The alim who saved Tuzla's Serbs from massacre on Christmas Eve 1942

The Ustasha Secret Committee for the Extermination of Serbs and Jews in Tuzla planned to mine the Cathedral Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God on January 6, 1942, on Christmas Eve, and kill the gathered faithful. Liquidations were also planned in the Serbian quarter, reports the Patria news agency.

The Tuzla mufti Šefket ef. Kurt learned of this information and, together with a group of prominent Tuzla citizens, requested an urgent meeting with the German city commander, Lieutenant Colonel Wist, and energetically demanded that he prevent the crime.

The German command, out of its own interests, immediately put up a poster warning that – „no one may mistreat anyone, take or destroy someone else's property, or touch the people who are celebrating.“ Thanks to the engagement of Mufti Kurt, there were no mass crimes in Tuzla. This event is a central historical place in the defense of coexistence in Tuzla and the region.

Muhamed Šefket ef. Kurt was born in Travnik in 1879, where he completed primary school and madrasa, and studied in Istanbul and Damascus, where he spent a long time studying the Arabic language, reports the Patria news agency.

He served in Travnik and Banja Luka. Mufti Kurt came to Tuzla in 1925 and remained in that position until 1933, when he was elected a member of the Ulema Medžlis. He retired in 1936 and lived in Tuzla until his death. Muhamed Šefket – efendija died on June 21, 1963. („Takvim“ 1983, Refik Hadžimehanović).

How well-known and respected the esteemed Mufti Kurt was among the people, regardless of religion or nationality, was best confirmed by his large funeral on June 23, 1963, which, in addition to tens of thousands of citizens, was attended by the leaders of the district and municipal assemblies in Tuzla, a member and delegate of the Commission for Religious Affairs of the Executive Council of BiH. Mustafa Kurt was awarded the Order of Brotherhood and Unity, First Class.