TRIBUTE FOR 223 BIJELJINA JEWS HOLOCAUST VICTIMS

BIJELJINA, MAY 4 /SRNA/ - At the Jewish cemetery in Bijeljina, a memorial service was held today for 223 Jews from Semberija, killed during the Holocaust in the Second World War.

The president of the Jewish Community Doboj, Danijel Atijas, told the press that most of his compatriots from Sembrija were killed in Jasenovac.

"This is also a remembrance of the terrible events of April 30, 1941, when the Independent State of Croatia passed anti-racial laws making Jews, Serbs and Roma second-class citizens, as well as May 3, when 240,000 Serbs were baptized," said Atijas.

According to him, there are no Jews in Bijeljina today, all that remains is the cemetery from 1860 with 70 graves, where the last Jew was buried in 1940.

Atijas says that Jews lived in Bijeljina since 1850, only a memorial plaque remained on the site of the former synagogue in the city downtown.

The commemoration was attended by members of the Jewish communities from Novi Sad and Osijek, as well as a representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church from Bijeljina.

Atijas emphasized the need for the Bijeljina City Administration to get involved in the organisation of this commemorative gathering and preserving the memory of the Jewish community in Bijeljina.

The general secretary of the Jewish Community Doboj, Dario Atijas, praised the cooperation with the Semberija Museum, which organised an exhibition about Bijeljina Jews.