A new exhibition aims to celebrate the role Muslims played in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
The Righteous Muslim Exhibition is being launched at the Board of Deputies of British Jews in Bloomsbury, central London.
Photographs of 70 Muslims who sheltered Jews during World War II will be displayed alongside stories detailing their acts of heroism.
The exhibition hopes to inspire new research into instances of collaboration between the Muslim and Jewish communities.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to victims of the Holocaust, honours nearly 25,000 so-called “righteous persons” who risked their lives to protect the Jewish community during Nazi Germany’s reign of terror.
Some 70 Muslims have recently been added to the list. The exhibition explores their stories.
Among the “righteous” are the Hardaga family from Bosnia who provided shelter for the Jewish Kavilio family when German forces occupied Bosnia in 1943.
Half a century later, the Hardagas were themselves saved by the Kavilios during the Bosnian Civil War.
Threatened by the continuous shelling of Sarajevo, the Kavilio family appealed to the President of Bosnia to permit their erstwhile saviours to travel to Israel.
It is Nazi-occupied Sarajevo, 1941. A Muslim woman holds the hand of her Jewish friend. She positions her veil to hide the Star of David on her Jewish friend’s sleeve. A Nazi patrol was approaching. It is a simple, brave act of kindness among friends. But the story goes much deeper.
The Muslim woman is named Zejneba Hardaga. Zejneba wasn’t just protecting her friend Rifka Kabilio on the street – she gave refuge to Rifka, her husband Josef, and their children in her home.
When the Jewish family arrived, Zejneba said, “Whatever is ours will be yours. We’ll share everything like family – feel as if you are in your own home.”
Across the street from the Hardaga house was the Gestapo headquarters and notices were posted everywhere warning that anyone harbouring Jews in their home would be killed. But this Muslim family risked their lives to protect their Jewish friends.
The Kabilio family found their way to Italy, but Josef was caught and imprisoned. He escaped and ran to Zejneba’s home again, where he was given refuge once again. Josef survived the war, and the entire Kabilio family immigrated to Israel.
Decades later, the Jewish people would attempt to pay back this remarkable Muslim family. It was during the Siege of Sarajevo. The city was under attack. Zejneba, her daughter Aida, and her 10-year old grand-daughter were at great risk. An artillery shell had landed in Aida’s home. They had to get out.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, knew of the family’s bravery during the War. Now, they did everything they could to rescue the family. They even appealed to the President of Bosnia. And it worked! A convoy arranged by Jewish aid agencies made it through the lines, and took the family to safety.
When Zejneba and her daughter were asked where they wanted to relocate, they both knew where. Israel, they said.
In 1994, Zejneba, her daughter Aida, Aida’s husband, and their child were welcomed to Israel. The Kabilios — the family they saved — embraced them. The State of Israel had paid back its debt — and helped the Hardagas in their own time of need.
Zejneba Hardaga died within a year of arriving in Israel. but just before she passed Aida told her mother that she wanted to become a Jew. “That turned out to be one of the happiest days of my life. She just turned to me, smiled and said: “If you want to do something, don’t talk about it, do it.” It was her way of giving me her blessing.”
Aida became Jewish and changed her name to Sara. She now works at Yad Vashem, where she honours all those who weren’t fortunate enough to have a friend like Zejneba.