Hana Gasic in her father Menahem Montiljo's funeral procession in Sarajevo

This picture was taken on April 25, 1981, the day of my father Menahem Montiljo's funeral. My brother hired a friend to photograph the occasion. Photographing a funeral was something that was not unusual at the time. Perhaps I would not have thought of it but now I am grateful to have the pictures. In the first row from left to right are: Moric Montiljo, my cousin, my brother Rafo, my mother Flora, me, and my husband. Rabbi Cadik Danon came from Belgrade to perform the ceremony. My father knew Rabbi Danon because whenever my father was in Belgrade on Friday night he would go to synagogue. Upon request, the Rabbi would perform funerals all over Yugoslavia. We knew that our father would have wanted a religious ceremony and so we asked him to come to Sarajevo. In the new cemetery in Sarajevo, there is a Jewish section and a special chapel just for Jews. The other religious groups each have their own as well. My father was the first one of his immediate family to be buried in this cemetery. His father was buried in the old Jewish cemetery, as was my mother's family. Eight of my father's siblings were killed during the war. The two surviving brothers and his mother, my Nona, went to Israel after the war and died there. My family lived in Sarajevo for so many centuries, and now there is almost no one left there.

Photos from this interviewee