ZAGREB ZAGREB, Nov 2 (Hina) - The 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Jewish Battalion on Rab (northern Croatian island) was marked on Sunday in the building of the Jewish Community in Zagreb.
ZAGREB, Nov 2 (Hina) - The 60th anniversary of the establishment of
the Jewish Battalion on Rab (northern Croatian island) was marked
on Sunday in the building of the Jewish Community in Zagreb. #L#
This was the only Jewish military unit during the Second World War
in Europe, said Bozidar Darko Straus, one of those fighters who
survived the war.
He said that the battalion had been of great importance for
mobilisation of Jews and their engagement in the People's
Liberation War (NOB), namely the anti-Fascist struggle in the
area.
There were 700 Jews in the battalion, and some 100 of them lost their
lives in battles.
The battalion was set up on 9 September 1943, a day after Italy's
capitulation, when Jews, together with other prisoners in the
Kampor camp on the island of Rab, rose against the camp's guards and
took over authority from Italian soldiers. A month later, the unit
left the island, and joined the anti-fascist fighters in a wider
Karlovac area.
(hina) ms