Saša Toperić: Difference between revisions
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'''Saša Toperić''', also written as '''Sasha Toperich''' (born 1972) is a [[Bosnians|Bosnian]] [[Israeli]] [[concert pianist]], diplomat, and [[human rights]] advocate, married to Denise Cohen.<ref>[http://www.msana.com/emarchives/emoct02.asp Emessay Notes October 2002], ''MSANA'', [[October]], [[2002]]. Accessed [[June 13]], [[2008]].</ref> |
'''Saša Toperić''', also written as '''Sasha Toperich''' (born 1972) is a [[Bosnians|Bosnian]] [[Israeli]] [[concert pianist]], diplomat, and [[human rights]] advocate, married to Denise Cohen.<ref>[http://www.msana.com/emarchives/emoct02.asp Emessay Notes October 2002], ''MSANA'', [[October]], [[2002]]. Accessed [[June 13]], [[2008]].</ref> |
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Toperich also founded the World Youth Leadership Network, a [[not-for-profit]] organisation that aims to unite the international youth community through good works and cultural exchange,<ref>Chenn, Zamira. [http://www.jewishpost.com/shalom/Chiune-Sugihara-The-Japanese-Schindler.html Chiune Sugihara, The “Japanese Schindler”], ''Jewish Post''. Accessed [[June 13]], [[2008]].</ref> launching it at the [[UN]] Headquarters in New York in April 2004. The WYLN has contributed and donated computers to schools and universities in [[Liberia]], organised a fundraising concert in [[Monrovia]] for the Louis Arther Grimes School of Law, and set up an IT centre in [[Benin]] in cooperation with the Benin Education Fund and the [[World Bank]] to allow students to learn and gain new skills.<ref name="Sikhs"/> |
Toperich also founded the World Youth Leadership Network, a [[not-for-profit]] organisation that aims to unite the international youth community through good works and cultural exchange,<ref>Chenn, Zamira. [http://www.jewishpost.com/shalom/Chiune-Sugihara-The-Japanese-Schindler.html Chiune Sugihara, The “Japanese Schindler”], ''Jewish Post''. Accessed [[June 13]], [[2008]].</ref> launching it at the [[UN]] Headquarters in New York in April 2004. The WYLN has contributed and donated computers to schools and universities in [[Liberia]], organised a fundraising concert in [[Monrovia]] for the Louis Arther Grimes School of Law, and set up an IT centre in [[Benin]] in cooperation with the Benin Education Fund and the [[World Bank]] to allow students to learn and gain new skills.<ref name="Sikhs"/> |
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== Controversy == |
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In May 2008 the Bosnian daily Press RS discovered from their source in the Jewish municipality of Sarajevo that Toperich had falsified documents about his origin in order to gain Israeli citizenship. In the article titled „Silajdzic's fake Jew” the paper claims Toperich subsequently used this deception in order to lobby for the Bosnian Muslim cause among American Jews, since Toperich describes himself as „Bosnian Lobbyist” and is the main candidate for the new Bosnian ambassador in Washington. |
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The author of the article presented evidence that Sasha Toperich had manipulated the Israeli authorities into giving him citizenship using an elaborate fabrication of the background of his family, their names, religious and ethnic affiliation. Specifically, according to the evidence presented in the article Toperich had falsified the names of his mother, father and his grandparents from both his mother's and father's side. Sasha Toperich's father, an ethnic Croat named Berislav Toperich, in this manipulation became a Jew named Benjamin, his father (Sasha's grandfather) named Veceslav became a a Jew named Isaac, mother Adela (Sasha's grandmother) became a Jewish woman named Perla. Sasha Toperich's mother Ediba, an ethnic Bosnian Muslim and a high official of the ultra-nationalist Bosnian Muslim party the SDA, was now designated by two Jewish names: Diva and Sarah, while her father Naim transformed from an ethnic Bosnian Muslim into a Jew named Israel, and her mother Sultana became a Jewish woman named Deborah. |
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In order to bolster his con Sasha Toperich claimed his grandparents are buried in the Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo. However, Press RS photographed the graves of Sasha Toperich's grandparents located not in the Jewish cemetery, but in the atheist cemetery in Sarajevo. Press RS also confirmed the veracity of their claims from their sources in the Jewish community in Sarajevo, who confirmed that Sasha Toperich is not an ethnic Jew nor any other member of his family. Other media subsequently picked up the story since Toperich was for a period of time an envoy of the Bosnian president in the United States and an influential lobbyist married to Denise Cohen, the daughter of an immensely wealthy American Jew, Abraham Cohen. It is alleged in these reports that Toperich is using his fake ethnic background in the sense of a Trojan Horse among the Jewish community in the United States in order to promote the cause of the ultra nationalist Bosnian Muslim party the SDA by lobbying for the rewriting of the Bosnian constitution, which is the based on the Dayton Peace Accord, the only thing keeping the nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina from tearing the country up by ethnic conflicts. It is this political agenda, tied with the fabrication of his ethnic origin, that makes Sasha Toperich a controversial individual in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a hero among the Bosnian Muslims, an apostate for the Bosnian Croats, and a villain for the Bosnian Serbs. [18][19] |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 21:36, 30 June 2008
Saša Toperić, also written as Sasha Toperich (born 1972) is a Bosnian Israeli concert pianist, diplomat, and human rights advocate, married to Denise Cohen.[1]
Concert Pianist
Toperich, born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, began playing piano at the age of four. During his years of study, he won first prize at the piano students competition in Dubrovnik, and scholarships from the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, and the Open Society Institute.[2]
He moved to Jerusalem at the age of 21 in the early 1990s, and served in the Israeli Army.[3][4] He did his formal training at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, where he received his M.A. in piano, studying under Meira Smailovic, Arbo Valdma, and Irina Berkovich.[2][5]
He earned his doctoral degree at the Music Academy in Lovran, Croatia, where he studied with Marina Ambokadze.[5]
His performances have been broadcast on radio and television programs in France, Austria, Israel, Brazil, the United States, and the countries of former Yugoslavia. Toperich has performed with conductors such as Zubin Mehta and Kuzushi Ono.[5] His concert at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in 1997 was broadcast nationwide on National Public Radio and earned him a nomination for Best Debut Artist. Known for a combination of sensitivity and technical skill, Toperich is one of the world's premier up-and-coming pianists.[2]
He has represented Israel in concerts throughout the world, [3] as a cultural ambassador from Israel through the Israeli consulate.[2]
Philanthropy and diplomacy
In 1997, he became President of the Children Foundation of UNESCO.
In 1998, he was awarded the title of UNESCO Artist for Peace.[3] In 2001, he resigned his honorary title in protest of UNESCO’s decision not to display the work of Tibetan artists on United Nations premises.[5]
Toperich was appointed the Presidential Envoy of Bosnia to the United States. [6]
He founded the America-Bosnia Cultural Foundation, which was established to foster stronger cultural and educational ties between the American and Bosnian people. The foundation organizes concerts, exhibitions, lectures, panels, and educational seminars in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the US. ABCF’s mission is also to strengthen democratic values in Bosnia and preserve its multiethnic and multicultural character.[7]
Toperich also founded the World Youth Leadership Network, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to unite the international youth community through good works and cultural exchange,[8] launching it at the UN Headquarters in New York in April 2004. The WYLN has contributed and donated computers to schools and universities in Liberia, organised a fundraising concert in Monrovia for the Louis Arther Grimes School of Law, and set up an IT centre in Benin in cooperation with the Benin Education Fund and the World Bank to allow students to learn and gain new skills.[6]
References
- ^ Emessay Notes October 2002, MSANA, October, 2002. Accessed June 13, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Brown, Seth. World Renowned Pianist to Perform at Colorado College, Colorado College News Release, April 23, 1996. Accessed June 13, 2008.
- ^ a b c Calendar 2000, MusicalMissions.com. Accessed June 13, 2008.
- ^ Lipman, Steve. The Keys To Diplomacy, bNET, November, 2004. Accessed June 13, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Biographies, Balkandevelopment.org. Accessed June 13, 2008.
- ^ a b Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh. Interview with Phaldip Singh, United Sikhs. Accessed June 13, 2008.
- ^ Partners: Core Partnerships, The Dayton Peace Accords Project. Accessed June 13, 2008.
- ^ Chenn, Zamira. Chiune Sugihara, The “Japanese Schindler”, Jewish Post. Accessed June 13, 2008.