The Importance of Tradition in the Balkans

Leke Riznichi's great grandfather, Aslan Abravanal, sheltered Jewish refugees in his home during the Second World War. The story of Bessa made them have very strong feelings between the families and they often wrote to each other. Shelly grew up hearing stories of Ursula and the man who saved her grandfather from the Nazis. In 1999 at the height of the Kosovo conflict, Leke’s parents were deported by Serbian forces to northern Macedonia. They decided to take their granddaughter Shelly and relocate to Israel.