Brothers Hamid (left) and Xhemal Veseli,
whose family saved Jews from the Holocaust
honoured in Yad Vashem.
saving Jewish Families of Kavajë.
JGuideEurope
In the late Ottoman era, Albanian national ideology claimed affiliation with no one religion and aimed for reconciliation between the nation’s faiths. After Albania's independence (1912), the Post-Ottoman government legislated for religious equality under benevolent dictator King Zog (1895-1961).
After Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, new Jews sought refuge in Albania from Germany and Austria. The Jewish community was well integrated into Albanian society, and in 1937 the community was granted official recognition by Zog.
Pe-WW2, Albanian Jews lived in the south. The Jewish community in Albanian-majority Kosovo numbered c500. During the war, c2,000 foreign Jews sought refuge; they were treated well by the locals, despite Albania-proper being occupied first by Fascist Italy.
When Italy surrendered in Sept 1943, Germany occupied Albania. The Germans demanded a list of Jews living in Albania, but the Albanian government refused, reassuring their Jews that they would be protection. However, this could not guarantee safety because only in late 1944 were the Germans driven out of Albania-proper.
Why were Jewish survival rates in Albania-proper so different from those in Kosovo? Some showed the traditional code of honour, besa, played an important role in Albania’s culture. Others suggested the cause was the relative lenience of the Italian occupiers in 1941–3, Germany's failure to seek out Jews in Albania in 1943–4 as thoroughly as they had elsewhere, or the Kosovo Albanians' distrust of foreigners.
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In Mar 1939 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered King Zog’s acceptance of an Italian military protectorate over Albania. Zog refused, and in April, Italy invaded Albania and deposed the King. A new, collaborative Albanian National Assembly voted in favour of an economic and political union with Italy; the Viceroy General implemented laws that prohibited Jewish immigration to Albania.
A list of European Jews was compiled at Berlin's Wannsee Conference in Jan 1942, Albania having 200.
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Jewish refugees were taken to Albanian ports on the Adriatic where they could travel to Italy. Others hid in remote mountains, while some joined resistance movements. In any case, the Italian laws were ordered in a tepid manner so immigration of foreign Jews to Greater Albania continued. When Jews were found crossing the border, they were released by the Albanian authorities into shelter.
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Hoxha implemented a totalitarian Stalinist government that outlawed all religious activity in the country, including for the c1,800 Jews in Albania-proper who survived WW2. Most of these survivors emigrated to Israel; several hundred remained in Albania until the fall of Communism in the early 1990s before doing the same. So stories of Albania in WW2, and under Hoxha, were hidden. Albanians knew they would endanger families if they talked openly about having saved Jews, destroying documents in case of searches. The war stories could not be told until the 1990s.
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One part of Tirana's National Historical Museum was dedicated to the Holocaust in Nov 2004. The film Rescue in Albania (2009) was released. Kosovo’s Government erected (2013) a plaque honouring their Jews who were killed. Many Albanian Muslims were recognised by Yad Vashem Jerusalem (2018) as Righteous Among the Nations. Berat’s Jewish History Museum opened (2018). And a marble memorial (2020) in Tirana’s Lake Park honours heroic Albanians.
Rugged mountaineers led by Dervish abbots, lawyers, gendarmes and peasants
gave the Nazi invaders no rest. February 1, 1944. AP
King Zog actually aided Jewish refugees integrate into Albania since some German and Austrian Jews were escaping their countries as the Nazi Party gained power. The Albanian embassy in Berlin issued visas to Jews until late 1938! Once USA reduced its visas to Jews in 1938and Italy invaded in 1939, Jews had to stay in Albania for the war - luckily!
In Mar 1939 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered King Zog’s acceptance of an Italian military protectorate over Albania. Zog refused, and in April, Italy invaded Albania and deposed the King. A new, collaborative Albanian National Assembly voted in favour of an economic and political union with Italy; the Viceroy General implemented laws that prohibited Jewish immigration to Albania.
A list of European Jews was compiled at Berlin's Wannsee Conference in Jan 1942, Albania having 200.
After Yugoslavia was invaded, the community grew as Jews from Macedonia and northern Serbia, as well as Germany, Austria and Poland came to Italian-controlled Pristina in Albanian-annexed Kosovo. 1,000 refugees arrived, not experiencing persecution at the level Jews experienced in the German controlled territories. The Italians did arrest c150 Jewish refugees and transferred them to Berat, but they were protected by locals.
Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Greece
Smaller numbers of foreign refugees hid in the capital Tirana. But many of these foreign Jews were turned over to the Nazis, and 400 were shipped to Bergen-Belsen.
Soon after Italy surrendered to the Allies in Sept 1943, the Germans invaded and occupied Albania. The German authorities then began to target all of the Jews living in the Albanian dominated regions of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The Jewish community in W Macedonia, which had remained safe under Italian occupation, was deported.
In Sept the Albanian National Committee was established under German sponsorship, recognised by Germany as the official government. Xhafer Deva, a Kosovo Albanian collaborator with Germany, was then appointed the Minister of Interior. Foreseeing the arrival of German troops from Sep 1943 on, the Jews of Albania-proper hid in the countryside.
Even with the collaborative government, the Albanian authorities wouldn't provide the Germans with Jewish Lists for deporting. In June 1944, Jewish leaders sought help from Albania's collaborationist Prime Minister, Mehdi Frashëri. He refused to hand the list over to the Germans, resenting their interference in Albanian affairs.
In May 1944, a Kosovo Albanian Waffen-SS Mountain Division was formed to arrest and deliver hundreds of Jews in Pristina to the Germans. They were deported to Bergen-Belsen death camp where 281 of them were murdered.
NB almost all Jews in Albania-proper in WW2 were saved from Hitler’s Final Solution, even when it was under Italian rule, a circumstance that wasn't found in any other Axis-occupied country (except for Denmark and Bulgaria). How was the stark contrast in survival rates in Albania and Kosovo explained? Impressive assistance was given to the Jews by the various governmental agencies, providing Jewish families with false documentation.
Soon after Italy surrendered to the Allies in Sept 1943, the Germans invaded and occupied Albania. The German authorities then began to target all of the Jews living in the Albanian dominated regions of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The Jewish community in W Macedonia, which had remained safe under Italian occupation, was deported.
In Sept the Albanian National Committee was established under German sponsorship, recognised by Germany as the official government. Xhafer Deva, a Kosovo Albanian collaborator with Germany, was then appointed the Minister of Interior. Foreseeing the arrival of German troops from Sep 1943 on, the Jews of Albania-proper hid in the countryside.
Even with the collaborative government, the Albanian authorities wouldn't provide the Germans with Jewish Lists for deporting. In June 1944, Jewish leaders sought help from Albania's collaborationist Prime Minister, Mehdi Frashëri. He refused to hand the list over to the Germans, resenting their interference in Albanian affairs.
In May 1944, a Kosovo Albanian Waffen-SS Mountain Division was formed to arrest and deliver hundreds of Jews in Pristina to the Germans. They were deported to Bergen-Belsen death camp where 281 of them were murdered.
NB almost all Jews in Albania-proper in WW2 were saved from Hitler’s Final Solution, even when it was under Italian rule, a circumstance that wasn't found in any other Axis-occupied country (except for Denmark and Bulgaria). How was the stark contrast in survival rates in Albania and Kosovo explained? Impressive assistance was given to the Jews by the various governmental agencies, providing Jewish families with false documentation.
Jewish Museum Berat
Times of Israel
Kosovo Albanians tended to be more hostile towards foreigners, an attitude ?due to the Albanian–Serbian conflict and persecution suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Thus most Kosovo Albanians welcomed the defeat and partitioning of Yugoslavia, and were very grateful to any power helping them retaliate against local Serbs.
In Albania-proper, when anti-Semitic legislation was adopted by the Italians in 1940, it was applied lightly. Jews felt little need to hide their identities in the Italian period, even marking their holydays in public. The Albanians' tolerance towards the Jews was encouraged by Albania-proper's religious diversity.
From Oct-Nov 1944, the Yugoslav Partisans, supported by both Western Allies and Soviet Union, and assisted by the forces of the Bulgarian Fatherland Front and the Albanian partisans, retook Kosovo as the Germans withdrew. The area was reincorporated into Yugoslavia.
In Nov 1944 the Nazis were ejected by local communist partisans and Albania became a communist state under Enver Hoxha (1908–1985). Meantime Axis forces in the Albanian-annexed regions of Kosovo and western Macedonia were defeated by the Yugoslav Partisans, reincorporating these areas into Yugoslavia.
In Albania-proper, when anti-Semitic legislation was adopted by the Italians in 1940, it was applied lightly. Jews felt little need to hide their identities in the Italian period, even marking their holydays in public. The Albanians' tolerance towards the Jews was encouraged by Albania-proper's religious diversity.
From Oct-Nov 1944, the Yugoslav Partisans, supported by both Western Allies and Soviet Union, and assisted by the forces of the Bulgarian Fatherland Front and the Albanian partisans, retook Kosovo as the Germans withdrew. The area was reincorporated into Yugoslavia.
In Nov 1944 the Nazis were ejected by local communist partisans and Albania became a communist state under Enver Hoxha (1908–1985). Meantime Axis forces in the Albanian-annexed regions of Kosovo and western Macedonia were defeated by the Yugoslav Partisans, reincorporating these areas into Yugoslavia.
Hoxha implemented a totalitarian Stalinist government that outlawed all religious activity in the country, including for the c1,800 Jews in Albania-proper who survived WW2. Most of these survivors emigrated to Israel; several hundred remained in Albania until the fall of Communism in the early 1990s before doing the same. So stories of Albania in WW2, and under Hoxha, were hidden. Albanians knew they would endanger families if they talked openly about having saved Jews, destroying documents in case of searches. The war stories could not be told until the 1990s.
Grand Park of Tirana
memorials designed by Stephen Jacobs