Jewish elementary school in Croatia seeks to foster tolerance amid rising antisemitism | DW News

Hugo Kon Elementary School in Zagreb, Croatia's capital, is the only Jewish school in the states that succeeded the former state of Yugoslavia. Here, Jewish and non-Jewish children learn respect and tolerance side by side to foster a more open society.

Hugo Kon Elementary School in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, is the only Jewish school in the seven successor states of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia).

It is named after Hugo Kon, a Jewish lawyer and prominent member of Yugoslavia's Jewish community who was killed in Auschwitz in 1943.

Elementary school education in Croatia lasts eight years. Although Hugo Kon Elementary School was founded by the Jewish community Bet Israel, it is secular and open to children of any religion and nationality.

School principal Sanja Petrusic-Goldstein attaches great importance to inclusive learning to counter intolerance and antisemitism from an early age. Although not a Jew herself, she and her Jewish husband, Ivo Goldstein, are raising their children in the Jewish tradition.

Although Croatia's Jewish population is decreasing, prejudice against it is increasing, says Ivo Goldstein. The non-Jewish parents who send their children to Hugo Kon Elementary School also attach great importance to stopping prejudice before it has a chance to develop. They welcome the school's educational approach, which focuses heavily on multiculturalism, tolerance and respect.

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