I am talking with Davor Salom in the cafe of the Majestic Hotel. Although he is retired, this vital seventy-five-year-old is extremely active in the Jewish Municipality - he is the president of the Supervisory Board. For Deutsche says says that Jews in Serbia are a very heterogeneous group.
Officially, according to the 2022 census, there are 709 citizens in the country who declared themselves Jewish. In addition, 114 citizens declared themselves as Serbs of the Jewish religion. Davor Salom states that several thousand members are registered in the Jewish communities. The number of believers is measured in the hundreds. This means that citizens of Jewish roots often do not declare themselves either as believers or as Jews.
At one time, Davor Salom was one of the collaborators of the Jewish Historical Museum in the project that resulted in the book "Jews in the Wars for the Freedom of Serbia 1912-1918". The book describes the fates of Jewish warriors for Serbian liberation - from trumpeters of the Belgrade Cavalry Squadron to members of the celebrated battalion of 1300 corporals.
He also worked as a tourist guide. "Tourists from Israel knew little about Serbia." Just like the citizens of Serbia know little about Israel," says Salom, adding that at the beginning of the war, tourist visits from Israel completely died out. He estimates that Jews in Serbia still feel safe, despite problems such as writing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic graffiti in front of the office of the non-governmental organization Haver Serbia.
"For the survival of the Jewish community, assimilation is a greater danger than anti-Semitism," he states.
Photo: Dragoslav Dedović/DWDavor Salom
Salom studied at the Faculty of Philology, and he studied Spanish because Ladino - the Jewish version of Spanish from the 15th century - was the language he heard as a child. His father came from a Sarajevo Sephardic family, his mother from Ljubljana. Both were partisans. He remembers that his father, who was in the military service after the war, took him to the synagogue on Jewish holidays. That's how Davor Salom became a part of the community from an early age.
After a conversation over coffee in which Salom tells about his many years of stay in Israel, employment in the United Nations Development Program and engagement in the Jewish community, we go to the Cervantes Institute - a Spanish cultural institution that helped realize the project of mapping places associated with Jewish heritage. Since Sephardic Jews are part of the violently interrupted Spanish cultural heritage, today's Spain helps to preserve that heritage abroad.
After the expulsion of Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th century, a number of them found a new home in Belgrade. The "Sephardic Belgrade" map testifies to the centuries-old Sephardic presence in the city. On it, the places where the Jews suffered were marked, such as the Staro sajmište and Topovske šupe. However, average Belgraders do not know that some places are closely connected with the city's Sephardic history.
Thus, the Museum of Applied Art was actually the family house of lawyer Jakov Čelebonović, built a century ago.
The building that houses the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation in Visoko Stevan at number 2, with a characteristic semicircular facade, was built in 1938 by the Jewish Women's Society.
Since Jews were prohibited from receiving treatment in state health institutions under the German occupation in 1941, the building was converted into a Jewish hospital. In March 1942, all the patients and the entire staff, about 800 of them, were taken out of it and suffocated on the way to Jajince in the so-called Dušegupka, a truck converted into a gas chamber.
A total of 28 destinations on the map testify to the great contribution of the Sephardic community to the development of the city, but also to the tragic fate that befell it during the Holocaust.
Haver behind the wall
The next day I speak with Sonja Viličić, director of the non-governmental organization Haver - which means friend in Hebrew. If I had visited her before November last year, we would have talked at the organization's old address, on Charlie Chaplin Street. Ever since anti-Israel graffiti was written in the hallway and entrance leading to their offices in early November 2023, unrest has crept into the educational organization. The Middle East conflict broke into the life of the organization without notice.
The slogans read: "Haver march from Serbia", "Israel kills children", "Freedom for Palestine" and "Down with Zionism - down with anti-Semitism". It is obvious that there is considerable ideological confusion in the minds of those who wrote these messages. They want to expel the non-governmental organization that advocates "for the fight against prejudice, discrimination, anti-Semitism and xenophobia" from Serbia, accusing it of being responsible for Palestinian suffering. Those who put a sign of equality between the Israeli government and a non-governmental organization in Serbia, whose goal is to acquaint Serbian society "with the culture, history and tradition of the Jewish people" have actually declared themselves to be staunch anti-Semites.
Photo: Dragoslav Dedović/DWSonja Vilicic
When asked if it is known who the authors of these slogans are, Sonja Viličić says that the police are not announcing anything yet because the investigation is ongoing, but that based on the content, it is assumed that they are groups of extreme leftists. Due to the potentially compromised safety of staff, the neighborhood and visitors, Haver has moved to new premises that can only be entered by appointment. An organization that advocates openness throughout its programming had to retreat behind a security wall.
Sonja Viličić is concerned about the value attitudes of children in some schools where Haver was active. Her organization held workshops in a number of educational institutions. "I explain to the children that we have part of our common identity - language, including my name, place of birth...And that there is also a part of identity that is different and special." And that it is normal".
However, such attitudes are not always welcomed. She cited the example of a school from Belgrade where high school students provoked the teaching staff with ugly slogans about minorities.
Sonja was invited by the school administration to give a lecture on the importance of tolerance. One of the students started recording the lecture and loudly interrupted it, asking questions about homosexuals. Sonja tried to calmly explain to him that this was not the topic, but that everything she said about the constitutional rights of minorities also applies to sexual minorities. The next day, the phone rang in her apartment. There was a man on the line who threatened - it was the father of the young man who provoked. It is not clear how he was able to get hold of the private phone number.
He said that he knows where Sonja lives and that he is careful what he tells the children. Sonja turned to the school principal. She managed to prevent the violent father from calling Sonya again. But she also canceled the already planned lectures at the school. Haver has a certificate from the competent Ministry that he can engage in educational work. But the verbal bully was stronger than the system. "It turns out that this man got what he wanted with threats," she said. "But we continue to work." If we reach at least a few young people in this social climate, it is a success".
Fiddler on the Roof
In the evening, I walk along Jevrejska Street to the Jewish Cultural Center. After the restitution in 2016, it was placed in the building that was known as REX Cinema since the nineties. Actually, the building was built in 1927 for the needs of two Jewish humanitarian societies - Oneg Shabbat and Gemilut Hassadim. The psalm above the entrance reads: "Do not cast me away before old age, when my strength fails, do not leave me."
I walk in and mingle in the lobby with the crowd chatting and drinking before the show. On the walls are portraits of Jewish artists and important people in the history of this city.
I recognize the biggest publisher in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Getsa Kona. A descendant of an Ashkenazi rabbi, during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Belgrade he was arrested and interned for destroying Serbian patriotic literature. The occupying authorities publicly burned all the Russian, French and English books from his bookstore in Knez Mihailova.
In 2008, Prosveta promoted one of my books in that bookstore, in the upstairs lounge. The title with my name in the window of the "Geca Kon" bookstore meant more to me than literary awards. Then I remember that on one occasion in Zurich I met the great Jewish writer of the Serbian language, David Albahari. That I enjoyed reading Stanislav Winaver.
I decided to watch the musical "Fiddler on the Roof". The plot is based on Sholem Aleichem's prose "Tevje, the milkman". The book was published successively in eight parts between 1895 and 1916. Based on the very popular book, written in Yiddish, the American-Jewish screenwriter Joseph Stein wrote the screenplay for the musical.
In the Jewish village of Anatevka, somewhere in the Ukrainian part of Imperial Russia, a poor milkman has three daughters. The first marries a modest Jewish tailor, the second a Jewish leftist and revolutionary, and the third a Christian. The play features a song that somewhat ironically celebrates tradition as a leitmotif.
Photo: Dragoslav Dedović/DWA scene from the musical Fiddler on the Roof
The director of the Belgrade version of "Violinist on the Roof" is Stefan Sablić, the son of one of the most famous Serbian actresses, Seka Sablić. He is also a chazan - a man who leads the singing in the synagogue, but also a musician.
In a conversation with Stefan, I learn that he sees the play as a piece about anti-Semitism and prejudice. Do they exist in Serbian society? "Based on some of the emails and messages on social media, there certainly are." He adds that secular Jewish institutions are not under constant police protection like synagogues. But for the time being in Belgrade, the members of the Jewish community feel safe. Simply because, unlike in Western European countries, no one has been physically attacked yet.
The musical is excellent, the acting and songs are more than good, the orchestra led by the clarinetist interpreted Jerry Bock's music inspiredly. The humor that is the foundation of Sholem Aleichem's prose has been successfully developed into a musical stage piece, long tried on Broadway. The director and the cast cleverly adapted it to the local audience and embodied it perfectly. Given the time it was staged, "Fiddler on the Roof" manages to both entertain and imagine.
One road, two detours
I waited for the visitors to disperse, and then I approached Rabbi Isaac Asiel. We had previously agreed by phone to have a short chat after the show. This resulted in a conversation that lasted more than an hour.
Rabin was born as Nenad Asić in 1964. He was educated in Belgrade, Jerusalem, and completed studies in anthropology and ethnology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade.
"You see, this play is about two wrong paths and one right path." The play was made for a secular audience, so the word tradition is constantly repeated in the chorus of the song. Torah is the word that is understood there."
I was interested in the interpretation of the play from a religious angle. Which path is correct? Why are the other two wrong?
"Actually, the context is imperial Russia at the time before the pogroms and the expulsion of the Jews." However, little has changed in the world since then. The first daughter chooses a poor Jew. It was the way for the community to survive. The other chooses a socialist who dreams of equality for all people, no matter who they are. It turned out that it was also impossible. The third chooses a Christian. It was also a way to disappear."
More of the same
I did not experience the performance in this way. But art, unlike religious principles, is ambiguous. Rabin is an interesting person. A clear attitude. He unreservedly advocates Israel's right to self-defense. I ask him what his attitude is to the secular part of the Jewish people.
"The seventh of October changed everything." The terrorists tried to enter the kibbutzim. There, people defended themselves with weapons. It was easiest for them to kill civilians at a music festival. Secular Jews who were for peace".
The rabbi cites examples of German Jews who abandoned their traditions and became Germans of Jewish origin. They received medals for bravery in the First World War, made an immeasurable contribution to philosophy, literature, and film.
"And then the Nazis came, brought them that yoke of tradition that they threw away somewhere along the way and said - this is yours." Many could not understand what was happening."
Rabin estimates that there are fewer Jews in Serbia than the statistics of the Jewish community show. "Most of the people who came to this show are third-generation descendants of that third daughter," says Isaac Asiel, with a soft smile.
We talked while walking along Jevreska, Dušanova, Kneginje Ljubica. We part ways at Obilićevo venc. In public transport, I think about what each of us would like as a father of three daughters. Most would probably want the daughters to stick to tradition in their choices. More of the same. It would still be important to me that they are happy, whoever they are with. But after all these conversations, I also realized that a good number of Jews, due to their difficult historical experience, believe that there is no happiness outside of tradition.
