Ivan Vranetić
Encyclopedia
Ivan "Ivica" Vranetić was a Yugoslav
partisan of ethnic Croatia
n descent, whose aid to Jewish people during World War II resulted in his inclusion among the "Righteous Among the Nations
" by Yad Vashem
in 1970. For more than two decades, he was Chairman of the Righteous Among the Nations
organization.
, and raised in Topusko
, Croatia
(part of the former Yugoslavia). He grew up in a liberal, middle-class, Catholic household. Although his parents were not specifically religious, he said he was raised to love and respect others. Vranetić began helping Jewish refugees at the age of 17 even though his village largely supported the Nazi-sympathizing Ustaše
. His first attempt to help a Jewish doctor resulted in a beating from a Croatian soldier that he lost the hearing in his left ear. He went on to help many others find secure hiding places and to supply their needs.
Among the refugees he assisted was Arna Montilio, whose husband died in the Jasenovac concentration camp
, and her mother and daughter. After the war, Vranetić continued to communicate with her and other refugees he had helped, eventually moving to Israel and marrying Montilio. He was granted honorary Israeli citizenship by the government of Israel. In 1970, he received his "Righteous Among the Nations
" award from Yad Vashem
for his work, becoming chairman of the Organization of Righteous Among the Nations in Israel in 1986, a position he held for more than twenty years.
Widowed in the late 1990s, Vranetić was honored during a memorial ceremony at the Yad Vashem Hall of Remembrance in 2009 when he and six Jewish Holocaust survivors met Pope Benedict XVI
.
on 3 February 2010, aged 84 (not 82, as some sources misreported).
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora...
partisan of ethnic Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n descent, whose aid to Jewish people during World War II resulted in his inclusion among the "Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
" by Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
in 1970. For more than two decades, he was Chairman of the Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
organization.
Biography
Vranetić was born in 1925 or 1926 in Vrbas, YugoslaviaKingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, and raised in Topusko
Topusko
Topusko is a spa town in Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia.-Demographics:The population of the town of Topusko is 798, with a total of 3,219 people in the municipality . There are 2045 Croats , 954 Serbs and 65 Bosniaks .Prior to the war, there were 1,587 people in Topusko, of which most were Serbs...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
(part of the former Yugoslavia). He grew up in a liberal, middle-class, Catholic household. Although his parents were not specifically religious, he said he was raised to love and respect others. Vranetić began helping Jewish refugees at the age of 17 even though his village largely supported the Nazi-sympathizing Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
. His first attempt to help a Jewish doctor resulted in a beating from a Croatian soldier that he lost the hearing in his left ear. He went on to help many others find secure hiding places and to supply their needs.
Among the refugees he assisted was Arna Montilio, whose husband died in the Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
, and her mother and daughter. After the war, Vranetić continued to communicate with her and other refugees he had helped, eventually moving to Israel and marrying Montilio. He was granted honorary Israeli citizenship by the government of Israel. In 1970, he received his "Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
" award from Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
for his work, becoming chairman of the Organization of Righteous Among the Nations in Israel in 1986, a position he held for more than twenty years.
Widowed in the late 1990s, Vranetić was honored during a memorial ceremony at the Yad Vashem Hall of Remembrance in 2009 when he and six Jewish Holocaust survivors met Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
.
Death
Vranetić died in IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on 3 February 2010, aged 84 (not 82, as some sources misreported).