Monument to the Victims of the Holocaust and the Ustasha Regime – Present Absence

The monument stands in a prominent and busy location, east of the Main Railway Station building and directly in front of the Central Post Office on Knez Branimir Street.

The work, titled Present Absence, was created by sculptor Dalibor Stošić and architect Krešimir Rogina, and was selected as the winning entry among 38 submissions by a jury headed by renowned Croatian film producer Branko Lustig.

Historical Location

Although many media outlets report that the monument stands on the site from which numerous deportations took place during the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), Branko Lustig—himself a survivor of Auschwitz—clarified that this is not entirely accurate.

The first deportations of Jews and other victims of Ustaša terror began in late June 1941 from the area of today’s Student Centre.

Later, the assembly point was moved to the outskirts of Zavrtnica to keep the operations as hidden as possible. Deportations were also carried out from the area of today’s intersection of Vukovarska and Savska streets, across from the Ministry of the Interior, where a notorious Ustaša prison once stood.

Composition of the Monument

The wall of suitcases is set upon a horizontal monolithic concrete slab shaped like a monumental tomb. Embedded into the concrete are 6,000,000 tiny Stars of David, a solemn reminder of the six million Jews murdered during the Second World War.

The monument does not depict scenes of horror. Instead, it uses simple, everyday objects to deliver a message that is understated yet profoundly powerful.

The Message at the Unveiling

The monument was unveiled on 27 April 2022, on Yom HaShoah, the international day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. It was unveiled by Zagreb’s mayor Tomislav Tomašević and Oleg Mandić, one of the last surviving child prisoners of Auschwitz.

In their speeches, they emphasized that remembrance is not a burden of the past but a warning for the future; that education and understanding of history remain the strongest tools against hatred; and that society cannot progress without confronting its own shadows.

Oleg Mandić — known as “the last boy of Auschwitz” — offered a simple but deeply moving message: “If this place helps ensure that evil repeats itself even once less — then we have already achieved a great deal.”