Serbia

[Israel Chai]

In Yad Vashem it said 13,000 of the 14,000 Serbian Jews were butchered. Please provide info on how exactly Serbians were any different to the Jews than other Europeans.

[Chaim Ben Pesach]

בס''ד

The Serbian Jews were murdered by the Croat Nazis, the Bosnian Muslim Nazis and the Albanian Muslim Nazis. The Serbs did not murder Jews. In fact, the same Croat, Bosnian and Albanian Nazis who murdered Yugoslav Jewry also murdered 1.8 million Serbs.

[briann]

In Yad Vashem it said 13,000 of the 14,000 Serbian Jews were butchered. Please provide info on how exactly Serbians were any different to the Jews than other Europeans.

I think all of Europe and Russia were hostile to jews in the past...    However, if we are talking about the last couple hundred years, there IS a huge difference between how countries treated Jews.  Some were indifferent... and some shoved them into ovens.

[serbian army]

MILITARY-HISTORICAL JNA INSTITUTE ARCHIVES enemy units
No. Reg. 17/1-1 282 K

Democratic Yugoslavia - news agency
Free mountain 29-6-1944
Bulletin Number 185, on 04.06.1944. at 22.00
No. 1 newsletter, "The Democratic Yugoslavia"

Jews from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia, who were with us, formed a special committee, and set itself the task to present the Yugoslav military officials in our country, and to lead Jewish activities abroad.

Members of this committee are:

Jandrih Hegel, from Berhova, as a representative of Czechoslovak Jews

Dr. Ing. Ferenz May, from Szeged, Hungary, which represents Jews

Emil Lauber, who is of Romanian Jews and

Manuel Irich from Novi Sad, which represents Jews from Yugoslavia.

The Committee issued the following statement on behalf of Jews who are in the Yugoslav army:

First Jews from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia, who are now in Yugoslavia, the struggle for democracy, shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers of the Yugoslav army, under General Mihailovich, and against the common enemy of the United Nations, Germany and its allies.

Second Jews, citizens of Czechoslovakia, Romania and Hungary to fight the Jewish special detachments assigned to the Yugoslav army.

Third Jews, citizens of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, fighting as equal combatants in units of the Yugoslav army, in the tradition of past wars for freedom.

4th All the Jews once again express their zahvalnoist General Draza Mihailovich and his subordinate officers, who were always very benevolent towards their fellow citizens fleeing Nazi terror, and that despite all the sacrifices, saved Jews from German hands.

Must note here Serbia did not exist on world's map because nazi allies devided country:

[Israel Chai]

Excellent source Serbian Army.

I suppose to few were left standing to recieve the title of righteous gentile. This information should be in Yad Vashem, but I suppose it's a touch more offensive to muzzbags than the rest of the museum. The story of Serbia should still be petitionned to be included in the museum, it's the perfect example on what must be done to prevent it happening again.

[serbian army]

Israel awards Serbs Righteous among the Nations

Israeli embassy in Serbia has handed its highest award to children and grandchildren of Serbs who risked their lives to save Jews from death during World War Two.

Israeli Ambassador to Serbia, Arthur Koll, awarded the descendants of Borivoje and Grozdana Bondzic, Ljubica Mandusic-Gazikalovic and Jelica Rankovic with the “Righteous among the Nations” medals because they risked their lives to save Jews during World War Two.

“With the deepest of respect I fulfill my duty today and hand the Righteous among the Nations medals to those who risked their own lives by saving Jews during World War Two,” Israeli Ambassador to Serbia Arthur Koll said at the awards ceremony.

During the World War Two, Nazis have executed and sent to concentration camps many Jews and Serbs. The most notorious concentration camp was managed by Croatia.

Ljubica Mandušic-Gazikalovic and her daughter Jelica built a special sanctury on their house property in the Serbian Kosovo town of Prizren where the entire family of Josef Levi lived from 1941 to 1943 in order to escape the Nazi pogroms.

Kosovo Albanians were Nazi allies during WWII and today claim that Kosovo is an independent state. Very few, if any, Serb and Jews now remain in Prizren.

Upon reception of the award Jelica Rankovic broke into tears.

“I am saddened that my mother did not live to experience this moment,” said Jelica Rankovic said.

Ambassador Koll noted that “Their courage and selflessness will forever remain in our memory”.

Ambassador Koll said that hate, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism still exist “as if history has taught us nothing”, however, the Ambassador cited the example of Serbs as acts of heroism that should be “like a lighthouse showing the way to a better future.”

“Their courage and selflessness will forever remain in our memory,” Ambassador Koll said.

The title of “Righteous among the Nations” is the highest honor that the state of Israel awards to non Jews.

The names of the recipients of this award also get their names engraved at the Vad Jasim holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem.