Grateful Account of Lives Being Saved Regardless of Faith

Being a Muslim didn’t prevent Sara Pechanac’s mother from helping Jews during the Holocaust. Her mother, Zeynaba Hardaga, is a Bosnian woman who hid Jews in her home, purchased papers to help them escape and bought food and clothing for Jews who were jailed.

Pechanac, who converted to Judaism and now lives in Israel, will be in Orange County next week at the Jewish Federation to speak about her family’s rescue from war-torn Sarajevo in 1994, when Jews helped them escape on the last convoy out of the city.

Pechanac will speak in Costa Mesa at 7 p.m. Wednesday at 250 E. Baker St. Pechanac’s mother, who died several years ago, became the first Muslim the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel declared a Righteous Gentile, an honor given to those who helped save Jews during the Holocaust.

For reservations to the free address, call the Jewish Federation at (714) 755-5555, Ext. 241.