Sarajevo: The Jewish Community

Torquemada the Great Inquisitor issued a decree on the expulsion of Jews from Spain in the spring of 1492. Turkish Sultan Bayazit welcomed them with the words: "I am surprised by the Spanish kings who could throw out a people as clever as the Jews". The first mention of Jews in Sarajevo was around 1550 when the Jewish community was formed and the Hevrah Kadish. The Ottomans gave the Jews all human and religious rights. They were merchants, craftsmen and since there were hardly any illiterates among them they were often ranking civil servants, ambassadors and even members of the local parliament. Apart from the great temple built in 1933, all the Jewish synagogues in Bosnia-Herzegovina were built during Turkish rule. IN Sarajevo they still commemorate 4 Maherschvan 5580 (1819 B.C.) when Sarajevo's Moslems rose up against the bully ruler Rashdie Pasha in defence of their Jews neighbors. The old Jewish cemetery, where the Serbs dug in at the start of the war is said by Jewish researcher Zusja Efron to be unparalleled in Europe. Sarajevo's Hagadah Shel Pesah, just slightly younger than the one in Barcelona, is a unique illumination and one of the most beautiful pieces of Jewish spiritual culture. The blue Menorah is of similar importance to Sarajevo's Jews.

Violin teacher David Kamhi, a Sephard, is vice-president of the La Benevolentsia humanitarian organization, editor in chief of the community's Herald and acting Rabbi. The Kahmi family is one of the oldest Jewish families in the city. David Kahmi is one of the few in his community who speak Judeo Espagnola, the language the Jews spoke four centuries ago.

So what happened to the Jewish community in Sarajevo since World War II, how many were there then, how many now?

"There are cryptograms with the figures," Kahmi said. "Before W.W.II there were 14,000 Jews in Sarajevo (every seventh person in the city), including 12,000 Sephards and 2,000 Ashkenazi who mainly came from the Austro-Hungarian empire. No one knows the exact numbers. After the war some 2,000 came back or survived here. Some left for Israel in 1948-49. Before this aggression on Bosnia-Herzegovina there were between 1,200 and 1,250 Jews in Sarajevo. However, we now face the same thing as other religions: a number of people with Jewish origins have appeared. Theoretically, that can mean Jewish fathers, mothers, grandparents. That counts as Jewish origins. They either declared themselves Yugoslavs after the war or didn't declare themselves at all and suddenly they went back to their roots. So it turns out that before this aggression there were 1,800-2,000 Jews in Sarajevo if you count them."

VREME: So how many are there now?

"Now there are 526 Jews in Sarajevo."

VREME: Are there regular religious services?

"There is no real Rabbi but the faithful come, especially for the New Year, Pesah or Yom Kippur. I perform the services now, as an acting Rabbi even though I have no schooling but I have family traditions and do what I can. We want to introduce these few remaining Jews into the religion and show them what they did not know, what their parents didn't teach them."

VREME: You frequently praised Sarajevo and its residents. Did members of your community have problems because they are Jews during the war, were they harassed? There is obscene graffiti on the wall of the Jewish community and the letters SDA (the ruling Moslem party) on the wall of the Jewish museum.

"Let's talk about more important things. During the World War there were many Moslems who saved Jews. My mother was saved by Fahrija Fadilpasic, who is still alive. She helped her escape with me and my brother to Mostar. There were a lot of cases like that. Recently in Israel, Mrs. Hardaga died (Zejneba Hardaga-Susic, honored with the medal of the just by the Israeli government) who also saved Jews. The writing you mentioned could only have been written by someone primitive. But, I feel the authorities have to address the problem and prevent anything similar. That has nothing to do with the attitude of the authorities and people. That is a Bosnian to Bosnian attitude."

VREME: Are you Bosnian?

""Of course! How could I not be when we have been in Bosnia for I don't know how many generations. I am a true Bosnian, true Sarajevan and I can freely say that this is my city!"

Croatia: Negotiating Prevlaka

Yasushi Akashi, the UN Secretary General's special envoy, could not hide his pleasure after nine hours of talks in Dubrovnik's hotel Prezident that "the Croats and Montenegrins, after over two years, finally met at the negotiating table."

That was the third session of the inter-state commission on Prevlaka, set up after the Cosic-Tudjman agreement, i.e. the withdrawal of the former Yugoslav army from the Dubrovnik area. The pause in regular meetings came after Croatian police minister handed his Montenegrin counterpart a list of allegedly stolen luxury cars and demanded their return. The latest meeting (April 25) seems to have come from an initiative by Montenegro president Momir Bulatovic and his agreement with Akashi when they toured the Prevlaka peninsula late in March.

The Montenegrin negotiating team included republican deputy premier Zoran Zizic, police minister Nikola Pejakovic and Bulatovic's foreign policy advisor Branislav Srdanovic. The Croatian delegation were police minister Ivan Jarnjak, his aide Josko Moric and general Petar Stipetic. The question is whether these talks can achieve anything when Hrvoje Kacic, chairman of the state commission for Croatia's borders, did not attend. Zizic told Montenegrin state TV that "the existence of a border problem in the Prevlaka zone was raised several times during the talks."

VREME learned that the commission was not authorized to discuss Prevlaka, but only resolve irregularities in the peninsula's blue and yellow zones and a number of other issue of mutual interest concerning small border trade on Debeli Brijeg. The platform for the Dubrovnik talks was defined during Akashi's tour of Prevlaka.

One of the irregularities that was to have been discussed are the two-three restored bunkers on Croatian territory. VREME also learned that agreement was reached to issue only official statements on the talks. Akashi declined even to answer direct questions from reporters. He said "some questions were more important for one side, other more important for the other".

"Today's talks," he said, "are based on the agreement between president Tudjman and then president Dobrica Cosic and on the basis of that agreement we are promoting cooperation."

Montenegro TV aired praise of the hosts in Dubrovnik. A reporter who once interviewed prisoners of war on the Dubrovnik front now took statements from Croatian officials and advocated peace. Things seem to have been taken over by new people.

Montenegrin Luxury cars went through the pillaged town of Konavle. Croatian limos are due to come to Montenegro in 4-6 weeks.