Prof. Dr. Jakob Altaras (1918–2001) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

physician and president of the Jewish community

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

Early life and education

Altaras was born as the youngest of six brothers in Split, Croatia on 12 October 1918 to a poor

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family of Leon Altaras. He finished elementary school and

Classical gymnasium in Split The Classical Gymnasium ( hr, Klasična gimnazija) was a gymnasium high school (similar to a grammar school in England and Wales) situated in Split, Dalmatia, Croatia. It was founded by the Austrian Empire and its Imperial Royal General Governm ...

. Altaras studied at the

School of Medicine, University of Zagreb The School of Medicine ( hr, Medicinski fakultet or MEF) in Zagreb is a Croatian medical school affiliated with the University of Zagreb. It is the oldest and biggest of the four medical schools in Croatia (the other three being in Osijek, Rijeka ...

. On a third year, his studies were interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

regime in 1941. Altaras returned to Split from where he moved to

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. There he studied and graduated from the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery University of Bari. After the war he moved back to Zagreb and returned to studies at the University of Zagreb from where he graduated in the 1946.

World War II, persecution and career

From September 1943, during World War II, he was a member of the

Partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

resistance movement in Croatia. When the

Split Synagogue The Split Synagogue in Split, Croatia is one of the oldest Sefardic synagogue still in use today. It was built in the early 1500s. Located on a small street called ''Židovski Prolaz'' (Jewish Lane), the synagogue was built into the western wall o ...

was set on fire, Altaras saved the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

and other sacred objects from the flames. In 1943 he smuggled from Croatia 40 Jewish children across the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

to Villa Emma near

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, from where they were transferred to the

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

. In August, 1943 Altaras illegally entered the Rab concentration camp and took to Split the photos which were secretly recorded by the imprisoned Jewish youth. After the war those photos were used by the Commission for War Crimes in SFR Yugoslavia. After graduation in 1946, Altaras worked as an assistant professor of radiology at the "Vojna Bolnica Zagreb" (''Military Hospital'') under Prof. Milan Smokvina. From 1950s he was a Head Physician of the "Centre for radiology and nuclear medicine" at "Vojna Bolnica Zagreb". At the same time he owned the private practice in Zagreb. In the 1958 he received his master's degree and started to teach medicine at the University of Zagreb. In the meantime Altaras started to explore the true causes of the death of his brother Silvio Altaras, who was killed by the communist regime of PR Yugoslavia in early 1945. Because of that, in 1964,

League of Communists of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia ( sh, Savez komunista Hrvatske or SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička ...

started to political persecute Altaras in a mounted court case. He was forced to leave Croatia and moved to Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. There he worked at the

University Hospital Zurich A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which rou ...

from 1964 to 1966. In 1966 Altaras moved to Giessen,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and started to work at the

University hospital Giessen und Marburg The University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg (') is a German university hospital based in Giessen and Marburg. The Giessen site is the teaching hospital of the University of Giessen whereas the Marburg site is the teaching hospital of the ...

. In 1992 he published his principal professional work: A new atlas of large and small intestine - the integration of diagnostic methods.Altaras, Jakob (1992). Nuovo atlante del colon e del tenue – integrazioni di metodiche diagnostiche. Edicioni Liberia Cortina, Verona Altaras was also very socially active; in 1978, he founded the revived Jewish community in Giessen. With political skill, his charismatic personality and genuine interest in the fate of the "little people", he also served as the president of the Jewish community in Giessen. Under his leadership the new Beith-Jaakov Synagogue of Giessen was built in the 1995. A community center was also built in the new building, which is used every year to welcome exchange students from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Personal life and death

Altaras married two times; first to Zora Altaras (born Ebenspanger, died in 1963) with whom he had daughter, Silvija Altaras Penda, born in 1946.Birth certificate - Republic of Croatia, the Registry Office at Črnomerec, registered by Lydia Markovinovic She has a son, Ivor Altaras Penda,Birth certificate - Republic of Croatia, the Registry Office at Maksimir, registered by Mary Piplica his first grandson. His second marriage was with Thea

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Fuhrmann, with whom he had a daughter

Adriana Adriana, also spelled Adrianna, is a Latin name and feminine form of Adrian. It originates from present day Italy. Translations *Arabic: أدريان * Belorussian: Адрыяна (Adryjana) *Bulgarian: Адриана (Adriana) *Chinese Simplifi ...

born in 1960. During his emigration to Switzerland, Altaras was forced to leave his family behind. In 1964 his second wife and their daughter were smuggled from Zagreb to

, in a car by his Italian brother-in-law. They stayed in Italy long enough for Adriana to learn Italian. From Italy they moved to

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

, Germany. Thea found a job in the municipal building department of Konstanz. For three years Thea traveled between Konstanz and Zurich, where Altaras worked. His daughter Adriana Altaras became a German actress, theater director, and writer. His grandson Aaron Altaras (born 1995) is also a well known German child actor. In 1999, after 35 years, Altaras visited his hometown, Split. During that visit he expressed his great nostalgia for Split and Croatia. Altaras died in

on 6 December 2001.

Honors

For his contribution Altaras received the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

from the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

Roman Herzog Roman Herzog (; 5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elec ...

Published works

* ''Radiologischer Atlas Kolon und Rektum'', München: Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1982

References

Bibliography

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