Book on the Righteous - Jevrejska opština Zemun

Righteous Among The Nations - Serbia
Historical Background
to partake in the Kingdom’s political conflicts. Engagement
of their members in the public sphere was looked
on by the community as an individual exploit. During
the entire period between the two wars, the Jewish Community
in whole was unambiguously loyal to Yugoslav
identification and state-building policy despite, mostly,
local differences of opinion and political compromises.
State officials declared that Jews were “a precious harmonizing
element” in a country as heterogeneous as
Yugoslavia, and that their cooperation in “work on the
spiritual cohesion of Yugoslavia” was notable. For all
who were opposed to the existence of Yugoslavia this
was yet another reason to harass Jews. 19
Reactions to the engagement of Jews in political life
varied from one region to another, and chiefly depended
on the actual level of their social acceptance and the tradition
of their political engagement. On the local level
in multinational surroundings, Jewish Communities
were exposed to adverse situations where they had to
decide between diverse national organizations and parties.
Thus, in their choice of political beliefs, members
of one Jewish Community frequently found themselves
opposed to each other. Different perceptions of tradition,
of supremacy of local powers, and the gap between
generations, all played a role in Jewish political choices.
Apart from being supporters of various political parties,
Jews were also engaged in the overall patriotic effort
of fortifying and spreading the new Yugoslav identity,
mostly among Jews from the former Habsburg monarchy.
Opposing viewpoints on this issue between a part
of the Jews from prewar Serbia and Zionists, who at
the onset of the thirties gained control in the roof organization
of Yugoslav Jews, the Federation of Jewish
Religious Communities in Yugoslavia, resulted in
strong disagreement. Zionists maintained that there was
no discord between Yugoslav patriotism and Jewish national
identification and that the two were compatible,
while their opponents argued that Yugoslav patriotism
had an idiosyncratic form.
The leading representative
of the Jewish Community
in the political life of the
Kingdom was the chief
rabbi, Dr. Isak Alkalaj.
Dr. Isak Alkalaj - Chief
Rabbi of Yugoslavia
By a decree issued by
King Aleksandar I dated
January 1, 1932 he was appointed
to the function of
senator, giving him right
to give voice to the Jewish
Community in that house
of parliament. On a number
of occasions he addressed his peers, engaging their
attention on issues like aiding the poorest Yugoslav Jewish
Community, that in Bitolj, the relaxing of restrictive
laws on citizenship; he also censured the mounting climate
of anti-Semitism and argued for relief for Jewish
refugees from Hitler’s Germany. He remained a senator
up to the beginning of 1938. 20
The engagement of Yugoslav Jews in the country’s
political life could not match the sum of their engagement
in professions of their choice mainly in the field
of social and artistic life. It must be noted that in their
professional efforts they acted as representatives of the
comprehensive national community. On the other hand,
many of them were also involved in the functioning of
the Jewish Community and the effort to preserve and
nurture the Jewish cultural and national identity. In certain
professional societies Jews played important roles.
Jewish women were also active in the greater national
environment. One of the first professional women’s organizations
was the Society of Women with University
education. At the society’s founding meeting on December
11, 1927, a group of Belgrade leading women
intellectuals elected for their president professor Paulina
Lebl Albala. She remained in this function up to
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