Dr. Esther Gitman – Holocaust survivor, historian, and bridge builder

On the evening of July 29, 2019, an official dinner was held at Beit HaNassi, the official residence of Reuven Rivlin, then President of Israel. The occasion was to formally welcome Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia.

Dr Esther Gitman / Project Velebit

Typically, such diplomatic events earn only a brief mention in the daily news cycle, but this particular evening in Jerusalem was imbued with a unique significance. The Croatian and Israeli flags fluttered outside Beit HaNassi, but it was the presence of a select few within its walls that made the evening truly remarkable—among them, Dr. Esther Gitman and her husband, Dr. Israel Gitman.

Above: Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic on July 29, 2019 at Yad Vashem Centre in Jerusalem with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Esther Gitman / Projekt Velebit.

At that dinner table, Dr. Esther Gitman shared a meal with President Grabar-Kitarović and President Rivlin—a moment that resonated with deep historical and personal significance. Just a week prior to the Croatian President’s visit, the Croatian Embassy in Israel reached out to Gitman, informing her of the impending arrival and hinting that she might soon hear from President Rivlin’s office.

The evening was more than a mere diplomatic formality; it was a quiet acknowledgment of the profound ties that bridge the Croatian and Israeli nations, histories, and personal narratives.

Dr Esther Gitman / Ina Vukic

Back in 1999, at the zenith of her career as an entrepreneur, Dr. Esther Gitman made a life-altering decision: she would pursue a Ph.D. in Jewish history. This was not just an academic endeavour but a deeply personal journey—a quest to unravel the intricate web of events that had led to her own salvation from occupied Sarajevo during the Second World War.

Sarajevo Jews / i24 News

In 1941, as a mere toddler, Gitman and her mother fled Bosnia to the relative safety of Italian-occupied territories, thanks to the courageous assistance of neighbours and acquaintances. Sadly, her father had perished when she was just four months old.

By 1943, following Italy’s surrender and with the aid of Croatian partisans and Allied forces, they found refuge in Santa Maria di Bagnio, a sanctuary in southern Italy, where they remained until the war’s end.

The war over, they returned to a war-ravaged Sarajevo in May 1945, only to leave again in 1948, seeking a new life in Israel, far from the iron grip of Tito’s brutal Communist regime in Yugoslavia.

Sarajevo’s Jewish Cemetery / Times of Isreal

Gitman’s childhood was marked by the struggle to adapt to new languages, new cultures, and the persistent shadow of poverty. Yet, in 1958, she joined the Israeli army, where she served in one of its most prestigious units.

After Israel’s Six-Day War in 1967, the Gitman’s—now with an infant in tow—emigrated to Montreal, Canada. There, her husband earned a Ph.D. in Engineering, while Gitman herself completed a B.A. in history and sociology.

The family’s journey didn’t end there; in 1972, they arrived in the United States, a land Gitman describes as “a country that gave us a chance to rise as far as we could imagine.” It was yet another calculated risk in a lifetime defined by overcoming obstacles and seizing opportunities, driven by an unwavering commitment to creating a better life.

As a Holocaust survivor, Gitman’s perspective is both unique and poignant. “Most people write about the atrocity,” she reflects. “I wrote about the rescue.” Her mission is clear: to illuminate the acts of human generosity that shone even in history’s darkest hours—without which she, and countless other Jews, would not be here today.

A Muslim woman covers the yellow star of her Jewish neighbour with her veil to protect her, Sarajevo, 1941. / Reddit

Her subsequent Ph.D. and her book, When Courage Prevailed, represent only the beginning of her dedication to telling the story of ordinary people’s extraordinary courage and their unwavering desire to rescue and save.

In a poignant gesture of historical reconciliation and cultural exchange, the President of Croatia, during that solemn visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, presented the Israeli President with a significant tome.

The book titled “Alojzije Stepinac: Pillar of Human Rights” delves into the life and deeds of Croatia’s Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac, notably his efforts to rescue Jews during the tumultuous times of World War II.

Old Jewish Cemetery of Sarajevo / https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-jewish-cemetery-of-sarajevo

This act of presenting the book was not an isolated event. It was part of a broader narrative of fostering deeper understanding between the Croatian and Jewish communities—a narrative that Gitman herself has been instrumental in shaping through her rigorous historical research.

Her contributions were formally recognised by the Croatian government in February 2019 when she was awarded the “Order of Prince Branimir with a Necklace.” This accolade was in honour of her extensive work in documenting and promoting an accurate understanding of 20th-century Croatian history.

Further cementing her academic and cultural contributions, Gitman received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Split in June 2019. This was awarded for her scholarly work on Croat’s Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, which has played a crucial role in challenging and countering the negative propaganda and even outright lies that often overshadowed Archbishop Stepinac’s humanitarian efforts during the war.

The book-gifting ceremony in July, therefore, was more than a mere exchange of gifts or polite symbolism, but represented a significant moment in the ongoing dialogue between Croatia and Israel, highlighting the shared values and historical introspection both nations continue to engage in.

Sarajevo Synagogue / Shutterstock

President Grabar Kitarovic’s choice of Gitman’s book for President Rivlin also underscored a mutual commitment to acknowledging and learning from the past, however complex and fraught it might be. This gesture, set against the backdrop of Yad Vashem, served as a powerful reminder of the resilience of human rights advocacy, even in the darkest of times.

Dr Esther Gitman / Glas Koncila

“I can only hope that someone at Yad Vashem reads my book—or at least a portion of it!,” says Gitman

“Croatia has been vilified for years by Serbia, portrayed as a nation of murderers and anti-Semites who not only killed Jews but also Serbs, Roma, and other dissidents. What the Israelis don’t realize is that throughout the war, the Serbs had armies. The Chetniks, and Milan Nedić’s forces, were so favoured by Hitler that they were given sealed trucks to kill Jews—fifty at a time! The ignorance is staggering, and the truth has been buried for seventy years,” Gitman notes.

“Few know that Belgrade was the first city in Europe to be declared ‘free of Jews,’ where 90 percent of the Jewish population was annihilated. I’m sorry, but I must lay some of the blame on Croatian historians, who for the past 25 years have failed to tell the world what really happened,” she says.

Esther Gitman as child survivor of the Holocaust;
Escaped Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina via the Island of Korcula,
Croatia – 1941.
Photo: Private album / Ina Vukic

“While some Ustashe committed heinous crimes, there were also good people who tried to help. Even within this regime, Jewish physicians were saved, and against Nazi orders, concepts like Aryan Rights and Honorary Aryans were instituted to protect those deemed valuable or respected. Stepinac saved those in mixed marriages, orphans, and 58 elderly individuals. He also averted a major catastrophe by preventing Giuseppe Bastianini, the governor of the Italian zones, from handing over all the Jews who had escaped back to the Ustashe”, says Dr. Esther Gitman.

As Australian-Croatian historian Prof. Ina Vukic pointed out in an article recently, “Dr. Gitman justifiably assessed that the rate of anti-semitism in Croatia was low and the survival rate of Jews in the Croatian territories of that time was among the highest in Europe.”

“The past two decades, or since the First Edition of Dr. Gitman’s book When Courage Prevailed, have witnessed tremendous progress in the study of archival records from World War II by several prominent historians in Croatia and it is certain the Second Edition of her book will also assist further research into historical facts immensely.” said Prof Vukic.

With everything that is currently going on in the world, let hope this is one bridge that really was made to last forever.