News in English     | 17.05.2020. 18:23 |

Sarajevo Haggadah displayed on City Hall facade honoring all innocent victims

FENA Press release

SARAJEVO, May 17 (FENA) - In the year when the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the victory over fascism, Sarajevo paid tribute to all innocent victims of the Holocaust, genocide and war crimes.

A photograph of the Sarajevo Haggadah with a message of remembrance of all innocent victims, "Never Forget", was projected on the facade of the Sarajevo City Hall.

Mayor of Sarajevo, Abdulah Skaka, said that this was a message sent by the citizens of Sarajevo.

"The Sarajevo Haggadah survived the Inquisition, the Holocaust and the aggression on Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been preserved as a treasure of world civilization in Sarajevo, as proof of the victory of good over evil, life over death, freedom over repression,” said Mayor Abdulah Skaka.

The Haggadah has a special significance for Sarajevo, because it is a confirmation of our life together, mutual respect of people of different religions and ethnicities. Sarajevo and the Haggadah are one. They are a symbol of suffering, but also symbols of survival and victory," the mayor said.

Skaka pointed out that the memory about the truth must be maintained at a time when there are still those who are trying to rehabilitate fascism and deny historical facts about war crimes, the siege and genocide.

"The Sarajevo City Hall and the Haggadah are invaluable, they are the medium through which we, most strongly and sincerely, send a clear condemnation of evil and our support for good,” he said, adding that the City Hall had been destroyed in the past and rebuilt and that the Haggadah was protected and preserved. Both of them were attacked by the same evil which we must still fight today. This way, by using the Haggadah as the symbol, Sarajevo is paying tribute to all the innocent victims of fascism,” Skaka underlined.

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a Jewish manuscript that dates back to the late 14 century and was brought to Bosnia by  Sephardic Jews who were expelled from northern Spain. It represents the most valuable document that bears witness to the existence of Jews in the city and is regarded as one of the most beautiful books of this kind across the world.

The manuscript has been in the possession of the National Museum since 1894. Before that, it was in the possession of the Jewish family Kohen from Sarajevo.

The content of the Sarajevo Haggadah is handwritten on bleached calfskin, as paper was not usually in use at the time.

During WWII the manuscript was preserved by Derviš effendi Korkut, and it was saved by a team led by professor Enver Imamović during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

(FENA) S. R.

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