Sarajevo鈥檚 haven of peace
How Bosnia鈥檚 small Jewish community helped people from all sides of the conflict, during the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s.
After the collapse of former Yugoslavia, Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, in 1992. More than a quarter of a million people lived under almost constant bombardment and sniper fire for more than four years. Over 10,000 were killed.
Hunger and destitution took hold quickly. So, a small Jewish charity stepped in to provide essential food and medicine and evacuate elderly people and children from all sides of the conflict. In peace time, Sarajevo鈥檚 Jewish community had maintained good relations with Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats. This enabled them to provide a haven of peace for everyone.
In this episode, Jacky Rowland hears from Jakob Finci, who was the vice president of the Jewish community at the time. Part of their motivation, he says, was that many Jews in Sarajevo had been sheltered by Bosnian Muslims during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s.
This is a CTVC production for the 麻豆社 World Service.
(Photo: members of the Jewish community being evacuated by bus to Croatia in 1993. Credit: Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Wed 9 Aug 2023 07:50GMT麻豆社 World Service
- Wed 9 Aug 2023 11:50GMT麻豆社 World Service
- Wed 9 Aug 2023 17:50GMT麻豆社 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Wed 9 Aug 2023 21:50GMT麻豆社 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 10 Aug 2023 02:50GMT麻豆社 World Service
Podcast
-
Witness History
History as told by the people who were there