Not a Spanish aid organization, La Benevolencia is the Ladino name of the Jewish Community Center in Sarajevo. Many of the Jews of Sarajevo are direct descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Among themselves they sometimes speak Ladino rather than the more familiar eastern European Yiddish.

Only 20 percent of Bosnia's Jewish population survived the Nazis, Ustashe, and Chetniks during World War II. One of the greatest Jewish treasures in the world, the Sarajevo Hagaddah, was created in Barcelona in the 14th century and brought to Sarajevo in the 15th century. It survived WWII when it was hidden from the Nazis by Muslim peasant farmers. In 1992 it was again saved from sure destruction while the National Museum in Sarajevo was aflame and its basement vault was flooding. A Muslim curator, braving sniper fire and flames, took the treasure from the basement and brought it to safety. The priceless manuscript was returned to the Jewish Community during Passover in 1995, with the city yet to experience another eight months of shelling and destruction.

Throughout the war, the Jewish Community maintained relatively good relations with both Muslims and Serbs and was therefore able to move people and aid in and out of the city much easier than most other groups. The photo above is a soup kitchen, open to all and operated continuously throughout the war. La Benevolencia also operated a free pharmacy and was the main carrier of mail in and out of Sarajevo.

Jews worldwide donated hundreds of tons of food, clothing, medicine, and other forms of aid to Bosnia throughout the war, and most were distributed by La Benevolencia.