Basics of Hebrew and its peculiarities, Hebrew writing workshop with dr. Samo Skralovnik
(also part of the Come to the BALKON/Sunday project in the Židovska Cultural Quarter)

Hebrew is the original language of all Jews, regardless of where they live today. It is a Semitic language, and its peculiarity is that it is written and read from right to left. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, and five of them can be written in two ways, depending on where in the word the letter appears. It differs from Slovenian in several other peculiarities, and you can learn more about them at the workshop, where participants will, among other things, test their skills in writing personal names in Hebrew. The workshop will be led by dr.

The book "Family Records of Osijek Jews" by Hrvoje Volner is based on documents from 1945 that record data on Osijek Jewish families after the Holocaust. From them we learn about the demographic and social structure of the community, deportations, escapes, partisan involvement, and financial circumstances.
The author determines that out of approximately 2,600 Jews, only 446 survived, while more than 2,000 perished, including 220 children. In addition to analytical chapters, the book includes 760 preserved family records as a valuable source for future research and family memory.

It is autumn 1944, the war days are critical in the Hungarian capital, right-wingers are taking power and intensifying the persecution of Jews, the Allies are bombing the city, the Russians are approaching, all sorts of rumors are circulating; street shootings, the roar of cannons, alarms, cold and hunger, fear and general insecurity… A lonely forty-year-old Osijek man, Alfred Fischer, a Jew, a lawyer by profession, humanist and pacifist, an emigrant in that city for the fourth year, keeps a diary during those months and writes down his fears for himself and his family with whom he shares the fate of refugees. Along with all this he manages to write down serious political thoughts about the future of the Balkan nations after the imminent defeat of the Nazis in the war, and tries to think optimistically about himself as a free man again.

Lecturer: Darko Fischer

Alfi Kabiljo was a Croatian composer, conductor, arranger, pianist, songwriter, librettist and producer. He composed music for around 40 movies and around a hundred television series. He is the author of numerous popular compositions and chansons and is a multiple winner and participant of pop music festivals in his homeland and abroad.

Musical part:
1. Choir of the Elementary School "Mladost"
2. Iskra Rajković, child soprano, Prof. Ivančica Hinek, piano (Musical School Franje Kuhača Osijek)

Lecturer: Attila Čokolić

The Jewish community in the city of Osijek greatly contributed to the development of legal thought, the legal profession and the judiciary of Osijek, and the whole of Slavonia, in the period from 1870 to the beginning of World War II. The city of Osijek developed intensively during this period, and the influx of capital undoubtedly stimulated the great development of crafts and industry. All this led to a greater need for legal protection, which at that time was provided only by lawyers.
Among the numerous Osijek lawyers, members of the Jewish community, two stand out in particular: Dr. Hugo Spitzer (1858 – 1934) and Dr. Hermann Weissmann (1884 – 1942). Both of these lawyers have great and lasting significance, both for the Jewish community, the city of Osijek, and the Republic of Croatia.

Lecturer: Danijel Berković

Fra Silvije Grubišić is a distinctive and specific Croatian Bible translator. In his translation solutions, Grubišić, in relation to the original, is extremely authentic, vivid and direct. In this, Grubišić even surpasses some of the translation solutions of many other exceptional Croatian Bible translators.
Grubišić's translation of the Psalms, as well as several of his other vivid and distinctive translation solutions, speak for themselves. In contrast to euphemisms, when it is desired to depict and soften emotional states or emotional reactions, Grubišić is extremely direct, but also directly relevant to the original text. Namely, euphemisms were not and are not part of the Middle Eastern environment, which is clearly reflected in Grubišić's translations. In this, Grubišić is a ruthless translator.

The book “Jews in Croatian Film Culture 1896–1945” by Maja Vasiljević represents an extremely significant contribution not only to the history of cinematography in Croatia, but also to a broader understanding of the cultural, social and political role that Jews played in the formation of one of the most important arts of the 20th century. Thoroughly researched and clearly conceived, this study covers a complex period from the very beginnings of cinematography in Croatia at the end of the 19th century, to the twilight of an era – World War II and the Holocaust, which brutally interrupted the continuity of the presence and contribution of the Jewish community in the film life of the country. The study will be presented at the promotion by Marijana Bošnjak, director of Kinematografi Osijek, Dr.

Lecturer: Julijana Mladenovska-Tešija
When we think of books and home, we think of solitude, peace, or travel. During this meeting, we will talk about home, which represents security and rootedness, and about travel, which represents openness, but also displacement, and even exile. We will see how two philosophers: one Jewish, the other Christian, Emanuel Levinas and Miroslav Volf, resolve the tension of this position in the God who is near.

Lecturer: Marina Šutalo
The collections of the Museum of Slavonia contain several objects from the family legacy of Makso Büchler. Büchler was an Osijek merchant of Slovak origin, and also the owner of a shop in the city center. A table from his collection was selected for this exhibition, which can currently be viewed at the exhibition "Function, Aesthetics, Passion – Selection from the Furniture Collection of the Museum of Slavonia". As a museum object, it will be observed from three different perspectives. First, as an object of museum material with an emphasis on its aesthetic and heritage value: it is a representative collector's item modeled on the South German Renaissance type of table. Then, as an object in time and space, opening up the topic of Osijek's bourgeoisie from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.