When renowned German actress Tilla Durieux and her husband, businessman Ludwig Katzenellenbogen, learned in mid‑1934 that their Swiss residence permits would not be renewed, they left for Zagreb, the capital of Croatia in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Durieux later wrote that few Europeans knew where Zagreb was; people imagined it a suburb of Vienna or Prague and regarded Yugoslavia as somewhere “down there.” Friends praised their courage but feared they might be robbed en route.
The couple had fled Nazi Germany more than a year earlier, leaving Berlin on March 31, 1933, after Adolf Hitler consolidated power, suspended civil liberties and unleashed terror. SA squads patrolled the streets; thousands were arrested, sent to camps, tortured or killed. Many who could escape were Jews, Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists, artists and intellectuals. Most went west to Switzerland, France, Britain or the United States, and many Jews traveled to Palestine.
Less attention has been paid to the several thousand who sought refuge in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1933 and 1941 — in territories that are now Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia. “Very few wanted to stay there long term,” German historian Marie‑Janine Calic observes. Yugoslavia’s Adriatic ports made onward travel possible, and unlike many countries that closed their borders after 1933, Yugoslavia issued temporary visas that could be extended and initially allowed refugees to work. Those conditions attracted migrants, even though many knew little about the country and associated it with wartime violence.
Zagreb received many newcomers and hosted humanitarian organizations, particularly Jewish groups, that raised funds, registered refugees and helped them continue their journeys. Ordinary citizens also assisted, offering shelter, food, travel arrangements or other aid; surviving documents show refugees’ deep gratitude. Among those who fled for reasons of profession, belief or lifestyle was progressive educator Annemarie Wolff‑Richter, who ran a home for hard‑to‑educate children according to modern pedagogical principles. Branded unacceptable by Nazi ideology, she was arrested but later escaped with the children and found refuge in Mali Zaton near Dubrovnik.
Available data count at least 55,000 people fleeing to Yugoslavia from Germany by 1941, though the actual number is likely higher. Some moved on by ship to Palestine or other Mediterranean destinations; others tried to rebuild lives in Yugoslavia.
That changed in April 1941 when the Wehrmacht and its allies occupied Yugoslavia. Persecution of Jews and other refugees began immediately. About 5,000 refugees could not escape; by October 1941 hundreds of Jewish refugees had been shot. Those in Italian‑occupied coastal zones fared somewhat better, as the Italians interned refugees rather than executing them. Refugees trapped in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a Nazi ally formed in 1941, faced murder in extermination sites such as the Jasenovac camp.
Wolff‑Richter continued to run her children’s home under Croatian fascist rule but suffered personal losses: her partner, Erwin Süßmann, was arrested and killed in Jasenovac in December 1941, and Wolff‑Richter herself was deported there in 1944 and died shortly before the war’s end.
Durieux survived with help from relatives in Zagreb, though her husband was arrested while trying to flee in 1941 and deported to Germany, where he died. After 1945 Durieux remained in Zagreb for nine years. Respected for supporting Yugoslav partisans during the fascist period, she helped found the Zagreb Puppet Theater and received Yugoslav citizenship. She later returned to Germany, continued her stage career, remarried and maintained close ties to Zagreb; the Zagreb City Museum still displays items from her estate.
This article was originally written in German.