Grigorije Božović i jevrejsko pitanje

Abstract

Intelektualni svet međuratnog jugoslovenskog društva poznavao je primere brojnih jevrejskih javnih radnika, neretko pozicioniranih na samom vrhu književnog, umetničkog i naučnog života. Na profesionalnom polju putevi su im se prožimali sa predstavnicima intelektualne elite iz redova vodećih naroda Kraljevine SHS/Jugoslavije, čime su kreirali međusobni uticaj i ostavili dubok i trajni trag u opštoj kulturi na ovim podnebljima. Dajući živ ton i koloritan pejzaž u sferama rada, umeli su presudno oblikovati i trasirati pravac budućeg razvoja datih zanimanja. Osim na savremenike, njihovo stvaralaštvo dalekosežno je inspirisalo i potonje naraštaje ljubitelja pisane reči i kičice. Kultni status u književnom i novinarskom svetu između dva svetska rata na tlu Jugoslavije uživao je istaknuti pisac sa prostora Kosova i Metohije - Grigorije Božović, kome će pomenuti period predstavljati vrhunac uspona i priznanja. Sastavni deo privatnog i stručnog Božovićevog života činili su i Jevreji, koje je još od najranijeg perioda, u mladosti mogao susretati i kontaktirati u svom širem zavičaju, na prostoru Stare i Južne Srbije, na ulicama tamošnjih orijentalnih čaršija - Mitrovice, Prištine, Skoplja i Bitolja, preko Carigrada i Moskve tokom školovanja, do saradnje u prestonom Beogradu u zrelom životnom periodu i zenitu stvaralaštva. Kao politički aktivista, Grigorije će u nesigurnim vremenima zaoštrenih međunarodnih odnosa u Evropi, tokom tridesetih godina XX veka, u kojima je totalitarni nacistički režim otvorio jevrejsko pitanje i snagom svoje moći forsirao brutalne metode rešavanja, smoći snage da podigne glas u njihovu zaštitu. Antisemitizam je tradicionalno bio zanemarljiva pojava u srpskom narodu, nikada masovno rasprostranjena. Ni sve veći nemački pritisak na jugoslovensku vlast na početku rata u Evropi, nije rezultirao značajnijim promenama u tom smislu. Naprotiv, čelni protagonisti javnog života, među kojima i Božović, objavili su publikaciju u kojoj su afirmativno pisali o Jevrejima i izneli projevrejske poglede. Ovaj čin, pored toga što je ohrabrio domaću jevrejsku zajednicu, jasno je pokazao i svetskoj javnosti razmimoilaženja srpskih rodoljuba sa ekstremnim oblicima razmišljanja koja su uveliko zahvatila veći deo evropske populacije. Rad ima za cilj da osvetli ovu stranu Božovićevog angažovanja i baštine, te da podseti na širok spektar interesovanja i svu veličinu pisane zaostavštine ovog izuzetno plodotvornog nacionalnog radnika.

Intellectuals of the interwar Yugoslav society were aware of countless examples of Jewish public workers, often positioned at the very top of the literary, artistic, and scientific sphere of life. With regards to the professional level, their lives have intertwined with those of the representatives of the intellectual elite from the leading nations of the Kingdom of SCS/Yugoslavia, which helped them create mutual influence and leave a substantial and lasting mark on the overall culture of this region. Making the contribution of a lively tone and a colourful landscape in working areas, they were able to crucially shape and establish the direction for the future development of professions. Except for the influence they had over their contemporaries, their creative and artistic work has far-reaching inspired the latter generations which were fans of the written word and the brush. The status of a cult in the literary and journalistic sphere between the two world wars in Yugoslavia - was enjoyed by a prominent writer from Kosovo and Metohija - Grigorije Bozovid, for whom the mentioned period will represent the culmination of the rise and acknowledgement of his work. A constituent of Bozovid’s private and professional life were Jews whom he met in the earlier periods of his life, he contacted them in the place where he was born, in the area of Old and Southern Serbia (i.e. Stari Ras, Kosovo, Metohija, Vardarian Macedonia), in the streets of the local oriental bazaars - Mitrovica, Pristina, Skoplje and Bitolj, via Constantinople and Moscow during his studies, until the point of cooperation in capital Belgrade in his mature period of life and in the zenith of creativity. As a political activist, Grigorije managed to raise his voice in order to protect his fellow Jews. Those were insecure times of sharpened international relations in Europe, during the thirties of the XX century, in which the totalitarian Nazi regime opened up the Jewish question and used its brute force for brutal methods of solving this very question. Anti- Semitism was a traditionally negligible sized phenomenon within the Serbian people, it was never widespread. Not even the growing German pressure towards the Yugoslav authorities at the beginning of the war in Europe - resulted in significant changes in that sense. On the contrary, the chief protagonists of everyday life, among which was BoZovic as well, published a publication in which they wrote affirmatively about Jews and pointed out their pro-Jewish views. This act encouraged the domestic Jewish community, but also showed the public of the world the Serbian patriots’ disagreement with extreme forms of world views which had greatly affected most of the European population. This paper has a goal of illuminating this side of Bozovid’s engagement and heirdom, and to remind of a wide spectrum of interests and the greatness of the written legacy of this exceptionally fruitful national worker.