suvin was born in zagreb, kingdom of yugoslavia, on july 19, 1930 to a croatian jewish family of miroslav and truda (née weiser) šlesinger. in zagreb he attended the jewish elementary school in palmotićeva street. in 1939 his family changed the surname from šlesinger to suvin due to political situation and antisemitism caused by nazi propaganda. when suvin was a young child, there was great political strife in yugoslavia. originally a monarchy, yugoslavia quickly succumbed to the fascist occupation, and then later various other types of government. in the early 1940s, before the end of world war two, a nazi controlled bomb exploded close to suvin, an event that was ultimately responsible for piquing his interest in science fiction, not because of the technology behind the bomb, but because he realized in even a slightly alternative world, he may have been killed right then and there. many members of his family have perished during the holocaust, including his paternal grandparents lavoslav and josipa šlesinger.