Božo Švarc
Božo Švarc (Schwartz) (6 September 1920 – 4 May 2007) was a Yugoslav - Jewish athlete, political activist, and WW2 veteran.
Švarc is one of a very few survivors of notorious Jadovno concentration camp and one of the founding fathers of Partizan Belgrade.
Biography[]
Božo Švarc was born in 1920 in Zagreb, Croatia. Before the start of World War II, he was a student of Technical Faculty and member of the youth branch of Communist Party of Yugoslavia, since 1939.[1]
During the 1930s Švarc was an active member of the Maccabi World Union sports club (skiing and high-jump).[1]
Švarc was among 165 Jewish youths arrested by Ustasha nazi collaborators in May 1941.[2] He escaped execution from Jadovno concentration camp in the Lika region. In August 1941 Švarc was deported to Jasenovac concentration camp.[3] Together with his friend and fellow Macabee Pavel Lev, Švarc escaped Jasenovac and joined the partisans in Banija region in September 1942.[1]
After WW2, Švarc was among founders of Partizan Belgrade football club,[4] and long-standing president of Partizan ice-hockey and Partizan swimming club.[1]
Švarc also served as the Chairman of the archive of . He retired in 1980 in the rank of the JNA colonel.
Švarc died in Belgrade in May 2007.[1][5]
References[]
- ^ a b c d e "ŠVARC, Božo (Schwarz) – Židovski biografski leksikon" (in Croatian). Retrieved 2019-08-24.
- ^ "Hapšenje 165 jevrejskih omladinaca u Zagrebu u maju 1941. godine". www.jadovno.com (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 2019-08-24.
- ^ "Oral history interview with Bozo Svarc - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". collections.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
- ^ cbnostalgija (2019-05-09). "Osnivači Partizana". Crno-bela Nostalgija (in Serbian). Retrieved 2019-08-24.
- ^ Serbia, RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of. "Vremeplov (4. maj 2019)". www.rts.rs. Retrieved 2019-08-24.
- 1920 births
- 2007 deaths
- Sportspeople from Zagreb
- Yugoslav Partisans members
- Yugoslav communists
- Yugoslav Jews
- Jewish athletes (track and field)
- Military personnel from Zagreb