Balkan Jews and Their Neighbors Before, During and Since the Holocaust : a study in ethno-religious (and ideological) relations

Abstract

This article describes the enormous tragedy of Balkan Jews during the Holocaust from a historical perspective and within the context of the horrendous experiences of their non-Jewish fellow-sufferers at the hands of the same enemies of civilization and common decency. Besides a brief survey of some of the most flagrant examples of man’s inhumanity to man before as well as since the Holocaust, the author discusses the martyrdom of the Jews and their neighbours in Nazi-occupied Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia between 1940 and 1945. His purpose is to show that no human group is immune to the danger of producing crazed fanatics capable of such limiting examples of cruelty and misbehaviour; that none consists exclusively of angels or devils; that one must not engage in collective praising or collective blaming; that no suffering of any human group in the past, however great and unmerited, entitles its survivors and descendants to the perpetual exemption from routine moral judgments of their subsequent treatment of others and that the repetition of such outrages against anyone in an ideologically divided but technologically united world might well endanger the very survival of the human species.

Ovaj članak opisuje ogromnu tragediju balkanskih Jevreja tokom Holokausta iz istorijske perspektive i u kontekstu užasnih iskustava njihovih nejevrejskih supatnika u rukama istih neprijatelja civilizacije i uobičajene pristojnosti. Pored kratkog pregleda nekih od najflagrantnijih primera čovekove nehumanosti prema čoveku pre, kao i posle Holokausta, autor razmatra mučeništvo Jevreja i njihovih suseda u nacistički okupiranoj Albaniji, Bugarskoj, Grčkoj i Jugoslaviji između 1940. i 1945. godine. Njegova svrha je da pokaže da nijedna ljudska grupa nije imuna na opasnost od stvaranja ludih fanatika sposobnih za takve ograničavajuće primere okrutnosti i lošeg ponašanja; da se niko ne sastoji isključivo od anđela ili đavola; da se ne sme upuštati u kolektivno hvaljenje ili kolektivno okrivljavanje; da nikakva patnja bilo koje ljudske grupe u prošlosti, koliko god bila velika i nezaslužena, ne daje pravo njenim preživelima i potomcima na trajno izuzeće od rutinskih moralnih presuda o njihovom kasnijem postupanju prema drugima i da bi ponavljanje takvih zločina protiv bilo koga u ideološki podeljenom, ali tehnološki ujedinjenom svetu moglo da ugrozi sam opstanak ljudske vrste.