Primili smo pismo od g.Yechiela Bar-Chaim, s kojim smo dugo surađivali :
Shalom Melita,
I hope this email finds you and yours safe and sound.
I want to make absolutely sure that you are invited to attend this upcoming
JDC Webinar on our days in Sarajevo.
Perhaps this session will interest you even if, --- especially since, ---
so much time has passed since the events themselves?
Best regards from the severe coronavirus lockdown in Prague where I now
live and work
Yechiel
Pismo donosimo u cijelosti:
The JDC Archives invites you to a webinar:
Jewish Resilience and Resourcefulness During the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1992-1995
Thursday, November 12, 2020
12pm-13:30pm (EST)
9am-10:30am (PST)
7pm-8:30pm (IST)
ZOOM (Webinar)
RSVP
As war broke out in Sarajevo in April 1992, the small Jewish Community there found itself in a strange position. Trusted at home by all sides to the conflict and connected internationally for years with the Joint, the local Jewish leadership moved quickly into action: pulling in volunteers to help from all ethnic groups; setting up a significant program of humanitarian aid (food, water, clothing, pharmaceuticals, and medical care) for people of all faiths; organizing evacuations of those endangered by air and land; setting up an overland supply system during the siege of the city; and establishing radio-telephone and mail communication with the outside world for all to use.
At the very center of these efforts was the Community President, Ivan (Ivica) Ceresnjes. Coordinating supply efforts and assuring housing and care for the evacuees from the outside was the JDC Country Director, Yechiel Bar-Chaim.
Together, they will share their stories during this special webinar. A brief film clip from the JDC Archives will also be screened.
Yechiel Bar-Chaim
Yechiel Bar-Chaim directed programs on behalf of the Joint from 1989-2014, initially for Jews coming to Vienna from the then-Soviet Union and for Jewish communities in what then constituted the countries of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and later Tunisia. During the wars that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, he coordinated JDC’s efforts to care for Jewish evacuees from the combat zones and helped organize the provision of humanitarian aid to civilians still trapped within. At the time, he was one of the few non-governmental persons going back and forth between the belligerent countries to assure the well-being of those most badly affected by the different conflicts.
Ivan Čerešnješ
Ivan Čerešnješ, an architect and civil engineer, was the President of Jewish Community in Sarajevo at the beginning of the war in Bosnia following the dissolution of the Former Yugoslavia. He organized the evacuation of all endangered members of the Jewish Community - the elderly, the sick, and children. In addition, he welcomed many other citizens of Sarajevo into the escape convoys, enabling over 3,000 people to get out of the bombed city. He also organized convoys that brought desperately needed food, medicine, and clothing into the besieged city and established a small medical clinic in the Jewish Community.
Ivan Čerešnješ was bestowed with the Chevalier de l' Ordre de la Legion d'Honneur of the French Republic in 1994 for his actions during the war in Bosnia.
We are happy to provide you with this free webinar. If you would like to help support our programs, we welcome your donations. Please click here to make a donation to the JDC Archives.