Personal Fonds - Naftali-Bata Gedalja

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Јеврејски историјски музеј (Jevrejski istorijski muzej)

Scope and content:: The collection contains Gedalja’s extensive correspondence with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia and various individuals as well as documents related to Austrian Jewish refugees, among whom was Gedalja’s first wife, who died during the war. The Jewish Almanac No. 4 published the fates of refugees and a list of Jews who died in the so-called Kladovo Transport (who were later moved to Šabac), as well as the Šabac Jews and those who came from abroad. The correspondence includes testimonies of friendship of all participants and more than 1,200 individuals who perished. (Only a group of 200 young people was saved, as they received permission from the British authorities to enter Palestine.) These documents were used by the Jewish Historical Museum for publications and an exhibition in 2002 to commemorate those events. The collection also includes several photographs.

Administrative/biographical history:: Naftali-Bata Gedalja was born in Niš on 18 September 1907. From 1927 to 1930 he was the secretary of the Youth Association and from 1930 to 1934 the secretary of the Local Zionist Organisation (MCO) in Belgrade. He belonged to the Hashomer Hacair group. In 1940 he actively participated in taking care of the refugees from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary in Kladovo. He worked in the Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia as secretary and head of the administration from 1945 to 1949 (when JOINT in Yugoslavia ceased to exist). He was the closest associate of David A Alkalaj, the president of the Presidency of JOINT in Yugoslavia. He was an infantry lieutenant colonel in the reserve of the Yugoslav Royal Army, was captured and spent the period of 1941-1945 in Germany in various prison camps. As the secretary of the Association, he actively participated in the organisation of four Aliyah of Jews from Yugoslavia to the State of Israel, in which some 7,500 people, women and children emigrated. He lived in Jerusalem, where he worked in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He was married to Ruža Weinberger (born in 1916) from Pančevo and they had a son, Nahum (born in 1948). He died on 1 September 1989 in Israel.

Subject terms:: Aliyah; Correspondence; Exhibitions; Jewish community; Museums; Photographs; Refugees