Yugoslav Jews in Budapest worry over returning home

BUDAPEST -- As NATO and Yugoslavia work to implement the peace accord they signed last week, the Yugoslav Jews who sought haven here are beginning to contemplate what life will be like if and when they return home.

For many of them, there is the looming concern of how they will be received in Yugoslavia.

Shortly upon their arrival here after the NATO strikes began in late March, they feared that the exodus of 500 of Yugoslavia's 3,500 Jews would spur resentment among their neighbors.

But now that fear may not materialize, given the fact that some 200,000 Serbs have reportedly fled the bombardment as well.

Instead, there are now rumors here that some people in the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade are alluding to the Jewish origin of several American policymakers involved with the air strikes -- including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.

"Serbs have never had any particularly strong anti-Semitism -- except from some hooligans and a bit during" World War II, said one elderly man.

"But now we have to be careful, because many of the Americans involved are Jewish somehow. We hear that some extreme Serbs are saying that this is a war of Jews against Serbs."

This man, like others here, is cautious about the future.

Now that the air strikes have come to an end, he plans to wait a week or two to see how events unfold.

He fears, for example, a power struggle that will erupt into civil war between supporters and opponents of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Analysts, meanwhile, warn about two other scenarios: a coup in Montenegro, the tiny republic that, along with Serbia, now makes up Yugoslavia; and ethnic conflict in Vojvodina, a province in northern Serbia that borders Hungary and has a large Hungarian minority.

Nevertheless, now that the dust is settling in the current conflict, many of the older Jewish refugees in Budapest are eager to return home.

Not so for the younger generation, most of whom are already considering life after Yugoslavia.

Earlier they had been skeptical about emigrating to Israel. But the steady destruction of their country -- on top of a decade's worth of war, sanctions and oppression under the thumb of Milosevic -- has clinched their decision to move on.

Up to 250 Yugoslav Jews are already in Israel, while 50 to 100 are with family around the globe.

Still, Israel seems the best bet for the younger Jews here.

Anna, a 21-year-old geography student from Belgrade, is among those contemplating aliyah.

Her father, an architect, emigrated to Beersheba in 1991. Her older brother later joined him. Anna's mother, on the other hand, stayed in Belgrade throughout the NATO bombardment.

She urged Anna to flee to Budapest a month ago, and now wants her to join her father in Israel.

Complicating matters, though, is that Anna's boyfriend of six years is not Jewish. So they've decided to marry and give Israel a try together.

"There was a little bit of romance to it," said Anna, "but it was more like, 'Well, now we have to get married.'"

Leaving behind her mother and friends will be difficult, Anna said. But she is also conflicted about abandoning her homeland on the eve of a grueling reconstruction process.

"I have only one life to live, so I want to try to live it as good as I can," she said. "I don't know. Maybe I'm selfish. I'm not sure. Maybe if I knew I have a second life, or third or fourth -- but there's no proof of that. So I need to take care of this one."