Jews of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Balkans

The Jewish communities of the western Balkans — Sarajevo, Mostar, Belgrade, Skopje, Bitola, Sofia — were constituted largely after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, when the Ottoman Empire welcomed the Sephardic exiles. Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) remained the vernacular and cultural language there until the twentieth century, sustaining a distinct liturgical, literary, and folkloric life. Sarajevo, in particular, preserved one of the treasures of Jewish heritage, the celebrated illuminated Haggadah of the fourteenth century. The Second World War was catastrophic: the majority of the Jews of Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, and northern Greece were deported and murdered, annihilating communities centuries old. A notable exception was Bulgaria, where a significant portion of the Jewish population escaped deportation thanks to internal mobilization. Today reduced but active, these communities carry on a work of Memory and cultural revitalization.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World — Brill
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan