Portrait of five-year-old Ester Bachar (later Levi), shortly after the war.
Overview
- Caption
- Portrait of five-year-old Ester Bachar (later Levi), shortly after the war.
Ester was hidden by a Roma family during the war. - Date
-
1945
- Locale
- Pristina, [Kosovo; Serbia] Yugoslavia
- Variant Locale
- Prishtina
Serbia - Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Ester Bachar Levi
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Ester Bachar Levi
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Ester (Stella) Levi was born on November 28, 1940 in Prilep, Macedonia to parents Yaffa Bachar Bukitsa (b. 1918 in Kosovo) and Blagoye Azvitch (b 1890s). Blagoye was a tailor.
In March 1941, Bulgaria became an ally of Germany, and in April 1941 the Bulgarian army entered Macedonia. Blagoye and Yaffa decided to go to Ester’s grandparents, Moshe and Ester Baruch, who were living in Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo. There, they joined the partisans, and left Ester with her grandparents for her safety. However, in early March 1942, the German forces arrested all the Jews of Kosovska Mitrovica, so Ester and her grandparents were interned in a transit camp in town.
While they were in the transit camp, they received a visit from a Roma woman who had worked in their household for many years, Hajrija Imeri-Mihaljic, along with her children. Ester asked Hajrija to take young Ester with her when she left the camp. If Ester’s parents survived the war, Hajrija was to return her to them, but if not she agreed to her raise Esther as one of her own children. Hajjija hid Ester under her clothing and smuggled her out of the camp, at great risk to herself. Ester’s name was changed to Miradija and she lived with the Roma family for several years, speaking only the Roma language.
After the war, Hajrija inquired about Ester’s family and was told that Blagoye and Yaffa had died with the partisans, while her grandmother Ester had perished in the Sajmiste concentration camp, in Croatia. Hajrija had told Ester that she was not her biological mother, and had taught Ester her true name, along with the names of her parents and grandparents.
In 1945, at the end of the war, an argument broke out between Ester’s adoptive father and a neighbor, over a parcel of land. The neighbor informed the local police that the Imeri-Mihaljic family was sheltering a Jewish child, and the police came to investigate. After hearing Hajrijaj’s account of how Ester had come to live with the family, the police returned several days later with representatives from the Jewish community in nearby Pristina. Though grateful to Hajrijaj and her family for saving a Jewish child, they removed Ester from the home in a tearful leave-taking. Ester was taken to Pristina and initially placed with the Josepovich family, who dressed her in clothes borrowed from neighbors. Ester, traumatized at being separated from the only mother she had known, and unable to communicate with anyone around her, cried and begged them to take her back. She was then taken to the Bogaard family, who took her to a boarding school for Jewish war orphans in Belgrade. The staff tried to find someone who could communicate with Ester, and one day a caretaker who understood some of the Roma language was located. When Ester told her story and related the names of her biological parents and grandparents, the caretaker fainted. After she recovered, the caretaker explained that she had just found her own daughter. Though others at the orphanage initially had doubts, since Yaffa was thought to have died in the war, the relationship was eventually confirmed. After a few more months at the boarding school, Jaffa took Ester home with her, and they began to adjust to life together. Ester learned then that her father had in fact been killed. About six months later, Hajrijaj came to the orphanage in Belgrade to make sure that Ester was being well cared for, as had been promised. After learning that Ester’s biological mother had been found, she did not return.
Yaffa married Kalman Baruch and in 1948 the family immigrated to Israel. Yaffa tried to keep in contact with Hajrijaj, and sent care packages to her, but Hajrijaj did not read or write, so it was difficult to keep up the relationship. In 1969 Ester travelled to Yugoslavia to try to visit her, but not able to locate her. On August 21, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Hajrija Imeri-Mihaljic as Righteous Among the Nations.
- Record last modified:
- 2020-03-27 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1185377
