Teachers Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust

Jelena Glavaški was a kindergarten teacher in Aleksinac, near Niš in south-east Serbia. She befriended Ana Lebl, whose daughter, Jennie, attended her kindergarten in the early 1930s. The relationship between the two women continued even after the Lebl family moved to Belgrade.

Following the invasion of Yugoslavia by Germany in April 1941, Ana's husband, Leon, who was a reserve army officer, was captured and sent to Germany. Jennie and her mother remained in Belgrade.

In December 1941, 14-year-old Jennie and her mother were ordered to present themselves at the police station, from which women and children were being sent to the Sajmište camp. Jennie decided not to obey the order and to flee. She packed a few things, went to the train station, and managed to reach Niś, where she headed for the home of her former kindergarten teacher.  Glavaški welcomed Jennie with open arms and offered her shelter in the attic.

Glavaški was active in the resistance and obtained false identity papers for Jennie. In February 1943, the two were betrayed and arrested. After enduring interrogation and torture, Jennie was sent to a camp in Germany; Glavaški was executed in January 1944. When Jennie returned from Germany to Belgrade in 1945, she was reunited with her father and brother. Her mother, Ana, had been murdered in a gas van in Sajmište. The city of Niś later honored Jelena Glavaški by naming a street after her, and dedicating a corner of the local history museum to her memory.

On September 3, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Jelena Glavaški as Righteous Among the Nations.