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More Than 300 Jews Remain in War-torn Bosnian Capital

October 23, 1992
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More and more Jews are coming forward in Sarajevo, and the number of those remaining in the war-torn capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina is now estimated at between 300 and 700.

The upward revision in the figure of Jews left in the city was announced by Simcha Dinitz, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, who said some in the past had not publicly declared their Jewishness.

Forty-one of 75 Jews evacuated from Sarajevo last weekend arrived in Israel on Thursday and were sent to absorption centers in various parts of the country. Evacuees who stayed behind were taken to the Croatian cities of Split and Pirovac, in an operation executed by the Jewish Agency and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

The newcomers who arrived Thursday brought to 600 the number of immigrants who have arrived in Israel from Yugoslavia following the eruption of fighting there last year.

Another 200 teen-agers and young adults are enrolled in Youth Aliyah boarding schools.

Just under 5,000 Jews remain in what was formerly Yugoslavia, officials estimate. They include about 500 who have fled battle zones and are now in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, the Croatian capital of Zagreb and Split.

With the onset of winter, the Joint is shipping Israeli-made plastic sheeting to help insulate interiors in Sarajevo, where constant shelling has smashed windowpanes throughout the city.

Ten thousand square yards of soft plastic sheeting and 2,000 square yards of tough glass-like plastic will be shipped from Israel next week, it was reported here by Michael Schneider, the visiting executive vice president of the Joint.

The $75,000 worth of insulation materials will be distributed by the Jewish community on a non-sectarian basis, Schneider said.

The shipment was made possible with the help of non-sectarian contributions of more than $150,000 to the Sarajevo Mailbox at the Joint in New York.

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