Personal Fonds – Zoltan Biro

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Јеврејски историјски музеј (Jevrejski istorijski muzej)

Scope and content:: The collection comprises personal documents and some official correspondence compiled during Zoltan Biro’s work at the Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia.

Administrative/biographical history:: Zoltan Biro was born in Budapest, to father Imre-Mirko and mother Ilona-Jelena, née Mendelson. The Biro family lived in Subotica and from 1926 to 1930 in Mostar; in 1931 they moved to Belgrade. Biro began his law studies at the University of Zagreb in 1930 and completed them in 1934 in Belgrade. During his studies in Zagreb, he was a member of the Jewish Academic Aid Society. He passed the bar exam prior to the outbreak of World War II. After the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he managed to escape and to avoid to be taken prisoner to Germany. He sheltered along with his parents in Subotica, from where he was forcibly taken to work to the Bor Mine in 1942. During the evacuation of the camp, he fled to the partisans. In 1944, his parents were taken to Auschwitz, from where they never returned. After the war, he worked in the Military Court in Subotica, as the assistant to a minister in the Ministry of Finance and Justice, the judge of the Supreme Court and the judge of the Supreme Commercial Court. He also arbitrated with the Foreign Trade Arbitration in Belgrade throughout his professional career. He was a member of the Council of the Jewish Community of Belgrade, and for his merits in his work he received a letter of thanks from Megillah from the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Serbia.