Timeline of Key Events
- 16th-17th centuries: Sephardic Jews arrive in Serbia with the Ottoman Empire
- 1683-1699: Ottoman defeat at Vienna and Habsburg expansion impacts Jewish communities
- Late 17th century: Belogrado refugees, including Cohen Belinfante family, arrive in Amsterdam
- 1878: Serbia gains independence from the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Berlin included provisions for religious freedom and equal rights for all citizens, including Jews.
- 1879: Serbia passes a law officially recognizing the Jewish religious community.
- 1888: A new constitution is adopted (coming into effect in 1889), which explicitly guarantees equality for all citizens regardless of religion.
- 1914-1918: Jews fight for Serbia in World War I
- 1929: The Law on the Religious Community of Jews in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is passed, further solidifying the legal status of Jews.
- 1941-1945: Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia and Holocaust
Jewish Cemeteries in Serbia
Names of individuals buried in these Jewish cemeteries are available online. The Sephardic Cemetery contains 4,000 gravestones and a Holocaust memorial. It is located at 1 Mije Kovačevića Street in Belgrade. The Ashkenazi cemetery is located opposite the Sephardic one.
Genealogy of the Sephardic Jews of Serbia
- Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia
- Sephardic Routes of Belgrade (by the Cervantes Institute)
- Jewish Digital Collection of the Historical Archives of Belgrade
- State Archives of Serbia
- Jewish Digital Library of the Republic of Serbia
- Serbian Wikipedia entry on the Sephardic Jewish community of Belgrade
- Centropa’s Balkans Jewish Source Book (currently out of print)
- Video: Balkan Sephardim in Early Modern Amsterdam – Tirtsah Levie Bernfeld
See also the sections of other countries of Sephardim in countries of former Yugoslavia: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia and Kosovo.
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