Soup kitchens and Yugoslav poor relief between the two world wars

Abstract

The article examines the activities of Prehrana, one of the most prominent charity organisations in Zagreb and in Croatia between the two world wars, whose main activity was to provide hot meals for the needy. The analysis firstly shows how this organization, which had been established in the Habsburg period, became part of the local Jewish philanthropic tradition, and an integral part of public assistance to the poor during the interwar years, thus somewhat blurring the border between the private and the public. Secondly, I show how Prehrana, although quite a traditional charity institution with regard to its organisation and gender division of labour, nonetheless shaped its philanthropic activity in new ways: existing practices were remodelled and new infrastructures were created. This case study is emblematic of the prominent role played by voluntary associations in the interwar Eastern European transition from traditional poor relief to the socialist welfare regime. Finally, the article argues that voluntary and public organizations were both deeply concerned with the issue of social control. Carefully distinguishing the poor along hierarchised social scales, refining and deepening gender and social differences, humanitarian associations like Prehrana significantly contributed to shaping and disciplining poverty in Yugoslav interwar society.

Keywords:

• Assistance to the poor
• Yugoslavia
• philanthropy
• voluntary societies
• social control

Acknowledgement

I wish to thank Fabio Giomi and Elissa Helms for having organized a first workshop at the Central European University (16–17 May 2014), and a second at the Collège de France (9–10 December 2015), where I could present and discuss the core arguments of this article. I am indebted to all the participants, and particularly to Fabio Giomi, who has been in recent years a relevant source of inspiration for developing these aspects of my research. My thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for suggestions that considerably improved my arguments.

Notes

1. Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 38, 40–1. Mayer was secretary of the association throughout its entire existence.

2. Some classic comparative works in the field are: Flora and Heidenheimer, The Development of Welfare States; Alber, Vom Armenhaus zum Wohlfahrtstaat; Ritter, Der Sozialstaat.

3. Baldwin, “The Welfare State for Historians;” Conrad, “Wohlfahrtstaaten im Vergleich.”

4. Zimmermann, Jäger, and Melinz, “Sozialpolitik in der Peripherie,” 9–13.

5. On the notion of the ‘mixed economy’, in contrast to a rigid dichotomy between the private and public: Katz and Sachße, The Mixed Economy of Social Welfare. More recently: Brandes and Marx-Jaskulski, “Armut und ländliche Gesellschaften,” 18–20, 28–30. For an excellent example of a nuanced inquiry: Hong, Welfare, Modernity, and the Weimar State.

6. Althammer, “Introduction,” 10; Brandes and Marx-Jaskulski, Poor Relief and Charity; Wolffram, “Social Politics and the Welfare State.”

7. Hering and Waaldijk, “Comparative Welfare History” and the entire volume: Hering and Waaldijk, Guardians of the Poor; Schilde and Schulte, Need and Care; on the welfare state in Central-Eastern Europe: Zimmermann, “Wohlfahrtspolitik;” Inglot, Welfare States in East Central Europe; Tomka, Welfare in East and West.

8. Zimmermann, “Making a Living;” Gordon, “The New Feminist Scholarship on the Welfare State;” Bock and Thane, Maternity and Gender Policies.

9. From a Foucauldian perspective, see the classic works by Peukert, Grenzen der Sozialdisziplinierung; Sachße and Tennstedt, Soziale Sicherheit und soziale Disziplinierung; more recently: Hong, Welfare, Modernity, and the Weimar State; Althammer, The Welfare State and the “Deviant Poor;” Emsley, Social Control in Europe.

10. O’Day, “Caring or Controlling?,” 150; for a general overview of paternalism and voluntary poor relief: Morris, “Voluntary Societies,” 106–16.

11. Spierenburg, “Social Control and History,” 6–7.

12. For useful methodological inputs: Gestrich, Being Poor in Modern Europe. In general: Scott, Weapons of the Weak.

13. On poor relief in general in interwar Zagreb: Ajduković and Branica, “Počeci socijalnog rada;” Puljiz, “Socijalna politika;” Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 246–68. For an excellent comparative local study regarding the late Habsburg period: Melinz and Zimmermann, Über die Grenzen der Armenhilfe. For some overviews of voluntary associations in the late Habsburg period: Cohen, “Nationalist Politics and the Dynamics of State and Civil Society;” Heppner, “Die Habsburgermonarchie und die Idee der Zivilgesellschaft;” Luft, “Zivilgesellschaft im cisleithanischen Teil der Habsburgermonarchie.”

14. Mirnik, “Obitelj Alexander;” in general on the Jews in interwar Zagreb: Goldstein, Židovi u Zagrebu.

15. Parnica, “Filantropija u Hrvatskoj;” Baloban, “Karitativni rad.”

16. Kolar-Dimitrijević, Prvo zagrebačko dobrotvorno društvo; Goldstein, “Dobrotvorno i socijalno djelovanje;” Švob, “Razvoj ženskih općih i židovskih.”

17. Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 5.

18. Ibid.

19. The ‘League for the Protection of the Families of Mobilized Soldiers’; Ibid., 11.

20. Ibid., 22.

21. Ibid., 4–5, 24.

22. Cfr. ibid., 7 and 21.

23. Cf. Ibid., 24–6, and 28–9, as well as “15-godišnjica ‘Prehrane’,” Večer, October 21, 1929. This trend continued until the late 1930s: State Archives in Zagreb (henceforth: DAZ), 1029 Dobrotvorno društvo “Prehrana,” box 4, 24. Glavna godišnja skupština (henceforth: Annual Meeting), 1939, 1.

24. See e.g. “Pomoć Njegovog Veličanstva Kralja sirotinji za božićnje praznike,” Opštinske novine, January 5, 1933; “Za zimsku pomoć (Posveta Nj. Kr. Vis. Kneginje Olge),” Beogradske opštinske novine 1 (1936), 3. For the main framework of the relationships among dynasty, state and voluntary associations, see the Introduction to this special issue and the other contributions.

25. As clearly stated in the mid-1930s: ‘The association does not receive any subsidies, neither from the government, nor the regional administration, nor the municipality, and only has the support of its members and the donations of rare benefactors to thank.’ Ibid., 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, 7.

26. Ibid., 22. Annual Meeting, 1937, 7.

27. Ibid., 6.

28. Ibid., 10.

29. Ibid., 24. Annual Meeting, 1939, 8.

30. Ibid., 22. Annual Meeting, 1937, 1–2.

31. Ibid., 3.

32. Smith, “Charity and Poor Relief,” 458; Morris, “Voluntary Societies,” 96.

33. Alber, Vom Armenhaus zum Wohlfahrtstaat, 24–9.

34. Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 41–2.

35. Three were inaugurated in 1931, although two were closed after only two years; additional ones were occasionally opened in the following years, but they did not operate all year round. Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 296–7. On the engagement of the municipality in poor relief in general in the first half of the 1920s: Izvještaji Gradskog poglavarstva, 92–7, 113–31.

36. For an overview of the social policies of the municipality of Zagreb in the interwar years: Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 246–304; I dealt in detail with the new facilities for unemployed people in: Stefano Petrungaro, “Hostels for Jobless Workers in Interwar Yugoslavia (1921–1941),” 454–62.

37. Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 251.

38. Izvještaji Gradskog poglavarstva, 134.

39. Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 198–9.

40. Baloban, “Karitativni rad,” 279–80.

41. Izvještaji Gradskog poglavarstva; Ajduković and Branica, “Počeci socijalnog rada;” Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 305–82; Baloban, “Karitativni rad.”

42. Petrungaro, “Hostels for Jobless Workers,” 463–6; see also: Marie-Janine Calic, Sozialgeschichte Serbiens 1815–1941, 229–35, 387–92.

43. “Organizacija zimske pomoći u Osijeku.”

44. “Delatnost ‘Pučke kuhinje’ u Vinkovcima.”

45. “Naše građevine,” 45. For an overview: Zaviršek and Leskošek, The History of Social Work in Slovenia.

46. “Rad ‘Gradske kuhinje’.”

47. “Zimska pomoć;” Krmpotić, “Spisak,” 41. For some insight into poor assistance in Belgrade in the 1930s: Vidaković, Zdravlje i socijalna pomoć, 285–8, 374–6, and particularly about soup kitchens: 135–6; a soup kitchen managed by a women’s humanitarian association (“Zadruga Jugoslavenki”) in Sarajevo is mentioned in: State Archive of Bosnia and Hercegovina (ABiH), Regional Government in Sarajevo (ZVS), 1920, box 204; the Police to the ZVS, 14.04.1929; there are no overviews of poor assistance in interwar Sarajevo; for some case studies see: Bavčić, Merhamet; Pavlović, “Sephardi Pride.”

48. On Jewish assimilationist groups in interwar Zagreb: Goldstein, Židovi u Zagrebu, 172–8.

49. For the structure of the first boards established in 1914 and renewed in 1917: Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 10, 16.

50. Ibid., 32.

51. Waaldijk, “Power and Politics in Social Work,” 69–76; Leskošek, “The Role of the Slovenian Women´s Movement.”

52. On gender discourse and images in interwar Yugoslavia: Vujnović, Forging the Bubikopf Nation; Ograjšek Gorenjak, Opasne Iluzije.

53. Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 6.

54. Ibid., 36.

55. DAZ, 1029, box 4, 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, Secretary’s Report, 3.

56. DAZ, 1029, box 4, 22. Annual Meeting, 1937, 5.

57. Doolittle, “The Duty to Provide.” For recent criticism from the point of view of labour history: Yeo, “Gender in Labour and Working-Class History.”

58. DAZ, 1029, box 4, 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, 5.

59. Ibid., 9.

60. Althammer, Bettler in der europäischen Stadt; Jahn, Armes Russland, 35–69.

61. Cfr. the Austrian Penal Code of 1852, part 2, § 517–21, in force in Croatia until 1929; the Vagrancy Law of 1885; the Yugoslav Law for the Protection of Public Security and Order in the State of 1921, art. 6; and the Yugoslav Penal Code of 1929, § 518; on the Austrian interwar policy on beggary, see: Wadauer, “The Usual Suspects;” on the case of Zagreb in general: Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 180–4.

62. For a review of the unanimous opinions of the representatives of several voluntary associations: Zorko, “Socijalni problemi,” 178–80. For the association of beggary with theft in an official document of the municipality: Izvještaji Gradskog poglavarstva, 135.

63. DAZ, 1029, box 4, 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, 8.

64. Ibid., 9. See also the same plea of the ‘Society for Helping the Poor and Fighting against Beggary in Zagreb’: DAZ, 1029, box 5, Izvještaj društva za pomaganje sirotinje i suzbijanje prosjačenja u Zagrebu za godinu 1935, 4.

65. For an international comparison: Althammer, Bettler in der europäischen Stadt der Moderne; stressing also the distinctions among the different national contexts: May, “Poverty in Transnational Discourses.”

66. Geremek, Truands et misérables dans L'Europe moderne; Woolf, The Poor in Western Europe.

67. Gestrich, Raphael, Inklusion/Exklusion ; Althammer, Gestrich, and Gründler, The Welfare State and the “Deviant Poor.”

68. A comparison with the report for 1940 shows that the more detailed figures differed somewhat, but not the overall relationships between the assisted groups. DAZ, 1029, box 4, Izvještaj o radu u godini 1940.

69. Ibid., 20. Annual Meeting, 8.

70. Calic, “Bildung als Entwicklungsproblem.”

71. “Lekar-svirač, lekar-frizer, lekar-guvernanta,” Politika, December 10, 1933.

72. This was the soup kitchen previously managed by the Društvo čovječnosti

73. On visual representations of poverty: King, “The Clothing of the Poor;” Gestrich, “Depicting the ‘Moral Dregs’;” Reiss, “The Image of the Poor and the Unemployed;” Uerlings, Trauth, and Clemens, Armut. Perspektiven in Kunst und Gesellschaft.

74. Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 23.

75. DAZ, 1029, box 4, 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, 6.

76. Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 23–4.

77. For example, in ibid., 38–9.

78. Mayer, Dobrotvorno društvo Prehrana, 14.

79. The so-called ‘war kitchen’ opened on 11 February 1917, and closed in April 1919, when Prehrana had to leave its wartime district. For further details about this initiative: DAZ, 1029, box 4, 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, 5.

80. Ibid., 5.

81. Ibid., box 5, Prehrana to the Ministry of Education, February 6, 1932.

82. Ibid., box 4, 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, 7.

83. Hasanbegović, Muslimani u Zagrebu, 104–6. Founded by the local board of the Muslim Cultural Society, Narodna uzdanica, in Zagreb. This Muslim canteen initially went through some turbulent times; the site of acute conflicts between left-oriented Muslim students and anti-Communist and pro-Croatian nationalists of the local Muslim community, by the end of the year these tensions led to incidents, interventions by the police, the discharge of the canteen’s managers and the expulsion of some of the students. (Ibid., 112–14), The Muslim canteen re-opened in April 1937, and continued – together with the boarding school of which it was part – to function for the remaining interwar years, and after the establishment of the Ustasha State in 1941 (Ibid., 116, 213–18). See also Kemura, Značaj i uloga "Narodne uzdanice”.

84. DAZ, 1029, box 4, 20. Annual Meeting, 1935, 7.

85. And even less in the years when antisemitism was growing in Yugoslavia, as it was everywhere else in Europe: Goldstein, Židovi u Zagrebu, 379–447.

86. DAZ, 1029, box 4, Mayer, Nastavak rada, undated (but post-1947), 4; “Samoubojstvo Židova dra A. Marića,” Novi list, May 8, 1941.

87. DAZ, 1029, box 4, Mayer, Nastavak rada, 5.

88. Ibid., 6–7. With similarly hostile tones: “Povjereni hrvatskih državnih vlasti u zakladi Šandora Aleksandera i društvu ‘Prehrana’,” Novi list, August 4, 1941.

89. DAZ, 1029, box 4, Mayer, Nastavak rada, 2. There is no detailed information about these years in the archives.

90. Hering, Social Care under State Socialism; Schilde and Schulte, Need and Care; Zimmermann, “Wohlfahrtspolitik;” Inglot, Welfare States in East Central Europe.

91. Leskošek, “Social Policy in Yugoslavia;” Puljiz, “Socijalna politika i socijalne djelatnost;” Zaviršek, ‘“You Will Teach them Some, Socialism will do the Rest!”’.

92. DAZ, 1029, box 4, Riješenje o zabrani djelovanja, Odjel unutrašnjih poslova pri gradskom izvršnom odboru Zagreb, November 12, 1947.