Migrants stranded in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the UCEI appeals to fight together against indifference

On the tragedy of migrants left in the cold at the Lipa camp in northwest Bosnia, it is necessary to break the wall of indifference and act in a coordinated way to change the status quo. It is the request promoted by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, which in this regard has already interested the leading institutions of European Judaism.
As UCEI Councilman David Menasci emphasized: “In these days in the center of Europe, in the middle of winter, a group of people, refugees, are abandoned in inhuman conditions in the indifference of the main governments and a large part of the population. Seeing images of people in prison conditions, in the cold and without the possibility of having a minimum of hygienic conditions, with scarcity of food available, shakes our conscience because it recalls images of the agony of our loved ones during the atrocities to which they were subjected in the extermination camps. Atrocities that we would never want to see again”.
In the immediate aftermath of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Menasci continued, “it is not possible to allow any comparison to the tragedy experienced by the Jewish people from the Night of Broken Glass in 1938 to the end of the war in 1945”. But precisely because it is not possible to make comparisons, he added, “it is our belief that Jews must be at the forefront to avoid other cases in which the indifference of many leads to the loss of human dignity of others”. On this appeal, Menasci emphasizes, the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities “has also activated other European Jewish institutions and is coordinating to give possible support to the national bodies involved in resolving the case”.
The harsh conditions of migrants hosted in the temporary emergency camp outside Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, are an issue the Italian press has often dealt with. Borrowing a passage from the Talmud, Senator for Life Liliana Segre, repeatedly stressed that whoever saves a life, saves the world, but was unheard. The dramatic situation in Lipa, wrote Carlo Verdelli in the Corriere della Sera, is “the most recent shame endured shamelessly by the forum of Europe for good”.
Last summer, the editorial staff of Pagine Ebraiche had the opportunity to bear witness of what is going on the North eastern Italian border, carrying out a survey of the places of passage of refugees on the “Balkan route” together with the Trieste director Mauro Caputo. Among the guests of the latest edition of Redazione Aperta, Caputo is the creator of the documentary “No borders. Stream of consciousness”, filmed along the 242 km border between Italy and Slovenia.