Melita Švob (; born 17 July 1931 in Zagreb, former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, now Croatia) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

biologist, scientist, and historian.

Early life

Švob was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

to a middle class Jewish family. As a child she survived the horror of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and the

NDH The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory cons ...

regime under a false identity. After the war, she attended a Gymnasium in Zagreb. Having completed her secondary education, she studied biology at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

from where she graduated successfully.

Later life and career

In 1956 she moved from Zagreb to

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, where she worked at the oncological hospital. After four years she moved with her husband, Tvrtko Švob, to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, where she worked at the Faculty of Medicine as an assistant in the field of

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

and

embryology Embryology (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logy, -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the Prenatal development (biology), prenatal development of gametes (sex ...

. In 1964 she finished her doctoral thesis. From 1964 until 1979 Švob worked at the Institute for Skin and Venereal Diseases where she establish histopathological laboratory. Švob worked on many scientific projects, and has published books and articles regarding Jews, World War II and other scientific issues. In 1977 she moved to

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

where she helped in establishment of Faculty of Medicine, and was elected as professor of histology and embryology. Švob returned to Zagreb with her family in 1979. From 1979 to 1999 she worked as a higher scientific associate (and president of the scientific council) in the Institute for Migration and Nationalities in Zagreb. In the Jewish community of Zagreb in 2000 she founded the Research and Documentation Centre Cendo. As a scientist Švob studied the Jewish population in Croatia; as a result of that study she published the book ''"Židovska populacija u Hrvatskoj i Zagrebu"''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Svob, Melita 1931 births Living people Scientists from Zagreb Croatian Jews Historians of Jews and Judaism Croatian women historians 21st-century Croatian historians Jewish historians Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb alumni Croatian histologists 20th-century Croatian historians University of Sarajevo alumni Academic staff of the University of Tuzla