Korkut Dervis & Servet

Korkut, Derviš Korkut, Servet Derviš Korkut (b. 1888), was the curator of the municipal museum in Sarajevo, and knew many languages. Korkut was a well-known person in the city and, among Jews he was known as a friend with a deep interest in the culture and folklore of the Jews of Sarajevo. Korkut published several articles on this subject, and in his writings he described the important contribution made by Sephardi Jews to society. In November 1941, Donkica Papo, a Sarajevo native, joined Tito’s partisans with a number of her friends from the Jewish youth movement Hashomer Hatzair. At some point in 1942, when their unit was ambushed, they were ordered to disperse, and Papo eventually found her way back to Sarajevo, where she hoped to find a member of her family who could shelter her. However, when she found no one there to help her, Papo met a man who had worked with her father. He was surprised to see her, brought her to the museum building, and told her to sit down and wait for him to return. A few minutes later, a religious Muslim entered the room and she was introduced to him as a Jewish girl who had returned from a concentration camp and needed a place of refuge. This man was Derviš Korkut and he explained that his young wife had recently given birth to a son and offered Papo shelter in his home in the guise of a Muslim servant. Papo quickly accepted the offer. Korkut then took her home and introduced Papo to his wife, Servet, who gave Papo a warm welcome. The Korkuts gave her a room in the attic, dressed her in traditional Muslim garb, and introduced her as a Muslim to their guests. While hidden there, Papo managed to make contact with some family members in another city and, after five months with the Korkuts, they helped her obtain a travel permit so she could go and join her family. Some time later, Papo (later Mira Baković) rejoined the partisans, where she served as a nurse attached to a fighting unit until the end of the war. One day during thewar, representatives of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, an organization established by the Germans to plunder the cultural and artistic treasures of the Jews, arrived at the Sarajevo museum to confiscate the famous 14th century Sarajevo Haggadah. When they confronted Korkut, he told them that some Germans had already taken the artifact. They accepted his story, although the haggadah was actually carefully hidden in Korkut’s home. After the war, Derviš Korkut returned the haggadah to the municipal museum. In 1999, the Korkuts’ daughter, Lamija Jaha, who had married a Muslim in Kosovo, left Kosovo for Israel after the war erupted there. In Israel, she met with Papo’s son, Davor, who warmly received the daughter of the people that had saved his mother. On December 14, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Derviš and Servet Korkut as Righteous Among the Nations.