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A Serbian city’s Jewish community barely survived the Holocaust. Now it might die out.
NOVI SAD, Serbia (JTA) — In the heart of downtown in Serbia’s second-largest city, nestled between brick buildings on a leafy street, sits a large synagogue.
With its 130-foot-high central dome and faded yellow brick facade, along with its Jewish school and offices on either side, the synagogue’s three-building complex has become a must-see tourist attraction, with multilingual panels in its courtyard explaining the area’s Jewish history.
The synagogue was built to accommodate up to 950 worshippers in the first decade of the 20th century. But like the city and Serbia more broadly, the building has clearly seen better days. On two recent days, a family was camped outside the entrance, begging passersby for money.
Before World War II, Novi Sad had roughly 60,000 inhabitants, 4,300 of whom were Jews — about 7% of the total population. Most were affluent merchants, lawyers, doctors and professors. Their wealth was reflected in the city’s opulent synagogue, constructed between 1906 and 1909 by Hungarian Jewish architect Lipot Baumhorn, whose work incorporated elements of the Art Nouveau movement.
Today, however, the prominent building serves a dwindling community that, like others decimated by the Holocaust and further eroded by the Balkan wars of the 1990s, fears for its future as residents disperse abroad. Only about 640 Jews remain in Novi Sad; others have sought a future in Israel or countries that offer more economic opportunity.
“We use our own shul only for Yom Kippur,” said Novi Sad native Ladislav Trajer, the deputy president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia.
“We get six to 10 people for Shabbat — maybe 15 — but fewer than half are male so we can’t make a minyan,” said Trajer, referencing a Jewish prayer quorum of 10 men. He spent eight years in Israel and also served in the Israel Defense Forces. “Even in Belgrade, which is much larger, the rabbi doesn’t always get a minyan. And nobody here keeps kosher. You can’t get kosher meat.”
A view of Novi Sad from the Petrovaradin Fortress. (Zoran Strajin/Wikimedia Commons)
Novi Sad was a thriving center of Jewish life in prewar Yugoslavia and the city — now a metropolis of 370,000 sometimes called the “Serbian Athens” — was named a European Culture Capital of 2022 for its arts, food, architecture and other cultural scenes.
But most local Jews see few prospects for themselves in a country beset by economic turmoil. Between 1990 and 2000 — following Yugoslavia’s collapse; the ethnic wars in Croatia, Bosnia and later Kosovo; and the imposition of crippling sanctions by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations — Serbia’s GDP tumbled from $24 billion to $8.7 billion. By 1993, nearly 40% of Serbia’s people were living on less than $2 a day, and at present, the average Serb earns approximately $430 to $540 a month.
Despite those difficulties, Serbia agreed in 2017 to pay just over $1 million annually over the ensuing 25 years to its remaining Jews as compensation for property nationalized by the postwar communist regime. Half of that money goes directly to Jewish community organizations, 20% to Holocaust survivors and the remaining 30% to projects that aim to preserve Jewish traditions.
Ladislav Trajer, left, and Mirko Štark, the top two leaders of the Jewish community in Novi Sad, chat just outside the entrance to their synagogue. (Larry Luxner)
Since 2012, the Novi Sad community has also earned income by renting out its huge synagogue to the municipality for classical music concerts. In return, the city maintains the complex as a historic monument, and it is now repairing the synagogue’s roof and fixing leaky water pipes.
“These buildings were close to collapse,” said Trajer. He added that the city’s neglected Jewish cemetery can look like a forest. “So we are cutting the trees and struggling to put up fences.”
Although antisemitic incidents are not too common, Serbia, like most other countries in Eastern Europe, also contends with a strong nationalist streak. Trajer, who monitors antisemitism closely, said around 1,500 Serbs belong to extremist groups, of which perhaps 120 are active. Serbian Action, a small group of neo-Nazis, occasionally holds rallies and spray-paints antisemitic, anti-immigrant and anti-gay graffiti on public buildings.
“In high school, my history professor joked that Hitler couldn’t get into an art academy, and that’s why he decided to kill the Jews,” said Teodora Paljic, a 20-year-old Jewish university student. “I don’t talk about these things with people I don’t feel safe around.”
She said that “Life in Serbia is very difficult” because “all the prices have gone up, but salaries haven’t increased since 2019.”
Trajer says the community is working to clean up the city’s Jewish cemetery. (Larry Luxner)
Novi Sad is the capital of Vojvodina, an autonomous province that covers much of northern Serbia, and at the local Jewish community’s zenith, 86 synagogues flourished in the province. Today, only 11 remain standing, and most have fallen into disuse.
Mirko Štark, president of the Jewish Community of Novi Sad, said Jews first settled in the city in the 17th century, shortly after its founding in 1694 under the Hapsburg monarchy.
“When the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where most Ashkenazim lived, introduced new laws that restricted Jews from living in cities, many people ran to the border area, where these laws were not so strictly enforced,” Štark said. Later, when the Serbs captured Vojvodina, those restrictions were rescinded, and the Jewish community blossomed.
Following World War I and the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes — later Yugoslavia — Novi Sad’s Jews enjoyed a cultural and economic renaissance that saw the formation of a Jewish community center, athletic clubs, choirs and several Jewish newspapers.
That renaissance ended abruptly in 1941, when the Hungarian army, in collaboration with Nazi Germany, occupied Novi Sad, making life for Jews intolerable. Over a three-day period in January 1942 now known as the Novi Sad Massacre, the Hungarians rounded up more than 1,400 Jews, seized their property, shot them in their backs and threw them into the freezing Danube River.
After Hungary’s capitulation to Germany, armed guards herded the city’s remaining 1,800 Jews into the synagogue and kept them there for two days in deplorable conditions without food or water. On April 27, 1944, the Nazis marched their weakened Jewish captives to the train station, then forced them on a train to Auschwitz that took two months to arrive due to Allied bombing.
University student Teodora Paljic, 20, helps arrange cultural programs for Jewish youth in Novi Sad. (Larry Luxner)
Only 300 of Novi Sad’s Jews survived the Holocaust, and rebuilt the community virtually from scratch in the ensuing postwar chaos.
“There were no religious people anymore, and no rabbi,” said Štark. “Many went to Israel in the first aliyah. The small number of Jews remaining tried to keep the community alive, opening a kitchen to provide food for people who couldn’t buy for themselves. My grandmother survived Auschwitz. She worked in that kitchen.”
According to Trajer, from 1948 to 2022, no Shabbat services were held. These days, Trajer conducts all religious services because he’s the only one who knows the Hebrew prayers fluently.
A view of the interior of the Novi Sad synagogue. (Larry Luxner)
With 640 members, Novi Sad has the nation’s second-largest Jewish population after Belgrade. The capital is home to more than half of the country’s 3,000 Jews, out of a total population of 7.1 million. Smaller Jewish communities can also be found in Subotica, Niš and other cities. Only the synagogues in Belgrade and Subotica — the latter located a few miles from the Hungarian border — still function.
Most members of the Novi Sad community, including Štark, have married non-Jews.
“My wife is not Jewish. Neither was my mother. Only my father was Jewish,” he said. “After World War II, the choices for finding husbands and wives within the community was limited. For this reason, we accept non-Jewish spouses as members. This is the only way to survive.”
Štark, 70, is a retired professor of media production who worked for years at Novi Sad’s main TV station. He’s also the longtime president of the synagogue’s choir, HaShira, which sings in Hebrew, Ladino and Yiddish and recently won an award for its performances in neighboring Montenegro. Only three of the choir’s 35 members are Jews.
“When I began my mandate as president a year and a half ago, we woke up many activities in the Jewish community that had existed only on a small scale before,” he said.
A makeshift nine-branched menorah contructed from recycled water pipes is seen outside the synagogue in Novi Sad. (Larry Luxner)
Besides the choir, these include the Zmaya dance troupe as well as a Jewish culture club that meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. to discuss books and Israeli movies. There’s also a “baby club” for small children and another club for teens, whose activities are led by two adults. Hanukkah and Passover are celebrated by families together, and on Tu B’Shvat, the community plants trees.
The community is also investing in its members, and Paljic is emblematic of that hope.
Paljic, interviewed at the trendy Café Petrus, a 15-minute walk from Novi Sad’s Jewish cemetery, is the daughter of Jewish parents who met at a Purim party in Belgrade.
“My grandparents were killed in Jasenovac [a notoriously brutal concentration camp], but my best friend’s grandmother survived Auschwitz,” she said. “The problem is, people don’t talk about Judaism because they’re scared. There is still antisemitism. Last year, somebody drew a swastika at the entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Belgrade. We were all shocked.”
This summer, Paljic worked as a counselor at Hungary’s Camp Szarvas, which brings together young Jews from throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The camp welcomed 20 children from Novi Sad this year; the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee paid their tuition.
While she would like to be close to her family, Paljic said she must be practical.
“I want to go somewhere outside Serbia when I finish college,” she said. “I don’t see my career here. I love art history and photography, but there’s no money in that in Serbia.”
Despite the challenges, Štark isn’t ready to say kaddish for Novi Sad’s Jews just yet.
“We will keep the Jewish spirit alive here. We are working hard, starting with the children,” he said. “If we don’t, everything will die in five or 10 years. So it depends on us.”
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IDF: Mistakes Led to Opening Fire on Gazan Ambulances, Officer Dismissed
Khan Yunis. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – The Israeli army has concluded its investigation into the tragic incident that occurred on the night of March 23, 2025 in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where Red Crescent rescue teams were targeted by Israeli gunfire, according to a press release by the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday.
The findings highlight a series of misjudgments and errors in judgement on the part of the IDF that led to this tragedy. According to the final report, the incident began when a force from the Golani Infantry Brigade’s Reconnaissance unit, engaged in anti-terrorist operations, spotted and neutralized what they identified as a Hamas vehicle. About an hour later, the same unit opened fire on vehicles “approaching rapidly and stopping near the troops, with passengers quickly disembarking.”
It was only after the shots were fired that they realized it was actually a fire truck and ambulances.
“Poor night visibility” is cited as a determining factor that led to this fatal mistake. The investigation specifies that “the deputy commander did not initially recognize the vehicles as ambulances. Only later, after approaching the vehicles and scanning them, was it discovered that these were indeed rescue teams.”
In a third incident that occurred fifteen minutes later, Israeli forces also fired upon a UN vehicle. The report characterizes this act as “due to operational errors in breach of regulations.”
These events strongly contrast with the initial report which portrayed the operation as a successful anti-terrorist action. The army now asserts that out of “fifteen Palestinians [who] were killed, six of whom were identified in a retrospective examination as Hamas terrorists.” However, the IDF stressed that there was no evidence of point-blank execution of ambulance workers.
“The forces also apprehended two pedestrians who raised suspicion, and released them subsequently,” the investigation found. “This indicates that the troops did not engage in indiscriminate fire but remained alert to respond to real threats identified by them.”
The investigation also reveals serious shortcomings in the military’s conduct after the ncident. The damaged vehicles were “crushed” on the spot, a decision that the military now acknowledges as “wrong.” Moreover, the first report submitted by the Reconnaissance Battalion’s deputy commander turned out to be “incomplete and inaccurate.”
In light of these conclusions, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has ordered sanctions: the commander of the 14th Brigade, a reserve unit, will receive a disciplinary note in his personal file, while the deputy commander of the Golani Reconnaissance unit will be relieved of his duties.
The investigation stressed that the dismissed commander is a “highly respected officer, whose military service and personal story reflect a spirit of combat, volunteerism, and great dedication.”
The conclusions of this investigation, which highlight severe failures in the chain of command and non-compliance with identification procedures, have been forwarded to the military prosecutor’s office for further review.
“The IDF regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians,” the IDF said. “The examination process also serves as part of an ongoing effort to learn from operational incidents and reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences in the future. Existing protocols have been clarified and reinforced – emphasizing the need for heightened caution when operating near rescue forces and medical personnel, even in high-intensity combat zones.”
The post IDF: Mistakes Led to Opening Fire on Gazan Ambulances, Officer Dismissed first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Hid Details of Official’s Travel Funding Amid Alleged Pro-Hamas Financing
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – The United Nations Human Rights Office appears to have disseminated intentionally deceptive information in an attempt to cover up travel funding that pro-Hamas organizations provided to a UN official.
UN special rapporteur for Palestinian rights Francesca Albanese took a politically-charged trip to Australia and New Zealand in November 2023. The trip included a fundraiser for a Palestinian lobby group, participation in media events, as well as meetings with pro-Palestinian politicians and civil society members, and pushing New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel.
Albanese has been accused of antisemitism by the American, French and German governments, among other entities.
Now, the Australian Friends of Palestine Association, which praised Hamas terror mastermind Yahya Sinwar as “incredibly moving,” claimed publicly that it had “sponsored” Albanese’s visit, and Free Palestine Melbourne, the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network, and Palestinian Christians in Australia stated that they “supported” the trip. All four are lobbying groups.
i24NEWS asked various UN officials and entities for months whether pro-Hamas groups actually did fund the trip. Albanese repeatedly insisted the trip, estimated by the UN Watch NGO to cost around $22,000, was paid for by the UN, calling claims to the contrary “egregiously false.”
Finally, in July of last year, the UN Human Rights Office, acknowledging it was fully aware of documentation that pro-Hamas groups had said they sponsored or organized the trip, told i24NEWS that, “With respect to the Australia trip by the Special Rapporteur, her travel was funded by the UN.”
They ignored requests to provide any documentation showing that to be the case.
Since then, a six-person panel of Albanese’s peers, who have long attacked her accusers, was assigned the task of investigating a host of accusations against Albanese. In a letter written last month to UN Human Rights Council President Jurg Lauber by that panel, known as the UN Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, they finally acknowledged Albanese had taken “partial external funding for internal trips within Australia and New Zealand.”
i24NEWS asked the media offices for UN Human Rights and Special Procedures for clarity on what seemed to be contrary claims.
Like former US president Bill Clinton’s cagey testimony in the Lewinsky affair, when he famously remarked, “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is,” for the UN Human Rights Office and Albanese, it apparently depends upon what the meaning of the word “to” is.
The Special Procedures office told i24NEWS: “With regard to the Special Rapporteur’s visit to Australia, her travel was funded by the United Nations regular budget. The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures assessed the allegations concerning partial external funding for internal travel (the bolding of the words is theirs) within Australia and New Zealand and concluded that there was no breach of the Code of Conduct. The Committee noted that it is common practice for conference organizers to cover the participation costs of mandate holders, and such arrangements do not constitute a violation of the established standards.”
With that, the UN finally conceded Albanese had in fact received external funding after all.
In follow-up conversations, it became clear: the UN was drawing a distinction between funding for travel TO a country, and funding for travel WITHIN a country – a bizarre distinction they failed to make for a year and a half, almost certainly to avoid discussing the topic of Hamas-supporting groups paying for a UN official’s anti-Israel business travel.
Even with all this, the UN Human Rights Office continues to ignore requests to clarify which group or groups funded this trip, and how much they contributed. Accused by i24NEWS of lying, the Special Procedures Media Office said it was a “regrettable and unfair mischaracterization,” though it still made no attempt to reconcile why the UN made no previous mention of external funding, or why the funding for Albanese’s trip “to” Australia should be counted differently from “external funding for internal travel.”
Asked during a press briefing whether UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would condemn UN spokespeople for intentionally misinforming the media and whether Guterres would support finally releasing the funding information surrounding the trip, Stephane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesperson, said, “We support transparency in the activities of any official affiliated with United Nations.”
The post UN Hid Details of Official’s Travel Funding Amid Alleged Pro-Hamas Financing first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett Hospitalized, In Stable Condition
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, May 29, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Gil Cohen-Magen
i24 News – After feeling unwell during a workout on Sunday morning former prime minister Naftali Bennett was admitted to a hospital and underwent a cardiac catheterization.
Bennett is reportedly in stable condition, and will remain at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Sabar for further monitoring and treatment.
The incident occurred after Bennett participated in the celebrations Saturday night for the Mimouna, marking the end of Passover restrictions on leavened bread, at the home of attorney Hila Revach in the southern community of Be’er Ganim, near Ashkelon.
Likud lawmaker Osher Shekalim chose to attack Bennett in an X post, saying he was “Wishing the head of the former prime minister of the mandates government good health.” This refers to Bennett’s premiership in the fragmented previous government, after he only received seven seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
Shekalim said he was “wondering how someone who failed physical training at the age of 53 was able to manage seven war theaters at the same time. It is expected that he will disclose his medical file as required. Get well soon!”
Earlier this month, Bennett announced a party list under the temporary name “Bennett 2026.” In a statement released on his behalf, it was stated that if and when a decision is made to actually run for the elections, an official announcement will be made on the matter. Starting on October 7, 2023, Bennett has been interviewed extensively in the US and international media, and has worked for Israeli advocacy. His return, in a sense, to the public stage, when he is not serving in any public position, has raised questions over whether he plans to return to political life – and if so, with whom and in what framework.
The post Former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett Hospitalized, In Stable Condition first appeared on Algemeiner.com.