Dar k C ouch

ince May of 1992, Sarajevo has been synony-
mous with human misery. Three years ago,
more than half of the city's 1,200 Jews were
airlifted out by the American Jewish Joint Dis-
tribution Committee, funded in part by the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Those who remain have come to the aid of their belea-
guered non-Jewish neighbors, re-establishing La
Benevolancija, the Jewish humanitarian aid society. In
doing so, they have transformed the city's remaining syn-
agogue into a place where 54 volunteers, Jews, Croats,

Serbs and Muslims, work side-by-side.

The group operates, for free, a soup kitchen that daily
serves 350 hot lunches, distributes more than 300 mail
packages and supplies 40 percent of the city's medical sup-
plies. With the Joint's coordination, they have organized
rescue convoys that have brought 2,300 people — mostly
non-Jews — to freedom.

Photo-journalist Edward Serotta has captured these
poignant scenes in his new book, Survival In Sarajevo:

Help for all: One
of three
pharmacies
operated by
Sarajevo's Jews.
They provide 40
percent of the
city's medicine
for free.

T-

CNI

How a Jewish Community Came to the Aid of Its City. The

following photographs appear in that work.

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