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November 27, 1998/ 8 Kislev 5759, Vol. 51, No. 10
Youth from former Yugoslavia gather in Vienna
EDWARD SEROTTA
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
VIENNA - With Austria currently holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, conferences here that draw people from several European nations are common. But a gathering last week was unique: All of the participants were Jewish teenagers and college students from the five republics of the former Yugoslavia.
The 40 participants - several of whom have not seen each other since war ripped their country apart in 1991 and 1992 - spent four days in Vienna attending lectures, engaging in discussions and participating in workshops in a program created by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Vienna's Jewish Welcome Service. Some came from towns with as few as one Jewish family.
Dejan Petrovic, from Belgrade, said, "You cannot imagine how lonely, how sad these young people have been recently. When we were all together, back before the breakup of Yugoslavia, our small communities were strong only because young people from Belgrade would just come and visit their friends in Zagreb or Sarajevo.
"We stayed strong because we had each other," said Petrovic. "Now, with war and the economic problems we all have, much of the spirit has been lost."
Indeed, students who are normally kept apart by political boundaries became inseparable. Daniel Atijas, a medical student living in the Republic of Serbia, spent much of his time during the conference with 26-year-old Alan Rebic and 18-year-old Maja Jankovic, both of whom live inside predominantly Muslim Sarajevo. As one teenager put it, "Just because there's an ex-Yugoslavia doesn't mean we have to be ex-friends."
The program was funded by the Austrian Federal Chancellor's Office, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family Affairs. The students met with Environment Minister Martin Bartenstein and Vienna Mayor Michael Haupl.
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