Contact Admin. The web site El Mundo Sefarad has extensive lists of sites, information, photos and videos of Jewish heritage sites in Serbia and other countries of the former Yugoslavia. The earliest Jewish settlers in Belgrade were Ashkenazi refugees from central Europe; there was a Jewish settlement here in the medieval period.
A large Sephardic community also developed after the Turks conquered the city in Little more than a year after the Nazi occupation of the city in April , it was claimed that Belgrade was the first large city in Europe to be entirely cleared of Jews.
Today, Belgrade has a Jewish population of about 2, This is an imposing but simple Ashkenazic synagogue, designed by Milan Schlang and dedicated in behind a gated wall in a good-sized yard. It was used as a military brothel by the Nazis. Today it is well maintained and used for regular services. Further photo documentation of the Synagogue in Belgrade.
Its main street, Jevrejska Ulica Jewish Street , still exists, though there is little specifically Jewish about the area today. A Moorish style synagogue was built there in , designed by Milan Kapetanovic. King Peter I of Serbia had laid the foundation stone, attesting to the stature of the Jewish community at that time.
It was torched in , and today the site is occupied by the Fresco Gallery, which bears a memorial plaque. The Sephardic cemetery is by far the larger of the two. It is well maintained and has many fine tombs, some of which display photos of the deceased. Gravestones bear inscriptions in several languages — Serbian, German, Hebrew, Ladino, Hungarian — testimony to the diversity of Serbian Jewry.
