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Rade Ristanović, PhD
Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

 

“TO SAVE ONE LIFE IS TO SAVE THE WORLD ENTIRE”: THE RESCUE OF JEWS IN BELGRADE DURING THE WORLD WAR II

Vol. XLIV, 1/2026, pp. 101–124
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2026.1.ris.101-124

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME:

This pa­per exami­nes the re­scue of Jews in Bel­gra­de du­ring World War II, a to­pic that has re­ce­i­ved li­mi­ted at­ten­ti­on in Ser­bi­an hi­sto­ri­o­graphy. Mo­ving beyond the iden­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of re­scu­ers and sur­vi­vors, it analyzes the bro­a­der so­ci­al, po­li­ti­cal, and instituti­o­nal con­texts in which acts of re­scue oc­cur­red. Drawing on arc­hi­val so­ur­ces, per­so­nal te­sti­mo­ni­es, and existing scho­lars­hip, the study hig­hlights key ca­u­sal fac­tors, inc­lu­ding the roles of spe­ci­fic in­di­vi­du­als, or­ga­ni­za­ti­ons, and ele­ments of the oc­cu­pa­ti­on re­gi­me. Un­li­ke many ot­her Eu­ro­pe­an ci­ti­es, the Ho­lo­ca­ust in Bel­gra­de un­fol­ded with excep­ti­o­nal spe­ed, leaving lit­tle op­por­tu­nity for or­ga­ni­zed or col­lec­ti­ve re­scue ef­forts. As a re­sult, re­scue ac­ti­vi­ti­es were lar­gely in­di­vi­du­a­li­zed and of­ten to­ok pla­ce wit­hin the wider fra­mework of re­pres­si­on aga­inst re­si­stan­ce mo­ve­ments, which li­mi­ted the abi­lity of or­ga­ni­zed gro­ups to as­sist beyond the­ir own mem­bers. De­spi­te the se­ve­re pe­nal­ti­es im­po­sed on tho­se who hel­ped Jews, Bel­gra­de was ho­me to in­di­vi­du­als who knowingly ri­sked the­ir own li­ves, and of­ten the li­ves of the­ir fa­mi­li­es, in or­der to sa­ve ot­hers. The­se ca­ses com­pli­ca­te bi­nary ca­te­go­ri­za­ti­ons of col­la­bo­ra­ti­on and re­si­stan­ce and un­der­sco­re the mo­ral am­bi­gu­i­ti­es of li­fe un­der oc­cu­pa­ti­on. As­si­stan­ce ranged from the pro­vi­si­on of fal­se iden­tity do­cu­ments to long-term con­ce­al­ment, of­ten ini­ti­a­ted by Jews them­sel­ves who re­cog­ni­zed the ge­no­ci­dal na­tu­re of Na­zi po­li­ci­es. Per­so­nal relationships and networks of trust emer­ged as the pri­mary mo­ti­va­ti­on and ena­bling fac­tor for re­scue, whi­le re­lo­ca­ti­on from ur­ban to ru­ral en­vi­ron­ments frequently of­fe­red gre­a­ter chan­ces of sur­vi­val.

 

KEYWORDS: Ho­lo­ca­ust, Sho­ah, Yugo­sla­via, Ser­bia, Bel­gra­de, Re­scue of Jews, Na­zis, Righ­te­o­us Among the Na­ti­ons

 

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