Study Guides
YUGOSLAVIA
After the First World War, the Kingdom of Serbia became part of the newly founded "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes", which stretched from the Western Balkans to Central Europe. This territory was ethnically very diverse.
JEWISH BELGRADE
The first written records of the presence of Jews in Belgrade date back to the 16th century when the city was under Ottoman rule. At that time Belgrade boasted a strong Sephardic community that was concentrated in the central Belgrade neighborhood called Dorcol.
SERBIAN JEWRY IN WWII
The destruction of Serbia's Jewry was carried out in two distinct phases. The first lasted from July to November 1941 and involved the mass internment and murder of Jewish men, who were shot as part of retaliatory executions. The second phase, between December 1941 and May 1942, included the incarceration of women and children in the Semlin Judenlager and their gassing in mobile gas vans. Read an article about the Holocaust in Serbia.
SEPHARDIM
A Sephardic Jew is a Jew descended from, or who follows the customs and traditions of, Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) before their expulsion in the late 15th century. They are referred to as Sephardim, as “Sepharad” means Spain in Hebrew. For religious purposes, the term Sephardim also refers to all Jews who use a Sephardic style of liturgy, and therefore includes most Jews of Middle Eastern background, whether or not they have any historical connection to the Iberian Peninsula.