The Jews of Montenegro from Antiquity until the Holocaust

The book provides the first overview of Montenegro’s previously largely hidden and unknown Jewish history. The work first discusses the archaeological evidence and historical sources documenting the earliest traces of Jewish presence on the territory of Montenegro in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The author then dedicates special attention to the enigmatic personality of Sabbatai Zevi, the most famous “false messiah” of modern Jewish history who spent last years of his life in banishment in the town of Ulcinj on the Montenegrin coast and was buried here in 1676. The following chapters focus on the presence (as well as absence) of the Jews in the independent Montenegrin monarchy before 1918, the Jews on the Ottoman territory of the Sandžak of Novi Pazar and the small but growing Jewish community of the Bay of Kotor and the Montenegrin Coast under the Habsburg monarchy. After the discussion of Jewish demography, religious organization, and destinies of notable personalities of Jewish origin living in Montenegro under royal Yugoslavia in the interwar period, the book provides a detailed analysis of the destiny of the local Jews and Jewish refugees from other parts of Yugoslavia during the Second World War. After the initial Italian fascist occupation (1941–43), Montenegro was occupied by Nazi Germany (1943–44) which quickly extended its anti-Jewish measures and genocidal plans to this corner of Europe. Over a hundred Jews hiding on Montenegrin territory were captured and later perished in Nazi concentration camps as victims of the Holocaust, but several hundred more Jews survived the war in Montenegro thanks to the help of the local people and the Yugoslav Partisan forces that also included many Jewish fighters.

Reviewers: prof. Ivo Goldstein (University of Zagreb), dr. Elijas Tauber (University of Sarajevo). The manuscript was awarded the 2nd prize of the 65th Literary Competition of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia for Manuscripts on a Jewish Theme in 2021 in Belgrade on December 9, 2021 (jury: prof. Milan Ristović; prof. Filip David; Bogdan A. Popović).