Stay Or Go?
synagogues, dating from Roman times, is believed to
be among the ruins at Ulpiana, just outside of the
present-day capital, Prishtina.
The community's ranks were swelled with the
influx of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in
1492 and welcomed in the lands of the Ottoman
Empire, particularly in the Balkans. As many as
3,000 Jews were present in Kosovo in 1912.
TED SIEFER
The Demiris speak Albanian. Votim. Demiri, who
Their fortunes began to change around that time,
at the time of the seder was in Belgrade, studied at
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
after Serbia conquered Kosovo: The Serbians resent-
university and manages a textile factory. On account ed the close ties Jews had withithe Turks, mortal
Prishtina, Kosovo
of his relatively high position, he was made leader of enemies of the Serbs.
very once in a while, some of the workers
the Prizren Jewish community by Eli Eliezri, the
Relative to Jews in neighboring lands, Kosovo's
in the kitchen peek up from behind the
JDC's main representative in Kosovo.
Jewish community was less severely affected by the
window and stare curiously.
Demiri's brother Bujar recalls that when their
Holocaust, even though fascist Italy occupied
There are two long rows of tables, at
mother was alive, they would celebrate Passover,
Kosovo and Albania in 1941. An estimated 200 Jews
one of which most of the men are wearing yarmulkes.
albeit without the traditional protocol. She also
from Prishtina were killed in concentration camps,
Plates of matzah are being passed around. At one end
spoke Ladino.
yet Albania has the remarkable distinction of being
of the restaurant hangs a large blue banner from the
Bujar Demiri visited Israel in the 1980s. He has
the only country in Europe to have had a higher
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, next
two uncles living in Ashdod, but he's unsure
population of Jews after the war than before. The
to the many paintings of mosques — scenes from the
whether his family will go to Israel, since some are
country hosted refugees from all over Europe,
picturesque streets of Prizren, where the JDC's fourth
still active in Kosovo.
including many from Kosovo.
annual seder in Kosovo is being held.
The seder is divided into three separate groups.
Still, the Jewish community of Kosovo never really
The JDC's administrator, Jackie Godlove, rises to
There are the Zhelta and Demiri families; there are
recovered after World War II, and the synagogue in
welcome the gathering. This is a time
Prishtina was never rebuilt. The
of transition, she says. This will be the
remaining 13 Jews of Prishtina were
last seder put on by the JDC in
g, spirited away by the JDC's Eliezri to
Kosovo.
Macedonia on June 26, 1999. The cir-
The organization is significantly scal-
cumstances surrounding their depar-
ing back its operations in the coming
ture are not entirely clear, but the
months after four years in the territory.
.43 leader of the community claims that
Very soon, a large portion of the local
>r he essentially was forced out at gun-
Jewish community, on whose behalf
point by Albanian paramilitaries.
the seders originally were held, will be
The legacy of the Prishtina Jewish
moving to Israel.
community has not been entirely
lost, however. High atop a grassy hill
overlooking the city lies one of
Two Families
Prishtina's two Jewish cemeteries.
Looking at the two extended families,
This is the older one, with Hebrew-
which make up the extent of Kosovo's
inscribed marble slabs dating back
known Jewish community, it's hard to
centuries.
escape the feeling of being in the pres-
A new, well-constructed metal
ence of the last Jews of Kosovo.
fence surrounds the plot; Myrteza
The two families are the Zheltas and
Studenica, president of the Kosovar
the Dimiris. Their Jewish lineage stems
Jewish Committee, takes care of the
from a now-deceased grandmother.
place. His grandmother was Jewish
Needless to say, whatever Jewish identi-
and he even speaks some Hebrew.
ty they possess is well submerged with-
The Demiri family's Passover seder last week in Prizren, Kosovo.
He produces a sheaf of documents
in Kosovo's ethnicity and culture.
indicating the numbers of Jews res-
In the case of the Zheltas, this is Turkish, one of
the Kosovar staff members of the JDC and their
cued in Albania during World War II, and another
the larger minority groups in Kosovo, with an espe-
family and friends; and there are the internationals:
showing a list of apartments owned by Jews in
cially large concentration in Prizren. The older
Jews from all over the world who are working for
Prishtina. "These were taken by the government of
members of the family speak only Turkish. They
various governmental and nongovernmental organi-
Yugoslavia without compensation," he says pas-
refer to the family's Jewish matriarch, who was born
zations, including the second in command at the
sionately.
in Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, as Lala Bala.
U.S. Office, the de facto embassy.
Studenica thinks the descendants of the property
Many members of her family immigrated to Israel
There also are non-Jews, notably an adviser to
owners — most of whom -, he says, live in Israel —
50 years ago. They never celebrated any holidays or
Kosovo's president.
should return to Kosovo. His main objective, how-
observed Jewish customs, yet they "just knew" they
One of the internationals offers a rendition of the
ever, seems to be drawing Jewish and Israeli
were Jewish, family members say. One of Lala Bala's
Passover story, largely for the benefit of the
investors into his schemes.
daughters recalls her mother speaking Ladino.
Kosovars: He stresses the importance of remember-
The JDC's Eliezri regards Studenica warily. Still,
The family has wanted to go to Israel for more
ing one's origins and staying true to the ideals
at least one of the documents he produces appears
than five years, and now they're just waiting for their through whatever trials one may face.
authentic: a plan for the de-mining, fencing and
documents to be processed.
restoration of Prishtina's old Jewish cemetery,
Will the family miss Kosovo? "Of course. It's our
which will cost $340,000. Evidently, the first two
Ancient Ties
birth country," Mikush Zhelta says. All the same,
phases have been completed, with the cooperation
the assurance and enthusiasm on his face indicates
Jewish history in the region is said to go back thou-
of KFOR — the NATO force in Kosovo — which
that he will leave Kosovo at the first opportunity.
sands of years. The remains of one of Europe's oldest undertook the de-mining of the site. [1]
Kosovo's Jewish community ponders its future.
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2003
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