THE RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT a MEDAL Publisher: Jevrejska Opština Zemun, Dubrovačka 21, Zemun E-Mail
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IMPRESSUM THE RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT A MEDAL Publisher: Jevrejska opština Zemun, Dubrovačka 21, Zemun e-mail. [email protected] website: www.joz.rs Editor in Chief: Nenad Fogel Author: Milan Fogel Guest author: Filip David Translation from Serbian: Olivera Polajnar Proofreader: Ida Dobrijević Technical Editor and cover page: Jugoslav Rakita Copyright: JOZ and Milan Fogel Print: LaPressing, Lazarevac Print run: 300 Milan Fogel THE RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT A MEDAL AND THE RIGHTEOUS WITH THE MEDAL Zemun, 2019. CONTENT Introduction 7 THE RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT A MEDAL (saved Jews written in brackets) 9 The end of the nightmare (Rahela Ferari) 11 I never found out who saved us (Aleksandar Nećak) 21 You can bring a black-faced Roma but never a Jewess 31 (Marijana and Rihard Eberle) In an outhouse, an outhouse in Orašac (The Bohners) 35 Life-saving advice (Zvonimir Hercl) 39 A family chronicle - how we saved ourselves (Filip David) 49 The Rosenzweigs In Mandjelos (Josip Rosenzweig) 57 Salvation at the last moment (Edita Gaon) 61 Otto Komornik in Belgrade (Otto Komornik) 71 A letter from father (Helga Ungar) 87 A humane German woman (Vera and Sidonija Kelemen) 92 A Jew of Christian-Orthodox faith (Josip Levi) 97 We are packing for Israel (Dan Rajzinger) 101 Eva and Rade (Eva Nahir Panić) 109 Salvation in Kragujevac (Karolina Štajn) 117 How can I look them in the eye? (Laci Šporer) 123 I found out who saved us (Isak Tuvi Jusefović) 131 The story of Edita and Rade (Edita Boskovic) 135 THE RIGHTEOUS WITH THE MEDAL (The Righteous written in brackets) 141 From Kikinda to Sajmište camp and back (Vojislav Knežević) 143 A great mother (Desanka Tomić) 147 A Jewess from Koprivnica Saved in Belgrade (Mladen Perić) 155 Cover yourself, Bojana (Predrag, Ljubinka and Ruža Milutinović) 159 How Jews became Serbs (Bogoljub Stevanović and Ljubo Blagojević) 163 Run Radisav! (Nedeljković Radisav) 169 List of the Righteous from Serbia - Yad Vashem 174 List of the Righteous from Serbia - territorial principle - JC Zemun 176 Ackowledgements 179 INTRODUCTION In 2018 the Jewish Community in Zemun celebrated the 20th anniversary of the introduction of its publication activities. During that period we have issued over 30 different titles of various types of publications. Apart from the editions that keep track of our regular 2-year activities (7 catalogues) and books of various contents, a special place in this collection is reserved for books and exhibitions dedicated to the history and the sufferings of our community from its founding in 1739 right up to the end of the Second World War (World War II). The edition we are particularly proud of is the book “Righteous Among the Na- tions – Serbia”. As a result of a 2-year long period of research and writing, in 2010 we published the book by writer Milan Fogel, which was pronounced a capital work of prose by the City of Belgrade. The publication “The Righteous (With and Without) the Medal” is a sequel to the previous book and is a continuation of his work dedicated to the commemoration and remembrance of the courageous people of Serbia who, during World War II, saved the lives of their co-citizens, Jews faced with the fate of extinction. Since 1963 the World Centre for the Remembrance of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, has been awarding Medals of the Righteous to people who saved the lives of Jews, as a symbol of recognition and appreciation for their acts of humanity and utmost cour- age. During the research period of gathering material and data for writing the stories of the people who were awarded the Medal, we came to the conclusion that there still existed many cases of saving Jews which had not been recognized and the protagonists involved were thus deprived of the Righteous Award. The idea and the task which we have now placed before us is to collect as much relevant evidence about them as pos- sible so that they can be acknowledged as the Righteous, or if not, at least prevent their deeds from being forgotten. With the breakup of Yugoslavia during the 90’s of the previous century, we were faced with the fact that Yad Vashem had divided its existing list of the Righteous of Yugoslavia according to the newly-founded states. The criteria used for this division was unacceptable to us in Zemun. We believe that the only possible method was to apply the territorial principle, i.e. a division according to the place of habitation of the saviour and the place where the act was performed (in the territories of the newly- founded states), and not the principle of nationality by which certain Righteous have subsequently been relocated to the lists of their new national states. It is unacceptable to us that Slovenes, Hungarians, Slovaks, Albanians, the Roma, Germans, Croats, are excluded from the list of Serbian citizens, although they were or still are, citizens of Serbia. As an example we here state the case of Arslan Reznici from Kosovo and Me- tohia, who at the request of his family, was transferred to the Righteous of Albania by Yad Vashem. Another case relating to Kosovo and Metohia is that of the Croatian Ana Jakić, who was transferred to the Righteous of Croatia. A third case is the transfer of 7 Andrej Tumpej to the Righteous of Slovenia. On the other hand, Yad Vashem trans- ferred the Serbians who saved lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Righteous of Serbia. Such transfers are also unacceptable to us. Due to the constant relocation of certain Righteous from one state to another based on the criteria of nationality as already stated, we endeavour to make Yad Vashem acknowledge that the most acceptable method of listing the saviors is the “territorial principle”. Until this is accepted, our list of the Righteous will deviate in some respect from that of the official list of Yad Vashem. In the list which is given in this book by the Jewish Community in Zemun, only the Righteous who saved Jews on the territory of Serbia are noted. At the time when the book in question was in print (December, 2018,) Yad Vashem had recognized 26, 973 Righteous from 51 states. The degree of commiseration which the citizens of Serbia felt towards their co-citizens, Jews, is best illustrated by the fact that Serbia, according to the number of recognized Righteous, is placed high on the list of Righteous, taking the 14th position among the already mentioned 51 states world- wide, with its 139 Righteous. These are official facts stated on Yad Vashem’s site and they, as we have already mentioned, differ from our own list. According to our territo- rial principle, Serbia has 138 Righteous. The work of the Yad Vashem Commission for recognizing new Righteous contin- ues to this day. We hope that our research will be recognized and lead to new Award Medals. The President of the JC Zemun and editor of this book, Nenad Fogel 8 THE RIGHTEOUS WITHOUT A MEDAL 9 10 THE END OF THE NIGHTMARE This is the story of Rahela Ferari and the rescue operation during the Holocaust in World War II (WWII) that kept her alive. To eliminate all doubt from the start, Rahela Ferari was the artistic name of the renowned Yugoslav actress Bele Rohel Frojnd ( Bela, father’s name, Rohel, Yiddish, Ruža in Serbian and Rosalie in German, which was at the time the official language in part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy). Her stage name, Rahela Ferari, Rohel accepted at the start of her career in Novi Sad, before she went to the theatre in Budapest to acquire her theatrical knowledge – evi- dence of this can be seen in a travel document where these details were written in her own hand. She was and is remembered by that name in the territories of pre-war and post-war Yugoslavia. When she got married, the priest gave her the name Marija; thus Rohel Frojnd acquired another new name. To keep up with the history of her name, I mention here in advance, that Rahela acquired a new surname as well when in 1943 she married the well-known pre and post-war actor Aleksandar Aca Stojković. In order to avoid any confusion with her many names, since she had quite a few as dictated by various circumstances, throughout this life story we shall call Rohel - Rahela Ferari. Bela and Emilija Frojnd, nee Leiner, lived in Zemun at the onset of World War I (WWI). With their family of sev- en children the Frojnds lived on the out- skirts of Zemun town. Being a family with scarce means, nobody ever thought of buying toys for the children. However, a childhood be- reft of toys did not deter Rahela from finding amusement for herself. She would go out into the street and stare at the ants passing by the wooden fence. For the future actress, just like for many Janika, Bela, Emilija, Emil, other professions, a vivid imagination Johana, Rahela, Julija and Etel Frojnd was essential. Rahela used to play with the ants, inventing stories, and thus found amusement for herself. Just like a miniature Disney theatre, as Rahela much later on recollected, playing with the ants in a world of fantasy, she was the overpowering director who arranged their lives for them. She would place hurdles made of tufts of grass before them and they would have to fend for themselves in new and unpredict- able situations It did not take long before the Frojnd family also faced obstructions, since some- one else was now dictating the way they would live.