Jewish Responses to Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia

Made as part of Ethnic Diversity Week, Tulane University, 1994-95

Hi, I'm Ben Kleinman, president of the Tulane HSAB, Hillel Student Activities Board. The topic I'm going to discuss briefly is Jewish Perspectives on the Bosnia situation. The Thurs. before Thanksgiving I told Julia (of Celebrate. Difference) that Hillel would do this program. I wasn't quite aware of the extensive material available when I made this hasty commitment, so I'm by no means an expert, but if you bear with me if I shuffle papers then I think you'll find this topic interesting and informative. And it counts for Acadademic Habit.

The way I see this working is I'll talk for a while about the situation in Bosnia. It's a rather fluid situation and if you've followed it at all it seems that drastic military changes are taking place at the moment -- the city of Bihac, a United Nations safe haven, is about to be captured by Bosnian Serbs. After this brief background, I'll talk about the Jewish responses -- especially in relation to the Holocaust -- the murder of over 6 million Jews in Europe during World War II. Finally, I will attempt to answer any questions you might have. Before I start it's imperative that you realize I'm not here to castigate the US for it's policy, to chastise the UN, to pass judgment on Serbs, or berate others for inaction. This program is about the Jewish response to the undeniable atrocities done to Bosnian Muslims.

Background and Current Situation

The region that used to be referred to as Yugoslavia has, for over 2 thousand years, been an area of turbulent racial and ethnic (something I won't distinguish between) tensions. I don't know the full history of the struggles, and to a great extent they're not relevant to today's discussion. After all, human rights is not concerned as much with why behavior occurs as to how to prevent the infliction of senseless pain. After the fall of communist Yugoslavia, the region developed into a confederation consisting of various regions such as Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Immediately there was strife, as war broke out between the various governments.

Given the history of the region and what may be innate human desires, this is not that surprising. What is astonishing is the human rights abuse that accompanied the violence. Europe has not seen such an event since the 1940's and the Nazi Holocaust. A large portion of these abuses were committed by Serb forces in Bosnia. It was here that the policy of ethnic cleansing was instituted. The atrocities committed against the Bosnian Muslims are shocking. There are several videos available which attempt to document the crimes, but I was unable to obtain one of these in time for this presentation. However, just as it is essential to know about the Holocaust, it is necessary for you to be aware of what has been going on since early 1993 and what continues to occur today.

• Point blank slaughter of Moslems
• Eradication of Bosnian Muslim communities
• Rape
  • as a military strategy
  • as an act of violence
• Serbs are preventing UN aid from reaching suffering Bosnians, causing widespread sickness through the lack of medicine and clothing and starvation through the lack of food.
• Snipers are perched outside Sarajevo and shells drop continuously -- we have all seen the before and after shots comparing the Sarajevo that hosted the Olympics less than 20 years ago to the Sarajevo that is now bombed out and devastated.

Here are some numbers:

• 1 million, 6 hundred thousand people are now homeless refugees. That's comparable to over three times the population of New Orleans -- kicked out. Imagine everyone you know -- forced to leave. Or travel not so far away to Europe and witness it.
• Over 150,000 people have been killed. Out of hatred. Not with gas chambers and mechanical, documented procedures. 150,000 people have been decapitated with chain-saws, beaten to death with clubs and boots, castrated, burned. This slaughter was not military, it was intended to cause ethnic cleansing -- to kick millions of Muslims out of their homes. Out of their community. Out of their land.
• Over 400,000 people died in the winter of 1993-94 due to overexposure. 400,000. Can you picture 400,000 people. 400,000 corpses? If you think it's cold outside now, attempt to picture a truly cold winter, with scanty clothes and little food. Attempt to picture suffering.

NEVER AGAIN

Ever since 6 million Jewish men, women, and children were killed by the Nazi's, Jews have said "never again." Leonard Fein, a prominent leader in the Jewish community, spoke at a Bosnia rally in Dec. of 1992 about that concept. This is part of what he said.

Read Excerpt

Two years ago these words were first spoken. What have Jews done since then?

Well, there are words and there are deeds, and occasionally the word can become the deed -- as when dozens of Jewish groups (along with dozens of other groups) prepared statements calling for an end to the atrocities.

Here are some excerpts:

• Eighteen organizations endorsed this statement, just after the 1992 presidential elections. It addressed the sin of silence in the face of such abuse and called upon the government to (among other things):
  1. either defend Muslim Bosnians with multilateral troops if we continued to deny them arms through an embargo or end the embargo.
  2. punish and prosecute Serb offenders by invoking appropriate clauses of the UN charter and Geneva conventions.
  3. establish of safe havens.
  4. take all steps necessary to ensure humanitarian relief gets to its targets.
  The statement also invoked the images of Chanukah, which we are currently celebrating. This holiday commemorates the victory of the few over the many when the few are fighting for justice and freedom.
• NJCRAC (National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council) wrote a letter to Pres. Clinton last winter when they were in New Orleans for their National convention. In it they addressed the assault of Garazde, where tens of thousands of Bosnians were driven from their homes. and called for the lifting of the arms embargo.
• At that same conference -- in Feb. of 1994, the following statistics were presented:
  • read
  NJCRAC official statement called for setting up tribunals, enforcing existing UN Sec. Council resolutions, lifting the arms embargo, and ensuring delivery of humanitarian aid. it concluded:
  • READ conclusion
• Also in 1994, the Religious Action Center called for the lifting of the embargo and the enforcement of international law via airstrikes against military targets.
• One of the most stirring comments was made by Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and noted author. This Nobel Prize winner spoke at the Dedication of the US Holocaust museum in 1993, and addressed Pres. Clinton.
  • Read

And what has been done? To an extent never before seen, the world has come to the aid of Bosnians. And Jewish organizations were at the forefront the effort.

An overview:

• Over a dozen separate Israeli rescue missions have relocated over 1500 refugees – both Muslims and Jews – and brought them to Israel. Some stayed there and others moved around the world. No deaths occurred in any of the Israeli rescue missions. (The procedures were similar to those used to evacuate thousands of Ethiopian Jews and bring them to Israel several years ago).
• Read about 84 Muslims, article from Tues., Feb. 16 1993
• A year and a half after arriving, 23 of the original 84 moved to Slovakia. the rest are welcome to stay as long as they wish.
• Read about IDF meals

The most sirring example of aid is that of the American Jewish Joint Jewish Distribution Committee. They participated in rescue operations, humanitarian relief, and maintaining essential (and sometimes the only) links between besieged Bosnians and the rest of the world.

Between Aug. and Nov. 1992 six bus convoys evacuated 1053 people from Sarajevo. The JDC was able to do this when the Red Cross and UN could not. For that matter, the UN still has problems distributing aid. How is it that a Jewish relief group can?

1. The operatives are experienced. Jews have been rescued from dozens of countries in recent years. Jewish relief agencies are used to covertly rescuing people after experience in Ethiopia, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, and various other countries.
2. They don't take no for an answer. The collective Jewish experience makes what has occurred so abhorrent that the desire to save was overwhelming.

read some excerpts

Humanitarian Aid:

• Since April 1992 -- when fighting in Sarajevo started - the JDC has been sending aid: food, medicine, plastic sheeting clothing.
• MAZON (A Jewish Response to Hunger) donated 60,000 dollars for food and fuel.
• La Benevolencia, the Sarajevo Jewish philanthropic society, operates the only 3 pharmacies in Sarajevo and provides free medicine to 60,000 people each day. They also serve over 300 hot meals each day.
• In Nov. 1992, when shelling knocked out phone lines to Sarajevo, the JDC flew in to establish a radio link. they also established a postal service in Bosnia. Jews brought a mail system to a war torn country because they know how essential communication is.

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Last modified: Thursday, 2 April 1998