Hardaga, members of a Muslim family and righteous among the nations

by Dr. Israel Jamitovsky

Our home is yours, what is ours is yoursThis is the title of the talk that will be held next Monday at the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, where the memorable work of the Muslim Hardaga family during the Second World War will be discussed.

The Hardaga family was a strictly observant Muslim family living in Sarajevo. Its members were Mustafa, his wife Zejneba, his brother Izet and his wife Bachriya. In turn, the Jew Josef Kavilio had established an industrial enterprise on a property belonging to the Hardaga family and adjacent to the residence of the Muslim family. For years before the outbreak of World War II, a friendly and good-neighbourly relationship prevailed between the two families.

In April 1941, the Germans invaded Yugoslavia, during which Sarajevo was bombed and the Kavilio family estate was completely destroyed. The Kavilio family consisted of Yosef, his wife Rivka and their children Benjamin and Tova. They decided to live in their industrial establishment. On the way they met Mustafa Hardaga, who heard about what had happened and immediately offered them accommodation in his home.

It should be noted that the Hardaga family never hosted a stranger on their property, as this violates Muslim law and it is important to note that Muslim women cover their faces in the presence of strangers. According to Josef Kavilio, when his family visited the Hardaga home, they said: “Josef, you are our brother, Rivka, you are our sister, and your children are like our children. Feel at home on our farm as if it were yours. Everything that is ours is also yours.” The most categorical evidence of the hosts' attitude was precisely that the women did not cover their faces in the presence of Josef Kabilio because they considered him part of the family.

The risk taken by the hosts was enormous. The offices of the Gestapo were located very close to the Hardaga estate, and warnings appeared in many parts of the city that anyone who hosted or sheltered Jews was condemned to death.

For this reason, and in view of the greatness of his hosts, two months later Josef Kavilio moved to the city of Mostar, which was under Italian rule. Even then, his anguish did not subside. Following a complaint, Josef Kavilio was arrested, and one day Zenechba's sister saw Josef cleaning the streets of the city. She told her family about it, and during the month that Josef was imprisoned, Zenechba or her sister-in-law brought him food, which was enough for other prisoners, even though they risked their lives.

After two months, Josef Kavilio managed to escape and take refuge again in the home of the Hardaga family who welcomed him warmly and informed him that when circumstances permitted, they sent financial aid to his family in Mostar.

For ten days, Josef Kavilio hid in the Hardaga home, without leaving. During the night, he heard the voices of prisoners tortured by the Gestapo and thrown out onto the street from the third floor, as well as threats directed against those who harbored Jews and communists. Fearing the fate of his hosts if he were captured in their home, Josef Kavilio left his home again and joined his family in Mostar, but the situation became more complicated when this area, dominated by the Italians, fell into German hands in September 1943. Josef Kavilio fled with his family to the mountains and joined the partisans.

       Paying off the moral debt owed to the Hardaga family

After the war, the Kavilio family returned to Sarajevo, opening the doors of their home and heart to the Jewish family once again. They stayed there for two months. They recovered their jewels that they had deposited with their hosts, but their joy was not complete. They learned that Zejneba's father, Ahmed Sadik, was arrested and killed by the Gestapo in the Jasenovac camp for having helped the Jewish family Papo. Finally, the Kavilio family moved to Israel in 1950.

As expected, on January 29, 1984, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem decided to award Mustafa Hardaga, Zejneba Hardaga, Izet and Bachriya Hardaga the title of Righteous Among the Nations. A year later, Zejneba Hardaga (seen in the attached photo with her two children and another small child) visited Israel, planted a tree in the name of her family and received the above-mentioned decoration. According to her own statements, a small dream came true: drinking coffee on a terrace with Josef and Rivka Kabilio.

But the story does not end here; the Almighty rewards all those humans who make our world great and hierarchical. In the 90s, during the Civil War in former Yugoslavia, Sarajevo was subjected to intense bombing by Serbian forces. Faced with this situation, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem and the Jewish organization Joint, approached the Bosnian leadership to enable Zejneba and her family to move and settle in Israel.

Finally, in February 1994, Zejneba, her daughter, son-in-law and grandson settled in Israel. They were welcomed, naturally, by the Kavilio family, among others, by the Minister of Absorption of Israel, Yair Tzaban, who, addressing Zejneba, said: “You are our sister, our home is yours. Welcome, we pay with your presence the debt of honor contracted.”

A few months later, on October 23, 1994, Zejneba Hardagas passed away in Israel. Her family had put down roots in Zion and Jerusalem to the point that her daughter Sara Pecanac and her family converted to Judaism of their own free will. She currently works in the archives of the Yad Vashem Institute, while her daughter and Zejneba's granddaughter served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces.

The story of Zejneba Hardaga was brought to the seventh art in 2007 by Israeli filmmakers Ella Alterman and Yehuda Biton in the film The woman from Sarajevo. Furthermore, his memorable career served as the basis for the successful novel Islam  by Caroline Dubois, published in 2011, based on the life of Zejneba Hardaga and which received glowing praise from prestigious publications such as the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph.

A final reflection. Hopefully, this memorable relationship established between Jews and Muslims in those fateful days will become a reference point and will also crystallize in our days.