... because we lost a generation, which is today‘s middle generation. These are people between 25 and 45 years old, who know absolutely nothing about history
Ognjen Kraus was born on October 4, 1945 in Zagreb in a Jewish family. His father escaped from Zagreb in the summer of 1941 and stayed in a labor camp in northwestern Italy until the capitulation of Italy. His mother was born in Slovenia, where she was arrested in 1941 as a left-leaning medical student and was also imprisoned in Italy until 1943. Then, they both go to Switzerland, where they meet and get married. After the end of the war, they start life in Zagreb. Ognjen Kraus graduated from the Classical High School and studied medicine and specialized in urology. He is the president of the Jewish Municipality of Zagreb and the Coordination of Jewish Municipalities in Croatia. He is the initiator of many important initiatives, the most important of which are those for the banning of the Ustasha greeting „Za dom spremni“ and the Ustasha insignia. Together with other important actors, he advocates an inclusive culture of memory, changing the exhibition in Jasenovac museum, opening an exhibition in the Yugoslav pavilion in the Auschwitz camp, and numerous other important topics, with the aim of more inclusive memory of the victims, presentation of historical facts, but also creating a better climate in society.