Utjecaj židovske etničke skupine na razvoj novčarstva u Hrvatskoj
The Influence of the Jewish Ethnic Community on the Development of Banking in Croatia

Summary/Abstract: After a short introduction to the history of the Jewish ethnic group in Croatia, the author focuses on their activity in banking since the 14th century. The first bank in South Slavic lands was established by a group of Jews in Split in 1592; during the following two centuries, several more Jewish banks were founded in northern Croatia. In the 19th century, as a part of the general development of capitalist economy, Jewish financial institutions grew rapidly and achieved the peak of power. In the first half on this century, the highest concentration of Jewish capital and largest number of Jewish bank managers were in the Hrvatska eskontna banka and in the Jugoslavenska banka in Zagreb. By that time also, the number of small Jewish banks in Yugoslavia was over three hundred; the influence of Jewish financial activities permeated the whole economy, commerce and banking. As it is well known, after World War II, the Jewish community in Croatia was reduced to a symbolic number. Their contribution and Hole in the cultural history of Croatia certainly deserve to be saved from oblivion.

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