Leo Müller (from 1938 Miler; 1894–1941) was
Croatian industrialist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and second son of well known Croatian industrialist
Adolf Müller.
Family and personal life
Müller was born in
Zagreb into the wealthy and influential
Jewish family of Adolf Müller.
He had an older brother
Alfred Müller, also an entrepreneur. Müller was married to Nada (
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 ...
Spitzer) with whom he had three sons, Marijan, Rajko and Branko. Müller fought in
World War I as an officer in the
Austro-Hungarian Army. He was a member of the National Council of the
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. In 1938, on the eve of
World War II, Müller, his brother and their families converted to
Catholicism and changed their surname to Miler due to the worsening political situation and rising
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
fuelled by
Nazi propaganda.
In 1939, with his wife and two older sons, Müller moved to
London, while his youngest son Branko remained in Zagreb with his governess. At the beginning of World War II, Müller returned to Zagreb for his son. Müller arranged for his son and governess to move to
Kosovska Mitrovica where he had a mine. Müller refused to believe that like other Jews he would be arrested and deported to a concentration camp. Cardinal
Aloysius Stepinac urged
Ante Pavelić to save Müller, but in November, 1941 Müller was killed at the
Jasenovac concentration camp. After the war, Müller's wife returned to Zagreb and sought the return of the Müller family’s seized property, but without success. His eldest son, Marijan, made
Aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
to
Israel in the 1940s. Müller’s two other sons, Rajko and Branko stayed in Zagreb with their mother. Both of them were gifted athletes. After graduation at the Faculty of Kinesiology at the
University of Zagreb, Branko Müller moved to
Freiburg where he worked as a professor of athletics.
Business career
From his father, Müller inherited the brick factory in Zagreb and brickyard near
Karlovac
Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705.
Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...
. In the mid-1930, Müller founded the chemical laboratory which would later become the large plantation for planting fruits and vegetables, known as "Müllerov Brijeg". Müller improved the business of the Zagreb brick factory. He was very loved and popular among his employees, for whom he built the Catholic Church in front of the brick factory, organized and provided night school, kitchen with hot meals, and workers orchestra.
[
]
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Leo
1894 births
1941 deaths
Businesspeople from Zagreb
Croatian Jews who died in the Holocaust
Austro-Hungarian Jews
Croatian Austro-Hungarians
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
Croatian businesspeople
Croatian philanthropists
Croatian civilians killed in World War II
People who died in Jasenovac concentration camp
Croatian people executed in Nazi concentration camps
20th-century philanthropists
Yugoslav businesspeople