Jevreji

Jews are one of the oldest nations in the world, whose history is primarily marked by great suffering.  Several decades after Jesus’ death on the cross, they lost their state and for centuries lived scattered all over the world. The specific way of life of their communities raised suspicion and distrust of other world nations. Hostility towards Jews is now called anti-Semitism.

Hatred of some nations towards the Jews saw its highest point twice in history. The first persecution was in Spain, by the hand of the Catholic Inquisition. The second, a pogrom of a much larger scale, was prior to and during the Second World War by the hand of the German Nazis. The number of their victims in just a few years of  the Nazi rule in Germany reaches as many as six million. By the Second World War, the Jews lived among the Serbs peacefully. And along with the Serbs, they suffered most in the Ustasha and German camps established on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

LANGUAGE

The word Semite refers to the peoples whose ancestors come from the Middle East. These include the Jews, the Arabs and other peoples of that region.  However, anti-Semitism is used only to denote hostility and prejudice against the Jewish people – after a trauma caused by such a great number of victims in the 20th century.

HISTORY

After the Second World War, the Jewish movement for the restoration of their ancient state Izraelcame to fruition – after almost two thousand years, the Jews once again found themselves in their city of Jerusalem. Although having a rather specific history,  the energy they put in commemorating their victims and in curbing anti-Semitism may be a good example to many nations, Serbs included.