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Bela Crkva (Serbian Cyrillic: Бела Црква [pronounced [bɛ̂ːlaː tsr̩̂ːkv̞a]], German: Weißkirchen, Hungarian: Fehértemplom (formerly Fejéregyház), in Turkish Aktabya, in Romanian: Biserica Albă) is a town and municipality located in the South Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia.
Jews first arrived on the territory of present-day Serbia in Roman times, although there is little documentation prior to the 10th century. In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela reported that Jews were influential in the region. During the period of Turkish rule, which commenced in 1389, Jewish merchants prospered. The Jewish communities of the Balkans were boosted in the 15th and 16th centuries by the arrival of Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire welcomed the Jewish refugees into his Empire. Jews became involved in trade between the various provinces in the Ottoman Empire, becoming especially important in the salt trade. While the rest of Serbia was still ruled by the Ottoman Empire, territory of present-day Vojvodina was part of the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1782, Emperor Joseph II issued the Edict of Tolerance, giving Jews some measure of religious freedom. The Edict attracted Jews to many parts of the Monarchy. In 1889 that the Serbian parliament proclaimed complete equality for all Serbs, irrespective of their religion or ethnicity. By 1912, the Jewish community of Serbia stood at 5,000. Many Jews were decorated for bravery in the Serbian army during the Balkan War (1912–1913), the Serbian–Bulgarian War, and World War I.
The Jewish communities of Vojvodina flourished, and by the end of the 19th century the region had nearly 40 Jewish communities.
The town of Weisskirchen was founded in 1717 when this region was included into the Habsburg Monarchy.
Some Jewish families lived in town before 1750, but the Abraham Schlesinger family was the first to be formally registered in Weisskirchen in 1753. Despite numerous restrictions, the number of Jewish families has gradually grown. The first synagogue was built in 1836, the second in 1856, and the third in 1898.
Prior to World War II, some 31,000 Jews lived in Vojvodina. In Belgrade, Jewish community was 10,000-strong, 80% being Ladino-speaking Sephardi Jews, and 20% being Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews. The Jews of Bela Crkva suffered the same fate like many Banat Jews. In august 1941, they were arrested and deported to the Belgrade camps Topovske Šupe and Sajmište, from where only a few survived. No Jew lived there since the end of WW2. The synagogue was demolished in 1950.