Yugoslavia Jewish Community Portrait

By TULLIA ZEVI

tion of the Jewish Communi- went to the synagogue of Bel-
ties. Since 1945, . all Sephardic grade, at Ulica Kosmajska. It
a n -d Ashkenazi communities, is a large, dignified and well
which were traditionally separat- kept building. But it was
BELGRADE—At 71-A Ulica 7 ed in pre-war days, have merged. closed. A handsome woman,
Jula, in an old dignified building
The Federation of the Jewish Elena Brandeis, who acts as
which is the property of the Jew- Communities derives its income the Temple's guardian, opened
ish community of Belgrade, the from three sources: 1. Voluntary it for me and showed me
offices of the Federation of Jew- contributions; 2. Since the Gov- around. She explained that the
ish Communities in Yugoslavia ernment has recognized the Fed- synagogue is open only on Fri-
are located. There, Dr, Albert eration as , the legitimate owner day nights, when attendance
Vajs, professor at the Law Fac- of all Jewish communal prop- barely reaches 10 people, and
ulty of Belgrade University, and erty, unnecessary property is on the big holidays when it
president of the Federation since gradually being sold along a long- becomes crowded.
1948, welcomed me in his large, term plan, thus supplying to the
She told me the story of the
comfortable office. From the Federation an income of several synagogue during the Nazi occu-
walls in his office, the photo- million dinars each year. More pation and of herself as an in-
graphs of Marshal Tito, Theodor income is derived from the sale mate at 'Auschwitz and after her
Herzl and Moshe Pijade looked Of publications, benefit perform- return to Yugoslavia. Living in
benevolently on.
ances, etc.; 3. Funds from the an attic in utter poverty, she
Nothing could, perhaps, bet- Conference on Jewish Material told me, she one day decided to
ter summarize the life of the Claims Against Germany and write to Marshal Tito, asking for
Jews of YugoSlavia today than from the American Jewish Joint help: Shortly afterwards, an of-
the co-existence of the pictures Distribution Committee.
ficer came to visit her to check
of these three personalities, in
"As long as we continue whether what she had written
the office of the president of
receiving funds from the was true , and she was given a
the Federation of Jewish com-
Claims_ Conference," said Prof. better apartment, some money
munities.
Vajs, "we can count on bal- and furniture.
"There were 75,000 Jews in ancing our budget. After that
."What Yugloslav - Jews really
we shall see."
Yugoslavia before the war,"
want, like myself," she said, "is
, stated Prof. Vajs, in soft-spoken,
He added: "We receive occa- to live well and be like every-
faultless English. "Seventy thou- sional subsidies both from the body else in the land. `Unsere
sand of them were Yugoslays, governments of the six Republics Tito' has given us real equality,
and 5,000 were immigrants. Two- of Yugoslavia and from the Fed- and we do not wish to live else-
thirds were Sephardic Jews, and eral Government. Our relations where."
one-third were Askenazim. They with the Yugoslav authorities are
Prof. Vajs continued
were grouped in 112 communi- channeled through the Commis- ing in the details of
ties scattered throughout the sion on Religious Affairs of the and activity here
land. Sixty thousand of them Federal Executive - through the
1,000 Jews
"Approxim
were lost. Most of them were Commission on Religious Affairs are organi
mmunist Party
deported. Many died while fight- of the Federal Executive Count member
e of them have
ing side by side with the other cil. By mutual agreement,- we do impor t sitions in the fields
Yugoslav partisans. Few became not receive a regular subsidy,
•cs
of s nce, diplomacy;
converts, very few, because it do the other religious _groups an administration.
id
didn't help. Some Jews went (Catholics, Orthodox, Moslems, n er have e n
ere
into hiding. There were magnifi- etc.) Owing to the smallness of
of th
pre-war
cent examples of solidarity; our group, the proportional allo- oinmunists
CO
mostly, or almost exclusively, cation to us would have been
unity life.
from the partisans.
believ th ne ea ex-
very small. We actually get muc
mu-
"The Federation of Jewish more by the system of occasion tendto all Yugoslav
nist Jews he word which
Communities in Yugoslavia, subsidies.
"Whenever local communit Moshe Pija once ' d in the
founded in 1920, was indeed: a
flourishing one. But when the problems are concerned, it is th course of an inte • ew with a
`I never was
war ended, it was reduced to governments of the Republic, emiish journal'
, but, whenever
active
shambles. Practically everything where the community in question
tacked, then I am
had been destroyed or damaged. is located, that grants the funcIS-:
The main Belgrade - Synagogue For instance, when funds were a Jew.'
- "As •far as our surroundings
had vanished in fire. The syna- found necessary for the Belgrade.
gogue which is now the capital's Synagogue, the Republic of are concerned, I believe that
only one functioning had been Serbia allocated 2,000,000- dinars the situation is basically
converted by the Nazis, in a ges- (a sum equal to the one given favorable one, both fro"
titude
ture of supreme insult, into a by the JDC for the same pur- point of view of th
d
of government a
pose.)
military brothel."
ven if
Fifteen thousand Jews, 20
"But when we need funds for of public op
s exist, as
per cent of the prewar total, problems concerning the entire anti-Semitic
ways existed at
survived Nazi terror and the Federation of Jewish Conimuni- they hav
ty
war; 1,500 of them had suc- ties, then funds are allocated by differe degrees of in
en-
ceeded in emigrating, mostly the Federal Government. For in Y oslavia (the
stronger
to Palestine and to the United instance, in order to send a group era
ly Catholi
States, during the war years. of 40 persons to this year's
atia), p
By 1945, 13,500 • were to be Zymria, the international choral
nif est it
found- on Yugoslav soil. Some group festival in Israel, the
`There is
f.
.rtic
of them came out of hiding, Federal Government gave us
de, w •
the new cr
the majority had returned 1,500,000 dinars. Several million
strictly e rce and w ch
from the Nazi extermination dinars were also allocated by the
tes: 'Ever
inciteme
or
and prison camps - and from the Federal.Governmentfor the erec-
etration o racial, r gious
partisan fighting units. When tion of memorials to Jewish
Israel came into being - in 1948 martyrs throughout the country." ha d is a crime.' Pu shment
's offense var .
accord-
emigration started toward the
In all .of Yugoslavia, there is for
of an act
e gravi
only one rabbi, a 72-year-old ing
new State. Between 1948 and
ous cases it
1952, 8,000 men, women and
man in Serajevo. In Belgrade, but in
children left for Israel: 6,500
two old laymen officiate; and can also be a death sentence.
"Yugoslav authorities do not
of them were Jews, the others
in Zagreb, there is a cantor.
hamper
in any way our rela-
Gentiles married to Jews. In
There is no Yeshiva in Yugo- titans with
Jews abroad and
n 50 per
slavia.
other words
Israel.
ostwar
goslavia
"Since we cannot offer attrac- with
cent of
is p
a. tly free- a
tive salaries," says Dr. Vajs, "we rael
Jews e grated to Isra
unhamp ed, 'ut the days o
ugo-
cannot succeed in getting rabbis' mass
Ther are 6,500 Jews i
igr ion are over. Not
y, registered as egu- from abroad. However, the lack mor than
slavia
two or thr leave
lar c munity members. Be- of rabbis is not really felt very for srael each year, bu lmost
ews
here
are
about
500
deeply,
because
Yugoslav
Jewry
sides,
as any come here fr
rael,
e unregistered but who has been neither traditionally
who
d
therefore
the
re-
ews. oriented in a national, nor a re-
dec re thems
ains about ev
35 COM- ligious sense, both before and
are grou
Je
"We are foun
embers
Bel ade, after the war. We have no Mo- of the World .
mu ities: 1,400
ongress
Za-
ber
helim
and
no
Shochtim.
We
do
ab t the sa
since 1936, and a a member
j vo; t e rest not have more than six or seve of the Ex
gr ; 1,000 i
WJC i
ut the untry. religious marriages each year; the only w
sca ered thr
•e Jewish o
coin- 50 per cent of marriages are ganization with hich we
the
Onl Seven
m•n "es have 'a orm y orga- mixed marriages. There are few egularly affi
d. We also
nized ommunity ife. ll corn- circumcisions.
erate con
ly -with
Federa-
"In Subotitza, a very small
muniti belong to t
ims Confer- ce, with DC,
community, something unexpect- wi
other European
wish
ed occurred this year; 15 girls com
ities, with Y
Va-
THE
IF YO b
had
their
bat-mitzva
simultane-
Shem,
we mainta . friendly
• sr•gzio
ously. Otherwise, bar - mitzvas, relations-
ssociations
I
since 1945 are rare. However, at of Yugoslav Jews throughout
UPSIDE DOWN YOU WON'T
the big festivities, Rosh Hashana, the world.
FIND A FINER WINE THAN
Yom Kippur and Passover, many
"The Keren Kayemet and
Jews, both young and old, show the Keren Hayesod do not
up at the synagogues which, on operate in Yugoslavia, and we
those days, manage to be crowd- have not regular, but only
ed."
occasional, fund-raising cam-
Milan Wineries, Detroit, Mich.
On a Saturday morning, I
paigns for Israel. Each year,

Special Correspondent of the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
(Copyright, 1961,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

a delegation of the Federa-
tions of the Jewish communi-
ties in Yugoslavia goes to
Israel for Yom Hatzmaut. We
try to send it each year from
a different community."
We had been talking for a
long time, and Professor Vajs'
words made wonderful listen-
ing. However, I felt that I had
eventually to take leave. I asked
my last question: "How would
you sum up, Professor Vajs, in
a few conclusive words, the
life of Yugoslav Jewr
present and i
"Our f
a
al difficulty
is our
er
weakness," re-
plied rofes or Vajs. "The na-
tur
process is as f llows:
th
is no programp c as
si ilation; but, • co
f
equality
t
Yugosl
d
th our co
sed
t oughout
adual
a imilation i nevi

"The big historical question
for Yugoslav Jewry, as for most
of the smaller Jewish commu-
nities of the Diaspora, is the
following: Will Jews remain
Jews if they are not attacked
or compelled to be Jews by --
external hostile and unfavorable
circumstances?
"As far as we are concerned,
I can forsee that, for the pres-
ent and for the coming genera-
tions, Jewish life in Yugoslavia
can be taken for granted. I
cannot venture and forecasts
for the generations that will
ollow.

alls and hard
bla - - -arly ,80 per cent
of eye injuries among children.
Teach your youngster to play
safely, says the National Society
for the Prevention of Blindness.

2MOLORSIO CHOOSE
City-Wide and
Suburban.
Free Estimates

Refinishing - Restoring

t i INISHINO
mg:KsPEciALTY

Furniture
Repaired &
Refinished in
Any Color of
Your Choice.
Antiques • Old
Furniture Made
Like New. CIT.
arette Burns Re-
paired. All work
guaranteed.

Larry Paul

-a& UNA-8440
.3a..3

W. Mc N tCHOLS

Register Now at LEO ADLER'S

180 New Cars FREE

(Courtesy Chrysler Corp.)

See the Mew 1962

Imperial, Chrysler, Plymouth, Valiant

Big Allowance On Your Car

Barney Teal
Gen. Mgr.

LEO ADLER

Authorized Imperial, Chrysler, Plymouth & Valiant
OUR NEW LOCATION-18500 LIVERNOIS

.

Below 7 Mile

DI 1-7000

=I 111111 , M1 111111 NM III AIM MO Olt INN ME MI

462

tils tielf

Lincoln - Mercury - Comet

Better than ever Deals
Better Service

See Your Friend

I

otott grown

I

PARK MOTOR SALES

I
18100 Woodward
I Between 6 and 7 Mi. Rd.

TO. 9-5000 I

NE ow mom -

Nii

ANNOUNCING
1962 DODGE

a preview showing of the all new

DART • POLARA • LANCER

ALL NEW INSIDE . . • ALL NEW OUTSIDE -

ON DISPAY: THURS. • FRI. • SAT.

A Personal Invitation
from

ARCHIEL HARWITH

Be my guest at the Biggest New
Car showing in Michigan. . . .
A fabulous array of the really new
1962 Dodges-Darts & Lancers. —
New models - new colors - new
design. Your's to inspect — your's
to drive. It's our_open house —
so be sure to come.
I will be on duty to personally
demonstrate these wonderful new
cars.

-

TAYLOR'S

DODGE - DART - POLARA
LANCER-SIMCA-TRUCKS

19711 LIVERNOIS bh"
M"e
DI 1 8 9500
•

-

