Šalom Miroslav Freiberger (לום פרייברגר; 1903–1943), born in Zagreb (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire) was a rabbi, translator, writer and community leader. Educated as a lawyer and doctor of theology, he first served as rabbi in Osijek, Slavonia and afterward in Zagreb from 1937 to 1941. That year, after the death of rabbi Gavro Schwarz, he became the chief rabbi of Zagreb. In the years prior to World War Ⅱ, Rabbi Freiberger was a strong advocate of Zionism and the return of Jews to British Mandate Palestine. With the foundation of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941and the first application of the fascist racial laws, Freiberger made efforts to rescue Jews. He had many connections with Jewish organizations in Italy, Hungary and Switzerland, and extremely good relations with the Catholic Church in Croatia, especially with Alojzije Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb. Archbishop Stepinac urged Freiberger and his family to take refuge at his court until the end of the war. However, Freiberger declined the offer since he wanted to share the destiny of his people. At the end of 1942 he escorted the last group of rescued Jews to Budapest and Istanbul, from where they were transferred to the British Mandate for Palestine. Among them, with ten underage girls and boys, was his sixteen-year-old son Ruben. The group had received travel documents only after Stepinac and Vatican officials had intervened with the Croatian authorities. Despite the efforts of Archbishop Stepinac to save him, in the spring of 1943 Freiberger was arrested by the Independent State of Croatia regime, when Heinrich Himmler himself arrived in Zagreb, dissatisfied with the way the regime was "solving the Jewish question" in Croatia. Archbishop Stepinac immediately sent a request for Freiberger's liberation to state officials, but without success. On 3 May 1943, with the last transport of Jews from Croatia, the Nazis transported Freiberger and his wife from Zagreb Main Station to Auschwitz. He was killed at the camp entrance when he protested against the inhumane procedures inflicted on the members of his community. (Amiel Shomrony, Rabbi Freiberger's former secretary, filed two motions to recognize Stepinac as righteous among the nations for helping Freiberger in saving the Jewish people of his community.)