The house of the famous Korkut family from Travnica, which is recognized in this country, but also in the world for its knowledge, skill and wisdom, will be rebuilt and turned into a museum. The descendants of Korkut donated a house and twenty dulums of land in the Vakuf settlement to the Madrasa, which wants to preserve the memory of them and what they gave to people.
In the Travnica settlement of Osoje, where there have been no descendants of the Korkut family for a long time, soon there will be a house in the same place where they were born, grew up and from where they went out into the world for knowledge and returned doing good.
“Let us mention only Besim Korkut, the translator of the Qur’an, and Dervish, the son of Munib, who is very deserving of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the sense that he is a man who, unlike other Sarajevo resolutions, but also puts his head put his signature in a bag in order to bring a completely unknown Jewish girl from the streets of Sarajevo to his home, dressed her in Muslim robes, gave her the Muslim name Amira, and with his wife Servet hid her from Ustasha pursuits and searches and saved her life,” recalls Enes Škrgo, curator of the Ivo Andrić Birthplace Museum.
In addition to opposing the government’s attempt at the time to deprive Jews of their right to vote and saving the life of Mira Papo during a storm, Dervish Korkut also saved the Sarajevo Haggadah, so his wife and he are listed among the 47 Righteous Among the Nations. In Travnik, only one street in the Kalibunar settlement bears the name of Derviša Korkuta.
“The position of Derviš, Munib’s son, Korkut, both in Travnik and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is somewhat neglected, forgotten, although from time to time there is a spark in the media, a reminder that he and his wife risked their lives, that they saved that famous Sarajevo Haggadah. So, he’s not completely forgotten, but he’s not in the place he should be,” emphasizes Škrgo.
