Survival in Sarajevo: Jews, Bosnia and the Lessons of the Past [SIGNED]

Berlin: Central Europe Center, n/d. Hardcover. vg. 1/20. Portfolio of 13 silver gelatin prints, matted, captioned by hand and signed. Images 12 x 16 inches. B/W photographs documenting buildings and people in Sarajevo 1989 and 1993-1994, including a Muslim boy evacuating out of Bosnia to Israel with the help of Jewish-sponsored rescue convoys. Evocative images include Jacob Finci, President of LA Benevolencija in the Jewish Museum of Bosnia; Zayneba Hardaga, the first Muslim to receive a righteous gentile award; keys taken by Jews leaving Spain in 1492 from the collection of the Jewish Museum of Bosnia; Sarajevo University Library, and the Sarajevo Jewish Cemetery, which was the front line of the Bosnian War. The project was underwritten by The Doron Foundation (Tel Aviv) Mordechai Mevorach (director) and The Righteous Persons Foundation (Santa Monica) Steven Spielberg (chairman). Fine condition. Housed in original gray linen clamshell box, bumped with some cloth separation along rear hinge. "As a documentary photographer specializing in contemporary Jewish life in Central Europe, when Sarajevo was besieged I wanted to see how a post-Holocaust Jewish community would react to war and "ethnic cleansing'" for the second time in fifty years. I wondered; would all the Jews leave? would those remaining lock their doors, letting their neighbors fight it out among themselves? After all, this was a war between Serbs, Croats and Muslims, in which the Jews play no contentious part. and while the majority of Jews fled the city, a vital core remained to stand with their friends and neighbors. Working together, they have turned history on its head, because for the first time during a modern European war, Jews are saving and protecting Christians and Muslims, wherever, whenever they can." Edward Serotta.