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Author Guest Post: From Middle School to the Balkans: The Journey Behind Dark Shadows Hover

Writing is an adventure. It takes numerous twists and turns and alternate routes. It has its frustrations, but ultimately can lead to triumph no matter how long it takes to finish. --Jordan Steven Sher

Bio

Jordan Steven Sher is the author of four books, three of which focus on Bosnia. His previous two books are a non-fiction and an historical fiction delving into the war in the 1990s that produced war crimes and genocide. His new book, Dark Shadows Hover, is his first for Young Adults, that will appeal to adult readers, as well. He lives in Northern California with his long-time love, having met as freshmen in college. They have two wonderful adult children who are creating their own special lives. For more information about Jordan and his work go to jordanstevensher.com

 Today, on gilagreenwrites, author Jordan Steven Sher, takes us on the journey behind Dark Shadows Hover, his latest book inspired by the extraordinary life of Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew and teenage resistance fighter during World War II in Yugoslavia. His story, woven with themes of survival, language, and identity, offers a powerful reminder of the enduring human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. Welcome, Jordan Steven Sher!


I originally got into writing books in my last year of teaching middle school English in Northern California. The school I taught at was 97% Latinx with many students' parents who were likely undocumented. At the time, the first Trump Administration was sending officers from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to the homes of the undocumented for potential deportation. My students were so anxious about their parents being removed that it most definitely interfered with their academics, and psychological well-being.

My grandparents came from Eastern Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s fleeing pogroms, poverty, and antisemitism to find a better life in New York. Though that better life didn't markedly materialize for most of them, their children (my parents) managed to do much better as first generation Americans.

Why were the students' families in my school targeted? What did they do that generations of immigrants before them didn't do to become a part the U.S. albeit not without struggles compounded by racism?

Knowing of my students' fears, I was angry (and still recoil at the new Trump Administration's harsh rhetoric and actions against immigrants). I wanted to show that most immigrants come to this country to escape some form of inequity or injustice. In 2019 I self-published a book where I interviewed immigrants from many different countries to enlighten readers on why people emigrate from their homes: economic and educational opportunities, poverty, violence, oppression, war, famine, to name just some. I interviewed people from Iran, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Mexico, Guatemala, Viet Nam, and others. I met two Muslim (referred to as Bosniak) women who were children during the 1990s war in Bosnia, and had to flee the horrors of being targeted for genocide by ultranationalist Serbs. Their stories touched me deeply and personally.

I knew little about Bosnia, both its distant and recent history. I particularly wanted to learn about the war and what led to it. I met many Bosniaks along the way and they shared their own personal histories. This resulted in my second book, an historical fiction taking place there. One of my key sources was a man who had survived two concentration camps. I then wrote a third book containing interviews with survivors of that war who lost many family members, and who had decided to leave the country, many fleeing to the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Germany

My eyes were opened to the trauma that Bosnia faced, a difficult history over the previous centuries, and a present that continues to challenge this small Balkan country. But what of the Holocaust in the region? What was the fate of Jews? My next and current book, DARK SHADOWS HOVER, was born out of that curiosity.

Feeling a bit adrift for an idea to move my project forward, a friend told me that when she's not sure of her direction, "the universe has a way of letting me know, if I'm open to it." Another friend in Boston, who was very engaged in Bosnia's war as a lawyer prosecuting war criminals at the Hague, told me about someone he knew in Sarajevo who he understood was part of the resistance during the Holocaust in the former Yugoslavia. The man had recently died at the age of 93, so getting a lot of information about him would be a challenge.

Moris Albahari was a Sephardic Jew who, at the age of 11, escaped transport to the Croatian death camp, Jasenovac, with the help of a former music teacher who was an Ustasha soldier. The Ustasha were a brutal terrorist organization that had been installed as Hitler's puppet government in what was called the Independent State of Croatia. His escape led him to eventually joining the resistance against the Nazi invaders and their collaborators.

Sephardic Jews have a rich history including their own exodus. The Spanish Inquisition that began in the 14th Century saw unjust trials, torture, imprisonment, and murder of many "heretics" including Jews. Previously, the Muslim-dominated Ottoman Empire had welcomed Jews in its societal fabric, for the most part treating them fairly. However, as Spanish Catholics gained control of Spain, the Inquisition forced Jews to flee.

I needed to understand more about how being Sephardic influenced Moris. After all, his family had been the Balkans for the past 400 years or so.

"Saved by Language" is a documentary about the Ladino language that features Moris. Ladino is the language that Sephardic Jews had developed over the centuries following their escape, many of whom ended up in Turkey and Bosnia. It is also referred to as Judeo-Spanish. Though strongly bearing distinctly Spanish characteristics, it also includes Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, French and Turkish. Bryan Kirschen, a linguistics professor at Binghamton University (NY) and an expert on Ladino, produced the film. In it Moris, who was in his late 80s at the time, described how Ladino saved his life during World War II. Moris's story, as told in my book, revolves around him being a part of Tito's Partisans, though an adolescent, fighting to liberate their country. In one instance, parachuted British and American pilots found themselves in a field in Bosnia. Moris had been on a mission as a courier at that moment. Seeing them eject from their plane, he raced over to see how he could help. With their guns pointed at him, Moris had to think fast. He asked in German and Italian if any of them spoke either of those languages. None did. Finally, he asked in Ladino, knowing that it had strong Spanish roots. One of the American soldiers was Latino and spoke Spanish. Moris believed that this likely saved his life, and he guided them to his unit's camp, saving their lives, as well.

It took a good deal of research into Moris's life and to what had transpired militarily in the former Yugoslavia during World War II to write the book. Moris's son lives in Croatia. He and I had numerous conversations. Dado, his nickname, knew little about his father's time with the Partisans. When he'd ask his father, the reply was usually, "you don't want to know." Dado and I, and to some degree Moris's widow Ela, who did not speak English and lives in Sarajevo, uncovered information about what happened. This process revealed a good deal more than Dado and his mother had been privy to while Moris was alive.

During the 1990s war in Bosnia, Moris and Ela's apartment was partially destroyed by a grenade explosion. Fortunately, they were not home at the time. Unbeknown to Dado and his mother, a diary that Moris had kept while a Partisan had been mostly destroyed in the blast. However, as she looked through the bookshelf for clues about her husband's time during World War II, she came across ten pages from a diary stuffed inside a book that survived the blast. Moris's journaling revealed the depths of emotions felt as a child soldier, not knowing where his family was, and exposing the loneliness and grief he felt, but also the small joy that he'd occasionally encountered with his comrades.

As my journey to uncover Moris's story continued, I came across an article written by his sister about her experiences in World War II giving me further insight into Moris and his family. One other very informative source was Moris himself. He had died before I began the book, but the Shoah Foundation of USC had five videotaped interviews of Moris conducted in Serbo-Croatian. Since I don't speak the language, a Bosnian friend, who is quite tech savvy, put English subtitles on the tapes. Moris's stories, his animated responses, his demeanor, even at the age of 68, helped me to shape the character of a young Moris. A gold mine. All of what I found in my search brought me to an understanding of him that found its way into his saga as seen in Dark Shadows Hover. His is only one of many, many stories of resistance by Jews during the war. But it is a story worth telling. Understanding how Jews, Serbs, and Roma were targeted for extermination during the Holocaust in Yugoslavia, coupled with the German plans to conquer the country, allowed me to bring Moris's conflicted and traumatic human story to the fore. Still, as cliché as it seems to sound, his resilience was admirable, despite the enduring scars he carried with him going forward.

Writing is an adventure. It takes numerous twists and turns and alternate routes. It has its frustrations, but ultimately can lead to triumph no matter how long it takes to finish.

I found myself reflecting upon my own ancestors in the process of research and writing. Moris reminded me of many of my great aunts, uncles, and grandparents, who didn't fight in wars necessarily, but who did traverse a a challenging and frightening world to create a path for others to live more meaningful lives regardless of how they themselves got there.

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Tuesday, 18 February 2025

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