Papo said, “picked Pesach as a
holiday that is basically a com-
munist holiday — slaves rising
up against exploitation” — and,
crucially, one that was toler-
ated by Yugoslav authorities.

With only about 2,000 commu-
nity members, so few of whom
were versed in the seder ritual,
Sarajevo’s Jews began celebrat-
ing the Passover meal together
at the largest of the city’s re-
maining synagogues.

But the demi-deification of
Holocaust victims, whose faces
and names adorned the very
hall in which the seder was
“Now we are here —
lice and fleas
as a gift.

In the land of Israel
as free men — until
Comrade Stalin
rescues us.”
— The Partisan
Haggadah held, conflicted with the survi-
vors’ desire to preserve a hu-
man memory of the friends and
relatives slain in the war.

The Jews of Sarajevo “want-
ed to put a human face on the
Holocaust,” Papo said, and the
Partisan Haggadah “totally hu-
manizes” the mythologized he-
roes of the war — “farting and
fucking, wanting to survive and
eating.” Today, the Jewish commu-
nity in Bosnia and Herzegovina
is dwindling and, as elsewhere
in the Sephardi world, Ladino
is gradually dying out. While
the Sarajevo Jewish communi-
ty still holds a large communal
seder each year, the Partisan
Haggadah, like the rest of its
genre, is no longer in vogue.

Despite the waning of Al-
terac’s comedy and the genera-
tion who enjoyed it, a quintes-
sentially partisan-flavored
quotation from the Haggadah
still decorates the hall at the
Sarajevo’s Jewish community
center year round — “We were
slaves.” Ilan Ben Zion is the chief Israel
correspondent for Inside maga-
zine and the Special Sections of
the Jewish Exponent.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Kosher for
Passover since before
your Bat Mitzvah.

Since 1971, Philadelphia has been kosher for
Passover, and we partnered with Joy of Kosher
to create 15 delicious new recipes. See them at
JoyofKosher.com/philadelphia Passover
Crepes with
Cream Cheese
and Smoked Salmon
JEWISH EXPONENT
MARCH 19, 2015
5