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4,000 of the 20,000 German, Austrian and Czech Jews deported to Latvia were murdered there in WW II.  Yad Vashem has added a list of over 48,000 Jews to their database.  Assistance is available via E-mail at names.research@yadvashem.org.il

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/09/balkans.asp 

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Balkan Research

At these sites you will find many links to Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania and the Czech Republic among other countries and subjects
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/07/jewish_soldiers.asp 

http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2010/06/because-they-had-heartyad-vashem-honors.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania%E2%80%93Israel_relations

http://www.sephardicgen.com/turkey_sites.htm

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/features/18790/

FROM “SAVE THE CHILDREN” TO “SAVE THE TRIBE”.
CHILD CARE IN YUGOSLAVIA AND BULGARIA 1919–1939
http://www.cas.bg/uploads/files/Sofia-Academic-Nexus-WP/Kristina%20Popova.pdf

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Books  
             

"Population Development of the Jewish Population in Bohemia between the Years 1850 and 1939"
http://epc2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=60394

"Records of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia: Similarities and Differences"
An article by Julius Müller published in Avotaynu Number 1, Spring 2011 issue. Original vital records (birth, marriage and death records) and their duplicates were compiled by the Jewish communities; Catholic duplicates of Jewish vital records were kept by local Catholic churches.  Original vital records for the years 1784-1939 and two identical, separate collections for the years 1784 - 1880 and 1873 - 1939, all stemmed from Enlightenment efforts to emancipate the Jews and to treat all the inhabitants of the Austrian Empire equally. See also Avotaynu, Vol. XXII, No. 3, Fall 2006 and Vol. XXV. No. 2, Spring 2009.

Original vital records were maintained by local rabbinates and or religious teachers, later by lay leaders.  Those authorities had also kept duplicate copies of the records from 1874 until the confiscation of the records by the Germans in Sudetenland in 1938 and in the Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren (the German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) in 1939.

During the Nazi occupation, the Jewish records of Sudetenland were gathered at Gestapo headquarters and sent to Liberec in northern Bohemia.  Later, they were brought to the Zentralamt für Regelung der Judenfrage in Böhmen und Mähren (Head office for regulation of the Jewish question in Bohemia and Moravia) in Prague.  Most of those original records were destroyed in April 1945.  The duplicate records (for the years 1874 to 1938) were collected at Sippenamt für Böhmen und Mähren (Kinship bureau) and stored at the castle in Sternberg where the records remained undamaged until liberation.  They then were returned to the remaining Jewish communities where they remained until 1949.  At that time, the records were collected by the state authorities and, in 1983, the books were collected at the national archives in Prague. They are named Collection HBMa, an abbreviation derived from Hebrejske Matriky (Hebrew vital statistics).

Jewish families in Bohemia lived in approximately 770 towns and villages.  In Moravia, Jews were expelled from so-called royal towns in about 1440; families subsequently settled in small towns and did not scatter to small villages as they did in Bohemia.  Moravia had 52 rather large Jewish communities that often were supervised by local landlords but not by centralized state authorities.

Silesia had no large Jewish communities until 1860.  Jews had been expelled from the larger towns in about 1540.  Although they could not live in the towns, Jewish tradesmen could come to markets, collect taxes, and rent the distilleries (the so-called Arenda system)
(See Arenda on my Genealogy page)

At the beginning of the 18th century, Jews lived in three locations in the Krnov district and in 17 locations in Opava district.  The Tesin district had only 40-50 Jews.  In the aggregate, Silesia had only a few hundred Jews in contrast to several thousands of Jewish families in Bohemia and Moravia.  Some individual families came from Moravian communities to Silesia in the 18th and 19th centuries. More information can be found in the Spring2011 issue of Avotaynu.
www.avotaynu.com

http://www.toledot.org/articles.html

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  Maps

1944 Map of Balkans, Carpathian Mountains Terrain Map
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/Maps.html

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/history_balkans.html

http://www.geographic.org/maps/balkan_region_maps.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q36tSlVBlvU

Croatia Map
http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/

Open Street Maps
The crowd-sourced mapping project OpenStreetMap has amassed a million contributors since its inception in 2005 and, according to navigation app maker Skobbler, boasts greater accuracy in England, Russia and Germany than rivals such as Google Maps.  I tried the site and found an accurate drawing of my father's ancestral town Tal'ne, Ukraine.  Almost every country is available as is most towns
http://openstreetmap.org

Albania   

  
Kruja, Albania

History of the Jews of Albania

http://blog.aacl.com/rescue-in-albania/chapter-two/

Albania is unique in that it is the only European country occupied by the Nazis that ended World War II with a larger Jewish population than before the War
http://article.wn.com/view/2012/09/27/Bunkers_in_Albania_converted_into_accommodation_
for_tourists/

A country with a population less than that of Los Angeles, with the courage to practice, rather than just preach their professed beliefs.  Under Communist rule, Albania was proclaimed the world's first atheist state, and the practice of religion, even privately, was outlawed.  During this period, religious sites, Jewish and non-Jewish, were ravaged.  With the collapse of Communism, most Albanian Jews immigrated to Israel, and today only a small remnant - about 15 people - of the Jewish population remains.  During the Holocaust, Albanian Jews were protected by their neighbors and Jews from other countries who succeeded in reaching Albania also found sanctuary.

Esther Hecht's article about Albania, appeared in the April/May 2012 issue of Hadassah Magazine.  She states, within her article, the following information.  "Though Jews have lived in Albania for centuries, there are few physical remains of their presence.  But there is a very important Jewish reason to visit: Because of Besa, the Albanians' code of honor and hospitality, both Muslims and Christians risked their lives during WW II to shelter and save the local Jewish population as well as many hundreds of refugees from other European countries.

Jews throughout the Balkans were linked by close family and commercial ties.  Those in Albania were especially close to Jews in Corfu, Ioannina, Arta and other Greek cities.
http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=6727195&ct=11712985&notoc=1

http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art183.htm 

Benjamin of Tudela heard of people living in the region, evidently Walachians, toward the end of the 12th century: "They are not strong in the faith of the Nazarenes and call each other by Jewish names, and some say that they are Jews." Jewish settlements were founded at the beginning of the 16th century in the Albanian seaports by exiles from Spain, who were joined by refugees from other areas. There were sizeable trading communities at Berat, Durazzo, Elbassan, and Valona: here there were Castilian, Catalonian, Sicilian, Portuguese, and Apulian synagogues. Information about Albania, including maps
http://www.heritagefilms.net/HeritageFilms/About.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/albania.html

http://www.frosina.org/articles/default.asp?id=167

http://blog.aacl.com/albanians-and-jews-by-shirley-cloyes-dioguardi/
 
http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/albania/albania.htm

http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/060.shtml

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Books  
             

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Albania-Israel Friendship Society

Located on the second floor of the Livia Hotel in the city center, its purpose is to provide information about Israel and promote relations between the two countries.  Its director, Petrit Zorba.
Phone: 355 68 215 1684
Email: aspetalb@yahoo.com

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Albanian Newspaper Link

http://newslink.org/eualba.html

http://www.abyznewslinks.com/ukinglo.htm

http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Jews

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History of Jews in Albania

There is little information about Jews in Albania from 1700 to about 1860.  A few converted to Islam or Christianity.  But in the 19th century Jews came from several Greek cities, especially Ioannina, and settled in a number of towns, including Gjirokaster, Delvine, Vlore, Berat, Elbassan, Korce, Shkoder and Kruje.

In 1912, Jews participated in the war for independence and after 1928, when Albania became a monarchy, many Jews moved here from Greece, mainly from Ioannina.  The 1930 census indicated that there were 204 Jews.  In 1935, Albania was considered as a possible Jewish national home. 

After the Nazis took control of Germany, Jews from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland came into Albania.  Italy took over Albania on April 7, 1939 and then conquered Yugoslavia, annexing large parts of Kosovo, including Prishtina.  In 1942, Jews from Prishtina moved to Berat while others moved to Shkoder, Tirana and Elbassan.

Because of the good Albanian people, only one Jewish family, the Arditis, was deported by the Nazis.  After the war, there were some 180 Jews left, and in the late 1980s and in 1991, when the borders were opened, most left for Israel. Some Albania Jews can be found in Beersheba; others in Karmiel in the north.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Albania

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/albania.html

http://www.frosina.org/articles/default.asp?id=167

http://blog.aacl.com/albanians-and-jews-by-shirley-cloyes-dioguardi/

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/besa/introduction.asp 

http://www.adl.org/presrele/holna_52/4963_52.htm

http://tinyurl.com/2696hsm

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/albania/albania.htm

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/320/manastiri-city-of-ghosts

http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=6727195&ct=11712985&notoc=1

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Berat

 
Scene of a Berat stairs from Hadassah Magazine
http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=6727195&ct=11712985&notoc=1

During the Ottoman period, the city was a major center of woodcarving.  There is a "Jews' street in the center of the town called "Rruga Hebrejt", perpendicular to Antipatrea.

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Delvine

Four young Greek Jewish cousins visit their grandparents in Delvine
http://resources.ushmm.org/inquery/uia_doc.php/query/32?uf=uia_kDxhGm

The link below, leads to a trailer for an upcoming documentary film about the ancient Romaniote Jewish community of Greece. This piece shows a service, sung in Greek, in the restored Synagogue of Ioannina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNV67u-lH4

 

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Durres

In 1281, a small group of Jewish merchants who traded in salt and sheepskins lived in this port city, an important link in the trade route between Rome and Istanbul.

Durrës is the second largest city of Albania located on the central Albanian coast, about 33 km (21 mi) west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically significant cities of Albania. Durrës is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari (300 km/186 mi away) and Brindisi (200 km/124 mi away).  Durrës is home to Albania's main port, the Port of Durrës, and to the newest public university, the Aleksandër Moisiu University. It has a population of 115,550, while the metropolitan area has a population of 265,330.

Founded in the 7th century BC by Greek colonists from Corinth and Corcyra under the name Epidamnos, it has been continuously inhabited for 2,700 years and is one of the oldest cities in Albania. Durrës served as Albania's national capital from 7 March 1914 until 11 February 1920 during the reign of William of Albania in Principality of Albania

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Elbassan

  https://picasaweb.google.com/101449979670849839330/ElbasanAlbania?noredirect=1#5040757528261992482

Lef Nosi was a minister in Albania’s first cabinet since independence in 1912. He was a secular Jew from the Elbasan community, involved in the high ranks of government up to the time when the Italian fascists invaded Albania. When the Albanian government capitulated to the Italians in 1939, Lef Nosi had the rare insight to put an odd condition on the treaty with the fascists: that they had the right to withhold the census/birth records of Jews. The Italians didn’t care at the time and agreed to it, but when the German Nazis took over Albania in a few years and drove the less malignant Italian Fascists away, the first thing they asked for were the birth records, and they were immediately shoved in their faces this affidavit.

Lef Nosi had destroyed the records in the meantime, and he might have done so with his own security and that of his family in mind, but today it is a relatively obscure fact even among Albanians that he himself was of Jewish descent. Only the Elbasan community is universally aware that the Nosis were Jewish
http://www.kejda.net/about/

https://plus.google.com/photos/101449979670849839330/albums/5040757077290426049/
5040757691470749858?banner=pwa

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Gjirokaster

https://plus.google.com/photos/101449979670849839330/albums/5040777246456851041?banner=pwa

Jews in Albania have an unusual history. Most of them are Sephardic but there is also a small Ashkenazi contingent. The biggest wave of Jews came from Spain where they were being persecuted during the inquisition, and then more came from various parts of Europe throughout the 16th century. They settled in commercially active cities like Berat, Vlore, Elbasan, and mostly Gjirokaster.  Gjirokaster was the Albanian town heaviest in Jewish population

The existence of Jewish communities in Berat, Vlore, and Elbasan is well-documented. Interestingly, there is a town that has been historically almost all-Jewish, -Gjirokaster- but which is not commonly known as such! Remnants of various synagogues are scattered throughout the town, and the people maintain a largely Jewish culture, almost to a stereotypical degree. Gjirokastrits are outcasts of sorts in Albania: they are notorious for marrying only among themselves sometimes even in incestuous relationships (marriage among first cousins is commonplace), a custom very alien to the rest of the country, where it is considered improper even for people of the same village to marry, let alone in the extended family. They are also anecdotally poked fun at throughout the country for being unusually stingy and commercialistic.

In some Ottoman records, it is mentioned that one Sultan was well-aware of Gjirokastra’s Jewish makeup, and calls Gjirokastrits “the fake Muslims” in reference to their Jewry, since the region had nominally converted to Islam throughout Ottoman rule
http://www.kejda.net/about/

http://picasaweb.google.com/mhussey/Gjirokastra 

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Korce

Jewish star in Korce

Korçë (Definite Albanian form: Korça) is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people (2009 census), making it the sixth largest city in Albania. It stands on a plateau some 850 m (2,789 ft) above sea level, surrounded by the Morava Mountains. The little known story of Albania's role in rescuing Jews during WWII was recognized by the Montreal Jewish community.

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Albania/Rrethi_i_Korces/Local_Customs-Rrethi_i_Korces-TG-C-1.html

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Kruje (Kruge)

There is little information about Jews in Albania from 1700 to about 1860. A few converted to Islam or Christianity. But in the 19th century Jews came from several Greek cities, especially Ioannina, and settled in a number of towns, including Gjirokaster, Delvine, Vlore, Berat, Elbasan, Korce, Shkoder and Kruje.

In 1912, Jews participated in the struggle for independence. After 1928, when Albania became a monarchy, many Jews moved there from Greece, again especially from Ioannina. They included pharmacists, doctors and merchants. The 1930 census shows 204 Jews.
http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=6727195&ct=11712985&notoc=1

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Saranda (Serande)

Hadassah Magazine - April/May 2012
http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=6727195&ct=11712985&notoc=1 

Serande a port city in southern Albania.  A 1500 year old synagogue was discovered here by archeologists from Jerusalem's Hebrew University, as well as others who have been working to uncover and excavate the remains of this important historical site.

In the city center, at the intersection of Abedin Dino and Vangjel Pandi, there is a large fifth-century C.E. synagogue that was later turned into a church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzCYV_R6hs

http://www.irex.org/programs/us_scholars/programs/stg/0910-Alibali.pdf

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org//albania/saranda.html 

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/albania/albania.htm  

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Shkoder

Ruins of a synagogue in Sarande. Photo by Esther Hecht

Shkodra the capital of the North is one of the most ancient cities in Albania. Founded in the IV century B.C., the city has played a very important role in Albanian culture and history. Shkodra retains its characteristic appearance with narrow streets with tall stone walls on both sides and tall gates. Serresh and Gijadol are the most attractive quarters of the city where you can touch the richness of the culture.

Shkodër was an important town during Albanian rescue of Jews in ww2.Thousand of Jewish people passed from ex-Yugoslavia toward Albania through city of Shkoder. There is a small museum, dedicated to Jewish people that were rescued by the people of Shkodër. 

The Vilayet of Scutari, Shkoder or Shkodra (Turkish: İşkodra Vilayeti or Vilayeti-i İşkodra) was a vilayet of the Ottoman Empire that existed from 1867 to 1913, located in parts of what today is Montenegro and Albania. In the late 19th century it reportedly had an area of 5,310 square miles (13,800 km²)  There were about 5,000 Jews according to the 1912 issue of the Belgian magazine, Ons Volk Ontwaakt ( Our Nation Awakes) out of a total population of 185,200.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutari_Vilayet

http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=6727195&ct=11712985&notoc=1

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Tirana

Tirana is a sprawling city of more than 600,000 inhabitants.  There is/was a synagogue which helps identify the city as once having a Jewish population. It was reported that there are between 40 to 50 Jews, including about 20 children, mostly in the capital.

National Historic Museum
There is a plaque on display listing Albanian families that hid Jews during WW II.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lassi_kurkijarvi/2810496981/

http://www.pbase.com/image/68497813

http://wikimapia.org/20542/National-Historical-Museum

Chabad offers the Hechal Shlomo Synagogue
17/1 Ismail Qemali Street
http://pubsecrets.wordpress.com/category/europe/albania/

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Vlore

Jews Street.  Photo by Esther Hecht
http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=6727195&ct=11712985&notoc=1

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Jewish community constituted one-third of the population of the city, which was then the main administrative and military city.  Jews had come to Vlore from France, Corfu, Spain and Naples.  They were exporters of textiles and leather goods and also traded in agricultural land.

Vlore is a large city and was the center of Jewish life in Albania in modern times, though little remains to be seen.  Albania declared its independence here in 1912.

Jewish Cemetery
In an area known as Orizi, there once was a Jewish Cemetery along with a Christian and Muslim cemeteries.  All have been moved outside the city to an area called Babitsa.

"Jews' Street
Known as "Rruga e Hebrenjve" and is about 150 yards long.  It is near the History Museum. A plaque on the building lists the families that lived here.  Some were shoemakers; others had textile shops.

Port
In an area known as "Triport", it is said that Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 landed here in Albania.

Synagogue
Between two houses, stood the city's largest synagogue just past Flag Square.

A three story gray stucco building with arched windows and a tile roof was built in 1928 and served as a synagogue and then as a public library; now it is a private school, Shkolla Nr. 1.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

 
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/bosnia.html

Both of these areas rank next to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as the poorest Republic in the old Yugoslav Federation. The unemployment rate, according to a 1996 estimate, is 40-50%.  The country is located in southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea and Croatia and is slightly smaller than the State of West Virginia.  

It currently has a population of about 3.4 million. Fewer than 1,000 Bosnian Jews survived the Holocaust. It borders Croatia; Serbia and Montenegro. Until declaring independence in the spring of 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina existed as a republic in the former Yugoslavia. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/bosnia.html

http://www.beneden.com/sarajevo/

http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/006.shtml

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100301171104AAqAqBU

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/bosnia/bosnia.htm

http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=59

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Books  
             

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Bosnia and Herzegovina: Reference

Sarajevo Jewish Headstones  
Courtesy of  of Stephanie Comfort

Including Country Guide, E-mail and Business Page Directories, Maps, Cemeteries
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/cooperation/see/IRPPSAAH/PTA/BiH/PTA_
BosniaandHerzegovina_JewishCemetery.pdf     

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/bosnia-and-herzegovina/index.html

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~bosnia/bosnia.html

http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/hof.nsf/1d4d0dd240bfee7ec12568490035df05
/69e89242c4d4e952c1257696003c74c2?OpenDocument

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107349.html

http://www.gendercide.org/case_jews.html

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Bosnia and Herzegovina Search Engines

http://www.philb.com/cse/bosnia.htm

http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/european/bosnia/resources/ba-search.html 

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/bosnia-and-herzegovina/index.html

http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/internet-technology/845732-1.html 

http://www.searchengineguide.com/pages/Regional/Countries/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina/ 

http://slavic.ohio-state.edu/people/yoo/links/bosnia/search.htm

http://www.twics.com/~takakuwa/search/bosnia.html

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Bosnia and the Balkan War

You can research the Balkan Wars at this site. The world's largest online library of over 45,000 books and 360,000 journal, magazine, and newspaper articles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_Wars

http://www.time.com/time/daily/bosnia/bosniatimeline.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War

http://http://www.questia.com/library/history/bosnia-and-the-balkan-wars.jsp

http://www.squidoo.com/Bosnia

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Diplomatic Representation from the US

Chief of Mission:
Ambassador Richard Kauzlarich. 
Embassy: 43 Ul. Dure Dakovica, Sarajevo
Phone: [387] (71) 445-700, 667-391, 667-389, 667-743,
667-390, 659-969, 659-992 
Fax: [387] (71) 659-722 
http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/macedonia.htm

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/95232.htm

http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/serbia.htm

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Diplomatic Representation in the US

Chief of Mission:
Ambassador Sven Alkalaj,
Chancery: Suite 760, 1707 L Street NW,
Washington, DC 20036 
Phone 1 202 833 3612, 3613, 3615  Fax: 1 202 833 2061
http://pristina.usembassy.gov/

http://www.serbiaembusa.org/

http://serbia.visahq.com/embassy/United-States/

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Europages

Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds
http://www.eubusiness.com/europages

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Jewish Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia-Herzegovina
http://www.benevolencija.eu.org/  (Partially in Hebrew)

http://www.benevolencija.eu.org/content/view/33/35/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

http://christinebednarz.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/the-lost-jewish-community-of-bosnia/ 

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Maps

Search for maps of Bosnia
http://www.embassyworld.com/maps/Maps_Of_Bosnia.html

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/bosnia-hercegovina/

http://www.escapeartist.com/bosnia/herzegovina.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107349.html 

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/bosnia.html

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Post Offices of Former Austrian Territories

Includes Base post offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bohemia, Hungary, Levant, Lombardy, Mantua, Moravia, Silesia, Prague, Poland (Galicia), Venetia and Yugoslavia - all places are in alphabetical order, with provinces prefixed    
http://www.kitzbuhel.demon.co.uk/austamps/pobook/main.htm

http://www.austrianphilately.com/

http://www.stampdomain.com/country/yugoslavia/display.htm

http://untreaty.un.org/unts/60001_120000/20/30/00039454.pdf

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Sarajevo

The capital city.  Sarajevo is the major city with other cities and towns including Bihac, Prijedor, Banja Luka, Bosanski Brod, Brcko, Tuzia, Zenica, Gorazde and Mostar in the general area. There are many small towns, in addition to these, but most did not have Jews living there at any time.  The Jewish community in Sarajevo dates back to as early as 1565 and is one of the oldest in the former Yugoslavia.

The Sarajevo National Museum, since 1894, has owned the famous Sarajevo Haggada.  This is the 109 page manuscript that is lavishly illustrated with exquisite illuminated paintings and has long been a symbol of Jewish presence in the Balkans.  The Haggada was created in Spain in the 14th century and brought to Sarajevo after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

The Old Stone Synagogue is being used for services again.  It was built in 1581 and after WW II was used as a Jewish museum until closed during the Bosnian War.  Jakob Finci is president of the Bosnian Jewish Community.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/sarajevo.html 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Synagogue

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/features/15718/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Synagogue

http://www.beneden.com/sarajevo/

http://www.isjm.org/Links/Sarajevo.htm

http://horinca.blogspot.com/2009/05/jewish-sarajevo.html

Sarajevo Haggada - The lavishly illustrated manuscript that was hand written in Spain in the 14th century and brought by a circuitous route to Bosnia after the expulsion of the Jews in 1492
http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/hagg.html

http://www.haggadah.ba/?x=1

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Search Engines for Bosnia

http://www.search-engine-index.co.uk/country/bosnia.asp

http://www.netmasters.co.uk/european_search_engines/bosnia_herzegovina.shtml  

Scroll down to 'Search Engines'
http://slavic.ohio-state.edu/people/yoo/links/default.htm

Slavophilia
A comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe 
http://www.hotfrog.com/Companies/Slavophilia

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Translating Services -  Languages

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department.  They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English.  A nominal fee is usually charged.
http://www.linguavox.co.uk/bosnian_translators.html

http://www.alltranslationservices.com/bosniantranslationservices.html

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Vlasenica

A small town near Sarajevo in northern Bosnia where Jews still live.  The singer Flory Jagoda, a Ladino Jewess, and her family came from this community.  She now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
http://www.vlasenica.info/Joomla151/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlasenica_Region

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2010/04/vlasenica-massacre-janazah-funeral.html

http://lpcyu.instablogs.com/entry/as-soon-as-they-became-independent-they-started-exterminating-and-cleansing-serbs-jews-romas-and-other-non-croats/

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/bosnia/bosnia.htm

Croatia

Jewish toddlers in Croatia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jewish_toddlers_in_Croatia.jpg  Located in southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia and is slightly smaller than the State of West Virginia.  It currently has a population of 4.7 million. Because of its location, this country controls most land routes from western Europe to the Aegean Sea and the Turkish Straits.  More details about the country can be found at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/hr.html  http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=893&letter=C http://www.freemediaproductions.info/Firezone/archive/index.php/t-6228.html http://www.archive.org/details/CroatianFreedomFighterAntePavelic http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/croatia/croatia.htm

Books  
             

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Croatia Administrative Divisions

21 Counties (Zupanijas, Zupanija - Singular):

Bjelovar-Bilogora, City of Zagreb, Dubrovnik-Beretta, Sitar, Carload, Koprivnica-Krizevci, Krapina-Zagorje, Lika-Senj, Medimurje, Osijek-Baranja, Pozega-Slavonia, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Sibenik, Sisak-Moslavina, Slavonski, Brod-Posavina, Split-Dalmatia, Varazdin, Virovitica-Podravina, Vukovar-Srijem, Zadar-Knin, Zagreb 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_the_Kingdom_of_Hungary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_and_Montenegro

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-41904802/stock-photo-map-of-administrative-divisions-of-republic-of-croatia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_Serbia

http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcserbia.htm

http://www.statoids.com/urs.html

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Archives

National Archives
http://www.arhiv.hr/ 

http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/european/serbia/resources/rs-libraries.html

http://www.ica.org/en/member/archives_of_serbia

http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/euro2.html

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 Croatia Maps

   

http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/croatia/

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/croatia.html

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/hr.htm

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/croatia-map/1:100000 military topographic maps of Croatia from the 1970s 

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Europages

Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds)
http://www.eubusiness.com/europages

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/europages.com

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Newspaper Link

http://www.croatia-in-english.com/rj/index.html

http://mprofaca.cro.net/news062.html

http://newslink.org/eucroa.html

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/croatia.htm

http://www.allyoucanread.com/croatian-newspapers/

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Search Engines for Croatia

Scroll down to 'Search Engines'
http://slavic.ohio-state.edu/people/yoo/links/default.htm

http://www.kosherdelight.com/Croatia.shtml

http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=EN

http://www.heritageabroad.gov/reports/doc/CROATIA_Report_2006.pdf

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Slavophilia

A comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe 
http://www.hotfrog.com/Companies/Slavophilia

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Slavophilia

http://www.slavophilia.net/eng/

Cities  and Towns in Croatia    

Slavonski Brod - photo includes synagogue
http://www.edwardvictor.com/croatia_main.htm

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Arbanasi (Zadar)

Like many other Mediterranean towns, Zadar was also in its history a kind of cosmopolis. From times immemorial people of Illyrian, Roman and Slavic origin mingled there. Then in the Middle Ages a small community of Jews and Greeks were located in Zadar. Before the Turkish wars, some communities of Arbanasi and Serbs settled down.  The Croatian and Italian languages could have been heard in the town, while the Latin and Old Slavic languages were used in churches.  The remnants of that Mediterranean collage live nowadays, in Zaratinian and Albanian dialect of the Italian and Albanian languages
http://www.perovicgenealogy.org/page35.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanians

http://shumansinbulgaria.blogspot.com/2009/08/village-of-arbanasi.html

http://torahmaps.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&cf_id=31&lang=en&task=searchby&value=Arbanasi

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Dubrovnik  

The Jewish Communities of Dubrovnik database
http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Archive/Dubrovnik.asp

http://jhom.com/bookshelf/synagogues/dubrovnik.htm

http://www.dubrovnik-walking-tours.com/dubrovnik-private-walking-tour-old-jewish-quarter.php

http://www.jewishsitesvisited.com/articles/ANCIENT-JEWISH-DUBROVNIK.pdf

http://www.dubrovnik-jews.blog.hr/

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_05442.html

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Fiume, (Rijeka)

An emigration port on the Adriatic Sea for Hungarian and Croatian Jews, is now known as Rijeka and is in the Republic of Croatia near Trieste.   At one time, before WW 1, Fiume was located in Modrus-Fiume County in Austro- Hungary.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=186&letter=F

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/educational_materials/adl/lesson7_
palatucci.asp

http://www.avotaynu.com/books/encytowns.htm

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/ceremonies/witness_testimony.asp   

http://isurvived.org/Rightheous_Folder/Palatucci_Giovanni.html

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Jasenovac

Located about 60 miles southeast of Croatia's capital of Zagreb.  This is one of six camps that held Jews, huge numbers of Serbs and Gypsies who were slaughtered by the Ustashe.
http://www.jasenovac.org/

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Jasenovac.html

http://www.jasenovac.org/whatwasjasenovac.php

http://www.jasenovac.org/images/jews_of_yugoslavia_1941_1945.pdf

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Osijek

Currently has a small Jewish population.
http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/croatia/osijek.html

http://www.geschichteinchronologie.ch/eu/jugoland/EncJud_juden-in-Osijek-ENGL.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_15241.html

http://www.jewishkansascity.org/IR/Listing.aspx?id=142

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Varazdin

The FHC (Family History Center) has no films on Jewish records for this town, just Roman Catholic records.  This lovely baroque city was once Croatia's former capital.
http://www.twip.org/image-europe-croatia-varazdin-downtown-jewish-cemetery-en-17321-16244.html

http://www.durham.net/facts/crogen/newsltr13.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_20322.html

http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=200487

http://www.twip.org/image-europe-croatia-varazdin-downtown-jewish-cemetery-en-17321-16244.html

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Zagreb        

The capital of Croatia currently has a small Jewish population.  A city at the crossroads of history (and one which celebrated its 900th birthday in 1994), it is now graced with charming street cafes and public gardens, fine museums and a diverse selection of restaurants.  The Lower Town (Donji Grad) is a good starting point. The city's hub is at the Square of Ban Jelacic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Croatia

http://www.kosherdelight.com/Croatia.shtml

http://www.geschichteinchronologie.ch/eu/jugoland/EncJud_juden-in-Zagreb-ENGL.html

Coordinating Committee of Jewish Communities in Croatia
Zagreb 41000, Croatia

http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3372Y41528RX

http://www.zagreb-touristinfo.hr/?id=47&l=e&solo=141

Macedonia 



History

http://www.haruth.com/jw/JewsMacedonia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Republic_of_Macedonia

http://www.jewishpostcardcollection.com/

Holocaust
http://www.holocaustfund.org/index.php?lang=en

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Books  
             

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Macedonia is the only country created from the breakup of Communist-era Yugoslavia that, has not experienced war during the past decade.  Only about 200 Jews live in the country, but the tight-knit group has been fighting to revive Jewish traditions, Jewish identity and Jewish life - and their presence has been recognized by the national leadership as an important symbol in a state that has tried to maintain a peaceful ethnic mix.

The Jews of Macedonia in occupied Greece are forced to wear the yellow star on September 1942

What is believe to be the first new synagogue built in the Balkans since the end of WW II, was dedicated in 2000.  In 1999, the Jewish community established a Jewish Humanitarian Aid Society called Dobra Volja to help refugees from Kosovo of whatever nationality - Albanian, Serb or Gyps - and also help local Macedonians in need.  Capital city of the Republic of Macedonia is Skopje.

The Jewish community leader is Viktor Mizrahi.  Izhak Asiel is the chief rabbi of both Macedonia and Yugoslavia. Zdravko Sami is vice president of the Jewish Community in Macedonia.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS361&q=Macedonia+Jew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Republic_of_Macedonia

http://www.balkanalysis.com/2007/03/14/macedonia%E2%80%99s-jewish-community-commemorates-the-holocaust-and-embraces-the-future/

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Macedonia.html

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/monastir/commemoration.asp

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006802

MIA: Macedonian Information Almanac
http://www.auburn.edu/~mitrege/macedonia/

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Archives

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - State Archives
http://www.arhiv.gov.mk/ 

http://www.balkanalysis.com/2007/03/14/macedonia%E2%80%99s-jewish-community-commemorates-the-holocaust-and-embraces-the-future/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in _the_Republic_of_Macedonia 

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/macedon/macedon.htm  

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/yugoslavia

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Bitola (Monastir), Macedonia

"Evreite vo Makedonija vo Vtorata Svetska Vojna, 1941 - 1945; Zbornik na"
(The Jews in Macedonia During the Second World War (1941 - 1945) -
Collection of Documents)
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Republic_of_Macedonia

http://tiny.cc/d3akp

More videos of the Jews of Macedonia are available at Google.com

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Durres

Port city on Albania's Adriatic coast.
http://blog.aacl.com/rescue-in-albania/chapter-two/

http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Thessaloniki.htm

http://www.albanian.com/v4/archive/index.php/t-16593.html

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Europages

Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classified
http://www.eubusiness.com/europages

http://www.theusyellowpages.com/europages.html

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FYR Macedonia

http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/FYR

Jewish Community of Macedonia
Skopje 91000, FYR Macedonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Republic_of_Macedonia

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Macedonia.html

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006802

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/monastir/liquidation.asp 

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Kosovo   

http://www.esiweb.org/misc/walkablemappristina/pristina.htm

http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=fr&id=175

http://www.inyourpocket.com/kosovo/pristina/sightseeing/other-sights/Jewish-Cemetery_29492v

http://www.iksweb.org/repository/docs/a_future_for_prishtinas_past.pdf

http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/2010/04/30/opinions/edit01.txt

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Monastir

There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Macedonia information and links.  The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006803

http://www.cassorla.net/Monastir.html

http://www.sephardicstudies.org/monastir.html

Sephardic
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006802

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Search Engines for Macedonia

Scroll down to 'Search Engines'
http://slavic.ohio-state.edu/people/yoo/links/default.htm

http://www.searchdl.com/Kosovo.html

http://balkansnet.org/MF-draft/english/p1db.htm

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Slavophilia

A comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe 
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Slavophilia

Serbia    

     
Southern town of Novi Pazar Aslani
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1346095576

Serbia, including the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo, was the former Yugoslavia's largest republic. It was an independent kingdom until conquered by the Turks in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. After this, like other Balkan states, it was frequently caught up in events associated with its location on the fracture-line of the Ottoman and Habsburg empires. Serbia's northern province of Vojvodina, for example, was from the late 18th century until 1918 mostly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a centre of Serbian (Christian) Orthodoxy. Vojvodina became an important centre of Jewish culture, following essentially the same lines of religious and cultural development as Hungary itself.

Serbia today, has about 3,000 Jews who are highly integrated into mainstream society. Jews first arrived in the 10th century and until the demise of the Ottoman Empire 900 years later.

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/serbia/serbia1.htm

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/serbia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Serbia

http://www.savezscg.org  

http://www.srpska-mreza.com/library/facts/Jews.html 

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2009/05/serbian-involvement-in-holocaust-of.html

http://jewishphotolibrary.smugmug.com/gallery/5323235_dSeoJ#325190335_MpAHx

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Serbia-Today

To learn more about Serbia, I found this link  
http://www.serbia-today.com 

The site offers to help you in your research and also offers additional links including surnames, etc.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-214889-116-green-and-beautiful-serbia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Serbia

General
Information - Serbia

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Apatin

There were only about 60 Jews living here before WW II and the Jewish community was murdered in the Holocaust.  It is a small Serbian town near the Hungarian border has a synagogue with a strange mural on the ceiling.  The synagogue was built in 1885 for a Neolog congregation, the Hungarian version of Reform Judaism.  The mural shows the ten Commandments in the sky, but the Hebrew lettering on the tablets is written backward in mirror image.  No one knows why this exists nor is there anything comparable in that part of Serbia or in Hungary.  The synagogue was sold to a Baptist church.
http://www.makabijada.com/dopis/apatin.htm

http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~shtetm~-73925

http://www.radixhub.com/radixhub/gazetteers/1877/bacs-bodrog.htm

http://www.dvhh.org/abthausen/

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/serbia/serbia3.htm

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Belgrade

 The country's capital is located on the edge of the Carpathian Basin near where the Sava River meets the mighty Danube.  Its position on the route from Turkey to Central Europe has long made it a center of commerce, communication, and, at times, upheaval.  It is the capital and largest city of Serbia with about 1.5 million residents.  Belgrade means "White City" in English. The only functioning synagogue is located at Marsala Birjuzova 19 and is known as Kosmajska Temple.  The street was formerly known as Kosmajska before WW II. The synagogue was opened in 1926 by Ashkenazim, although today most of its congregants are Sefardim. The only Rabbi is Serbia is Yitzhak Asiel.

Jewish cemetery in Belgrade. Photo by BojanaN.
http://tripadvisor.com

The Jewish cemetery is located about a 10 minute drive east of the town center at 1 Mije Kovacevica and contains a Holocaust memorial  It also contains a monument dedicated to the Jewish soldiers who were killed in the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars and WW I

An article with photos are available in the April/May 2010 issue of Hadassah Magazine and was authored by Dan Fellner.
http://hadassahmagazine.com

Belgrade's small but active Jewish community is composed of both Sefardic and Ashkenazic influences. Sephardic Jews settled in the Dorcol region which is close to the Danube.  Ashkenazic Jews, arrived from Austria-Hungary and Central Europe and moved further south, near the Sava River. In the mid-17th century, Belgrade's Yeshiva became well known and the Jewish community flourished.  In Sefardim.  In thirteen months, Belgrade was the first city in Europe that was declared "Judenfrei".  Two thousand Jews were killed by firing squads at the Topovske Supe transit camp in central Belgrade; most of the rest were gassed at Sajmiste*, a camp near the Sava River that had formerly been a fairground.  Only about 2,000 of city's Jews survived the Holocaust.
http://www.beograd.org.yu/

http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3450Y41626RX

http://www.jim-bg.org/

* See my Holocaust page

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Books  
                                                                    

    "The Final Solutions: The Jews in Belgrade (1521-1942")
 Authored by Jennie Lebel and published by Avotaynu in English, Serbian and Hebrew.

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Dorcol

The center of the Jewish quarter in Dorcol is Jevrejska (Jewish) Street, which still exists as does the building that once housed the Jewish societies Oneg Shabat and Gemilut Hasidim.  It was located at 16 Jevrejska and is now the Cinema Rex theater.  There is also a Holocaust memorial that was dedicated in 1990.
http://www.rex.b92.net/rexold/jewsdet.htm

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org//serbia/dorcol-holocaust-memorial.html

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Republic _of_Serbia/Belgrade-723780/Things_To_Do-Belgrade-Dorcol-BR-1.html

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Europages

Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds
http://www.europages.com/

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Jewish Historical Museum

It is located on the first floor of the community center and was established in 1948.  The museum has a database of birth, marriage and death records of Belgrade's Jews from the middle of the 19th century until 1941.  Telephone 381 11 2622 634. The museum's web site is in Serbian.
www.jimbeograd.org

http://www.jimbeograd.org/eng/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrade_Synagogue

http://http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5002650708

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Maps

Maps and General Reference Information

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Maps_of_Serbia

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/serbia-map/

Maps of Europe
http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/

http://www.discusmedia.com/catalog.php?catId=70

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/balkans/haxserbia.html1:50000 military topographic maps of Serbia from the 1970s

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Newspapers in Serbia

http://newslink.org/euserb.html

http://www.bosniak.org/serbian-nazi-past-and-genocide-against-jews-in-the-holocaust/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_%281941%E2%80%931944%29

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Novi Sad

The capital of Vojvodina is situated at a strategic bend in the Danube. There is a gorgeous old synagogue still in existence at Jevrejska 9 and opened in 1909.  It is located about halfway between Subotica and Belgrade and is the capital of Vojvodina and is Serbia's second largest city. Most of the Jews who survived WW II, immigrated to Israel in 1991.  The synagogue was eventually turned over to the city and is now used as a  concert hall.
http://www.inyourpocket.com/serbia/novi-sad/Sightseeing/Jewish-Novi-Sad/Jewish-community_43392v

Holocaust
Until the Holocaust, in 1941, there were 4,000 Jews in Novi Sad, out of a total population of 80,000. The extermination of the Jews of Novi Sad was carried out in successive waves, initially under the Hungarian occupation and later by German troops. It began with individual arrests, torture, and murders. On Jan. 21–23, 1942, a small rebellion near Novi Sad served as a pretext for the so-called "razzia," when total curfew was ordered and Jewish homes were searched and plundered while their occupants were murdered in the streets.

On January 23 more than 1,400 Jews were marched to the Danube and lined up in four rows. The ice in the frozen river was broken and throughout the day Jews, including women and children, were shot in the back, disappearing in the waters, which carried corpses down to Belgrade and beyond for weeks. Among the victims were also some 400–500 Serbs.

The "razzia" caused an upheaval even in Hungarian circles, and cabled orders arrived from Budapest to stop the massacre on the evening of January 23. Several hundred survivors, half frozen and frightened to death, were released. The extermination policy continued, however. During 1942 all male Jews between the ages of 18 and 45 were gathered into "labor battalions," maltreated, and starved (first in Hungary), and then sent to the Ukrainian front, where they perished.

The last phase came with the German occupation in March 1944. With the aid of Hungarians, the Germans sought out all remaining Jews and transported about 1,600 to Auschwitz in April 1944. Jewish property was plundered completely, except for personal and worthless items, which were gathered in the synagogue. About 1,000 Jews survived the Holocaust; 700 left for Israel and about 200 remained in Novi Sad in 1970, most of them survivors of POW camps. Subsequently the community grew to around 630 with the addition of former residents returning from abroad and Jews arriving from places depleted of their Jewish inhabitants. Restoration of the synagogue and of community offices was undertaken and legal proceedings initiated for the return of Jewish public buildings like the community center and the Jewish orphanage. The chapel of the cemetery was also renovated. The pre-Holocaust choir was reconstituted and an art club was set up in addition to regular cultural gatherings. The synagogue was used only for holiday services http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ ejud_0002_0015_0_14939.html

http://www.porges.net/JewishHistoryOfYugoslavia.html

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Serbia Today

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Serbia

http://serbia-today.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Serbiab

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/serbia/serbia3.htm

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Srebrenica

http://www.srpska-mreza.com/

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2009/05/serbian-involvement-in-holocaust-of.html 

http://bosniakandjewishfriendship.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/bosnian-jew-sven-alkalaj-honors-srebrenica-genocide/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDjbVy7xOCM

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Subotica    

Synagogue Interior 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subotica_Synagogue

There is still a Jewish community (about 220 - 250 Jews - the third largest in Serbia)  located here. Mira Poljakovic is the communities representative and there is a synagogue where services are held. It is located near the town center and was built in 1902.  It is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Art Nouveau architecture in Europe. The main entrance is located on Jakab and Komor Street. It held 1,500 worshipers, but fell into disrepair after WW II and was last used for religious services in the late 1940s.The city is north of Belgrade only six miles from the Hungarian border. It is about a two hour drive from Belgrade.

The Subotica Jewish Community jewcom@nadlanu.com is raising funds to restore it back to it's previous state.
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/0104_Subotica.html

http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=5763109&ct=8182101 

http://www.isjm.org/jhr/IInos3-4/subotica.htm

Synagogue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subotica_Synagogue

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Vojvodina

Once part of Hungary before WW I had active Jewish communities in several dozen towns in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/062.shtml

http://histclo.com/act/rel/faith/jew/dis/jd-yug.html

http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Religion_in_Vojvodina

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Zemun

A Belgrade suburb across the Danube was once the southern outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at a time when the Turks ruled Belgrade.  In 1850, an Ashkenazic synagogue located at Rabin Alcalaj Street 5 was built and still stands, though it currently houses a restaurant. The Jewish Community of Zemun web site is in English.  The city can boast of the fact that the Zionist pioneer Theodor Herzl, who was born in Budapest, but his family originally came from Zemun, and his grandparents are buried in the Jewish Cemetery there.

The Jewish Community of Zemun
Dubrovacka 21
http://joz.rs/index2_en.html

http://joz.rs/knjige_en.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-K8fCb98pA

 

Slovenia

 

Jewish Cemetery for soldiers who died in WW I.  All that is left is this pillar from the front gate.  It is located in Stanjel.   
http://www.isjm.org/jhr/IInos1-2/slovenia.htm

Slovenia lies 100 miles east of Venice, Italy and about 150 miles south of Vienna.  It is about the size of the State of New Jersey.  It currently has a population of 2 million.  The language is Slovenian also known as Slovene.  During the late 1800s, an estimated 330,000 immigrants emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio.  
www.coalcity.lib.il.us/genealogy.htm

Slovenia has been fought over in many wars.  It the last century, it was a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a part of Yugoslavia.  During the 20 years between the world wars, Italy annexed a large  chunk of the country.  It is easy to get confused about Slovenia, but it should not be mistaken for Slovakia, a nation neighboring the Czech Republic or Slavonia, a region of Croatia.

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Archives

Archives of the Republic - in Ljubljana  
http://www.gov.si/ars/ 

http://www.arhiv.gov.si/en/

http://www.arhiv.gov.si/en/about_the_archives_of _the_republic_of_slovenia/

http://www.culturalprofiles.net/slovenia/units/4915.html 

www.familysearch.org/    

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Books   
                 
           
 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Slovenia

http://www.slovenia.info/en/arhitekturne-znamenitosti/Jewish-Square-(%C5%BDidovski-trg).htm?arhitekturne_znamenitosti=2418&lng=2

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/slovenia/slovenia.htm

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Ljubljana (pronounced loob-lyana) Capital of Slovenia

It has a population of about 300,000.
http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3461Y42196RX

http://www.inyourpocket.com/slovenia/ljubljana/Sightseeing/Jewish-Ljubljana

http://www.europeanjewishfund.org/index.php?/member_communities/slovenia/

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The Electronic Embassy

Offers many Slovenia links sponsored by a service of TeleDiplomacy, Inc.  
http://www.preservationcommission.org/si.html

http://slovenia.usembassy.gov/e-journals.html

http://slovenia.usembassy.gov/visa_waiver_program.html

http://www.thezaurus.com/community/category/Government

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Jewish Community of Slovenia

Organization, History, Life in Slovenia, Judaism in Slovenia, News and more
http://www.jewishcommunity.si/

Jewish Community of Slovenia
1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Slovenia#Ancient_community 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/slovenia.html

http://www.haruth.com/jw/JewsSlovenia.html

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Loka pri Zusmu

A tiny village once in Yugoslavia, is now in the Republic of Slovenia since 1991.  It is east of the Slovene capital of Ljubljana, not far from the city of Celje.  The nearest large town is Sentur also close to Celje, which lies between Sentur and the border with Croatia.
http://www.maplandia.com/slovenia/sentjur-pri-celju/loka-pri-zusmu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loka_pri_%C5%BDusmu

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Ljubljana

 
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/14degrees/444718239/sizes/l/

Jews may have built a synagogue in Ljubljana in 1213, but settlement records of important towns suggest Jewish settlement only at the end of the 13th century. The community had a school and Beth Din. Jews in mediaeval Ljubljana were bankers, merchants, artisans, and farmers. After the expulsion of 1515 few Jews ever resettled although a small number returned in the 19th century. The community never reached any appreciable size. Anti-Semitic developed by WWI. The media called for the expulsion of those Jews living in the city. As the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated in 1918, Ljubljana became the unofficial capital of Slovenia within the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929 Ljubljana was the official seat of the province of Drava Banovina (most of modern Slovenia) within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In April 1941, Italian forces occupied it. In 1942 32 km of barbed wire encircled it. In September 1943, Nazi Germany took over. After WWII, the city became the capital of the Yugoslavian province of Slovenia and in 1991 of the independent country of Slovenia. Most Jews in Slovenia today live in Ljubljana. Židovska Ulica (Jewish Street) and Židovska Steza (Jewish Path) are two narrow streets of Ljubljana’s mediaeval Jewish quarter in the city center, today a fashionable district of Baroque and nineteenth-century buildings.

Standing on ancient foundations, no archaeological excavations of the area have taken place. No maps of the city date from before the 16th century. Probably the mediaeval Jewish quarter had about thirty two-story structures with the top story constructed of wood. The city’s mediaeval Jewish population peaked around 300. The entrance probably was on the site of present-day Jurcicev Trg (Jurcicev Square) across the street from the first bridge across the Sava River in central Ljubljana. In mediaeval times, the river had no embankment. Židovska Ulica runs parallel.

From 1515 until the end of the 16th century, there was a Christian chapel on the site of Ljubljana’s former synagogue at 4 Židovska Steza. The Jewish community offices today are in a large office block just outside the city centre where first synagogue created in Ljubljana for nearly 500 years was dedicated in January 2003 at
Tržaška 2
1000 Ljubljana.

Cemetery
http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/slovenia/ljubljana.html

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Maps Atlas Map of Slovenia

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/si.htm 

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/slovenia-map/ 

http://www.zrc-sazu.si/gi/SmallAtlas.htm

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/si.htm 

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/slovenia-map/ 

Map of Slovenia
http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/europe/european-union/slovenia/map.htm 

City of Ljubljana which is also the capital
http://www.ijs.si/slo/ljubljana/

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/slovenia/

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Rymanow

Jews lived here since the 16th century.  The Jewish community became part of the town's landscape and Jews were almost half of all inhabitants.  It was a known center of Hassidism and many believers (even from quite long distances) went on a pilgrimage to tzadiks in Rymanow.
http://www.kirkuty.xip.pl/rymanowang.htm

Cemetery
http://www.kirkuty.xip.pl/rymanowang.htm

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Search Engines for Macedonia

Scroll down to 'Search Engines'
http://slavic.ohio-state.edu/people/yoo/links/default.htm

http://www.search-engine-index.co.uk/country/macedonia.asp

http://www.philb.com/cse/macedonia.htm

http://www.buscopio.net/eng/index.php?cat=161

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Slavophilia

A comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavophile

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Slovenia -  A Guide to Virtual Slovenia

http://www.ijs.si/slo/

http://www.matkurja.com/en/country-info/

http://www.slovenia-guide.com/

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Telephone Directory

Slovenian phonebook in English/German/Slovenian
http://www.telekom.si/en/business_users/telephone_directory_of_slovenia/

http://world.192.com/europe/slovenia

http://www.numberway.com/phone-numbers/28/

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Translating Services -  Languages

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department.  They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English.  A nominal fee is usually charged.

 

Yugoslavia

 
16th Century Map of Yugoslavia
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_Yugoslavia

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14,000 of the 20,000 German, Austrian and Czech Jews deported to Latvia were murdered there in WW II.  Yad Vashem has added a list of over 48,000 Jews to their database.  Assistance is available via E-mail at
names.research@yadvashem.org.il

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Balkan Research

At this site you will find many links to Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia and the Czech Republic among other countries and subjects
www.maxpages.com/poland/Balkan_Resarch

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Books  
             

"Jews In Yugoslavia: Muzejski prostor, Zagreb, Jezuitski trg 4.",
Edited by Ante Soric, et al and translated from Serbo-Croatian into English by Mira Vlatkovic and Sonia Wild-Bicanic.  Published by MGC of Zagreb, Croatia in 1989.

General Yugoslavian
Genealogy Information 


http://www.flickr.com/photos/9679871@N04/1162496551/

An excellent site to find information about Yugoslavia.  Type in Yugoslavia in the search field.  This site is a great source to find information for almost every European country. Yugoslavia currently has a population of 11.2 million.
http://searcheurope.com  

The close-knit Jewish community in the former Yugoslav Federation was divided when Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia broke away and became independent during a series of bloody wars.

The president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia is Aca Singer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia

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Archives - Yugoslavia Archives

In Belgrade  
http://www.gov.yu/arhiv/ 

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Belgrade

                   
http://www.arhiv.gov.si/fileadmin/arhiv.gov.si/pageuploads/SFA/SFA_III.jpg

The capital city has at least one active synagogue. Photo of synagogues
http://www.heritagefilms.com/Synagogues.htm

Before WW II,  there were 10,400 Jews and roughly 16,000 in the whole of Serbia.  Almost 90 percent were killed in the Holocaust.  

The Belgrade Fair exhibition ground was once described as "the forgotten concentration camp" - the Sajmiste camp that the site was turned into during WW II by the occupying Nazis.

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Bitola (Monastir), Macedonia

"Evreite vo Makedonija vo Vtorata Svetska Vojna, 1941 - 1945; Zbornik na" (The Jews in Macedonia During the Second World War (1941 - 1945) - Collection of Documents)
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html

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Chelarevo 

The book, "Jews In Yugoslavia" was the ultimate source for both Ruth Ellen Gruber and Noel Malcolm regarding the Chelarevo gravesite.  The book contains two photographs of Jewish stones from Chelarevo (Pages 21, 22) as well as the following text:  "The early-medieval graveyard and settlement at Chelarevo, near Novi Sad, offers the most numerous and most unusual finds with Jewish symbols".  Along with several hundreds of graves of typically Avaric characteristics (judging by the pottery, jewelry and horsemen's gear) excavations begun in 1972 produced several hundreds of graves of the same shape but lacking any additional burial objects.

Although a considerable number of graves of this other type had been destroyed by the operation of a near-by brick works, they offered a unique archeological find, which at the same time was a great enigma: each grave was marked by a fragment of a Roman brick (never a whole brick, although these were plentiful in the near-by older Roman sites) into which a menorah was cut, and most frequently two other Jewish symbols on its left and right sides: the shofar and an esrog, a lulav on some bricks and even a small Jewish six-pointed star.  Some 450 brick fragments have so far been found.  

The position and the side of the incised motifs were adapted to the size and shape of each of the fragments, which means that the motifs were not there on the original whole bricks.  Some of the fragments had a Hebrew inscription added - a name or a few words which, with the exception of Jerusalem and Israel are difficult to decipher because of the damage.  Some of the Hebrew characters are carved with great precision.  According to the finds from typically Avaric tombs, the graveyard is dated to the end of the 8th century until the first decades of the 9th century.

A new major find at the Chelarevo site, according to a communication by archeologist Radovan Bunardzhic, who is continuing the excavations, is the discovery of a large settlement (sic.) in the immediate vicinity of the graveyard. Only a part of the settlement, 1.5 km long and 0.5 km wide, has so far been uncovered, but excavation is not yet complete.  Apart from the remains of a goldsmith's workshop and a few fragments of brick with carved-in menorah, no elements have been found to indicate the origin of Chelarevo's inhabitants.

Anthropological analyses have been made on the remains of skeletons from the graveyards with common Avaric objects, and they suggest a Mongol origin of that part of the population of  Chelarevo, but with certain differences in comparison with the Avaric characteristics known so far.  It is assumed that it was a newly arrived Mongol tribe from Asia.

Results of anthropological analysis for which skeleton material has been forwarded recently are expected to shed more light on the extraction of the population whose tombs did not contain any additional funeral objects apart from the brick fragments with carved Jewish symbols.

Several hypotheses have been proposed on the possible origin of a Jewish or Judaised population who marked the graves of their dead in this unusual way and had literate people among them.  The influence of the Crimea Khazars has been mentioned in this context; their ruler, nobility and part of the population were Judaised in the 8th century and  many Jews who had emigrated from Asia Minor and Byzantium, lived among them.  Other migrations of inhabitants from Asia Minor can be assumed, as the Jewish Diaspora had been widespread there for centuries.  Neither can another supposition be neglected of descendants of  much earlier settlers from the Middle East during the Roman period, i.e. the  so-called Oriental Jews who the troubled conditions in the Balkans drove north at the times of the Vo'lkerwanderung.

One thing has been established with certainty: although the one-time population of Chelarevo had different creeds, Pagan and Jewish, they did share the same settlement and the same graveyard. apart from certain sections of the graveyard where one or the other type of grave prevails, both types intermingle in a considerable part of the graveyard." The previous information was obtained from the Khazaria Info Center News
http://www.khazaria.com/

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2086761/posts

http://www.belarus-misc.org/bel-jwbk.htm

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Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia

Federation of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia Belgrade 10001, Yugoslavia
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_yugoslavia/pinkas_yugoslavia.html 

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Yugoslavia2.html

http://www.eujs.org/contact_us/offices/36

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Kikinda

There is a Jewish memorial plaque in town and at least one elderly Holocaust survivor still living here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Serbia

http://joz.rs/arh-05_en.html

http://www.edwardvictor.com/Kikinda.htm

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 Maps

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection - a source for maps of Yugoslavia including city maps, and links to other country maps.  A great web site
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/serbia.html

1944 Map of Balkans, Carpathian Mountains Terrain Map
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/Maps.html

Maps of Europe
http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/

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Osyek

A market town in eastern Croatia on the banks of the Drava river.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Osijek.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10673.html

http://arhiv.mm.gov.si/vlada/20/tuji/1991_12-14_07_The_European_The_battle_for_a_divided_village.pdf

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Passports Issued by the Empire     

Local authorities throughout the Empire issued passports.  The register that LDS has only includes a listing of passports that were issued by the Vienna passport office (i.e. the register doesn't include passports, which were issued by other offices in Austria, such as Galicia, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, etc.). 

Here is what LDS has from the Vienna Passport Office:
http://tinyurl.com/376f29g

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_passport

http://www.iabsi.com/gen/public/document_examples.htm

http://www.economist.com/blogs/eastern approaches/2010/05/slovakia_and_hungary?page=1

Note, that it's just the register of passports which were issued by that office (i.e., it's not the register of the several hundred passport offices which were located throughout the Austrian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
http://www.pomexport.com/O%20-%20AustriaHungRpass/AustriaHungPassRpass.htm

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Post Offices of Former Austrian Territories

Includes Base post offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bohemia, Hungary, Levant, Lombardy, Mantua, Moravia, Silesia, Prague, Poland (Galicia), Venetia and Yugoslavia - all places are in alphabetical order, with provinces prefixed    
http://www.kitzbuhel.demon.co.uk/austamps/pobook/main.htm

http://www.freesearching.com/zip_codes_intl.htm

http://www.csphilately.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=75&Itemid=65

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Selenca (now located in Serbia)

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/serbia/serbia3.htm

http://wikimapia.org/6835790/Selen%C4%8Da

http://tinyurl.com/36mertl

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Search Engines for Yugoslavia

Scroll down to 'Search Engines'
http://slavic.ohio-state.edu/people/yoo/links/default.htm

http://home.inter.net/takakuwa/search/yugoslavia.html

http://www.yusearch.com/

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Slavophilia

A comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe 
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Slavophilia

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Subotica      

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subotica

There is a synagogue in this village
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subotica_Synagogue

http://jewishphotolibrary.smugmug.com/gallery/5323244_A5iq4#325191003_vviKU

http://rosenfeldornas.com/TheGreatlSynagogueSU.html

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Translating Services -  Languages

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department.  They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English.  A nominal fee is usually charged.
http://www.workingdogweb.com/Translate.htm

http://www.exyulanguages.com/

http://www.lingo24.com/language/Bosnian_translation_services.html

http://blog.appliedlanguage.com/the-languages-of-the-former-yugoslavia/

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Ujvidek (renamed Novid Sad, Yugoslavia)

http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/serbia/serbia3.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_raid_in_Novi_Sad

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Ujvidek

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/TUM_VAN/UJVIDEK_German_Neusatz_.html

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Yizkor Books

  Yugoslavia (Country) 

Pinkas Hakehillot Yugoslavia (Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia)
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/pinkas_yugoslavia/pinkas_yugoslavia.html 

http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2010/06/yizkor-book-project-may-2010-update.html

http://www.avotaynu.com/holocaust/appendixa.htm

http://library.yale.edu/judaica/site/collection/yizkorbooks.php

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Zrenjanin

There is a Jewish memorial plaque in town and the remains of a Jewish cemetery. Lidija Petrovic is the president of the Jewish community.
http://joz.rs/arh-09_en.html

http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/062.shtml

http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/semlin/en/holocaust-in-serbia.php

Travel  See my 'Traveling Roots' page http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/serbia.html http://www.fellnertravelinfo.com/belgrade/index.shtml http://www.thejc.com/travel/travel-features/slovenia-venetian-class-old-yugoslavia http://tiny.cc/qf0m0

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Travel & Business Service   Traveling Roots

http://www.tbs.cz/toCP1250/ 

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more to come ...