Origins of Jews and Muslims
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnian Muslims (Bosniak) |
Coming soon.
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Bosnian Jews (Sefardim and Ashkenazi) |
After the edict of so-called "Catholic monarchs" Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, from 31.03.1492, the Jews were first expelled from Spain and then from Portugal. The Iberian Jews found refuge mainly in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman the Magnificent accepted and protected the refugees, considering them valuable and constructive. After individual arrivals, at the beginning of the 16th century, Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo, settled in large numbers in 1550.
These Spanish and Portuguese Jews are known as Sephardim, from the Hebrew name for Spain: Sefarad. Later they were called, for the same reasons, Španjoli. They arrived to Sarajevo via Bologna, Venice, Rome, Constantinople, Salonika, Russe, Skopje, Dubrovnik, and Split. With diligence and resourcefulness, they brought to Sarajevo the classic Spanish language, (from which later Ladino developed), ballads, and Hebrew manuscripts, such as the famous richly illuminated "Sarajevo Haggadah". Sephardim (and later Ashkenazi) were accepted in Sarajevo and other nearby cities for centuries, significantly contributing to its development. The exception to this represents the tragic experience of Jews during World War II, during the occupation of Germans and the Ustasha 1941 – 1945. Today there are less than 1,000 Jewish Bosnians living in and around Sarajevo. Text reprinted with kind permission from Eli Tauber. |