Survivial in Sarajevo

From 26 November to 15 December, the German Foreign Office is hosting an exhibition telling the story of how a group of Holocaust survivors turned the Sarajevo synagogue into a safe haven during the Bosnian war.

Centropa, an IHRA grant recipient, has created a traveling exhibition that shows the history of the Jews in the Balkans and their role in Sarajevo during the war. Printed on nine large panels, the exhibition walks visitors through the Jewish history of the Balkans and tells of La Benevolencija, an organization of Holocaust survivors that turned the Sarajevo synagogue into a free and open house for all during the war in Bosnia, creating a Jewish humanitarian aid agency.

The target audience includes parliamentarians, education and foreign ministry officials, curriculum writers, religious leaders, and students.

This project is based on the book by Edward Serotta, Survival in Sarajevo: Jews, Bosnia, and the Lessons of the Past, published in 1994. The exhibition was funded by IHRA, the JDC (the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) and The Milton and Rosyln Wolf Foundation.

The exhibition will also travel through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and possibly Kosovo.

More information about the project can be read here.