The novel by the famous Croatian writer Milenko Jergović (b. 1966) illuminates the life and state of society in Yugoslavia during the period between the two world wars. The prototype of the main character of the novel is the child prodigy actress Leah Deutch, who lived in Zagreb and became a victim of the Holocaust at the age of 15. She was deported to a concentration camp, where she died. However, her short life was in every sense the life of a theater star. The novel about the tragic fate of Ruth Tannenbaum, written by Jergovic, caused controversy: the fate of Croatian Jews during the Second World War is still a sensitive topic for both Jews and Croats. Milenko Jergovic born and raised in Sarajevo, lived there during the first year of the Bosnian War (1992), when the city was besieged. In 1993, Jergović moved to Zagreb. For the novel “Ruth Tannenbaum” the author was awarded the Meša Selimović Literary Prize (2007). In addition, he received a number of awards and honors for his other novels and collections of short stories.