Hand carved miniature wooden bucket owned by a Yugoslavian family

Menachem (Mento, 1904-?) and Lottie Gaon (nee Danon, 1908-?) lived in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina). Sarajevo had a Jewish population of approximately 10,500 before the war, making it the third largest Jewish center in Yugoslavia. Lottie and Mento were married in 1936 and had a son Izzica, (1938-1997). Lotties’s young niece, Esther Erna Mussafia (b. 1932) was in the wedding party. Mento was a civil servant who traded spices, wheat, and coffee for the government. Lottie was a housewife but occasionally helped her father, Moric, who owned a large textile store. The family were Sephardic Jews, descendants of Jews who were forced out of Spain or Portugal during the Spanish Inquisition. They regularly attended the Sephardic synagogue in Sarajevo, which was the largest in the Balkans. Mento and his brother, Baruch, sang in the choir group, which was called Fanfaro. Earlier in their lives the two of them travelled with the group and sang throughout Europe. The entire extended family was very active in the community, following the precedent established by their grandfather, Rafael. Antisemitism was uncommon in Yugoslavia, but after Hitler took power in Germany, it began to grow.

On April 6, 1941, Germany and Italy, supported by Hungary and Bulgaria, invaded Yugoslavia. The Germans took Sarajevo on April 15, and plundered and desecrated the Sephardic synagogue. Yugoslavia was partitioned, and central Yugoslavia, including Sarajevo, was formed into the independent State of Croatia, which was governed by the Ustaše and administered by the Germans. The regime enacted anti-Jewish laws, confiscated property and money, ordered Jews to register themselves, and forced male Jews to work hard labor. Most of the Gaon’s extended family members were taken to the camps, where nearly all of them perished. In April, Mento and Lottie were arrested and forced to do fifteen days hard labor. In November, Lottie and Mento hired a man to smuggle Lottie and Izzica to the Dalmatian Coast. The coast was occupied by the Italians, and the Jews there were treated well and not persecuted as in the other Yugoslavian zones.

Jews were barred from using public transport, so Lottie and Izzica travelled on a horse and buggy to the train station, where they met the smuggler. Lottie and Izzica boarded the train with the smuggler, but they could not get travel passes, meaning they could have been arrested at any time. They took the train through Mostar, and Metković, and arrived in Split, in the Italian occupied zone on the Dalmatian Coast. Mento could not travel with them, but joined them in Split a short time later. In January 1942, the Italian authorities transferred all three of them along with several other Jewish refugees in Split to Hvar Island.

While on Hvar, Lottie arranged for her niece, Esther, to come and live with them on the island. Esther, her father, Elijahu (1905-1941?) and mother, Rebecca (1912-1942?) were unable to escape the Ustaše and were arrested in Sarajevo near the end of 1941. Elijahu was taken to Jasenovac concentration camp, where it is presumed he was killed. Esther and Rebecca were taken to Đakovo concentration camp. Rebecca was deported and killed in the spring of 1942, likely in Auschwitz. Esther was able to avoid deportation and stayed in Osijek until May, when she travelled to Hvar and joined her remaining family.

In October, 1942, Mento, Lottie and Izzica were transferred to the concentration camp on the island of Rab, and Esther joined them in May, 1943. The concentration camp at Rab held Slovenian and Croatian opponents of the Italian regime in overcrowded tents. The Slovenian and Croatian prisoners lived in abysmal conditions, they were malnourished and not equipped for the cold weather, which resulted in many deaths. However, the Jewish prisoners were treated well and lived in barracks in a separate section. They were allowed to form their own school with a small library and had a sizable kitchen. The Jewish prisoners were brought to Rab as a defensive measure against German efforts to pressure Italy to participate in the deportation and murder of their Jewish prisoners.

In September 1943, after Italy surrendered to the Allies, the prisoners in the Rab camp revolted and liberated themselves before the Germans could come and take control of the camp. They then formed a partisan group called the Rab Brigade which fought against the Germans and the Ustaše. Mento and Lottie joined the partisans and brought Izzica and Esther with them. They all remained with the partisans, and lived in the forests of the Velebit Mountain range in the regions of Lika and Kordun until Yugoslavian liberation in May 1945.

After the war, they returned to their old house in Sarjevo. Mento worked with the Yugoslav government and Izzica returned to school. In December, 1948, Mento, Lottie and Izzica immigrated to Israel aboard the Radnick. Esther immigrated to Israel on December 26, on the Kefalos. Mento, Lottie and Izzica settled in Tel Aviv. Izzica joined the Israeli Air Force, became a designer, and worked at the Israel Museum.