PROHIBITION OF PURCHASING EXPROPRIATED JEWISH LAND FOR BUILDING A MOSQUE

Zavidovići, as an urban settlement, developed during Austro-Hungarian administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Settling and development relied on exploitation of forest and wood-processing industry. The settlement was granted a status of municipality, in the district of Žepče, in 1911. At the time, it had about 3,800 inhabitants, with basic outlines of an urban environment.

Before urban development, it was inhabited by Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Development of industry was followed by settling of a significant number of Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Members of all confessions except Muslims built religious facilities for themselves. The first campaign for building a mosque was launched in 1912. Chairman of the Board for Building a Mosque in Zavidovići H. Kesič published following in journal Zeman: “We hereby advise our brothers Muslims that we have decided, although there are few of us, to make a mosque, here at Zavidovići, where there was none, though it i s very much needed and necessary for local Muslims. At the same time, we lay foundations to our survival here.” (Zeman, 4.)

Building was not carried out in this period, and a new campaign was launched in 1924. According to Abdullah Smajić, member of the first board, in 1924 a new Board for Building was elected, and through the Waqf Directorate it obtained documentation and continued activities. At the constituting session of 19 October1924 it was concluded that the project from 1912 should be continued. In 1927 the design was made, which provided for the following contents: on the ground floor, rooms for the maktab and imam's office, with the abdesthana (room for ablution and two shops, the revenue of which would be used to maintain the building. The mosque with a slender minaret was designed on the upper floor. The estimated value amounted to 120,000 dinars. (Islamski svijet, 6.)

Pravda, the newsletter of the JMO, joined the campaign: “It suffices to say that, in the industrial town of Zavidovići, there are four houses of worship: Serbian Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, and a Jewish synagogue; thus, everything except for a mosque, although many Muslims live in the town and its surroundings, though very poor, mostly laborers.” (Pravda, 3) Therefore, a general campaign was launched at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the approval was obtained for the mosque from competent state bodies. Still, the mosque was not built during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia either. The main problems included disagreements among participants in activities and the unresolved issue of the site for building.

Muslim population continued to increase, and the Waqf and Educational Committee at Žepče planned hiring one more muallim at Zavidovići in their budget and asked Waqf Directorate for approval. Due to a lack of its own premises, maktab classes were delivered in a rented space. (GHB, AIZ, UM-10-4457/1940)

Upon the formation of the Independent State of Croatia, a total of 170 Jews from Zavidovići were taken to concentration camps in the summer of 1941, and their assets were confiscated by ustasha authorities.

These “state-acquired” Jewish assets were an object for sales. Some plots were suitable to Muslims from Zavidovići for building a mosque, a maktab and the office of jamaat imam. The initiative was launched to buy assets of Štern brothers, across the railway station, and a house with the shop where Čuče Židov had resided. Support of Ulama-majlis in Sarajevo was requested for the initiative. Ulama-majlis explicitly refused it and reached the following conclusion: „With respect to your letter of 4. 1. 1942 no. 12/42 pertaining to the purchase of Jewish real estate, at its session of 12.02. 1942 no. 358/42, this Ulama-majlis concluded to draw your attention to abandon this and similar activities, and you are invited to strictly adhere to this conclusion.” (UM-2-358/1942)

The same letter was sent to Waqf Directorate, as information and further action in the actual case, as well in order to prevent similar initiatives and attempts. With this view, Ulama-majlis showed orientation of the Islamic Community and Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina that respect for rights and assets of others was more important than building a mosque.

Nevertheless, socialist authorities also obstructed building the first mosque at this town until 1968. It took 56 years for Muslims at Zavidovići to get a mosque.

Sources and references:

• Gazi Husrev-bey Library, Archives of the Islamic Community, Ulama-majlis holdings, year 1940, box 10, 4457 and year 1942, box 2, no. 358.

• Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina - monograph, Sarajevo, 2013.

• Opća enciklopedija Jugoslavenskog leksikografskog zavoda, volume 8, Zagreb, 1982.

• Nada Kisić Kolanović, Podržavljenje imovine Židova u NDH, Hrvatski institut za povijest, 3, Zagreb, 1998. (429-453.)

• Islamski svijet, no. 71, 26 January 1934.

• Pravda, number 45. Sarajevo, 25 February1925.

• Zeman – Ujedinjene muslimanske organizacije, no. 88, Sarajevo, Thursday 10 October 1912.