This photograph was taken in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), in the 1920s. The boy, David Kalef, is dressed as a clown in celebration of Purim. His costume consists of white trousers, a shirt, a cone-shaped hat, and shoes. Three pompoms decorate the hat, the shirt, and the his shoes.
This photograph is part of the Centropa collection documenting twentieth-century Jewish life in Europe. This particular photograph belonged to David’s cousin, Matilda Kalef Cerge, who described her life and the life of the Jewish community in Belgrade in her oral history. Matilda's family lived for many generations in Dorcol, the Jewish quarter of Belgrade. Her family, as many others in the community, were Sephardi Jews who arrived in the area following the Spanish Expulsion. She recalls a Jewish community building where the children attended religious classes and festivals were celebrated. Matilda talks about Purim and remembers that people wore costumes on Purim and attended the community Purim party. She recalls celebrating the festivals at home with her extended family. Her aunt, uncle, and two cousins, David and Mile, lived next door and were like brothers to her. Matilda tells that after the German bombing of Belgrade in 1941, David and Mile were forced to clean up the rubble while German soldiers watched over them. They came home every night, until the night that they did not return. Matilda never saw her cousins again. David died in 1942. Matilda recalls the years of the German occupation of Yugoslavia. She was not allowed to go to school, the older members of her family had to wear yellow armbands, and the family business was closed down. The family was forced out of their home, and Matilda and her sister were hidden in a local Catholic church. After the war Matilda was reunited with her mother; other members of the family were all murdered. Matilda goes on to describe her life under communist rule and later when the country became democratic. Despite the communist regime, the fact that she did not keep Jewish traditions, and the fact that she married a non-Jewish man, Matilda reports always being a member of the Jewish community in Belgrade and having strong connections with Israel.
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Purim - Purim is celebrated on the 14 Adar as the day the Jewish people were saved from destruction during the fourth century BCE. The heroine of the Purim story, Queen Esther, worked together with her uncle, Mordechai, to reverse the decree of genocide issued against the Jewish people by Haman, the vizier of Persia. It is the tradition on Purim to dress up in costumes, distribute small food packages known as mishloach manot, give charity, and listen to the reading of the Megilla – the Book of Esther.
Jewish Community of Belgrade – Jews came to Belgrade, the largest city and capital of what is now Serbia, after the expulsion from Spain. The country switched back and forth between the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires. Most of the Jews were Sephardi (Jews from Spain), although there was also an Ashkenazi community in the city. In 1941, when the Germans invaded, there were 12,000 Jews living in Belgrade. At first, Jewish owned stores were confiscated and Jews were arrested and used as forced labourers. Shortly after, Jews were arrested and shot. Those who weren’t shot or who didn’t die from the hard labour and intense cold were ultimately killed in gas vans. About 90-95% of the Belgrade Jewish community was murdered during the Holocaust. After the war, a small number of survivors returned to Belgrade and Jewish institutions began to reopen. There is one synagogue in Belgrade today.
