Issues of Competing Ethnic Groups Seeking Preservation,
Avoiding Assimilation and Cultural Oblivion.
Nis, or Nish, Serbia
Are there signs of cooperation in preservation of culture issues in Nis, Serbia: Jewish v. Gypsy, or "Romany" as they are known there; and if so, did it last. Read about Nis and the cemetery in the New York Times archives, from several years ago, August 22, 2004, Serbian Gypsies and Jews in Dispute Over Cemetery, article by Nicholas Wood.
Nis - or Nish - is the third-largest city in Serbia. There is an endangered cemetery there - what is its present status.
Back in 2004, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Kosova Roma Refugee Foundation together were reported to be clearing rubbish from a remaining section of this old graveyard. A Paul Polansky was in charge. The Montenegro army was helping on weekends. And there was soon be at least some linking to a sewer system. But this may be short-lived, with the remaining Romany families relocated, and money up in the air for building new homes. Many displaced Serbian refugees from the 1990's wars also need homes, and the Romany are not popular with others. It may take a decade to approach resolution. Is that too optimistic.
Where is this: Some Eastern European - Balkan areas are so unfamiliar to us that the best way to picture their location is a simple maps search. Plug in Nis, Serbia, then expand outward until you find familiarity: the Adriatic Sea, Sarajevo, Greece, those can be anchors. Nis is an inland town, think of a trip, perhaps from Belgrade, Serbia, to Sofia, Bulgaria.
History of the issue: In Nis, in the 1960's, during an atheistic period in the old Yugoslavia under Communism, Roma began living in areas that once were full of the Jews of Nis. As the Jewish population moved out, the gypsies moved and settled, now generations of them, without formal permissions for building or sewers, apparently condoned and undisturbed. One Jewish congregation sold their synagogue as they left, apparently.
The problem now is, among the usual clashes combined with periods of peace and coexistence, is sorting out claims of prior residents to what was left behind: the cemetery.
There is a cemetery there, an old Jewish cemetery, centuries old, with large "rectangular gravestones" still there with new Gypsy buildings around and on top. The stones are used for daily purposes, much as Abbeys in the British Isles were raided for their solid rock riches with the various purgings between Catholic and Protestant. And the desecration of religious artifacts of the other side.
How language frames issues. What is intentional desecration, and what is necessity for use of resources when a place has been abandoned.
Because the Romany have been using the cemetery for their living area, and living purposes, that has been deemed "desecration" - as though there is specific intent to descrate - an accusation by the Jews who had left it, see ://www.forward.com/articles/6058/ The article from 2004, Historic Cemetery in Serbia Desecrated, describes the living activities as though the gypsies intentionally set out to desecrate. Is that so? Photos had been collected as of 2003, the year before: see ://www.makabijada.com/NisEnglish.htm/ At that site, the town is listed as 'Nish', and scroll down to the narrative history. In 2003, all had seemed lost.
But that was not so. Part was saved, and we are looking now for an update to the 2004 New York Times article. What happened?
What started the new interest
A timeline: In October 2004, the town gave permission for water and sewer pipes, and a Jewish population, in Belgrade, resumed its interest. Would the utilities further damage the graveyard.
Nis has about 300,000 people, and there are only about 800 Gypsies. And fewer Jews - say 36, and those may be Serbian Orthodox who married Jewish women. This dwindling leads many to believe that the cemetery will soon be the only evidence of a thriving Jewish population. Only one Jew returned after WWII. There was a substantial Jewish population before, beginning in about 1695, see ://www.makabijada.com/nishSinagoga.htm/ What when a group leaves. What claims remain. When can a subsequent group rely on the condonation of their settlements in a Gypsy Quarter that had become vacant - perhaps not, but there is a claim to compensation?
The Orthodox Christian Church dominates, see the new Patriarch, who had been Bishop Irenej, at Nis, at ://www.euronews.net/2010/01/23/serbian-orthodox-church-picks-new-patriach/
Here is an email for Jasna Ciric, President of the Jewish Community at Nish, jasnacir at eunet.yu - an address probably changed since there is no more Yugoslavia. We know there is a huge shortfall in charitable resources, see ://ejewishphilanthropy.com/a-nis-350-million-shortfall/as with any other group, but would like an update.
