SUMMER 2008

www.benevolencija.eu.org/salon

BULLETIN OF JEWISH SOCIETY“THE FRIENDS OF LA BENEVOLENCIJA”

BILTEN JEVREJSKE ZAJEDNICE“PRIJATELJI LA BENEVOLENCIJE”

OD BROJA .... .... DO BROJA

THE BULLETIN IS SPONSORED BY JEWISH CARE

Kraj aprila. Iako je prolje}e ve}uveliko uzelo maha, jo{ nitraga od svega; ki{a, hladanvjetar pravo jesensko(britansko) (ne)vrijeme.Ovo je stvarno vrag odnio {alu;orkan pokosio desetine hiljadaku}a i ljudi u Burmi. Nekako uisto vrijeme na jugu ^ileavulkan u ko- operaciji samunjama i gromovima sijestrah i trepet po okoplnimzemljama. Tamo misle da jesmak svijeta. A ko ne bi ipomislio kada vidi one tv slikesa lica mjesta. Zemljotres uKini. Gledamo Tv izvj{taje.Desetine hiljada mrtvih,najmanje toliko jos zatrpanih,nestalih…Stra{no… Je li to…?Šta god da je, `ivot ide dalje.Majski dani prolaze. U tommjesecu izdvajamo ~etrnaesti.Sun~an i topao dan - su{tasuprotnost onoga prijeopisanog. Danas je zna~ajandatum za sve one koji seosje}aju Jevreji; 60 godina odYom Ha’atzamaut- Dannezavisnosti Izraela; Svimaonima medju nama i~itateljima Salona, ma gdje senalazili u svijetu i kojima ovajdatum ne{to zna~i, na{esrda~ne ~estitke.Obilje`avano i jedan tu`andog|aj; na{em ~lanu @elimiruKu~inovi}u - ^aji umro je bratJosip - poznatiji kao Lule. Štase tu mo`e? `ivot (i smrt) idudalje…Na{e sau~e{}e ^aji injegovima.

Bilje`imo i doga|aj uAmbasadi BH, za nekogazna~ajan, za nekoga ne, zavisiod gledanja na stvar; uprili~enaje mala opro{tajna sjedeljka zaambasadorku BH u VelikojBritaniji i Irskoj, TanjuMila{inovi}, ~iji mandatprestaje 31. maja 2008. Naprigodnom skupu uru~en joj jeu ime na{e zajednice malipoklon- monografija Londona,satelitski snimci, u detalje. Ninjena ekseclencija nije ostaladu`na; boca Martela i Chivasaostali su u klubu za“uspomenu” i dugo pijuckanjeu ~asovima dru`enja. Tanja jenaime ~esto i{la sa nama naizlete i prisustvovalazna~jnijim doga|ajima u

klubu, kada je za to imalavremena.Srijeda, 21. maja. Trebalo je poprogramu da poslu{amomuziku koju su izabrali Tiho iMiro. Izgleda da je fudbal vi{eprivukao pa`nje. A i kako nebi; sudar dva globalnafudbalska giganta, ^elsea iMan~ester Junajted, i to uMoskvi. Pobjeda MU; imali suvi{e nerava kod pucanjapenala. Mimo obi~aja, ni{to se

nije dogodilo; nismo ~uli da jebilo uobu~ajenog razbijanjastolica, izloga, noseva, vilica…Izgleda da je moskovskapolicija dobro obavila svojposao.24 maja takmi~enje zaEurosong. I to u Beogradu. Eda mi je to neko rekao prije 20-30 godina.. Kad’ se samosjetim; kompletna familija uzTV, mezence, pi}ence…Pobjeda ruske pjesme “Be-lieve”- Vjerujem. Nekima sedopada, nekima ne… Sve jemogu}e; sve prolazi i sve neprolazi i sve je u prolazu. Ukusipublike se skoro dnevnomijenjaju. Jadni Terry Wogan,ovdašnji doajen prenosa sasvih dosadašnjih Euro-songova, u tuzi i (malo)

alkoholiziranom stanju izjavioje kako to više “nije ono”. A,kako bi i bilo kada Engleska,zemlja Beatlesa i drugih, vi{enije ni “na mapi”. Dolaze nekinovi klinci.Bilje`imo jevrejsku svet-kovinu 9 i 10 juna. Mo`da nijena odmet da se malopodsjetimo. Shavout. Praznikkoji je direktno povezan saPesahom. To je dan kada je po

u~enju Tora predanajevrejskom narodu na brduSinaj. Dosta u~enja. Ko ho}evi{e da sazna, eno mu Google.Jedino moram priznati da namakoji radimo u jevrejskimfirmama ta dva dana dobrodo|u jer su neradna.

U klubu ni{ta zna~ajno novo.Prikazujemo filmove, slu{amomuziku koju odabiru na{i~lanovi po njihovom ukusu,poigramo karte, a evo i sezonaljeta je do{la.Dr Sveto nas je opet vodio posvetu. Ovoga puta u`ivali smou ljepotama Haitija.

U nedelju 29 juna posjetili smo(opet) Stratford-Upon-Avon-`ivopisni grad- rodno mjestoŠekspira. Što ti Englezi znajuprodati… Za skupe pare moguse vidjeti ne samo njegovarodna ku}a, nego i gdje jezalazio, pio, ku}u rodbine,razni temaski suveniri, a tu je icrkva gdje je sahranjen.

Pro|e i ovogodišnji Wimledon,ali }e ostati u sje}anju poantologijskom finalu; Nadal –Federer. Ni ki{e, ni oluje nisuomele da nam ova dvojcauprili~e osebujan ugo|aj. Bilaje to simfonija tenisa.Ostaje nam jo{ jedino dapo`elimo da izme|u sljede}adva Salona bilje`imo vi{eradosnih nego tu`nihdoga|aja, vi{e uspjeha negoneuspjeha…

Dragan Ungar

46

14 maja 1948 godine, DavidBen Gurion, prvi predsjednikvlade, proglasio je Deklaracijuo nezavisnosti – osnivanjedr`ave Izrael.Svaka Seder ve~era, za Jevrejedijaspore, zavr{ava rije~ima«Idu}e godine u Jerusalemu»;od kada je dijaspora nastala!Ove skoro misti~ne, ali iproro~anske rije~i bile sustalno svjedo~anstvo obezmalo dvije hiljade godinaizgnanstva i neugasive `elje zarodnom grudom, vlastitomzemljom. Ka`e se da suosnovni atributi nacije –zemlja, jezik, zajedni~kakultura i istorija.... Jevrejskinarod je nekim ~udom dokazaoda se mo`e opstati kao narod ikada nisu prisutni svi atributi,~ak i onaj najbitniji – zemlja.Ali to je isto kao kada ~ovjeknema nogu, mo`e da se kre}e,ali nema ~vrstog oslonca. Nemo`e «pustiti korjenje».Vjerovatno je neuta`ivapotreba za svojom rodnomgrudom, svojim oslo-bodjenjem kao naroda, svojimPesahom, bila bitna zao~uvanje naroda i za kona~nopretvaranje sna u javu.Konkretno pribli`avanje tomcilju dobilo je zamah krajem19-og stolje}a i vjerovatno su~etiri doga|aja bili me|a{i naputu ostvarenja. Prvo je samjevrejski narod objavio svoju`elju, namjeru i pravo naponovno radjanje nacije navlastitom tlu – Teodor Hercl jeovo obznanio na Prvomcionisti~kom kongresu, 1897g. u Bazelu. Drugo, 2.novembra 1917. godine, u tokubritanskog mandata u Palestini,Lord Balfur objavljuje ~uvenudeklaraciju u kojoj sepotvr|uje istorijska vezajevrejskog naroda i zemljeIzrael i njegovo pravo naponovnu izgradnju vlastitogdoma na tom tlu. Tre}e, 29.novembra 1947. godine,Generalna skup{tina UNusvojila je rezoluciju u kojojse predvi|a uspostavljanjejevrejske dr`ave u zemljiIzrael. I kona~no, ~etvrto,

60. GODI[NJICA IZRAELAjednostrana proklamacija onezavisnosti. Ne smije sezaboraviti da je brzompriznavanju nove dr`ave - saizuzetkom islamskog svijeta,njima sklonih ili od njihzavisnih zemalja - doprinjelanedavna katastrofa i ogromnenevine `rtve jevrejskog narodau II svjetskom ratu.[ezdeset godina je pro{lo odtada. 60 godina nade,kontroverze, ratova, ne-skrivene `elje susjeda zaanihilacijom nove tvorevine,ali i 60 godina neporecivognapretka. Ko je imao prilike daprati stanje te male, zabrinutezemlje, od momenta osnivanjapa do danas, mo`e samo sadivljenjem i otvorenim o~imada svjedo~i o vratolomnimpromjenama, na bolje,svakako. Ta neprekidnaizgradnja, to pretvaranjepustinje u poljoprivrednozemlji{te, taj procvat nauke ikulture su se odvijale brzinomza koju je te{ko na}i paralelu.U odu{evljenju, ne trebazaboraviti da je ovakvadinamika protkana i gre{kama.Izraelu, u njegovoj politiciprema susjedima ne treba dati«carte blanche». U gr~usamoodbrane radile su se istvari koje ne bi smjele da serade. No neprekidna prijetnjaanihilacijom provocirala jeponekad i neumjerene reakcije.Ma{ta nije dovoljna da sezamisli {ta bi ta zemlja postiglakada bi sa linije samoodbrane,pre{la potpuno ka linijamarazvoja i napretka. Kada bi sesav onaj silni kapital koji seula`e u samoodbranu inaoru`anje preto~io uistra`ivanje i razvoj. Kada bisvojim susjedima umjestoratnom vje{tinom bilaintelektualnim uzorom.Kada posjetite Izrael i pro{etateulicama kojima zajednokora~aju i Jevreji i Arapi –dr`avljani Izraela, neodoljivutisak steknete da je rat usnovni uvozni artikl. Nijedo{ao iznutra, to je sigurno.Mi Izraelu, i susjedima, ̀ elimomir. TrajniBranko Danon

On 14th May 1948, David BenGurion, the first Prime Minister,has proclaimed the Declarationof Independence – the creationof the State of Israel.

For the Jews of Diaspora, eachSeder night ends with the fol-lowing words: Next year in Je-rusalem. This, since Diasporahappened to the Jews. These,almost mystical, but propheticwords were a continuous testi-mony of almost two thousandyears of exile and unquenchablethirst for a native land, for theirown country. It is believed thatthe basic attributes of a Nationare the expressed wish of agroup of people to form a na-tion, the land, the language, thecommon culture and history...As if by a miracle, the Jewishpeople have proved that theycan survive as a nation even ifsome of these attributes weremissing, the essential one - theland - included. Without a landfeels like one was missing hislegs, one can move around butthere is no terra firma. One can't«root himself in». It is this es-sential need for one's ownpatch of land, for one's libera-tion as a nation, for one's ownPesach, that was instrumentalfor the preservation of the na-tion, for ultimately turning thedream into reality.

Concrete ascension to thisdream gained momentum to-wards the end of the 19th Cen-tury and there are four corner-stones on this path. Firstly, theJewish people themselves de-clared their wish, intention andright to rebirth of the nation ontheir own land – TheodoreHerzl heralded this on the FirstZionist Congress in 1897 inBasle. Secondly, on 2nd No-vember 1917, at the time of theBritish Mandate in Palestine,Lord Balfour published his fa-mous Declaration in which thehistoric link of the Jewish Peo-ple and the Land of Israel andtheir right to rebuild their homethere was confirmed. Thirdly,on 29th November 1947, theGeneral Assembly of the UnitedNations has adopted a resolu-tion confirming the creation ofa Jewish State in the Land ofIsrael. And finally, the one-sidedProclamation of Independence

ISRAEL’S 60th ANNIVERSARY

in 1948. It should not be omit-ted to notice that the recent ca-tastrophe and huge numbers ofinnocent Jewish victims duringWorld War II have acceleratedthe recognition of the newstate, by the majority, but theMuslim nations and their allies.

60 years elapsed since. 60 yearsof hope, controversy, wars, un-concealed intention of theneighbouring countries to an-nihilate the new created state,but also 60 years of undeniableprogress. Those who were inthe position to follow the cir-cumstances of this small trou-bled country, from its initiationto date, can witness with admi-ration and eyes opened widelyon the “wild” changes. For thebetter, of course. The uninter-rupted construction, the trans-formation of the desert into ar-able land, the flourishing of sci-ence and culture, have all de-veloped in an unparalleledspeed. In our excitement, weshould not forget that such dy-namic developments bore inevi-table mistakes made on the way.Israel should not be given cartblanche in their handling thesituation with their neighbours.In the spasm of self-defencethings have taken place whichshould not have. But the con-tinuous threat of annihilationhas provoked overreaction,from time to time.

Imagination is not enough toponder the achievements of thislittle country, if it was to retractfrom the lines of self-defence tothe fronts of development andprogress; if all that huge capi-tal invested in self-defence wasto be re-engaged in researchand improvement of quality oflife; if it was to lead by exampleof intellectual rather than war-ring skills.

When you visit Israel and strollalong the streets packed withJews and Arabs – Israeli citi-zens, you will be overwhelmedwith the feeling that war is im-posed from outside. It certainlydid not come from within.

We wish peace for Israel andits neighbours. A lasting one.

Branko Danon

Sa znati`eljom sam pro~itaova{u knjigu “@ivjeti saneprijateljem”. Mada jedna odmnogih svjedo~enja o tragedijiJevreja u II. Svjetskom ratu,knjiga nije time opsjednuta, paje ~itanje vrlo interesantno. Zanas je to bio razlog da obavimoovaj razgovor.P. Kada je Austrija , va{adomovina, postala dio III-egRajha vama je bilo 17 godina,sada vam je 87. Tek sedamgodina va{eg cijelog `ivotabili su definisani i vo|enijednom jedinom rije~ju –progon. Da li taj period mo`etenazvati okosnicom va{eg`ivota?O. Ro|en sam u aprilu1921 u Be~u u Austriji.Kada je Njema~kaanektirala Austriju 1938-me godine, moji roditeljisu poslali nas tri sina urazli~ite zemlje. Ja sam sa18 godina upu}en uBelgiju 1939-te godine,ali sam i odatle moraobje`ati po{to su Nacistiokupirali Belgiju iHolandiju. Pobjegao samu Francusku i priklju~io sePokretu otpora. Uhap{ensam 1943-}e i deportovanu Koncentracioni logorAu{vic. U januaru 1945primorali su nas nanotorni Mar{ smrti kojim smostigli u Logor Middlebau Doragdje su se proizvodile po zlu~uvene rakete V1 i V2.Kona~no smo stigli u BergenBelsen odakle su nasoslobodile britanske trupe15.aprila 1945-te godine.Neosporno je da danas mojimmislima i akcijama dominirajuprogon i tragi~ni period od1938 do 1945. godine, kada jetoliko svijeta ubijeno od straneNacista. Punih 35 godinanisam govorio o ovomtragi~nom periodu. ^ak nivlastitoj porodici. U toku tihgodina morao sam voditinormalan `ivot, posve}enegzistenciji, stvaranjuporodice . Ja nisam `elio damislim na bol i stres koji susa~injavali moj ̀ ivot u vrijemeholokausta. Mu~ile su meno}ne more prije nego {to sampo~eo govoriti po {kolama. No~im sam po~eo govoriti o svom

FREDDIE KNOLLERstradanju, no}ne more sunestale! Sada, pak, ho}u dasvijetu ka`em o svojimpatnjama u vrijeme nacisti~kogre`ima.Pomislio bih da jesvijet, pou~en pro{lo{}u,nau~io svoje lekcije. Na`alost,~itamo danas ponovo ozlo~inima u kojima su milionipobijeni jedino zbog toga {todiktatori ne vole neke ljude jersu druge vjere, rase, ili su izdrugog plemena.Zato jepostala moja misija da djecipri~am o svojim tegobama,nadaju}i se da }e novegeneracije promijeniti svijet nabolje.P. U tim dramati~nim danimauzeli ste `ivot u vlastite ruke.Vjerujete li u sudbinu?O.Vjerujem da ~ovjek mo`eoblikovati vlastitu sudbinu,

tako {to }e biti optimista i {to}e pozitivno razmi{ljati.Siguran sam da danas `ivimzahvaljuju}i sre}i, kada sam sesprijateljio sa Dr WeiszRobertom koji je uspio da mipomogne sa dodatnomishranom. Toliko sam puta biosvjedok kako zatvorenici kaoja gube `ivot jer su se predali.Moje pozitivno razmi{ljanje mije dalo snagu i ustrajnost dapre`ivim. Ja sam neospornostvarao vlastitu sudbinu.P. U borbi za opstanak, kakose ~ovjek odnosi premavlastitom konceptu morala?O. U normalnom ̀ ivotu, uvijeksam bio visoko moralna osobaali u Logoru u borbi zaopstanak, svi se moralni obziripotisnu u stranu. Ja sam ~akkrao hranu od sapatnika. Danasse stidim u~injenog.P. Budu}i da ste uspje{an~elista, {ta vam zna~i muzika?O. Veoma mi je va`na muzika.

Kada me pritisnu brigeuklju~im muziku i slu{amBetovena, [uberta ili ~ak iGer{vina. Muzika me, tako|er,vra}a u djetinstvo. Nas trojicabra}e smo bili muzi~ari. Na{iroditelji su insistirali danau~imo svirati neki instru-ment ~im napunimo {estgodina. Najstariji brat Oto jesvirao klavir, srednji brat Erikviolinu, i naravno meni jeostalo da nau~im svirati ~elo.Tako smo imali svoj trio.Proveli smo divno djetinjstvosviraju}i sa pozornice udobrotvorne svrhe.P. Govorite vi{e jezika. Bilovlastitim izborom ili sticajemokolnosti, boravili ste umnogim zemljama. U ̀ ivotu steradili mnoge stvari. Kako bisteopisali svoj identitet: Jevrejin,Austrijanac, Evropejac, borac,pre`ivjeli muzi~ar…? Sve ovozajedno? Ili mo`da, ne{todrugo?O. Ja sam vrlo ponosan Jevrej.Moje jevrejstvo me vra}a udjetinjstvo i roditeljima koji suusadili u mene ovaj ponos itradiciju. Svoj identitet nikakone mogu opisati kao austrijskiili evropski. Osje}am se sretnokao britanski ili ameri~kigra|anin, jer su mi obje ovezemlje pomogle da postanem“normalna” osoba.P. U svojim kasnimosamdesetim izgledateneuni{tivo. Vrlo ste aktivni uprikupljanju sredstava zadobrobit Jewish Care,preciznije za Holocaust Sur-vivors Centre (HSC). Takodjerpredajete po {kolama oHolokaustu. [ta vas motivi{e?O. Vjerujem da me, unato~mojim kasnim osamdesetim,jedino aktivan `ivot mo`eodr`ati mladim. Svoj sam ̀ ivotpodesio tako, da i nakonpenzionisanja ostajem vrloaktivan. U aktivnosti okoprikupljanja dobrotvornihpriloga sam se uklju~io kadasam postao Direktor obveznicadr`ave Izrael. Iskoristio samsvoje prijateljstvo sadonatorima kada sam sepriklju~io Komitetu zadobrotvorne priloge HSC-a.Tako|er sam se u~lanio u jedanamaterski orkestar sa kojimsviram svakog utorka. Mojasupruga i ja imamo veomaintenzivan socijalni ` i v o t .Znam da sam zahvaljuju}i

a k t i v n o s t i m a“neuni{tiv” ukasnim osamdesetimjer sam stalno aktivan. Mojeosnovno zanimanje je moj radna obrazovanju djece o momtragi~nom `ivotu podNacistima. Osje}am da mipre`ivjeli, dok smo jo{ u`ivotu, imamo misiju dapodu~imo svijet, a posebnodjecu, kako se ne bi nikadzaboravilo da je onaj ludidiktator poku{ao eliminisatiJevreje samo zato {to ih jemrzio.P. Mnoga pitanja koja smoimali na umu nismo postavilizbog sku}enog prostora.Mo`da biste htjeli, umjestotoga, da ka`ete ne{to {to vasnismo pitali.O. Kao ~ovjek ja sam sretan {toimam divnu suprugu ifantasti~nu djecu. Toliko smosretni {to imamo unuka, NadavKnoller-a koji }e pronijeti imeKnoller. Nadam se da }e onpri~ati svojoj djeci i unucimao mojoj borbi i `ivotu podNacistima. Drago mi je da samispri~ao svoju pri~u u dvijeknjige: “O~ajni~ko putovanje”i “@ivjeti sa neprijateljem”.Danas u svijetu ima jo{ uvijek

toliko zlo~ina i ubistava.Analiziraju}i ove dogadjaje -de{avaju se samo u zemljamagdje vladaju diktatori ili Vojnahunta. Budimo sretni da`ivimo u demokratiji, jer semasovna ubistva u nekimafri~kim zemljama kojima smosvjedoci, ne mogu nikada desitiu demokratskoj zemlji. To senikada ne mo`e desiti uVelikoj Britaniji.Razgovor vodio BrankoDanon

FREDDIE KNOLLER

I have read your book “LivingWith the Enemy” with fascina-tion. Although one of many tes-timonies on the tragedy of theJews in WWII, the book is notobsessed with it, which makesit a very interesting reading andthe reason we wanted to talk toyou.Q. You were 17 when yourhomeland, Austria, becamepart of the III Reich. You arenow 87. Just seven years ofyour entire life were deter-mined and ruled by a singleword – persecution. Would youdescribe that period as pivotalin your life?A.I was born in Vienna, Austriain April 1921. When the Nazisannexed Austria to Germany in1938, my parents sent all thethree Knoller boys into differ-ent countries. I went to Belgiumin 1939, but had to flee after theNazis occupied Belgium andHolland. I escaped to France,where I joined the resistance;got arrested in 1943 and de-ported to Auschwitz Concen-tration Camp. The Death Marchtook place in January 1945; thenext Camp was Middelbau Dorawhere the V1 & V2 were createdand finally Bergen Belsenwhere we were liberated by theBritish troops 15th April 1945.My persecution and the periodduring the tragic years 1938 –1945 where so many people weremurdered by the Nazis, cer-tainly dominate my thoughtsand my action nowadays. For35 years I did not talk about thistragic period, not even to myfamily. During these years I hadto devote my life to normality,to earn a living, to create a fam-ily. I did not want to think of thepain and stress I went throughduring the holocaust. Before Istarted talking in schools I hadmany nightmares, but as soonas I spoke about my ordeal, thenightmares disappeared. Butnow I want to tell the world whatI have suffered during the Naziregime.I would have thought that theworld has learned a lesson from

the past, but unfortunately onereads today about atrocitieswhere again millions are beingkilled just because dictators didnot like certain people becausethey were of a different religion,race or tribe.. All this makes itfor me a mission to tell the chil-dren, what I went through, hop-ing that this new generation willchange this world into a betterone.Q. In those dramatic days youtook your young life into yourown hands. Do You believe indestiny?

A. I believe that one can createone’s own destiny by being op-timistic and by positive think-ing. I am sure I am alive todaybecause of luck when I becamefriends with Dr. Robert Weiszwho was able to help me withextra food. I saw so many of myfellow prisoners loosing theirlives because they gave up .Ialso survived because of mypositive thinking which pro-vided me with the will and per-severance to survive. I cer-tainly created my own destiny.Q.How does one come to termswith one’s own concept of mo-rality in the battle for survival?A. In normal life I was always avery moral person, but in theCamp, when one wanted to sur-vive one needed to put all mor-als to the side. I even stole foodfrom my fellow prisoners. To-day I am ashamed of what Ihave done.Q. An accomplished celloplayer, what does music meanto you?A. Music is very important forme. When I worry about some-thing I switch on the music andlisten to the soothing and beau-tiful music of Beethoven,Shubert or even Gershwin. Mu-sic also takes me back to mychildhood. We were three broth-ers, all musicians. Our parents

insisted that we learn to playan instrument as soon as wereached the age of 6. My oldestbrother Otto plaid the piano, mymiddle brother Eric the violinand naturally I had to learn howto play the cello. So we had ourTrio. We had a wonderful child-hood playing on the stage forcharitable organizations.Q.You speak many languages.Driven by circumstances or outof choice, you have been tomany countries. In your life youhave done many things. Howwould you describe your iden-tity; Jewish, Austrian, Euro-pean, a fighter, a survivor, amusician?... All these to-gether? Or, something else?A.I am a very proud Jew. MyJewishness takes me back to mychildhood, to my parents whohave instilled this pride and tra-dition into me. I certainly cannot describe my identity asAustrian or European. I feelvery happy as a British orAmerican citizen, because bothcountries helped me to becomea “normal” person.Q. You look indestructible inyour late eighties. You aredeeply involved in Fund-rais-ing activities to benefit theHSC of Jewish Care. You arealso lecturing on the Holocaustin schools. What motivatesyou?A. My motivation in my lateeighties comes frommy belief that only by keepingbusy I will remain young. Iprepared my life in such a waythat after I retired from businessI will always be busy. I got in-volved with fund raisingwhen I became a Directorof State of Israel Bonds. Iused my friendship withthe donors when I joinedthe Holocaust SurvivorsCentre fund raising Com-mittee for the Centre. Ijoined an amateur Orches-tra playing everyTuesday with the Orches-tra. My wife and I have avery busy social life. Iknow that I am "indestruct-ible" in my late eighties be-cause I keep busy. Mymain occupation is my

work with educatingthe children aboutthe tragic period ofmy life under the Nazis.I feel, while we survivors are stillon this world, that we have amission to educate the worldand especially the children, sothat the world will never forgetthat this crazy dictator had triedto eliminate the Jewish race,just because he hated them.Q.There are many other ques-tions we could not ask you, dueto limited space. Perhaps, in-stead, you would rather wantto say something we did notask you?A. I am a very happy person tohave a wonderful wife and fan-tastic children. How lucky weare to have a Grand son, NadavKnoller, who will continue tokeep the Knoller name alive.Hopefully he will tell his chil-dren and grandchildren aboutmy fight and life under the Na-zis. I am glad to have writtenmy story in two books: "Des-perate Journey" and "Livingwith the Enemy".There are still so many atroci-ties and murders happening inthis world. But analyzing theseevents, they are only in placeswhere a dictator or a militaryjunta rules the country. Lets allbe happy that we are living in ademocracy, because mass mur-der as we see in some Africancountries, can never happen ina democratic country. It cannever happen in the UnitedKingdom.Interview conducted by BrankoDanon

Osjetim se jako pogodjenakada mi neko ka`e "Tvoja novadomovina". Naro~ito me bolikada to ~ujem od sarajevskeraje koji su ostali u mojojjedinoj domovini. Ja imamnovi dom jer sam iz starogotjerana, ali novu domovinunisam ni tra`ila ni na{la.Domovina je za mene, jednajedina, ona gdje sam se rodila igdje sam stekla prve pojmoveo ljubavi, zemlji, moru,drugarstvu, gdje sam nau~ilaprve rije~i, napisala prva slovai zaljubila se. Za mene jeDomovina mjesto gdje su ~etirigeneracije mojih predakaostale na groblju i gdje su sevra}ali iz bezbrojnih galutauvijek na ista, poznataognjišta. Ho}u li se i ja vratitiu svoju Domovinu danasnisam u stanju re}i. Napustilasam je za spas ~iste duše svojedjece, da ih lišim razo~arenjakoja mene nisu mimoišla, da ihsklonim od mr`nje, da budu iostanu ljudi bez predznaka na~elu (ili na rukavu). @eljela samda svoju djecu odgajamo takokako smo mi bili odgojeni,`eljela sam da se `ene i udajuzbog ljubavi a ne zbog nacije iimena. Zbog toga mislim dasam otjerana jer to sve nije višebilo mogu}e. Nove norme inova pravila nisu bili moji,moje ̀ elje i moji snovi nisu biliostvarivi. Zbog toga se dodanas nisam ni vratila, jermnoge stvari još uvijek nisumogu}e ili tek sada nisumogu}e. Danas su naša djecaodrasli, slobodni ljudi, lišenimr`nje sa veoma razvijenimosje}ajem za pravdu i poštenje.Znaju odakle su i vole i ~uvajute svoje male, kratkeuspomene. Kao ni ja nekada nioni danas ne znaju ko je toSrbin, a ko Hrvat. Muslimaneznaju, ali ih ni najmanje nesmeta da se dru`e sa arapskimkolegama i da djecu upisuju umješovite vrti}e. Dapa~e,"bratstvo - jedinstvo" im je ibez "ispiranja mozga" moralnanorma do koje veoma dr`e. Anostalgija, nikoga nijezaobišla. Svima nam se javljau razli~itim oblicima i nemaimunih. Samo što joj nekilakše, a neki te`e odoljevaju.Moja nostalgija nije za

mladoš}u, ni Parkušom, Fisom,Slogom ni Prvom Gimnazijom.Ta vremena su nepovratnootišla i niko ih ne mo`e viševratiti.. To `ivi u mojimuspomenama, i to mi niko nijemogao oduzeti. Meninedostaju rije~i, misli, ljepotajezika koju pokušavamnadomjestiti knjigama. Teškomi je što se nikada ne}u mo}iizraziti na ovom uvijek i zasvagda stranom mi jeziku, nana~in kako sam to mogla nasvom. Teško mi je što kiše nemirišu onako kako su našemirisale i što lipe u lipnju neopijaju, što je moje more takodaleko, a plavo kao ni jednomore na svijetu, što su šumezelene, zelenije od svih šumakoje me i ovdje okru`uju.Teško mi je kad u prolje}e idemtra`iti ciklame a one iste kaonaše samo ne mirišu, što šumskejagode ne postoje. I ondapogledam u nebo i ka`em "aliovako plavo nebo i ovakoveliko nikad nije bilo uSarajevu. A sunce, toplo iizdašno tokom cijele godine".Tra`im sve što je lijepo ne dabih zaboravila ono ~ega višenema nego da manje mislim nato. Muzika, slikarstvo, priroda,putovanja i prijateljstva su svete lijepe stvari kojeutomljavaju nostalgiju.Shvatila sam da je broj danakoji je pred nama sigurnodaleko manji nego onaj kojismo ostavili iza nas i svaki dankoji nije ispunjen ne~imlijepim je zauvijek izgubljen.@ivot treba `ivjeti ne sutra i neju~er, nego danas i sada. To jejedino što je izvjesno i štoimamo. Kod ku}e ~uvamfotografiju stabla narand`ekoje smo na po~etku našegboravka pronašli u Jafu. Tolikonam je simboli~no oslikalonašu sudbinu da je postalo našvjerni prijatelj kojeg redovnoposje}ujemo. Razapetoizmedju neba i zemlje, bezkorijenja usadjenog u tlo,niklo iz }upa ali ipak zeleno i`ivo. To drvo daje i cvjetove iplodove i mi mu se svaki putvra}amo da provjerimo je li joštu. A ono traje i cvjeta i širisvoje opojne mirise kaopozitivne vibracije.

Sanja Rihtman

MOJA NOSTALGIJA Pismo iz Izraela

It hurts when in conversationsomebody says 'your newhomeland'. It hurts even morewhen it comes from the matesfrom Sarajevo who still live inthe only homeland I have everhad. I have a new home nowbecause I was expelled from theold one but a new homeland Ihave neither been looking fornor I have found . For me theone and only Homeland is theone in which I was born , inwhich I first learnt of love, pa-triotism, friendship, sea, inwhich I uttered my first words,learnt how to spell and fell inlove for the first time. For methe Homeland is the placewhere four generations of myancestors have been laid to rest,the place to which after manywanderings and hardships theywould always return.Whether I will ever return to myHomeland I cannot say just asyet. I left it for the sake of mychildren's pure soul, to savethem from the disappointmentsthat didn't miss me, from hatred;to make them become humanbeings without a mark on theforehead or a sing on the arm-band. I wanted to raise my chil-dren the way we had beenbrought up. I wished thatwomen marry for love and notthe national or religious affilia-tion. That is why I feel that Ihave been expelled, because allthe above was no longer possi-ble. New standards and newrules were not mine, my wishesand dreams could not cometrue. That is the reason why Ihave not returned, because thethings I wish for are still notpossible or what's worse theyhave now become completelyimpossible. Today our childrenare grown-ups, free human be-ings with no feelings of hatredbut instead with a very devel-oped sense of justice and hon-esty. They know where theycame from and they cherishtheir sweet and short memories.As I couldn't before so theycannot tell now who is a Serband who a Croat. They get toknow Muslims and have noproblems at all in making friendswith their Arab colleagues orenrolling their children in 'mixed'nurseries. On the contrary,'brotherhood and unity' is amoral code they've arrived atand stick to without having hadto be brain washed.As for the homesickness no-body has escaped its clutches.It strikes in different ways andthere is no one who is immune

NOSTALGIA A Letter from Israel

to it. The only differ-ence is in the level of coping.My nostalgia is not for theParkusa, FIS, Sloga, and 1stGrammar School. Those timesare long gone and nothing canbring them back. They live inmy memories and nobody couldtake them away from me. WhatI miss are words, expressions,beauty of the mother tongueand I am trying to fill that voidby extensive reading. I am sadand frustrated that I will neverbe able to express myself fully(in the way I can do it in mymother tongue) in this new lan-guage which will forever be for-eign. I find it hard to accept thatthe rain does not smell the sameand that linden trees do not ex-ude that intoxicating scent inJune, that my sea more azurethan any other in the world isso far away and that foreststhere are greener than any Ihave found here. I was sad tofind out that the cyclamen I pickup in spring though looking thesame do not smell the same, thatwild strawberries cannot befound here. Then I look up intothe sky and tell to myself thatthe sky this big and thus bluedoes not exist in Sarajevo, nordoes this generous sun thatkeeps us warm a better part ofthe year. I am actively search-ing for anything beautiful notto forget what is there no morebut to think less often of it.Music, paintings, nature, traveland friendship are all thoselovely things that suppress thefeeling of nostalgia. I am wellaware that the number of daysahead of us is now smaller thanthe number of days we left be-hind and that everyday that hasnot been filled with somethingnice and beautiful is wasted andlost forever. The life should belived not for yesterday, nor fortomorrow but for today. That isthe only certainty and all thatwe have.At home I treasure a photo ofan orange tree we discoveredin the old city of Jaffa when wefirst came here. It is such a po-tent symbol of our own fate thatwe return to it as we would toan old and trusted friend. Sus-pended between the sky andthe earth, without roots in soil,it grows from the mere flowerpot and yet is so green andalive. It comes into bloom, itbears fruit and we check on itregularly to see if it is still there.It is, it carries on and blossomsspreading its exhilirating scentlike positive vibrations.Sanja Rihtman

U travnju se u @OZ-u moglopratiti zanimljivo predavanje opovijesti venecijanskog getakoje je pred punom salomzainteresiranih slu{ateljaodr`ala dr. Donatella Calabi,profesorica sa katedrepovijesti umjetnosti Sve-u~ili{ta u Veneciji. Uz na{egpredsjednika dr. Krausa bio jeprisutan talijanski vele-poslanik u pratnji nekolicineprofesora i arhitekata iz Italijei profesora povijesti umjetnostis katedre u Zagrebu, koji sezajedni~ki dogovaraju omogu}nostima zamjenskogstudija za doktorante. Naime,do ovog vrlo vrijednogpredavanja organiziranogsuradnjom @OZ-a i Talijanskogkulturnog instituta, do{lo jeinicijativom mlade rije~kepovjesni~arke umjetnostiJasenke Gudelj, koja, dok ovopi{em, brani doktorskudisertaciju u Veneciji, a ina~edjeluje na Katedri povjestiumjetnosti Filozofskogfakulteta u Zagrebu. Osim {toje inicirala suradnju, JasenkaGudelj je zaista umje{no, so~iglednim poznavanjemcjelokupne materije prevodilapredavanje svoje venecijanskementorice, dr. Calabi, koje smootslu{ali tako reku} otvorenihustiju, mo`da i zato jer nasve}ina od ranije poznajevenecijanski geto. Jer tko nijeu najmanju ruku pro{etaoCanareggiom, du` naj{irevenecijanske ulice koja od`eljezni~ke stanice vodi usredi{te grada na laguni, ilimo`da ve~erao u nekom odmnogobrojnih pristupa~nijihrestoran~i}a geta, dok smosigurno u grupama iliindividualno, obi{li neku odveli~anstvenih pet sinagoga naprostranom trgu Campa diGhetto Nuovo. Me|utim, tove~e u @OZ-u imali smo prilikusaznati daleko vi{e, probuditimo`da povr{no poznavanjejedne teme u~e}i od nekog tkose pasionirano njom bavi,istra`uje, objavljuje knjige, istoga na tom podru~jupredstavlja veliki autoritet.Odmah na po~etku saznali smoporijeklo samog termina«ghetto» koji proizlazi odtalijanskog glagola «gettare»(baciti) i koji se u ovom slu~ajuodnosi na postupak lijevanja

metalne rude, slitine ili stakla,jer «getto» (izgovara se mekim|) je i izljevotopljene materijeu kalupe. Nekim se slu~ajem,valjda logikom «pars pro toto»ta rije~ koristila kao nazivtopionice bakra u Canareggiu.Na tom mjestu, tada dostaudaljenom od centra, topionicaje vjerovatno postojala odosnutka grada, premda u dobakada je @idovima odre|ena zamjesto stanovanja, kao takvanije vi{e funkcionirala. UVeneciji su od njenog samogpo~etka (a pri~a ka`e da su juosnovali gra|ani obli`njeAquileje u 10. stolje}u,povukav{i se na otoke u laguniu bijegu pred mongolskominvazijom), `ivjeli @idovi kojisu slobodno trgovali i `ivjelibilo gdje po laguni. Ve} u 13.stolje}u dolazi do prvihpogroma protiv @idova, a kojisu po~etkom Kri`arskih vojnii nakon Wormsa uslijedili poNjema~koj i drugdje poEuropi. Dosta je tada ̀ idovskihizbjeglica pristizalo uVeneciju, tako da je uskoroVije}e desetorice koje jeVenecijom upravljalo, vje-rovatno pod vatikanskimpritiskom, odlu~ilo da ih sekoncentrira na jednom mjestu.Katoli~ki stanovnici Re-publike Venecije nisu se ba{uvijek i slijepo podvrgavalisvim naredbama Vatikana, takoda inkvizicija na samompo~etku nije u Veneciji bilaprevi{e uticajna, dok sutrgova~ke `idovske vezeSerenissimi ve} od ranog 13.stolje}a bile i te kako va`ne.Ipak, Vije}e je odlu~ilo prisiliti@idove da stanuju odvojeno odostalih gra|ana. Za po~etak imje predlo`eno da se nastane najednom od otoka u laguni {tosu oni odbili, jer bi im takobavljenje trgovinom biloote`ano i bili bi previ{eizolirani od grada. Zatim jeVije}e ponudilo biv{utopionicu bakra koja je bilaopasana visokim zidom. To suprihvatili, mo`da nisu imaliizbora. Bilo je to, manje zlo,jer premda je Canareggioudaljen od sredi{ta grada, ipakje njegov dio. Mekanutalijansku rije~ «getto» (izg.|eto), ime njihove nastambe,prido{lice iz Njema~keizgovarali su tvrdim «g» kao

«ghetto», te je ovakoizgovarana rije~ s vremenompostala pojam za tipstanovanja unutar odre|enihparametara u svim jezicima.Postepeno su venecijanskomgetu dodavani dijelovi, takogovorimo o «Novom getu»nastalom pristizanjem sli-jede}eg velikog vala ̀ idovskihizbjeglica protjeranih siberijskog poluotoka krajem15. i 16. stolje}a. Ovi sumahom dolazili prekoIstanbula, zbog ~ega su ih uVeneciji zvali «Levantinci», zarazliku od prija{njih koji su bilipoznati kao «Potentini». Isinagoge su nosile imena prematim pripadnostima, dosljednotome jo{ uvijek se zovua{kenaska, sefardska ililevantinska. Mnogo kasnijegetu je dodan «ghettoNuovissimo». S ostalimdijelovim grada geto je biospojen samo s dva mosta, apreko no}i stanovnicima nijebilo dozvoljeno izlaziti odsumraka do zore, jer su prilazemostovima ~uvali hri{}anskistra`ari. Naravno da se vlastnije prema @idovima uvijekodnosila ujedna~eno, bilo jerazdoblja kad bi kontrola nadnjima popu{tala, ili se pakzatezala, ve} prema politi~kimfluktuacijama ili potrebama.Nosioci odre|enih profesija,lije~nici na primjer, uvijek suse mogli kretati po gradu kao ineki drugi `idovski majstorizanatlije ~ija bi umje{nost bilagradu potrebna, kao zlatari ilibrusa~i dragocjenog kamenja.Grad je ponekad slao pekare dau~e vje{tine od @idova, pa ugradskom arhivu postojedokumenti koji pokazuju dasu `idovski majstori pekariu~ili venecijanske pekare kakose radi macot. Zakon je branioda prozori ku}a u getu buduokrenuti prema gradu, ve} sumorali gledati unutra, u geto.Zgrade u getu bile su visoke,uske, mra~ne, ponekad i po {estkatova u vis i ve}inomzapu{tene. @idovi nisu mogliposjedovati nekretnine, dok sukr{}anski vlasnici dobro umjeliprofitirati iznajmljivanjemstanova @idovima, prisiljenimatu `ivjeti. Naravno da suhigijenski, pa stoga zdrav-stveni uvjeti bili te{ki, smrtnostsigurno velika, jer i danas vlagau laguni ne dozvoljava sta-

novanje u prizemlju,a @idovi u getu ~estonisu imali drugog izbora.Trgovine ili {kole su se uvijeknalazile u prizemlju. A da suusprkos te{kim uvjetimastanovnici geta imali solidnehigijenske navike svjedo~ipodatak da kad je po~etkom 17.stolje}a svugdje vladala kuga,zaraza u geto nije prodrla.Bilo ja naravno i kr{enja raznihodredbi kojima se gledalo krozprste, o ~emu svjedo~e ponekiprozori geta okrenuti premakanalu, kao i poneka«altaneletta» ponegdje uz rubgeta na kanalu. «Altanelle» suina~e jedinstveni arhitektonskifenomen Venecije, drveneimprovizirane terase obi~nopovrh kosih krovova, dok suoko geta niknule uz samu vodui time omogu}ile pove}anjeprostora pojedinim du}anima.Napoleonski ratovi zna~ili suprestanak Serenissime kaosamostalne republike. @ido-vima je Napoleon donioemancipaciju, pa od tada oniulaze u gradsku upravu i moguobavljati druge funkcije. Kadje do{lo do ujedinjenja Italijemnogi su `idovi ve} bilinapustili geto, neki imu}niji~ak su pokupovali pala~e naVelikom Kanalu. Ve}inom suse kulturno stopili s novomdr`avom, ~esto asimilirali, azbog svoje opismenjenostiimali prednost u novoj dr`avi.Zbog toga su se ~estozapo{ljavali na sveu~ili{tima,u {kolama ili dr`avnojadministraciji. Tako je, recimo,`idovska obitelj Franchettimogla kupiti znamenituvenecijansku gotsku pala~u iz14. stolje}a, poznatu kao «Cad'oro». Nju je barun Franchetti1896. godine restaurirao i posvojoj smrti ostavio dr`avi.Jo{ se mnogo toga moglonau~iti od prof. Dr. Calabi, kojaje me|u ostalim djelimaautorica i koautorica djela kao{to su «Grad @idova» (sEnnijem Concinom i UgomCamerinom), Venecija 1996;«povijest europskogurbanizma (Torino 2000):«Stranci u gradu» (s JackuesomBottinom) Paris 1999;«Povijest grada». Venecija2001; «Tr`nica i grad» Lon-don 2004Zabilje`ilaVesna Domany Hardy

Dr. Donatella Calabi, professorof Urban History at the Univer-sity of Venice held a remarkablelecture on the history ofVenetian Ghetto in the packedZagreb Jewish Community hallin April. Alongside Dr. Kraus,our president, present at theevent were the Italian Ambas-sador accompanied by anumber of professors and archi-tects from Italy and art historyprofessors from Zagreb Univer-sity. They all look together intothe opportunities for exchangePhD studies. Actually, this out-standing lecture organizedjointly by Zagreb Jewish Com-munity and The Italian CulturalInstitute was initiated byJasenka Gudelj, the young arthistorian from Rijeka, workingat the Art History Departmentof Zagreb University. Whilethese lines are being written sheis defending her doctoral the-sis in Venice. Jasenka Gudelj,interpreted with excellentknowledge of the subject mat-ter and great competence thelecture given by Dr. Calabi, hermentor; while we were all earslistening to it, possibly alsobecause the majority of us al-ready knew the Ghetto of Ven-ice. For some of us it was atleast a walk down Canareggi,the broad street taking from therailway station to the centre ofthe city in the lagoon, or a din-ner at some of the numerousaffordable ghetto restaurants.We visited either in groups orindividually some of the mag-nificent five synagogues on theCampa di Ghetto Nuovo spa-cious square. Nevertheless,during that evening in ZagrebJewish Community we had theopportunity to broaden the per-haps sketchy knowledge of atopic and learn much more fromsomebody who is passionateabout it, doing research workand publishing books, there-fore a great authority in thatfield.At the very beginning we learntthe origin of the term “ghetto”which is derived from the Ital-ian verb “gettare” (to throw). Inthis case it refers to the castingprocess of metal ores, alloys orglass, because “getto” (pro-nounce the “g” like in “George”)is the casting in the mould. For

FROM THE HISTORY OF VENETIAN GHETTOsome reason probably follow-ing the “pars pro toto” logicthis world was used as the nameof copper smelter in Canareggi.The smelter at that location,which was quite away from thecity centre at the time, probablyexisted there from the city’sfoundation but it was not func-tioning any more when it wasallocated as the place of resi-dence for the Jews. From itsvery beginning Jews estab-lished themselves in Venice (thestory goes that it was set up bythe citizens of the nearbyAquilea in the tenth centurywho retreated to the lagoon is-lands in their flight from Mon-golian invasion). They tradedfreely and lived anywhere theyliked in the lagoon. The firstpogroms against the Jews tookplace as early as the thirteenthcentury in Germany and otherEuropean places when the Cru-sades started and followingWorms. Many Jewish refugeesreached Venice at that time, sothat soon after the Council ofTen, managing the city at thetime, had decided, probablyunder Vatican pressure togather them at one place. TheCatholic citizens of the VeniceRepublic did not always do asthey were told by Vatican, sothat the Inquisition was nothighly influential at the begin-ning, while the Jewish tradingconnections were of utmostimportance to Serenissima fromearly thirteenth century. Never-theless the Council had decidedto force the Jews to live de-tached from other citizens. Theinitial proposal was that theyshould settle on one of the la-goon islands but they refusedit on the grounds that their trad-ing would be made difficult andthey would be too isolated fromthe rest of the city. The Councilthen offered the previous cop-per smelter surrounded by ahigh wall. Probably having nochoice they accepted it. It wasthe lesser of the two evils – al-though not in the centreCanareggio was still a part ofthe city. The softly pronouncedItalian word “getto”, name oftheir settlement the newcomersfrom Germany pronounced itwith the hard “g” – “Ghetto”,and so over the years the word

pronounced in this way in allthe languages became a con-cept denoting the type of thecrowded cohabitation withinset boundaries.Gradually parts were added tothe Ghetto of Venice, so that wespeak about “New Ghetto” af-ter the arrival of the next largewave of Jewish refugees fromthe Iberian peninsula late in the15th and 16th century. Thesecame mainly through Istanbulfor which reason they were re-ferred to as “The Levantines”in Venice as opposed to thepreviously arrived “Poten-tines”. The synagogues werealso named after these affilia-tions and even now they arecalled the Ashkenazi, Sephardior Levantine. Much later“Ghetto Nuovissimo” wasadded to the Ghetto. It was con-nected to the rest of the city bytwo bridges only and the inhab-itants were not allowed to goout from dusk to dawn becausethe bridges were under Chris-tian guard. The attitude of theauthorities toward the Jews waschanging over the years – therewere periods when the controlwould relax or others when itwould tighten depending onthe political fluctuations orneeds. Some professionalswhose skills were needed in thecity could always move about;these were doctors for instanceor various craftsmen – gold-smiths or precious stone pol-ishers. At times the city wouldsend their bakers to learn theskill from the Jews. Documentsin the city archives record thatthe Jewish bakers taught theVenetian one show to makematzot. According to the lawghetto windows could facenothing but the ghetto. Thebuildings in the ghetto werenarrow, dark, sometimes evensix floors high and dilapidatedin most cases. Jews were notallowed to have any real estateso that the Christian landlordsknew well how to get profit fromlettings to the Jews who wereforced to live there. The sani-tary conditions were bad ofcourse and as a consequencethe health was poor and mor-tality certainly high; even todaythe moisture in the lagoon doesnot allow living on the ground

floor but the Jews ofthe Ghetto often had no otherchoice. Shops and schools werealways on the ground floor. Inspite of these hard conditionsGhetto inhabitants had goodsanitary habits as is reflectedin the fact that when plaguespread all around them early inthe seventeenth century it didnot reach the ghetto.Some of the occasionallybreached regulations were letoff lightly of course which isevident from the few windowsfacing the canal or an odd“alltaneletta” along the edge ofthe canal. “Altanelles” are ar-chitectural phenomena to befound only in Venice. These arewooden improvised terracesusually on top of the slopingroofs; in ghetto, on the otherhand, they were located closeto the water increasing thus thespace of some of the shops.The Napoleonic wars meant theend of Serenissima as an inde-pendent Republic. Napoleonbrought emancipation to theJews so that from that time onthey entered the municipal au-thorities and could performother functions as well. WhenItaly was united many Jews hadalready left the ghetto, some ofthose who were better offbought palaces along the GrandCanal. Most of them mergedwith the new state, some assimi-lated and their literacy meantadvantage for them in the newstate. Thus, they worked at uni-versities, schools or state ad-ministration. An example of thisstate of affairs is the Jewishfamily Franchetti. They bought“Ca’ d’ oro”, a well knownVenetian gothic palace from the14th century. It was restored byBaron Franchetti in 1896 andthen left to the state after hisdeath.We learned much more fromProf. Dr. Calabi who amongother things is the author andco-author of “The City of theJews” (with Enni Concino andUgo Camerini) Venice, 1996,“The History of Urban Europe(Torino, 2000), “Foreigner andthe City” (with JacquesBottino) Paris, 1999, “UrbanHistory”, Venice 2001 and “TheMarket and the City” London2004.Noted byVesna Domany Hardy

IZ POVIJESTI VENECIJANSKOG GETA

Ve} vidim zbunjena lica svihkoji me poznaju i neizbje`nopitanje: ‘Otkud je Izrael njenadomovina?’ Da razjasnim napo~etku: Ne, nije i osimnekolicine prijatelja koji sadatamo `ive, ja nemam nikakveveze sa Izraelom. Gornji naslovje zapravo bio podnaslov naud`beniku geografije koji }eprepoznati svi koji su odrasli ubiv{oj Jugoslaviji. On se,

medjutim, mo`e univerzalnoprimijeniti, ne samo na vlastitudomovinu. Bilo {ta {to ~ovjekbolje upozna on }e to vi{evoljeti, ili mrziti, ili {to jenajva`nije, bolje razumjeti.Prije mog putovanja u Izraelmoje poznavanje zemlje je bilosvedeno na povr{no ~itanje i{turo znanje njene istorije, {toje daleko od bilo kakvogtemeljnog znanja. Moj odnosprema Izraelu je bio sli~anonome koji je imao moj kolegas posla kada bih ja spomenulaBalkan. On bi odmahnuorukom rekav{i: «Ko bi ikad vastamo razumio!» Na{to bih jaodgovorila: « Da, previ{eistorije za svariti». Sli~nostiizme|u balkanskih zemalja iIzraela su zapanjuju}e –polaganja prava na zemlju saraznih strana navode}i svakasvoje «istorijsko pravo»,zemlja koju su kroz istorijupar~ale i okupirale nekada{njevelike sile koje su njom iupravljale, sukob velikihmonoteisti~kih religija,

Moje prvo putovanje u IzraelUPOZNAJ DOMOVINU DA BI JE VI[E VOLIO

duboko usadjeno nepoverenjei animozitet izmedju ljudi istograsnog prorijekla koji govorejezike koji imaju vi{ezajedni~kog nego {to ne-maju… lista je duga~ka. Zbogsvega ovoga, prije mogputovanja, kada bi nekospomenuo Izrael ja bih osjetilaistu bespomo}nost, nelagodu ikonfuziju oko definicijenacije, oko toga {ta je pravo a

{ta krivo u doti~noj situacijikoju bi osjetio moj kolega kadabi moja domovina bilapredmet diskusije. To je biomoj «prtljag» iliti «baga`a»koju sam ponijela sa sobom uIzrael u martu ove godine -isparcelisano znanje,saosje}anje kao posljedicadijeljenja sli~nog iskustva –mje{avina znati`elje i zebnje.Da se otkloni zebnja naravnonisu pomogli nedavnoobnovljeni konflikti u Gazi imasakr studenata koji sedogodio u Jerusalemu nedjeljudana prije na{eg puta. Neki odmojih prijatelja su mislili dasam luda {to idem tamo.Podsjetili su me da sampobjegla od jednog rata i pitalise za{to ̀ elim da idem u zemljukoja je na ivici drugog. Nisammogla a da se i sama nezapitam, razmi{ljaju}i osudbini i da li je moja ta da samiza{la fizi~ki ~itava iz jednograta (o psiholo{kim poslje-dicama ne trebam pisati) da bihoti{la «Bogu na istinu» u

ne~ijem tu|em ratu. NaBliskom istoku. Na podru~jugdje se ugasilo toliko nedu`nih`ivota na svim stranama da bigubitak mog pro{ao nezapa`enili , u najboljem slu~aju, postaodio obi~ne statistike. ALI –uvijek ima neko ali – ljudska`e| za znanjem, fasciniranostdalekim predjelima, geo-grafijom, istorijom, kulturom,na{a prirodna znati`elja nasguraju da idemo dalje, dazaboravimo strah i na onu «neguraj nos gdje ti nije mjesto»....Ako cijeli `ivot provedemosjede}i u na{oj najdra`oj foteljiu na{oj ugodnoj ku}i bez daikad iza|emo napolje, bez daikad prkosimo elementima,zamislite kako bi to jadan ̀ ivotbio i koliko bi zbog toga bilisiroma{niji. S tom mi{lju samse ukrcala u avion.Kada smo sletitli do~ekao nasje moderan aerodrom punobi~nih ljudi koji su ~ekalisvoje mile i drage sa osmijehomna usnama, sa balonima.Aerodrom koji se ni po ~emune razlikuje od bilo kog drugogaerdroma u bilo kom drugomvelikom gradu. Iza{li smo iznjega br`e nego {to bi iza{li saHitroa uprkos upozorenja odu`ini raznih provjera na „BenGurionu“. Moderan autoputnas je odveo u Jerusalim okome sam toliko ~itala. Ali moj

Jerusalim se razlikovao odonog iz novinskih naslova. Jasam bila op~injena ifascinirana tim komadi}emzemlje koji je u stanju da imatakvu iracionalnu mo} ukolektivnom sje}anju razli-

~itih naroda. To je jedinomjesto koga se mogu sjetitigdje se istovremeno moguosjetiti i prolaznost vremena ito da je vrijeme stalo, i pro{laistorija i istorija koja teknastaje, gdje bez obzira navjersku pripadnost ~ovjek nemo`e a da se ne divi sim-boli~kim, kulturnim i arhi-tektonskim dostignu}ima svih.Za vrijeme mog kratkogboravka putovala sam krozZapadnu obalu do Galilejskogjezera (vrlo spokojne planta`edatula du` puta i nikakvihpoblema na vidiku), kratko seu predve~erje zadr`ala uTiberijasu s obalom punomhotela, kafi}a i turista. Slijedioje kratki boravak u fasci-nantnom Tzfatu, gradu punomljupkih uli~ica, galerija,sinagoga, razdragane maski-rane djece koja su slavila Purim,zatim posjeta istorijskom graduAku i kozmopolitskoj Haifi,Mrtvom moru (da, plutala sam,da donijela sam kristale soliveli~ine ping pong loptice).Poslije toga je uslijedio divankoncert Izraeleske filharmonijeu Tel Avivu, dinami~nomgradu punom nebodera inasmijane djece i na krajujutarnja {etnja u suncemokupanoj Jafi. Za svo vrijemeboravka pazili su nas na{i

d u g o g o d i { n j iprijatelji sadarazbacani po Izraelu{to je na{ boravaku~inilo posebnim idalo li~ni pe~atsvakom gradu.Da li sam i u jednomtrenutku pomislila narat? Ni u jednom. Dali sam se osjetilaugro`enom? Nisam.Ova kratka posjeta mi

je samo izazvala apetit. Sadakada sam upoznala Izrael izprve ruke `eljela bih da gamnogo bolje upoznam da bihga vi{e voljela. Zbog toga }use vratiti.Mia Kordi}

I can see the bewildered facesof those who know me and theinevitable question: ‘How comeIsrael is her homeland?’ Toclarify from the start - it isn’t,and apart from a few friendswho now live there, I have noconnection with it whatsoever.The above title was actually thesubtitle of a geography textbook anyone who grew up informer Yugoslavia would know. It is, however, universally ap-plicable and not onlyto one's own homeland. What-ever one gets to know betterone loves or hates or, more importantly, understandsbetter.

On my first visit to IsraelGET TO KNOW YOUR HOMELAND IN ORDER TO LOVE HER BETTER

Before my trip my knowledgeof Israel was limited tomy cursory reading and briefencounters with its history - notprofound in any sense of theword. My attitude towards Is-rael was very similar to that ofmy work colleague who, on mymentioning the Balkans, wouldwave his hand and say: ‘Whowould ever understand you lot?’ to which I would reply:‘Yes, too much history there forour own good.’ Similarities be-tween the Balkan states and Is-rael are striking - claims on landby different sides based on theirrespective ‘historic right’, landpreviously carved, occupiedand governed by variousformer great powers, clashes

of the world’s biggest mono-theistic religions, deep rootedsuspicion and animosities be-tween people of the same racialorigin speaking languages thathave more in commonthan not.... The list goeson. All of this meant that, be-fore my trip, when someone would mention Israel I wouldfeel the same helpless-ness, unease and confusionabout the definition of nationsand the rights and wrongs ofthe situation my colle-ague would feel when my ownhomeland was the topic. Thatwas the baggage I took with mewhen I went to Israel in March

this year - fragmented knowl-edge, sympathy arising fromshared experience - a mixture ofcuriosity and trepidation. The trepidation, of course, wasnot helped by the then recentlyrenewed hostilities in Gazaand the massacre of studentsin Jerusalem that happened justa week before our trip.Some of my friendsthought that I must bemad to go there! Theypointed out that I had al-ready fled one war andcould not understandwhy I would like to go toa place on the brink ofanother. I could not helpbut to wondermyself, thinking of des-

tiny and whether mine would beto escape one war physicallyunharmed (of psychologicalharm I need not write further! )and to ‘meet my Maker’ in some-body’s other war. In the MiddleEast. In the region which hasclaimed so many innocent liveson all sides that the loss of minewould certainly gounnoticed, or at best becomea mere statistics. BUT- there isalways a but – human thirst forknowledge, fascination with faroff places, with geography,with history, with culture andour natural curiosity push usto go forward, to forget our fearsand that ‘curiosity kills the cat.’If all our life we sit comfortablyin our favourite armchair in ourcosy home without ever ven-turing out, if we never brave theelements, imagine how sad a life that would be and howmuch poorer we would be as aresult. With all this in mind Iboarded the plane. When we landed I was greetedby a modern, busy airport, fullof ordinary people waiting fortheir loved ones with beamingsmiles, with balloons. An air-port not different from any otherin any major city in the world. We were out before wewould have been at Heathrowdespite the warnings about thelength of security checks at BenGurion. A modern motorwaytook us to the Jerusalem thatI had read so much about. Butmy visit to Jerusalem wasa very different read fromthe headlines in the newspa-pers. I was spellbound and fas-

cinated by that small piece ofland generating so much irra-tional power in the collectivememory of different peoples.This is the only place I can thinkof where one can taste and feel,in equal measure, the passingof time and of time standingstill, history past and historyin the making . Where irre-spective of religious affiliationone cannot but admirethe symbolic, cultural and ar-chitectural merits of all. Myshort visit also included a jour-ney through the West Bank tothe Sea of Galilee (very peace-ful palm groves along the roadand no trouble in sight), a shortstop at Tiberias in the earlyevening with the sea front fullof modern hotels, cafes, shopsand tourists. This was fol-lowed by a short stayin the fascinating town ofTzfat full of pretty alleyways,art galleries, synagogues, joy-ful children in fancy dressescelebrating Purim, a brief visitto historic Akko and cosmo-politan Haifa, the Dead Sea(yes, I floated, yes I broughtback salt crystals the size of aping pong ball) . Then an utterlyenjoyable concert by the IsraeliPhilharmonic Orchestra in TelAviv, a dynamic city full of tallbuildings and smilingchildren, and finally a morningstroll through the sun drenchedold city of Jaffa. During all thistime we were well looked afterby our long-time friends nowscattered all over Israel whomade every town we visitedvery special and personal. Did I in any moment of timethink of war? Not once! Did Ifeel threatened? Not once! This fleeting visit has onlywhetted my appetite for more.Now that I’ve experienced Is-rael first hand I would like toget to know it much better inorder to love it much better.That is why I will go back.Mia Kordic

A{kenaski Jevreji poti~u odsrednjovjekovnih jevrejskihzajednica iz Rajnelenda.Aškenaz je srednjovjekovnihebrejski naziv za region kojiu moderno doba obuhvataNjema~ku i grani~na podru~jau kojima je njema~ki govornijezik.Kasnije (izme|u 10-tog i 19-tog vijeka) su mnogi a{kenaskiJevreji odselili uglavnomprema istoku, stvaraju}izajednice na podru~jima gdjese ne govori njema~kiuklju~uju}i Ma|arsku,Poljsku, Rusiju, Isto~nuEvropu i drugo. Sa sobom sunosili i diversifikovali Jidi{,njema~ki jevrejski jezik koji jeod srednjeg vijeka bio jeziksporazumjevanja me|ua{kenaskim Jevrejima.A{kernasski Jevreji su razviliposebnu kulturu i liturgiju nakoju su, u razli~itim stepenima,interakcijom uticali narodi kojisu ih okru`ivali: Njemci,Poljaci, Slovaci, Ma|ari,Ukrajinci, Litvanci i Rusi.Ali ko je A{kenaski Jevrejin.Razli~iti ljudi su ga definisalikoriste~i religioznu, kulturnui etni~ku perspektivu.U religioznom smislu,a{kenaski Jevrejin je svakiJevrejin ~ija porodi~natradicija i ritual slijedea{kenasku praksu. Tako jepandan A{kenazu Sefard, po{tove}ina nea{kenaskih orto-doksnih Jevreja po{tujesefardski rabinat, bez obzira nato da li su Sefardi u etni~komsmislu. Ponovnom integra-cijom Jevreja iz cijelog svijetau Izraelu, Sjevernoj Americi ilina drugim mjestima, religioznadefinicija a{kenaskog Jevrejinapostaje sve nejasnija, naro~itovan ortodoksnog jevrejstva.U kulturnom smislu, a{kenaskijevrejin se defini{e pojmom„Yiddiskeit“, {to na jidi{udoslovno zna~i „jevrejstvo“.Svakako da postoje i drugevrste jevrejstva. „Yiddiskeit“,je jednostavno jevrejstvoa{kenaskih Jevreja. Prijeemancipacije Jevreja u Evropiovo je zna~ilo prou~avanjeTore i Talmuda za mu{karce i`ivot u porodici i zajednicikoji se pridr`ava jevrejskogzakona za mu{karce i `ene.Molili su se na liturgijskoma{kenaskom hebrejskomjeziku, a u svetovnom `ivotusu govorili jidi{. Alimodernizacijom „Yiddiskeit“

A[KENASKI JEVREJI sada ne obuhvata samoortodokse i haside, nego {irokidiapazon pokreta, ideologija,praksi i tradicija u kojima sua{kenaski Jevreji u~estvovali inekako zadr`ali smisaojevrejstva. Mada daleko manjibroj Jevreja jo{ uvijek govorijidi{ „Yiddiskeit“ se mo`eidentifikovati po na~inugovora, stilu humora i oblicimaasocijacija. Uop{teno govo-re~i, Jevrejin je neko ko jekulturno vezan za Jevreje, dajepodr{ku jevrejskim institu-cijama, ~ita jevrejske knjige i~asopise, gleda jevrejskefilmove i pozori{ne predstave,putuje u Izrael, posje~uje staresinagoge u Pragu i tako dalje.To je definicaja koja se odnosina jevrejsku kulturu uop{te, ana a{kenasko posebno.Savremene migracije stanov-ni{tva su doprinjele tome da sepreobli~i jevrejstvo me|uJevrejima a{kenaskog pori-jekla, tako {to ono prevazilaci„Yiddiskeit“ i druge tradi-cionalne izraze a{kenaskogjevrejstva. Kako se a{kenaskiJevrejin odmicao od isto~neEvrope, nastanjuju~i seuglavnom u Izraelu, SjevernojAmerici i drugim podru~jimau kojima se govori engleski,geografska izolacija koja jedovela do a{kenizma po~ela jeda uzmi~e pred mje{anjem sadrugim kulturama i ne-a{kenaskim Jevrejima, kojitako|er, vi{e nisu izolovani naudaljenim geografskimlokalitetima. Za a{kenaskogjevrejina koji je `ivio uisto~noj Evropi, sjeckanad`igerica i „gefiltefi{„ su biliprototip jevrejske hrane.Savremenom a{kenaskomJevrejinu koji `ivi u Izraelu ilidiaspori, bliskoisto~na hranakao {to je humus ili falafel, kojinisu ni tradicionalni nitiistorijski prepoznatljivi zaA{kenaza, postaju bitni za`ivot a{kenaskih Jevreja u na{edoba. Hebrejski je zamjeniojidi{ kao primarni jevrejskijezik za neke a{kenaske jevrejesem za mnoge hasidske sektekoje i dalje koriste jidi{.U etni~kom smislu a{kenaskiJevrejin je onaj ~iji precipoti~u iz srednje i isto~neEvrope. Oko od prilike hiljadugodina a{kenazi su bilireproduktivno izolovanapopulacija u Evropi, mada su`ivjeli u mnogim zemljama, jersu imali malo priliva odmigracija, prela`enja od vjereu vjeru ili brakova sa drugim

grupama, {to obuhvata i drugeJevreje. Jedna studijageneti~ara je ustanovila daa{kenaski Jevreji predstavljajujasnu, relativno homogenugenetsku podgrupu.U Izraelu se sada izraz A{kenazikoristi na na~ine koji nemajunikakve veze sa njegovimoriginalnim zna~enjem. Upraksi se A{kenazi ~esto odnosina sve Jevreje evropskogporijekla koji `ive u Izraelu,me|u njima i na one ~ije jeetni~ko porijeklo u stvarisefardsko. Sa druge straneJevreji bilo kog ne-a{kenaskogporijekla, kao {to su mizrahi,jemeni~ansko, kurdsko idrugo, a koji nemaju nikakveveze sa iberijskim polu-ostrvom, tako|er su zajednosvrstani i zovu se Sefardi. Sveje vi{e mogu}e nai}i na Jevrejemje{anog porijekla , djelomzbog brakova izma|uA{kenaza i ne-Aškenaza, adjelimi~no i zato {to neki nesmatraju da takve istorijskaobilje`ja imaju zna~aja zanjihova `ivotna iskustva kaoJevreje.Ne{to istorije^ak i nakon {to su Rimljanipoptuno preuzeli JudejuJevreji su i dalje ostali ve~inastanovni{tva u Palestininekoliko stotina godina. Vanrimske imperije je jedna velikajevrejska zajednica ostala uMesopotamiji. Drugojevrejsko stanovni{tvo semoglo na}i razasuto oko regijeSredozemlja. Zna se da sutokom perioda kasnogRimskog carstva Jevreji ̀ ivjeliu Kelnu i Triru, kao i napodru~jima koji su sadaFrancuska. Medjutim nije jasnoda li postoji kontinuitetizme|u ovih kasnih rimskihzajednica i jasne aškenaskojevrejske kulture koja se po~elajavljati 500 godina kasnije. UMesopotamiji i zemljamaPerzije bez rimske imperijalnedominacije, i `ivot Jevreja jebio mnogo bolji. Nakon {to jeNabukadonosor II osvojioJudeju, ova zajednica je bilavode~a zajednica diaspore i ri-val liderstvu u Palestini. Nakon{to su se uslovi po~elipogor{avati u zemljama podrimskom kontrolom, mnogi suvjerski lideri Judeje i Galilejepobjegli na istok. Rabinisti~kojevrejstvo zasnovano nau~enjima Talmuda je po~elo dase javlja i u~vr{}ava svojautoritet nad `ivotom Jevrejapo cijeloj diaspori. Rabi-

nisti~ko jev-rejstvo je stvo-rilo vjerskuobavezu za opismenjavanjem,tra~e~i da svi mu{karci nau~ehebrejski i da ~itaju Toru.Insistiranje na pismenosti i dase nau~i drugi jezik }e kasnijepredstavljati veliku korist zaJevreje, po{to }e im to omo-gu}iti da se bave trgovinom ifinansijama unutar nejev-rejskih dru{tava u kojima jepismenost ~esto bila na dostaniskom nivou. Nakon {to je Is-lam zauzeo Srednji istok iSjevernu Afriku stvorile su senove prilike za trgovinuizme|u Bliskog istoka iZapadne Evrope. Urbanizacijai trgovina unutar islamskogsvijeta je dozvolila Jevrejima,koji su bili veoma pismeniljudi, da `ive u gradovima i dase bave zvanjima u kojima sumogli da koriste svoja umije}a.Po~eli su da putuju na zapad,obnavljaju}i jevrejski `ivot upodru~jima ZapadnogSredozemlja. Sa sobom sudonjeli i rabinisti~kojevrejstvo i Vavilonskotalmudisti~ko u~enje. Nakon800 novog vijeka, Karlo Velikije ujedinio ranije Frana~kezemalje sa sjevernom Italijomi Rimom i tako doveo dokratkog perioda stabilnosti ijedinsstva u zapadnoj Evropi.Ovo je stvorilo priliku zajevrejske trgovce da se naselesjeverno od Alpa gdje su dobilislobode sli~ne onima koje sunekada u`ivali pod Rimskimcarstvom. Od tog vremena pado sada postoje dobrodokumentovana isorija o`ivotu Jevreja u sjevernojEvropi.A{kenaski Jevreji su razvilihasidski pokret kao i zna~ajnejevrejske akademske centre poPoljskoj, Rusiji i Litvaniji.Nakon nekoliko vijekovarelativne tolerantnosti u novimzemljama, do{lo je do masovneemigracije prema zapadutokom devetnaestog idvadesetog vijeka, [to je bilareakcija na pogrome iekonomske {anse koje sunu|ene u drugim dijelovimasvijeta. Kulturni rast A{kenazadoveo je do „Haskale“ iliJevrejske prosve}enosti i dorazvoja Cionizma u modernojEvropi.Danas a{kenaski Jevrejipredstavljaju najve}u grupume|u Jevrejima, ali vjerovatnopola Jevreja u Izraelu.

Ashkenazi Jews descendedfrom the medieval Jewish com-munities of the Rhineland.Ashkenazi is the Medieval He-brew name for the region whichin modern times encompassesthe country of Germany andGerman-speaking borderlandareas.Many Ashkenazi Jews later (be-tween the 10th and 19th centu-ries) migrated largely eastward,forming communities in nonGerman-speaking areas, includ-ing Hungary, Poland, Russia,Eastern Europe and elsewhere.With them they took and diver-sified Yiddish, a German Jewishlanguage that had since medi-eval times been the lingua francaamong Ashkenazi Jews. TheAshkenazi Jews developed adistinct culture and liturgy in-fluenced to varying degrees byinteraction with surroundingpeoples, predominantly Ger-mans, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks,Hungarians, Ukrainians,Lithuanians and Russians.But who is an Ashkenazi Jew.Ashkenazi Jews have been de-fined by different people usingreligious, cultural, or ethnic per-spective.

In a religious sense, anAshkenazi Jew is any Jewwhose family tradition and ritualfollows Ashkenazi practice.Thus the counterpart ofAshkenazi is Sephardi, sincemost non-Ashkenazi OrthodoxJews follow Sephardic rabbini-cal authorities, whether or notthey are ethnically Sephardic.With the reintegration of Jewsfrom around the world in Israel,North America and other placesthe religious definition of anAshkenazi Jew is blurring, es-pecially outside of OrthodoxJudaism.

In a cultural sense, anAshkenazi Jew can be definedby the concept of Yiddishkeit,a word that literally means“Jewishness” in the Yiddishlanguage. Of course there areother kinds of Jewishness.Yiddishkeit is simply theJewishness of Ashkenazi Jews.Before the emancipation ofJews in Europe, this meant thestudy of Torah and Talmud formen, and a family and commu-nal life governed by the observ-ance of Jewish Law for men and

ASHKENAZI JEWS women. They prayed in liturgi-cal Ashkenazi Hebrew, andspoke Yiddish in their secularlives. But with modernizationYiddishkeit now encompassesnot just Orthodoxy andHasidim, but a broad range ofmovements, ideologies, prac-tices, and traditions in whichAshkenazi Jews have partici-pated and somehow retained asense of Jewishness. Althougha far smaller number of Jews stillspeak Yiddish, Yiddishkeit canbe identified in manners ofspeech, in style of humour, inpatterns of association. Broadlyspeaking, a Jew is one who as-sociates culturally with Jews,supports Jewish institutions,reads Jewish books and peri-odicals, attends Jewish moviesand theatre, travels to Israel,visits ancient synagogues inPrague, and so forth. It is a defi-nition that applies to Jewishculture in general, and toAshkenazi in particular. Con-temporary population migra-tions have contributed toreconfigured Jewishnessamong Jews of Ashkenazi de-scent that transcendsYiddishkeit and other traditionalarticulations of AshkenaziJewishness. As Ashkenazi Jewsmoved away from Eastern Eu-rope, settling mostly in Israel,North America, and other Eng-lish-speaking areas, the geo-graphic isolation which gaverise to Ashkenazim has givenway to mixing with other cul-tures, and with non-AshkenaziJews who, similarly, are nolonger isolated in distant geo-graphic locales. For AshkenaziJews living in Eastern Europe,chopped liver and gefiltefishwere archetypal Jewish foods.To contemporary AshkenaziJews living both in Israel and inthe diaspora, Middle Easternfoods such as hummus andfalafel, neither traditional to his-toric Ashkenazi experience,have become central to theirlives as Ashkenazi Jews in thecurrent era. Hebrew has re-placed Yiddish as the primaryJewish language for someAshkenazi Jews, except formany Hasidic sects which con-tinue to use Yiddish.In an ethnic sense, anAshkenazi Jew is one whoseancestry can be traced to theJews of central and eastern Eu-rope. For roughly a thousand

years, the Ashkenazim were areproductively isolated popula-tion in Europe, despite living inmany countries, with little in-flow from migration, conver-sion, or intermarriage with othergroups, including other Jews.A study by human geneticistsfound Ashkenazi Jews to be aclear, relatively homogenousgenetic subgroup.

In Israel the term Ashkenazi isnow used in ways that havenothing to do with its originalmeaning. In practice, the labelAshkenazi is often applied toall Jews of European back-ground living in Israel, includ-ing those whose ethnic back-ground is actually Sephardic.Jews of any non-Ashkenazibackground, including Mizrahi,Yemenite, Kurdish, and othershaving no connection at allwith the Iberian Peninsula, havesimilarly come to be lumped to-gether as Sephardic. Jews ofmixed background are increas-ingly common, partly becauseof intermarriages betweenAshkenazi and non-Ashkenazi,and partly because some do notsee such historic markers as rel-evant to their life experiencesas Jews.Some HistoryEven after the complete Romantakeover of Judea Jews contin-ued to be majority of the popu-lation in Palestine for severalhundred years. Outside theRoman Empire, a large Jewishcommunity remained in Meso-potamia. Other Jewish popula-tion could be found dispersedaround the Mediterranean re-gion. In the late Roman EmpireJews are known to have livedin Cologne and Trier, as well asin what is now France. However,it is unclear whether there is anycontinuity between these lateRoman communities and thedistinct Ashkenazi Jewish cul-ture that began to emerge about500 years later. In Mesopotamiaand in Persian lands free of Ro-man imperial domination, Jew-ish life fared much better. Sincethe conquest of Judea byNebuchadrezzar II, this commu-nity had always been the lead-ing diaspora community, a rivalto the leadership of Palestine.After conditions for Jews be-gan to deteriorate in Romancontrolled lands, many of thereligious leaders of Judea and

the Galilee fledto the east.There Rabbinic Judaism basedon Talmudic learning began toemerge and assert its authorityover Jewish life throughout thediaspora. Rabbinic Judaism cre-ated a religious mandate for lit-eracy, requiring all Jewish malesto learn Hebrew and read fromthe Torah. This emphasis on lit-eracy and learning a secondlanguage would eventually beof great benefit to the Jews, al-lowing them to take on commer-cial and financial roles withinGentile societies where literacywas often quite low. After theIslamic conquest of the MiddleEast and North Africa, new op-portunities for trade and com-merce opened between the Mid-dle East and Western Europe.Urbanization, trade, and com-merce within the Islamic worldallowed Jews, as highly literatepeople to live in cities engag-ing in occupations where theycould use their skills. They be-gan to travel to the west, renew-ing Jewish life in the westernMediterranean region. Theybrought with them RabbinicJudaism and Babylonian Tal-mudic scholarship. After 800AD, Charlemagne’s unificationof former Frankish lands withnorthern Italy and Romebrought on a brief period of sta-bility and unity in Western Eu-rope. This created opportunitiesfor Jewish merchants to settlenorth of the Alps where theywere granted freedoms similarto those once enjoyed underthe Roman Empire. From thattime on to the present there is awell documented record of Jew-ish life in northern Europe.

Ashkenazi Jews developed theHasidic movement as well asmajor Jewish academic centresacross Poland, Russia andLithuania. After several centu-ries of comparative tolerance inthe new nations, massive west-ward emigration occurred in the1800s and 1900s in response topogroms and the economic op-portunities offered in other partof the world. Ashkenazi culturalgrowth led to the Haskalah orJewish Enlightenment, and thedevelopment of Zionism inmodern Europe.

Today, Ashkenazi Jews consti-tute the largest group amongJews, but probably about halfof Israeli Jews.

IZDAVA^ <> PUBLISHER Jevrejska Zajednica “Prijatelji La Benevolencije” London <> Jewish Society “The Friends of La

Benevolencija” London ADRESA <> ADDRESS

Shalvata - Jewish Care, Att Mr Branko DanonParson Street - Corner of Church Road

London NW4 1QAEmail: salon@benevolencija.eu.org

REDAKCIJA <> EDITORIAL BOARDBranka Danon, Branko Danon, @elimir Ku~inovi}, Sveto Ga}inovi}, Vesna Domany-Hardy, Dragan Ungar

TEHNI^KI UREDNIK I KOMPJUTERSKA OBRADA <> DESIGN AND COMPUTER PROCESSING .

Dejan Stojni}Logo: Daniel Ovadia

SaLon je besplatan i izlazi tromjese~noMi{ljenja u SaLonu nisu nu`noi stajali{ta urednika ili izdava~a.

SaLon is free of charge and published quarterlyThe opinions expressed in SaLon are not

necessarely those of the editors or the publisher

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Rukopisi i slike se u pravilu ne vra}aju.® SaLon

NASLOVNA STRANA / FRONT PAGEOd broja do broja /Dragan Ungar ......................... 1

U FOKUSU / IN FOCUS60. godi{njica Izraela/Branko Danon ................... 2

Israel’s 60th Anniversary/Branko Danon ............. 2

INTERVJU / INTERVIEWFredi Noler .......................................................... 3Freddie Knoller .................................................... 4

IZ SRCA / FROM THE HEART

Moja nostalgija/Sanja Rihtman ............................. 5My Nostalgia/Sanja Rihtman ............................... 5

IZVJE[TAJ / REPORT

Iz istorije Venecijasnskog geta / / Vesna Domany - Hardy ........................... 6From the History of Venetian Getho / / Vesna Domany - Hardy ........................... 7

UTISCI / IMPRESSIONS

Moja prva posjeta Izraelu/Mia Kordi} .................. 8On my First Visit to Israel/Mia Kordi} ................ 9

ZONA U^ENJA/LEARNING ZONE

A{kenazi Jevreji/Branka Danon ......................... 10

Ashkenazi Jews/Branka Danon ......................... 11SARAJEVO, MOJ ZLATNI GRAD ..................... 12

SADR@AJ / CONTENTS

SARAJEVO, MOJZLATNI GRADOd 4-6 jula 2008. god, nakon Londona i Zagreba u Sarajevu jeodr`an Jevrejski filmski festival. Veliki dijapazon filmova, odigranih, preko obrazovnih do dokumentarnih. Krajnja namjera jebila da se sarajevskoj publici, stanovni{tvu, ako ho}ete, pribli`ijevrejska kultura, pogled na svijet, otvorenost. U okolnostima ukojima nismo mogli prisustvovati samom festivalu, na{u pa`njuje privukla ~injenica da se u kategoriji dokumentarnih filmovana{ao i film Klare Pelja, Sarajevo moj zlatni grad, ili kako tomnogo efektnije zvu~i na Ladino jeziku, Sarajevo mi CivdadD'oro. Za{to se na{a pa`nja okrenula ovom filmu? Pa valjda zato{to je autor scenarija i re`iser filma pomenuta Klara Pelja, ~lanicaJevrejske op{tine (oprostite ali nikako ne mogu da napi{emop}ine) Sarajevo, i vi{egodi{nji uspje{ni radnik na TVprodukcijama. Ali i zato {to su mnogi od nas dio tematike filma,a neki i protagonisti. Zato {to film govori o periodu i doga|ajimaiz na{e bliske pro{losti, o doga|ajima koji su za one koji nisudo`ivjeli strahote II svjetskog rata, najdramati~niji u njihovim`ivotima, o vremenu brige i straha, o vremenu dono{enja odlukakoje niko nije mislio da }e morati donositi. I neki od nas sudonijeli odluku da napuste grad unato~ izjave '...mi sivdad d'oro',sa naglaskom na ono 'mi'. Oti{li su oni koji nisu mogli da se nosesa ~injenicom da su 'Zlatni grad' privremeno ili trajno preuzelineki drugi kojima Sarajevo nema tako simboli~no zna~enje. Iupravo iz toga i neka moralna poruka filma; neka se upitaju onikoji su grad razarali izvana i iznutra, za{to su morali oti}i i onikoji kroz generacije imaju istorijsko pravo da ovaj grad zovusvojim zlatnim gradom....vi{e nego mnogi koji ga sada svojataju.Klara je inteligentno i sa iskustvom shvatila da su okolnosti sameza sebe dovoljno dramati~ne i da ih ne treba 'dramatizovati'.Kamera koja je tu stalno prisutna i doga|aji koje bilje`i, govore,~ak imate utisak da je komentar suvi{an. Kao stvaraoc, Klara tosasvim dobro zna, ali je ipak morala ustupiti prostora onima bezkojih se film ne bi mogao napraviti. Film je dobro slo`en i logi~an,i gledalac ne mo`e ostati indiferentan. Nas se dojmio i mnogeponovo potresao.

Branko Danon