On a third year, his studies were interrupted by World War II and Independent State of Croatia regime in 1941.

[1][4] When the Split Synagogue was set on fire, Altaras saved the Torah and other sacred objects from the flames.

In 1943 he smuggled from Croatia 40 Jewish children across the Adriatic to Villa Emma near Modena, Italy, from where they were transferred to the Mandatory Palestine.

[1][5] In August, 1943 Altaras illegally entered the Rab concentration camp and took to Split the photos which were secretly recorded by the imprisoned Jewish youth.

[6] After graduation in 1946, Altaras worked as an assistant professor of radiology at the "Vojna Bolnica Zagreb" (Military Hospital) under Prof. Milan Smokvina.

Because of that, in 1964, League of Communists of Croatia started to political persecute Altaras in a mounted court case.

In 1992 he published his principal professional work: A new atlas of large and small intestine - the integration of diagnostic methods.

With political skill, his charismatic personality and genuine interest in the fate of the "little people", he also served as the president of the Jewish community in Giessen.