Slavko Goldstein

Slavko Goldstein (born 22 August 1928) is a Croatian Jewish writer,^[1] publisher^[2] and politician.^[3]

Early life

Slavko Goldstein was born in Sarajevo. His family was originally from Tuzla. He spent his childhood in Karlovac, where his father Ivo was notable bookseller.^[4]

During World War II

At the beginning of the Second World War, his father, Ivo, was murdered by the Ustaše at the Jadovno concentration camp.^[5] Slavko, his mother Lea, and his brother Daniel ("Danko") escaped and joined the Partisans with whom they stayed until the end of the war. Slavko was an active member of the combat units, his mother was a nurse and brother was a courier. When the war ended, Slavko was only 17. He obtained the rank of lieutenant.^[6]

Later years

After the World War II Goldstein participated in the war for Israel independence as a member of Israel Defense Forces. He lived a few years in a kibbutz. In the mid 1950s he returned to Yugoslavia. He studied literature and philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, but he never graduated.^[7]

Career

Goldstein worked as a journalist, editor and writer in many Croatian newspapers. He wrote screenplays for several Yugoslav World War II films such as Signal Over the City (Signali nad gradom, 1960) and Operation Stadium (Akcija stadion; 1977, co-written with Dušan Vukotić).^[8][9] He edited more than 150 books, and as a publisher, he worked on about 400 titles.^[10]

Politics

From 2001 to 2005 he was the president of the Council of the Jasenovac Memorial Center. He was a founder of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and was the party's first president, from 1989-90.^[11] He and his son Ivo, a notable Croatian historian, were involved in the efforts to reconstruct the Zagreb Synagogue.^[12]

Works

• Okrug Karlovac 1941; (with I. Butković and M. Bekić), 1965.
• Holokaust u Zagrebu; 2001.
• 1941. – Godina koja se vraća; 2007.
• Jasenovac and Bleiburg are not the same; 2011 (with his son Ivo Goldstein)
• Josip Broz Tito; 2015. (with his son Ivo Goldstein)

See also

• Ivo Goldstein

References