San Diego,CA (special) -- Rebecca Newman, national women's division president of the United Jewish Communities, recently returned to San Diego after leading a tour to Albania, Hungary and Israel to see first-hand Israeli and North American Jewish sponsored relief efforts for refugees from Kosovo, Belgrade and other portions of Serbia. 

Wherever the group of 21 American and Canadian Jewish leaders and 14 journalists who joined them in Israel went, they witnessed fear and heartbreak, and saw the gratitude with which war-tossed refugees from both sides of the conflict reacted to acts of kindness and humanitarianism. 

In Hungary, the tour group visited the capital of Budapest. Hungary like Yugoslavia is a former communist nation, but unlike Yugoslavia (Serbia), Hungary is now part of the NATO alliance. While the two countries are technically at war, the border between them still is open to people who are not of military age. Jewish refugees from Belgrade and Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, fleeing the NATO bombs that fall daily on their cities, have been provided refuge in Budapest by the Jewish community of Hungary, which numbers 80,000. 

Approximately 160 Jews are being sheltered in the Park Hotel. "These are people who are angry," Newman said. "They had middle class lives as professors, doctors, lawyers, in business, and their lives have been disrupted and destroyed. The young people are so angry -- the war started in the middle of the school year, and they are separated from their friends. Many of them are in Budapest without their parents, who sent them out of Belgrade and Novi Sad when the bombing started. None of the women, or very few of them, have their husbands with 
them. And it is very emotional. 

Twice Refugees --- Rebecca Newman stands in the middle of the Kazancez family, a Jewish family that fled from Sarajevo to Belgrade during the war in Bosnia and now has fled from Belgrade to Budapest, Hungary.  From right they are daughter Alexandra, mother Elena, daughter Tatiana and father Nikolai.

"They are upset. They don't believe that there was reason for their lives to be disrupted in this way; they don't know when they are going to see their husbands and fathers again, so you get a lot of raw emotion." 

Newman said while these refugees from Serbia are not necessarily fans of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic nor his campaign against the ethnic Albanians--"all know that Milosevic is a terrible person"--nevertheless, "they have been bombed out of their homes and this is where the anger stems from. They are probably more angry at Americans than they would let on because, unlike the ethnic Albanians (whom the group met in the Tirana refugee camp), they knew exactly who we were. 

"I think they were very touched that the Jewish community had come to be with them and provide whatever assistance could be provided and I don't think they were going to say anything negative about America while we were there," Newman said. 

During their visit, Asa Singer, the 77-year-old leader of the Belgrade Jewish community, got up at 4 a.m. "to drive to see us in Budapest," Newman said. "I am not sure how long the drive usually takes, but because all bridges are out, he got to Budapest about 2-3 in the afternoon. And he came because he wanted to express to us ... the conditions of the Jewish families who are remaining in Belgrade and Novi Sad. There are about 2,000 Jewish people left and he wanted to reiterate that to date (first week in May), no one had been killed, no one had been 
hurt, although many people had lost their homes. 

"He said the conditions are deteriorating terribly. The constant pummeling, there is very little electricity. It goes on sporadically. Water is also sporadic. Businesses are closed." 

Newman said that Singer also "wanted to express to us how remarkable it was that the Budapest Jewish community had arranged for their transportation and their shelter. He really had come to thank the president of the Budapest Jewish community and everyone who was there. We prevailed upon him to stay in Budapest overnight, after we learned he had planned to drive back that night. Afterall, he is 77 years old." 

Among the Jewish refugees in Budapest is a family that during the Bosnian conflict had been evacuated by the JDC from Sarajevo to Belgrade. "They had started life over in Belgrade, and now here they are six years later and they are on the move again. The father has a very bad heart and that is why he was allowed to leave. They feel that all their lives they never have been secure where they have lived. One of the daughters told me she never will have a chance to finish university. First she went in Sarajevo, then started a new course in Belgrade, and now...?" 

That family has been considering various options. The parents are interested in making aliyah to Israel, but the daughters would like to go to Canada, a country they consider far more stable than Israel.