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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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Australia Cracks Down on Antisemitism Amid Unrelenting Surge in Hate Crimes Targeting Jewish Community
Car in New South Wales, Australia graffitied with antisemitic message. Photo: Screenshot
The government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has introduced a proposal to criminalize specific protests outside places of worship in response to a recent wave of hate crimes targeting Jews in Australia.
“We have seen disgusting acts of racial hatred and antisemitism,” the NSW premier Chris Minns said in a statement outlining the proposed laws. “These are strong new laws, and they need to be because these attacks have to stop.”
Part of a broader set of measures, the reforms aim to address a recent wave of arson attacks and antisemitic vandalism across Australia over the past two months.
“These laws have been drafted in response to the horrifying antisemitic violence in our community, but it’s important to note that they will apply to anyone, preying on any person, of any religion,” Minns said.
The legislation also followed Israel’s call for the Australian government to take stronger measures against the “epidemic of antisemitism” that has swept across the country. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has maintained that his government is doing everything possible to combat attacks, including acts of domestic terrorism.
The attempted antisemitic terror attack at a synagogue in Sydney is intolerable. This joins a long list of antisemitic attacks in Australia, including setting fire to a childcare center in Sydney, firebombing a synagogue in Melbourne, and many other antisemitic attacks.
The…— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) January 29, 2025
On Sunday, the NSW Jewish Board said that in three weeks they had seen 10 publicly reported antisemitic incidents, primarily in the Sydney area, which included arson and vandalism — including property defaced with messages reading “f—k Jews.” The group said that number “doesn’t include the graffiti appearing in our streets on a daily basis or the abuse and harassment that goes unreported.”
Last month, Australian police said they foiled a potential mass-casualty antisemitic terrorist attack after discovering a caravan in a suburb of Sydney filled with explosives and material containing details about Jewish targets.
Under the new proposed laws, it would be an offense to block access to places of worship or harass, intimidate, or threaten people there, with a maximum penalty of two years in prison. The legislation gives the police heightened powers to enforce he law.
It would also become a crime to display a Nazi symbol near a synagogue, with a maximum two-year prison sentence, and the Graffiti Control Act would be amended to make graffiti on places of worship an aggravated offence.
These potential changes would come after two synagogues in Sydney were vandalized last month with swastikas, and an attempt was made to set one on fire.
Under the new legislation, sentencing could take into account whether an offense was “wholly” or “partially” driven by hatred or prejudice.
“The entire community will be safer as a direct result of these changes. The proposed changes will mean that divisive and hateful behaviors will not succeed in dividing our community,” said Michael Daley, the attorney general.
As authorities work to counter the alarming surge in anti-Jewish incidents, law enforcement has made several arrests across Australia.
On Wednesday, two 27-year-old men were arrested and charged for spray-painting antisemitic symbols and words on walls, bus stops, and signs in several Perth neighborhoods in western Australia.
“The Western Australia Police Force will not allow vile acts of hatred and racism to go unchecked,” a WA Police spokesperson said in a statement. “This swift outcome should send a clear message to anyone engaging in this kind of behavior. We will find you and you will be put before the courts to face the consequences of your actions.”
In Melbourne, a 68-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage, unlawful assault, and offensive graffiti after allegedly vandalizing a family home in a Jewish community and throwing bacon at a passerby who tried to intervene.
In Sydney, a woman was found guilty of sending a threatening message to a Jewish school just 11 days after Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. However, she has escaped conviction.
In the letter, the 21-year-old wrote: “You are the children of Satan … get cancer and die a slow, painful death.”
“Praise Hitler. If only he was here to continue the mass destruction of your bloodline,” the message continued.
Many observers have expressed outrage over the woman escaping conviction. The verdict came as Jewish students were reported to be hiding their school uniform logos and avoiding public transport, in the wake of rising antisemitic attacks on Jewish schools, daycare centers, and synagogues.
AUSTRALIA’S SHAME – ANTISEMITISM EMERGENCY
This pic is the front cover of the Wentworth Courier, the local paper for much of Sydney’s eastern suburbs which is home to much of the Jewish community in NSW.
“Jewish children under police watch” in order to attend school.… pic.twitter.com/L6Itct35L9
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) February 4, 2025
Last month, the NSW government also proposed a new law making it a criminal offense to intentionally incite racial hatred, with a maximum two-year prison sentence.
In their efforts to combat hate speech, this change would make inciting racial hatred a criminal offense, rather than just a civil one under the Anti-Discrimination Act.
The state government also announced an increase of $525,000 in funding for the NSW police engagement and hate crime unit, along with a $500,000 boost to a grants program for social cohesion.
The post Australia Cracks Down on Antisemitism Amid Unrelenting Surge in Hate Crimes Targeting Jewish Community first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Trump Arab American Group Changes Name After US President Floats Controversial Gaza Plan
Then-US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC, US on Nov. 13, 2024. Photo: ALLISON ROBBERT/Pool via REUTERS
A prominent organization that sought to forge strong ties between US President Donald Trump and the Arab American community has changed its name in opposition to Trump’s proposal for the US to “take over” over Gaza.
On Wednesday, “Arab Americans for Trump” announced a rebrand to “Arab Americans for Peace,” criticizing the president for his failure to hold meetings with “key Arab leaders” and his support for removing “Palestinian inhabitants to other parts of the Arab world.”
“We strongly appreciate the president’s offer to clean and rebuild Gaza. However, the purpose should be to make Gaza habitable for Palestinians and no one else,” the group said in a press release explaining the name change.
The group explained that it supports a separate independent state for Palestinians encompassing Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, expressing disappointment that Trump has not attempted to carve out a “path to a permanent peace process.”
Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the group, told the Associated Press that the organization is “completely opposed” to Trump’s suggestion to transfer Gaza’s civilians out of the coastal enclave.
“The talk about what the president wants to do with Gaza, obviously we’re completely opposed to the idea of the transfer of Palestinians from anywhere in historic Palestine,” Bahbah said. “And so we did not want to be behind the curve in terms of pushing for peace, because that has been our objective from the very beginning.”
On Tuesday night, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was visiting the White House, held a press conference following their private meeting in the Oval Office. Trump asserted that the US would assume control of Gaza and develop it economically into “the Riviera of the Middle East” after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
Earlier in the day, Trump referred to Gaza as a “demolition site” and said its residents have “no alternative” but to leave, suggesting Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states as possible relocation sites.
Trump performed remarkably well with Arab American voters in the 2024 presidential election. In the majority-Arab American city of Dearborn, Michigan, 42 percent of voters backed Trump, compared to 36 percent who supported Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Other Arab American leaders and organizations slammed Trump’s proposal to vacate Palestinians from Gaza.
Layla Elabed, the co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement, said she was “sad, angry, and scared for our communities.”
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, called Trump’s comments “dangerous, provocative, illegal, and callously insensitive to Palestinian needs.”
Wa’el Alzayat, leader of EmgageUSA, an organization that advocates on behalf of Muslim Americans, rebuffed Trump’s proposal as a “violation of international law.”
The post Pro-Trump Arab American Group Changes Name After US President Floats Controversial Gaza Plan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Liri Albag Celebrates 20th Birthday at Hospital With Other Hostages Released From Gaza
Liri Albag, center, standing from a balcony inside Israel’s Rabin Medical Center and watching an orchestra performance for her birthday alongside Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, and Naama Levy. Photo:
American Friends of Rabin Medical Center
Liri Albag, who was recently released from captivity in Gaza as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, celebrated her 20th birthday on Tuesday with other former hostages at Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, Israel, where she is recovering after returning home 10 days earlier.
An orchestra came to the hospital to perform a small concert for Albag, who celebrated her previous birthday in Hamas captivity. The songs included Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and “Happy Birthday.” She watched from a balcony on one of the upper floors of the hospital alongside other freed hostages Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, and Naama Levy. All five women were serving as surveillance soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces when they were kidnapped from an IDF base in Nahal Oz by Hamas-led terrorists during their deadly rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Albag, Gilboa, Ariev, and Levy returned together after 15 months in Hamas captivity as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Five days later, Berger was also released as part of the ceasefire deal.
Albag uploaded a post on Instagram about her birthday and wrote: “Today I get to celebrate my 20th birthday with my loved ones. The only wish I asked for — is for all the hostages to return.”
Her older sister, Roni Albag, shared a photo from the birthday celebrations on Instagram and wrote in the caption: “Our Lirosh, our number 1. I dreamed of this moment countless times and here you are. Today you celebrate your 20th birthday at home!!! Today you celebrate the life that was given to you again. You are our victory, our heart and the light of our home. I love you and am here for you forever and ever.”
Liri posted on social media on Friday for the first time since returning from captivity. In an Instagram post, she thanked the people of Israel for their “support, love, and help.” She said, “Together, we are strength.” She also thanked the IDF and members of Israel’s security forces “who sacrificed their souls and fought for us and our country! There isn’t a morning that I don’t pray for their safety.”
“Finally got to reunite with my family! But our fight isn’t over and I won’t stop fighting until everyone is home!” she added. “I want us to continue to stay united, because together nothing can break us. The unity and hope we have in us scares all our enemies, amazes all our lovers, and comforts the people among us. A sentence that used to accompany me was ‘at the end of every night, darkness disappears.’ And I wish that everyone can see the light.”
Seven surveillance soldiers were abducted from the Nahal Oz base on Oct. 7, 2023, including Noa Marciano, who was killed in Hamas captivity, and Ori Megidish, who was rescued by the IDF in October 2023.
The post Liri Albag Celebrates 20th Birthday at Hospital With Other Hostages Released From Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.