This research is based on a thesis by Marica Dukic, entitled " The Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Their Literature in the 20th Century ," which was defended at the University of Friuli during the 2014-2015 academic year. This original research was supervised by Professor Natka Badurina of the University of Udine, Degree Course in Foreign Languages ​​and Literatures. The graduate student drew on recent field literature in Bosnian, as did author Jakov Danon, with his 2010 book, Memoari na holokaust Jevreja Bosanske Krajine .

We are honored to publish in the blog, with some additions, the part of her thesis referring to the Shoah. The preview publication of these interesting pages is the result of the careful study of Marica Dukic, whom we thank for having generously made her work available to us for this article (edited by Elio Varutti).

Jews arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1541, passing through Turkey, Albania, Greece, or Italy, or the Republic of Ragusa. The first written documents about Jews date back to 1565, the writings of Sidžila, that is, the official sources of the court of Sarajevo. The first Jewish monuments in Bosnia date back to 1551. Most of the Jews arriving in that period were Sephardim, expelled from the Iberian countries, but there was also a group of indigenous Jews of Ashkenazi ancestry, originally from the Balkans and Eastern European countries.

The Jews, after arriving in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to this day, unlike all other religions, have never aimed at subjugating others. In the past, they sought to coexist with all local peoples and religions. The Sephardim use Ladino as their language, while the Ashkenazi use Yiddish. They settle primarily in Bosnian cities, concentrated around four large urban centers: Sarajevo, Travnik, Banja Luka, and Bijeljina. They arrive first in small groups or individually to assess living conditions and get to know the place and its people better. Once they are certain there is no risk of persecution or expulsion, they inform their families and relatives to join them. From the four largest cities they moved to Gradiška, Prijedor, Bosanski Novi, Kostajnica, Derventa, Bihać, Sanski Most, Foča, Višegrad, Zenica, Jajce and other places (Marica Dukic, The Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their literature in the 20th century , p. 10).

They were welcomed by the Turkish Sultan Bayezid and this is confirmed by the construction of the synagogue in 1581 in Sarajevo. Over the years, however, the Jews lost their privileged status due to the corrupt Ottoman power holders, eager to enrich themselves by demanding taxes and gifts. This negative situation changed during the second half of the 1840th century, when Abdul Medžida, or Abdülmecid I, in XNUMX proclaimed the decree to give all Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina full autonomy, recognition of civil rights, religious freedom and permission to build synagogues.

The army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire invaded Bosnia-Herzegovina at the end of June 1878, establishing a new administration in the region until 1918, causing the exodus of many Muslims. The area was claimed by the Austro-Hungarian authorities following the Congress of Berlin in 1878, although it continued to be part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina to its dominions, placing them under its command.

During this period, a significant demographic development of the Jewish community can be observed. It goes from 3.300 Jews in 1878, of whom 3.000 are Sephardim, to 11.868 individuals in 1910, of whom 8.219 are Sephardim and the rest are Ashkenazim. The Jews are 0,62 percent of the Bosnian population in 1910, which does not reach 2 million inhabitants (Marica Dukic, p. 11).

There is the creation of two distinct Jewish communities, one Sephardic and the other Ashkenazi in Sarajevo (opening photo, ed.) and Banja Luka. Two rabbis have been chosen and two different languages ​​have spread. Only 10 percent of the Jewish population lives in poverty, while the rest of the individuals are equally divided between those who live in excellent, average and modest living conditions (p. 12).

At the end of the Great War, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, abbreviated to the Kingdom of SHS. It was a European state, recognized after the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. This state changed its name with the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

With the beginning of 1940, it was slowly felt that the war and the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were approaching, but no one suspected that it could cause such great damage and take so many lives. The period of terror began with the anti-Semitic laws, enacted under the fascist government of the Independent State of Croatia-NDH (Independent State of Croatia-Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska), led by Ante Pavelić, who considered the Jews as “undesirable elements”, or “of little value”. These laws prevented the Jews from working, studying, going to school, university, using public transport, going to the cinema or the theatre. All this, day after day, led to persecution and genocide. Anti-Semitic propaganda, present throughout the Bosnian territory, was made with all available means: through newspapers, magazines, leaflets, radio broadcasts, documentary films, showing the advances of German power and the liquidation of the Jews.

With the creation of the NDH, a satellite state of Nazi Germany, Bosnia was subjected to the new power. Hitler's policy was to resolve "the Jewish question" by eliminating them from the face of the earth. The Bosnian fascists, claiming their goal was justified, began to torture, steal, kill, and pillage the Jewish population without any compassion. The Holocaust began on April 10, 1941, which is also the date of the creation of the NDH government. It is also the date on which the Ustasha (ustaša) decided to resolve the Jewish question, as the Germans had done. On August 1, 1941, the first Jews were shot in Vrace, near Sarajevo. Some Jews managed to save themselves by purchasing false documents and fleeing to Split (3.000 people), while another 3.500 Jews took refuge in Dubrovnik (Marica Dukic, p. 13). Hundreds more of them found salvation by being interned from Mostar in the concentration camp of Arbe, under the control of the Italian Army (Menachem Shelah, A debt of gratitude. History of the relations between the Italian Army and the Jews in Dalmatia (1941-1943) , facsimile reprint of the 1st edition – Rome 1991, Rome, Stato Generale dell'Esercito, Ufficio storico, 2009).

It is recalled that in April 1941, General Vittorio Ambrosio of the Royal Italian Army conquered the entire Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia in a matter of days, entering Split, where he was happily welcomed by several ethnic Italians who had been involved in the bloody incidents provoked by Croatian nationalists in 1920. A month later, Mussolini annexed the new province to the Kingdom of Italy, establishing the Italian Governorate of Dalmatia. Thousands of Croatian Jews then sought refuge in the Governorate itself, moving to Split, especially in 1942 (see: Spencer Tucker, Who's Who in Twentieth Century Warfare , Taylor & Francis, December 14, 2003).

The Croatian fascist Ante Pavelić, with his Ustasha, built dozens of concentration camps, where he gathered dissidents, Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascists, subjecting them to torture and backbreaking work until they were exterminated in the crematoria.

In the Jasenovac concentration camp – explains Marica Dukic – 20.000 children of Jewish, Serbian and Roma nationality were killed. The surviving women and their children were killed on 20 April 1945. In order to hide their crimes, the Ustaša decided to liquidate those who were still alive, even if it was only a small group. They tried to escape, but most did not even make it out the door, they were killed immediately, and a small number of survivors (90 people) headed towards the Sava River. The Yugoslav Partisan troops entered the Stara Gradiška camp on 23 April 1945 and Jasenovac on 2 May 1945, but did not find a living soul, but only corpses and ruins of the destroyed camps, the only evidence of the crime that had taken place. The number of people killed has never been precisely established: it is said to be approximately 700.000 people, and among these 33.000 Jews, representing 80% of the entire Jewish population present on Bosnian territory at that time (pp. 15-16).

The unpublished work analyzed – Marica Dukic, The Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their literature in the 20th century , degree thesis, Supervisor Prof. Natka Badurina, University of Udine, Degree Course in Foreign Languages ​​and Literatures, Academic Year 2014/'15, pp. 106.

 

Bibliographical and web-related notes – E. Varutti, “ Menachem Shelah’s book on the Yugoslav Jews saved at the Arbe (Rab) camp ”, online from 10 July 2018 on eliovarutti.blogspot.com/

Notes – Reference author: Marica Dukic. Other texts edited by Elio Varutti, for the Cultural Circle of the Parish of San Pio X, Udine. Networking by Girolamo Jacobson and E. Varutti. Readers: Tiziana Menotti, Gregorio Zamò, Marco Balestra, and Professor Stefano Meroi. Cover: postcard of Sarajevo; private collection. Thanks to Silvia Fina, Councilor for Tourism Policies, the Promotion of Historical and Naturalistic Sites, and to the Library of the Municipality of Tarcento (UD), which put Marica Dukic in touch with the author of the texts on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2022. Participating partners: the Study, Research, and Documentation Center on the Julian-Dalmatian Exodus, Udine, and the National Association of Former Political Deportees (ANED) of Udine.

Source: Elio Varutti – 02/13/2022