In May, Vajraca's script won the Holocaust Film
Contest held by the Claims Conference, the Jewish organisation
which secures compensation for Holocaust survivors.
"Evil keeps coming back over and over and wars keep happen over
and over and the whole message of this film is that when such an
event happens, will you remember your humanity and save others
or will you become small and fearful and only think of
yourself," Vajraca said in an interview with Reuters.
The film "Sevap/Mitzvah" (A Good Deed) is based on the true
story of Muslim woman Zejneba Hardaga and her family who hid the
Jewish Kabiljo family at their home, risking their own lives,
and helped them escape Nazi-occupied Sarajevo in the 1940s and
then move to Israel.
The Hardagas were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by
the Israeli Holocaust museum Yad Vashem, based on testimony
provided by the Kabiljo family. The honorific is awarded to
non-Jews who helped Jews escape persecution in the Holocaust.
Fifty years later, during the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo by
separatist Bosnian Serb forces, the Jewish community helped the
Hardagas leave Sarajevo using fake Jewish identity cards and the
Kabiljo family secured them a refuge in Israel.
"Zejneba Hardaga is the first Muslim woman in the world who was
recognised as Righteous Among Nations," said Eli Tauber from the
Sarajevo Jewish community.
Tauber, who wrote a book about 54 Bosnians who were honoured as
Righteous for saving Jews during the World War Two, said that
Zejneba Hardaga also helped his grandparents to leave Sarajevo
at that time.
"She gave my grandmother a veil and pantaloons to disguise
herself as a Muslim woman... and gave my grandfather the money
to buy tickets and run away from Sarajevo," he recalled.
Vajraca hopes the film will be inspirational to the audiences
with its message: "Do what you can, do a good deed no matter
what and in some way it may come back to you."
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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