Rahela Ferari

Contributions to culture and science:

Bella Rochel Fraynd (aka Rahela Ferari) was a film, television and theater actress of Jewish descent. She won numerous acting awards, including the Dobrica Ring and the Sterija Award.

Short biography:

Rahela Ferari was born in Zemun. Rahela started schooling in Zemun but continued in Bačka Palanka after the Austro-Hungarian authorities deported her family to this city (her father’s hometown). She continued her education at the Jewish primary school in Novi Sad. In 1930, she started as an extra and later got roles in the Serbian National Theater. She moved to the National Theater of the Danube Banovina in 1936. She honed her acting skills at the National Theater in Budapest. In 1940, she moved to Belgrade and performed in the newly founded Art Theater until the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was attacked. She managed to avoid the terrible fate of her family during the war and to continue her career very successfully after the war. However, these events left their mark. She played more than 200 roles in theater, radio, film and television. She won many prestigious awards. She died in 1994 and was buried in the Alley of Deserving Citizens at Belgrade’s New Cemetery.

Interesting facts (Storytelling):

Rahela refused to wear the yellow ribbon that the Jews had to wear during the occupation. She had to pretend to be a Serbian woman who got a role in the theater to deceive Gestapo agents and hide her true identity. The play Rahela’s Box describes the actress’s war years.