Nazi Survivor Saves Sarajevo Kin of Rescuers

A Holocaust survivor whose family was saved from the Nazis by Muslim neighbors in Sarajevo is paying back the debt.

Tova Greenberg, 54, has rescued some of her saviors’ relatives from the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and is sheltering them in her Jerusalem home.

But as the world is bombarded with images of Yugoslavia’s bloody breakup, Greenberg told a tale Saturday of bureaucratic indifference to her efforts to find a permanent home for 35-year-old Amra Berian and her children, Tanya, 3, and Igor, 11.

U.S. consular officials turned down Berian’s request for an immigration visa to the United States, telling her she must file the application from her home in ravaged Sarajevo, Greenberg said.

Greenberg was a toddler during World War II when her Sarajevo home was shelled, and she and her family found sanctuary with Berian’s grandfather.

In an interview with army radio, Greenberg recounted the kindness of her hosts, who could have paid with their lives if they had been caught by the Nazis.

“Many times, my mother went out with the women in the family, who in those days wore black veils,” Greenberg said. Her mother also donned a veil and covered the yellow Star of David patch that Jews were forced to wear.

“This is how we moved around and survived,” she said.

Later, Berian’s grandfather and other neighbors smuggled Greenberg’s family from Sarajevo to a safe haven.

Greenberg’s family was among the lucky few to survive Sarajevo during the Nazi era. In 1941, 10,500 Jews lived in the city, but most died in Nazi death camps, including nine of her mother’s 12 siblings.

Greenberg’s family returned to Yugoslavia after World War II and immigrated to Israel in the 1950s. The two families kept in touch over the years, and in 1984 the Greenbergs’ saviors were honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Greenberg said.

When fighting broke out around Sarajevo, Greenberg said she sent medicine to Berian’s sick grandmother.

After Berian and the children escaped to Belgrade, Greenberg sent plane tickets, but Yugoslav authorities told Berian she could not leave. Through El Al airline officials, she bombarded Yugoslav authorities with telexes, and they apparently got the impression Berian was an important person and let her go, Greenberg said.

The Berians arrived in Israel about two months ago, she said.

Greenberg played down any notion that her act of kindness was on a par with that of her Muslim saviors. “I’m not in any danger,” she said. “I live in a democratic country.”