HICEM-Odbor za pomoc židovskim izbeglicam, Zagreb (Fond 1430)

HICEM was founded in 1926 in Paris as a combination of three organizations. Its name is an acronym based on the names of the founders: HIAS (The Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, New York), ICA (The Jewish Colonization Association, Paris) and Emigdirect, Berlin. The HICEM’s mission was to provide informational, legal, material and practical aid to Jewish emigrants. In the 1930s HICEM had 51 committees in 23 countries around the world. HICEM operated in all countries sending or receiving Jewish emigrants. However, there were exceptions in the the USA, Germany, and Palestine, where the same functions were performed by HIAS, the German Jewish Aid Society, and the Jewish Agency, respectively. HICEM mission was to centralize the Eastern European emigration operations of the three groups, including the assembling of information on potential emigrants, the legalization of status and visa formalities and the transportation arrangements and coordination with HICEM affiliates in the countries of destination.

HICEM was founded in 1926 in Paris as a combination of three organizations. Its name is an acronym based on the names of the founders: HIAS (The Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, New York), ICA (The Jewish Colonization Association, Paris) and Emigdirect, Berlin. The HICEM’s mission was to provide informational, legal, material and practical aid to Jewish emigrants. In the 1930s HICEM had 51 committees in 23 countries around the world. HICEM operated in all countries sending or receiving Jewish emigrants. However, there were exceptions in the the USA, Germany, and Palestine, where the same functions were performed by HIAS, the German Jewish Aid Society, and the Jewish Agency, respectively. HICEM mission was to centralize the Eastern European emigration operations of the three groups, including the assembling of information on potential emigrants, the legalization of status and visa formalities and the transportation arrangements and coordination with HICEM affiliates in the countries of destination. New Jewish settlers arrived in Croatia in the mid-18th century from Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary and about 50 families lived in Zagreb in the 1840s. The community was officially founded only in 1806. In 1841 a smaller Orthodox community came into being. The ḥevra kaddisha was established in 1859. The first rabbi of the Zagreb community was Aaron Palota (1809–1849). In 1867 the new synagogue was inaugurated (it was completely demolished in 1941 by the pro-Nazi Ustashe). The building was constructed by Franjo (Francis) Klein, one of the important builders of Zagreb. The spiritual leadership of the community was in the hands of Rabbi Hosea Jacoby for 50 years, and under his guidance a school and a talmud torah were opened and religious life was organized. A new cemetery was built in 1878. The philanthropist Ljudevit Schwarz was the prime mover in establishing a Jewish home for the aged; it still functioned in 1970 as the Central Jewish Home for the Aged in Yugoslavia, and was assisted financially by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Jacques Epstein founded the first public assistance body in Croatia, the Association for Humanism. In 1898 a union of Jewish high school students was created, and became a training ground for future communal and Zionist leaders. The Jewish community of Zagreb was sponsored by the JDC, HICEM and other Jewish communities in Yugoslavia. The Zagreb Committee was the main HICEM committee in Yugoslavia.