front of Šalom Freiberger's last residence were Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman, some other Croatian officials, as well German Ambassador Robert Klinke, and representatives of the embassies of the USA, the State of Israel, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Canada and France and representatives of the Bet Israel community.