Dr. Naida-Michal Brandl, Associate Professor

Chair of Judaic StudiesCentre for Jewish History and HeritageUniversity of Zagreb, Croatia


Education

2015 (June) Ph.D.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Dissertation “Jews in Croatia from 1944/5 until 1952” under the mentorship of Professor Ivo Banac (The Bradford Durfee Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University).
2010 Ph.D. candidate (Modern and Contemporary History)
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Examination areas: different aspects of Central and Southeastern European and world history.
2004 An academic year at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel
Study areas: Talmud, the Hebrew Bible, Halakha and Hebrew language.
2003 M.A. program in Jewish history,
Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York for 4 semesters (without graduation) with a “merit fellowship”, upon enrolling.
1999 B.A. (double major, History and Archaeology)
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
B.A. thesis “Sephardic Diaspora in the Mediterranean in the 16th century”, under the mentorship of Professor Drago Roksandić.


Contact

University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Ivana Lučića 3, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

send email


work and teaching experience

2023 – current
Head of the Centre for Jewish History and Heritage.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Coordinates research in Jewish history; coordinates mapping of Jewish heritage in Croatia; preparing projects for protection of Jewish heritage sites in Croatia in the coordination with the Ministry of Culture and Media.
2023 – current
National coordinator for EHRI National Node for Croatia.
2022 - current
Academic Working Group in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
, Croatian delegation
2022 – current
Associate professor.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Judaic Studies.
Teaches courses in world and Central and Southeastern European Jewish history at undergraduate and graduate level:
B.A. level: Survey of Jewish history in Modern and Contemporary periods; Jewish history in Croatia in the 20th century.
M.A. level: Selected topics from Judaic studies: Modern Jewish identities; Selected topics from Jewish Modern and Contemporary history: History of Israel.
Online course at M.A. level: Teaching about the Shoah, a course developed in co-operation with the Yad Vashem experts on different Holocaust topics dealing with historiography, memorialization and education. It is a pilot project intended to prepare students to be future educators.
2020 – 2021
Vice dean for Finance and Administration.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Responsible for the day-to-day financial operation of the Faculty with 6,500 students, 750 employees in research, teaching and administration and an annual budget of 30 million U.S. dollars. Supervises the Finance Department with ten employees. Reports to the Dean and participates in the decision making at the highest levels.
2020 – 2022
Chair of Judaic Studies.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Judaic Studies.
Principal author of the B.A. and M.A. programs in Judaic Studies. In charge of the curriculum development, administrative work and progress of 30 students. Coordinates work of adjunct and guest professors.
2017 – 2022
Assistant professor.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Judaic Studies.
Teaches courses in world and Central and Southeastern European Jewish history at undergraduate and graduate level:
B.A. level: Survey of Jewish history from Antiquity until the 18th century; Survey of Jewish history from Haskalah and Emancipation; Between the Empires: Jewish history in Croat lands until the 20th century; Jewish history in Croatia in the 20th century; Introduction to Yiddish.
M.A. level: History of Judaic studies; Selected topics from Jewish Medieval history: Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean; Selected topics from Jewish Modern and Contemporary history: Haskalah and Emancipation; Selected topics from Jewish Modern and Contemporary history: History of Israel.
**Online course at M.A. level: **Teaching about the Shoah, a course developed in co-operation with the Yad Vashem experts on different Holocaust topics dealing with historiography, memorialization and education. It is a pilot project intended to prepare students to be future educators.
Supervised 11 M.A. theses, which constitutes 75 percent of all the theses written in the Judaic Studies program so far.
Author of the teaching material for students of Jewish history.
2015 – 2017
Assistant research scientist and postdoctoral fellow and lecturer.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Judaic Studies.
Taught B.A. and M.A. courses. Supervised M.A. theses.
2012 – 2015
Research/teaching assistant.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Judaic Studies.
Taught B.A. courses and developed the curriculum and syllabi for the M.A. program in Judaic Studies.
2007 – 2012
Research/teaching assistant.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Judaic Studies.
Developed the curriculum and syllabi for the B.A. program in Judaic Studies. Taught Periodization in Jewish History, an elective course for all students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
2006 – 2007
Lecturer.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Developed syllabus and taught Periodization in Jewish History, an elective course for all students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
1999 – 2001
Assistant-advisor in the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Office for cooperation with international institutions in the Republic of Croatia.


projects

2023 – current
National coordinator for the establishment of the EHRI National Node for Croatia.
A partner in project application of the ESFRI project European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI Implementation Phase Project - EHRI‐IP), as a preparatory phase for the establishment of the international scientific infrastructure EHRI-ERIC, in which Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences will be the national coordinator.
2023 – current
Co-leader of public history project Multi-layered Interpretation of the Croatian 20th Century History: Dialogue, (Historical) Re-enactment, Education, Analysis, Meaning, State Identity (DREAMS).
2021 – current
A member of the ERASMUS+ project Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education CultHera
– Civic engagement of cultural and historical heritage in urban and sub-urban environment – EU context, perspectives & good practices (2021–1–RO01–KA220–HED–000031987). National coordinator prof. Goran Pavel Šantek.
2020 – current
A member of the ERASMUS+ project Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education ReNewEurope
– Rediscovering “NewEurope” – On-Wheels summer school for Balkan/Central and Eastern Europe trans-border history and politics (2020–1–PL01–KA203–081999). National coordinator prof. Goran Pavel Šantek.
2018 – current
A member of the founding and executive board of The Jewish Studies Winter School in Dubrovnik,
Inter University Centre (IUC) Dubrovnik.
2007 – 2013
Research Assistant on project sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Croatia:
Ideology, Ethnicity, City and Village in Croatian Society in the 20th Century.


publications

BOOKS2023.
Židovi u Hrvatskoj nakon Holokausta (Jews in Croatia after the Holocaust) – a book dealing with different aspects of the Jewish community in Yugoslavia/Croatia in the immediate postwar in the context of Communist Europe.
Leykam international, Zagreb, 2023.
2022.
Oduzimanje židovske imovine u Hrvatskoj: Zagreb kao studija slučaja / Appropriation of the Jewish property in Croatia: Zagreb case study.

Leykam international, Zagreb, 2022.
Awarded the State Science Award in the field of humanities for 2022. by the Government of Republic of Croatia
ARTICLES2022.
Strategies of Survival: The Role of the Jewish Religious Community (ŽBOZ) and the Remaining Jewish Population in Zagreb, 1943–1945.
Deported. Comparative Perspectives on Path to Annihilation for Jewish Populations under Nazi German Control. Michaela Raggam-Blesch / Peter Black / Marianne Windsperger (eds.). Vienna: new academic press og. Forthcoming February 2023.
2022.
Presenza degli Ebrei nel commercio marittimo di granaglie durante il Settecento nel mare Adriatico dai Regesti marittimi croati, vol. I-III.
Problemi sjevernog Jadrana 19 (2021): 11–44 (co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek and Piergabriele Mancuso).
2021.
“Ljepši si izgledao u majici!” – Pisma Karle Duhar Koči Popoviću (You looked prettier in a T-shirt! Letters of Karla Duhar to Koča Popović).
Liber amicorum. Zbornik radova u čast profesora Iva Banca. Zagreb: Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada (2021), 203–228.
Names and characteristics of 18th century Croatian ships in the Adriatic Sea from the Croatian Maritime Regesta vol. I. Kroatologija 12:1 (2021): 91–145 (co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek)2020.
Židovi trgovci, parcenevoli i špediteri na Jadranu u 18. stoljeću iz Hrvatskih pomorskih regesta, I–II sv. (Jewish merchants, parcenevoli and forwarders on the Adriatic in the 18th century from the Croatian Maritime Regesta, vols. I–II).
Historijski zbornik 73:1 (2020): 23–54 (co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek)
Judaistika u zemljama srednje i istočne Europe (Judaic Studies in Central and Eastern Europe). Crkva u svijetu 55:4 (2020): 860–892.2017.
Elity żydowskie w Zagrzebiu w latach 1941–1945 (Jewish Elites in Zagreb, 1941–1945). Przywódcy społeczności żydowskiej. Elity i przedstawiciele społeczności żydowskiej podczas II wojny światowej,
Martyna Grądzka-Rejak; Aleksandra Namysło (eds.). Katowice–Kraków–Warszawa: Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej (2017), 353–372.
2016.
Jews between two totalitarian systems: property legislation.
Review of Croatian history 12:1 (2016): 106–127.
Židovska topografija Zagreba kojeg više nema (Jewish Topography of Zagreb). Historijski zbornik 1 (2016): 91–103.Djelatnost Židovske bogoštovne općine u Zagrebu 1945–1946. (The Jewish Religious Community of Zagreb, 1945–1946). Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest 47:2 (2016): 675–710.2015.
Židovski identiteti u Hrvatskoj iza Drugog svjetskog rata (Jewish Identities in Croatia after the Second World War).
Nacionalne manjine u Hrvatskoj i Hrvati kao manjina – europski izazovi: zbornik s međunarodnog znanstvenostručnog skupa Annales Pilar 2012., Ljiljana Dobrovšak i Ivana Žebec Šilj (eds.). Zagreb: Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar (2015), 167–194.
Boris Havel, Pregled povijesti Izraela od Abrahama do moderne Države (The History of Israel from Abraham until the modern State of Israel), Zagreb: Antibarbarus, 2015 (Foreword, articles on the Rabbinical Jewish history, notes, and book editing).2009.
Die Natur der jüdischen Identitäten in den kroatischen Ländern im langen 19. Jahrhundert (The nature of Jewish identity in Croatian Lands during the long nineteenth century),
Internationales Kulturhistorisches Symposiuon Mogersdorf, Kaposvár: Herausgeber und Verleger: Somogy Megyei Közgyűlés (2009), 65–70.
Articles and books in progress
Regesti Marittimi Croati, Settecento, Navigazione nell'Adriatico, Fonti documentarie, Vol. IV / Hrvatski pomorski regesti, Osamnaesto stoljeće, Plovidba na Jadranu, Vrela, svezak IV. (co-author with Nikola Čolak and Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek), in progress.
**Jewish Refugees from 1933 until 1943 in Croatia: two case studies. **Article based on lecture given at The Yad Vashem Biennial International Conference: The Jewish Refugee Problem During the Shoah (1933–1945) Reconsidered, Jerusalem, Israel, December 18–20, 2016, sent.


conferences

2023
Navigating repatriation and restitution: Jewish survivors in Croatia in the immediate postwar period. Beyond Camps and Forced Labour
London, United Kingdom, January 4–6, 2023
2022
Restitution and citizenship: Jewish survivors in Croatia in the immediate postwar period. Practices of reunification: The constitution of refugee life after 1945
Hildesheim, Germany, June 29, 2022.
2019
The role of the JDC in the reestablishment of Jewish religious communities in Yugoslavia in the aftermath of the Shoah. The Activities of ‘the Joint’ in Poland and Neighboring Countries 1945–1989: Reality and Perceptions
Warsaw, Poland, August 6–8, 2019
Restitution Laws and Practices Concerning the Victims of National Socialism in Croatia. Workshop of Appropriation of Jewish Property network
Berlin, Germany February 8, 2019
2018
Jews in Croatia and Yugoslavia, 1945–1968, Einstein Forum – Jewish Experiences in Eastern Europe, 1945–1968. Panel Jewish Communists and Loyalists
Potsdam, Germany, November 11–13, 2018
Heterogeneous Communities during and after Nazi Rule: Relationships between Jews and “Non-Aryans”: Relationships between Jews and “Non-Aryans” in Zagreb. Lessons and Legacies XV.
Panel organized with Michaela Raggam-Blesch and Tatjana Lichtenstein
Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA, November 1–4, 2018
Regesti Marittimi Croati as a Source for Jewish History. Panel: Project for a new research area: Maritime trade from the Eastern and Western Adriatic to the Mediterranean – Jews, merchants and travelers in the 18th century inter-religious trade
organized with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek and Piergabriele Mancuso. The XIth Congress of the European Association for Jewish Studies.
Kraków, Poland, July 15–19, 2018
Jewish Presence in the Maritime Trade of Grain during the 18th Century in the Adriatic Sea from the Croatian Maritime Regesta, vols. I-III.
European Business History Association: 22nd Annual Congress. Co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek and Piergabriele Mancuso
Ancona, Italy, September 6–8, 2018
2017
Jewish Life in Croatia 1945–1952, The AJS 49th Annual Conference
Washington, DC, USA, December 17–19, 2017
Croatia and the Holocaust: the attitude of state institutions and the Croatian society towards the Jews. The international conference Nations of Occupied Europe and the Holocaust of the Jews
Warsaw, Poland, December 6–8, 2017
Microcosms of the Holocaust. The remaining Jewish Communities of Berlin, Vienna and Zagreb 1943–1945: Jewish Community of Zagreb, 1943–1945.
The 17th World Congress of Jewish Studies. Panel organized with Michaela Raggam-Blesch and Maria von der Heydt
Jerusalem, Israel, August 6–10, 2017
Adriatic Port Jews in the 18th Century. Representations of the Port Jew – co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek
Southampton, United Kingdom, May 22–23, 2017
Jews as Building Factor of Adriatic and Mediterranean Worlds in the 18th Century.
Jews in the Balkans: History, Religion, Culture – co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek
Split, Croatia, May 8–10, 2017
2016
Jewish Refugees from 1933 until 1943 in Croatia: two case studies.
THE YAD VASHEM BIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: The Jewish Refugee Problem During the Shoah (1933–1945) Reconsidered
Jerusalem, Israel, December 18–20, 2016
Jewish Refugees from 1933 until 1943 in the territory of Croatia, Refugees and Citizens.
New Nation States as Places of Asylum, 1914–1941
Vienna, Austria, June 16–17, 2016
Mercanti ebrei fra le due sponde dell'Adriatico nel XVIII secolo (Jewish Merchants between two Adriatic Coasts in the 18th Century).
The Birth and Evolution of the Venetian Ghetto (1516–1797) – co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek
Venice, Italy, May 5–6, 2016
Istočnojadranski gradovi u literaturi Responsa (Eastern Adriatic Cities in Responsa Literature).
Međunarodni filozofski i interdisciplinarni simpozij IX. Mediteranski korijeni filozofije
Split, Croatia, April 7–9, 2016
2015
Židovi u Hrvatskoj između dvaju totalitarizama (Jews in Croatia Between Two Totalitarianisms).
Jednodnevni međunarodni znanstveni skup 1945. – na razmeđi dvaju totalitarizama
Zagreb, Croatia, December 2, 2015
Stanje židovske imovine nakon Drugog svjetskog rata: zakonodavni okvir (The Case of Jewish Property after the Second World War: The Legislative Framework). International conference on the Holocaust and restitution
Belgrade, Serbia, May 11–12, 2015
Jewish Elites in Zagreb 1941–1945. International conference on Jewish elites and Jewish community leaders during the Second World War (1939–1945)
Kraków, Poland, October 27–29, 2015
Kairska geniza: izvor za mediteransku povijest, kulturu i religiju (Kairo Genizah as a Source for Mediterranean History, Culture and Religion).
Međunarodni filozofski i interdisciplinarni simpozij IX. Mediteranski korijeni filozofije
Split, Croatia, April 9–11, 2015
2009
Jewish Identities in Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia in the long 19th Century.
International Conference the Maharal – His Leadership and Writings
Zagreb – Vienna – Prague, July 13–19, 2009
2007
Ain leCion cofia, Cionizam u Zagrebu do osnutka Države Izrael (Ayin LeZion Zofia – Zionism in Zagreb until the Establishment of the State of Israel).
Znanstveni kolokvij povodom 200. obljetnice židovske zajednice u Zagrebu
Zagreb, Croatia, February 21, 2007
2000
Sephardic Jews in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century. Conference on Social and cultural history of the Jews on the Eastern Adriatic coast of the 17th century
Dubrovnik, Croatia, August 27–30, 2000


media

ARTICLES2020
22. konferencija European Business History Association (Ancona 6 – 8. rujna 2018) te židovska prisutnost u pomorskoj trgovini žitaricama u 18. stoljeću na sjevernom Jadranu iz Hrvatskih pomorskih regesta, I–III. sv. (Jewish Presence in the Maritime Trade of Grain during the 18th Century in the Adriatic Sea from the Croatian Maritime Regesta, vols. I – III). Problemi sjevernog Jadrana 18 (2020): 196–203 (co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek and Piergabriele Mancuso).
Codex Diplomaticus Maritimus Croatiae/Hrvatski diplomatički pomorski zbornik i Hrvatski pomorski regesti IV. sv: projekt u nastajanju (Codex Diplomaticus Maritimus Croatiae/Croatian Diplomatic Maritime Codex and the Croatian Maritime Regesta, vol. IV: Emerging project). Pomorski zbornik – Journal of Maritime and Transportation Sciences 58:1 (2020): 185–193 doi:10.18048/2020.58.12. (co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek).2019
A New Study Project: From the Croatian Maritime Regesta to the Codex Diplomaticus Maritimus Croatiae – New Sources for Adriatic and Mediterranean Studies in the 18th Century. Zbornik Drage Roksandića Damir Agičić, Hrvoje Petrić, Filip Šimetin Šegvić (eds.). Zagreb: Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (2019), 487–495 (co-author with Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek).
Foreword in Mirjana Gulić, Klotilda Buratti rođena barunica Vranycany-Dobrinović (1835–1912). Zagreb: Državni arhiv u Zagrebu (2019), 8–10.2018
Review: Vesna Miović and Ivan Čerešnješ, Research, Inventory and Cataloguing Documents of the Criminal Court Registers. ‘Lamenta Criminalia post terraemotum’, ‘Diversi e possesso de Criminale’ and ‘Criminalia’ in the State Archives of Dubrovnik Involving Jewish Litigants (1667–1808). Ljubljana: Research and Documentation Center JAS, 2016. Dubrovnik annals 22 (2018): 192–193.
2016
Duško Kečkemet kao povjesničar splitskih i dalmatinskih Židova (Duško Kečkemet as a Historian of the Jews of Split and Dalmatia). Brački zbornik 18:24 (2016), 147–155.
2009
Enciklopedijska natuknica Židovi u Hrvatskoj (Encyclopedia article: Jews in Croatia). Hrvatska enciklopedija, sv. 11. Glavni urednici Dalibor Brozović, August Kovačec, Slaven Ravlić. Zagreb: Leksikografski zavod Miroslava Krleže, 2009.
PUBLIC LECTURES, TV AND RADIO2023
(January 29) Radio show “Historical controversies”: …, Croatian radio 3
(January 29) Book presentation: Boris Havel, “Izrael: Narod u danu rođen, knjiga prva. Povijest Izraela od Abrahama do Bar Kohbe (oko 2000. pr. Krista – 135)”. Zagreb: Školska knjiga, 2022 in2022
(June 29) TV show “1 on 1” on Croatian national television (HRT 1)
Youtube link
2021
(June 11) Book presentation: Mirjana Gulić, “Klotilda Buratti rođena barunica Vranycany-Dobrinović (1835–1912)”. Zagreb: Državni arhiv u Zagrebu 2019. in State archive of the city of Zagreb
2020
(February 6) Exhibition “If I forget Thee… last destination Auschwitz”, Croatian Historical Museum, exhibition consultant
(February 9)
“Stepinac: kardinal i njegova savjest”, a documentary directed by Višnja Starešina,
production of Interfilm and Croatian Catholic University (consultant for Jewish history in Croatia)(June 16)“The destiny of the Jewish Communities in the period of the Shoah”, production of E-Learning Department at Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies for Israeli public (consultant for Jewish history in Croatia and Slovenia): Link2019
(April 11) Radio show “Historical controversies”: Croatians and Jews (Part 1), Croatian radio 3
(April 4) Radio show “Historical controversies”: Croatians and Jews (Part 1), Croatian radio 3
(February 11)TV show “1 on 1” on Croatian national television (HRT 1) Youtube link
2017
(November 17) Book presentation: Nikola Čolak, Hrvatski pomorski regesti / Regesti Marittimi Croati, vol. III, Split: Filozofski fakultet 2017. Croatian Catholic University, Zagreb
(December 20)Public lecture: “Jewish Life in Croatia 1945–1952”. New York, NY: The Center for Jewish history2016
“Stambeno pitanje: Tri države protiv jednog Paula” a documentary directed by Silvana Menđušić, production of Studio DIM for HRT (consultant for issues of Jewish property during and after the Second World War)
**2015 **
(May 4) Book presentation: Boris Havel, Pregled povijesti Izraela: Od Abrahama do moderne države, Zagreb: Antibarbarus, 2015 (Survey of the History of Israel: from Abraham to the Modern State)
2011
(May 12) Public lecture: Jewish National Minority between Assimilation and Globalization. Round table: National minorities in the Age of Globalization – Croatia and Europe, Zagreb