The following article was published by The Jewish Post & News on Wednesday, February 23, 1994, newspaper page 13.
Jewish Holocaust Survivors Hugs Her Bosnian Muslim Rescuer
MEVASSERET ZION, Israel (JTA) — It has been 50 years since the Hardagas, a Muslim family from Sarajevo, saved the lives of their Jewish neighbors during the darkest days of the Holocaust. Two weeks ago, some of that “debt” was repaid when Zajnedba Hardaga-Susic, 76, and her family were evacuated from the war-torn Bosnian capital in a daring rescue operation spearheaded by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Devout Muslims, the Hardagas provided refuge to three Jewish families during World War II. The Kabilios, who made aliyah in 1950, brought the Hardagas actions to the attention of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, which honored the family as Righteous Gentiles in 1985. “It was then,” says Zajneba, “that I fell in love with Israel.”
Over the years, the Hardagas and Kabilios have maintained strong ties. In addition to the Jerusalem reunion nine years ago, the two families have corresponded whenever circumstances permitted.
Thought the elder Kabilios are now deceased, Tova (Kabilio) Grinberg, who was a small child at the start of the Second World War, has a box full of treasured photographs and letters from the Hardagas that span more than half a century. She is especially close to Zarfa, Zajneba’s older dauhgter and a childhood friend, who is still in Sarajevo.
In 1992, at the start of the Yugoslav civil war, Tova invited the Hardagas to Israel for a second visit. Zarfa’s daughter and grandchildren were able to leave Sarajevo, and flew to Israel for a three-month stay.
Such visits soon became impossible, however, as the civil war intensified Sarajevo residents became virtual prisoners in their homes, due to sniper fire from warring factions surrounding the city. During the past two years, thousands have died from wounds, hunger and disease.
Despite the efforts of the United Nations and other relief organizations to gain safe passage for the neediest refugees, only a few thousand people have been rescued since the fighting began. Evacuating the Hardagas proved to be especially difficult says JDC field operator Elie Eliezri, because “it is very hard, and dangerous, to get Muslims through Serbian checkpoints.”
But Eliezri, who has led nearly a dozen rescue operations in the former Yugoslavia, says, “we were determined to get the Hardagas safely out of Bosnia and to Israel. This was a special case because they are special people. It is a kind of payback for the assistance they gave Jews.”
