50th Anniversary of the Death of Sister Bogoljuba Jazvo

Sister Bogoljuba (Lucija) Jazvo was born on 24 December 1897 in Livno. She left her family home and elementary school in Livno to continue her education in Zagreb, where she completed the Teachers’ School of the Sisters of Mercy and became a member of the Congregation after taking her religious vows on 15 August 1918. Following further studies in Zagreb and Innsbruck, she worked until 1940 as a teacher and principal of the Real Gymnasium of the Sisters of Mercy on Varšavska Street in Zagreb.

In 1940, she assumed the position of director at the Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy on Vinogradska Road in Zagreb during the very difficult historical period of the Second World War. In cooperation with Sister Blanda Stipetić, Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, and the hospital staff, she heroically saved Jews from inhumane persecution and certain death by hiding them in the hospital, primarily in the infectious diseases department. According to research conducted by Marko Danon, whose father was saved in that hospital, the number of Jews saved exceeds three hundred.

In 1945, Sister Bogoljuba Jazvo was taken to prison. After her release, she had to leave the hospital, and subsequently Croatia. She passed away on 26 October 1975 in Argentina.

(Željka Šaravanja)