Figure 1.--This school photo was taken in a village on the river Kupa, about 30 km from Zagreb, Croatia's capital. The photo is undates, but looks like it was taken in the 1920s. Note the characteristic embroidery on the children's clothes. We are not sure about the role of the Catholic priest. He was probably the village priest and taught religious lessoms in the school.

We have few details about different types of schools suring both the Austrian period and Yugoslav royal period. Presumably there was a military academy. We notice priests in school portaits, but are unsure if these are Catholics schools or state schools where the priests came to give religious instruction. Croatia before World war II was a largely Catholic country with Orthodox, Jewish, amd Muslim minorities. We are unsure what provision, if any, was made for the religious minoroties in the state schools. Another issue was the fact that at the Federal level, Orthodox Serbs were a majority and the monsrvhy was Orthodox. The Communists closed private and relgious schools when they seized power at the end of World War II (1945). We do not know if either private schools or religious schools have been restablished in modern independent Croatia.