Apostol Kotani
(Albanian Historian)
FROM TITUS TO HITLER: AN OVERVIEW OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN ALBANIA
The first appearance of a group of Jews who most probably settled
in the lands we call today Albania occurred in 70 AD when a ship carrying Hebrew
hostages for the Roman Emperor Titus was wrecked on the Ionian coast near Saranda.
While we do not have concrete facts on how many Hebrews settled in the land,
a mosaic depicting a fragment of a Hebraic candleholder implies the construction
of a synagogue at the time.
It is only at the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that we can document a
settled community of Hebrew merchants in Durres. Hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of Hebrews found refuge in Albania fleeing Spanish Habsburg persecution and
they settled in Lezha, Durres, Vlora, Berat and Elbasan as well as in Monastir,
Skopje, Prizren, and Prishtina where one can find abandoned synagogues. The
good relations between Hebrews and Albanians brought about small waves of immigration
from Thessaloniki, Preveza and Ioannina as these cities were added to the Greek
state, to Vlora, Gjirokastra, Delvina, Kavaja and Durres. Hebrew migration in
and out Albania ebbed and flowed depending on the waves of pogroms or persecutions
in other countries but it was limited due to the scarce resources available
in Albanian lands.
However, it was at the time of greatest need that Hebrew-Albanian friendship
proved to resist the harshest trials and tribulations. In 1933 - 34, members
of the Hebrew community and the High Committee for the Refugees turned their
eyes upon Albania as a refugee place for Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution.
Even Hebrew individuals themselves, turned their eyes upon Albania, and so during
1938 - 39 until 1943 more than a thousand Hebrews from Germany, Austria, Poland,
Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece found hope and life in Albania. Although
they were suffering themselves under the Fascist and Nazi invaders as well as
from a worsening economic situation, Albanians clothed, fed, hid and transported
Jews to safe heavens under the nose of the invaders.
For example, Mark Menahemi a Jew told me that in the beginning of 1944 when
the Nazis undertook an operation in Tirana city to find and seize Jews and freedom
fighters, he found refuge in Dhorka Kovaci Kolonjas house. She got him into
her marital bed and introduced him as her husband. Ill never forget this great
act of humanity that this woman, Dhorka did - said to me Mark Menahem. Some
of the rich Jews offered money to their Albanian hosts but they did not accept.
On the other hand, Hebrews gave their help to the Albanian people in their war
against the invaders. Rafael Jakoeli and Nesim Levi ex - merchants in Vlora
contributed giving 6000 francs per month. The same did Shemo Kohen in Delvina
etc. A considerable number of young Jews joined partisan formations while others
helped in the rear. Eight Hebrews Jusef Solomon Konforti, Jakov Avramovic, Isak
Ruben, David Kohen, Jusef David Bivas, Leo (the partisan), Jakov Josef Bachari
and Dario Arditi gave their lives fighting alongside Albanian partisans.
Incredible as it may seem, no Jews people got persecuted in Albania during the
shoah. That makes Albania a unique country in Europe. After the end of
the War, almost all the Jews that came during 1938 - 1943 went back to their
permanent residences, so in Albania remained only those that had come before
the War and a few newcomers during the War. The Albanian state never requested
their removal. It was only after the fall of communism that Albanian Jews went
back to Israel. As they left, they took Albania with them in their hearts-something
we can verify from their correspondence. But, Albanians do not forget Jews either.
They remember them as wise and hard working people, honest and very loving.
This has given rise to a not inconsiderable number of intermarriages.
Testimony of Valor
The Hebrew Committee in Yugoslavia in its greetings to our Government
in 1945 wrote: While the Hebrews of Yugoslavia, Poland, Germany, etc.,
were exterminated through toxic gas by the Nazis fascist without differentiations,
women, men and children: there was a people in the Balkans that defied against
every racist theory and this was the heroic and hospitable people of Albania
.. Our brothers that came back from your country told us how the Albanian families
generously welcomed them in their houses and protected them from every trouble
[...].
An engineer, Samuel Mandili writes in 20 February 1945: All Israelis that
came from Albania were saved thanks to the generous sentiments of the Albanian
people that considered it as a moral duty to protect in their own houses every
persecuted emigrant [...] The marvelous and noble attitude of the Albanian people
needs to be known because they deserve the worlds and every cultured mans
thankfulness [...] Even the poor peasants, not only received Jews in their homes,
but also shared with them their last piece of bread. Another Jew, Nisim
Bahar that got saved from the hands of the Nazis that wanted to execute him
in Fier, wrote to his sister in law, Zhulia Kantozi: I am in Ohrid I have
climbed a hill on the lakeside and I see Pogradec. How I missed that country!
If I could have wings to fly, I would come to kiss that holy Albanian land that
saved my life.
Miles Lerman Chairman of the Holocaust Museum Council in USA at the occasion
of placing several Albanian families names upon the Memorial Wall of the Museum
said: We are here to say thanks to Albania that raised sons and daughters
so noble that knew how to react in a time when Hebrews were isolated and deserted
in a time when they felt like even God had abandoned them [...]. The Director
of the Rehearsal Institute of the Holocaust Museum, Mr Michel Berenbaum, pointing
at the names of the 300 families placed on the memorial wall said: everyone
of these people is a lesson about human courage and nobility and a great oath
for the humankind. All of this and much more inspired me to begin work
to perpetuate these historical facts as a message of peace, fellowship and love
between our people. I published my book, Hebrews in Albania during the
centuries, at great financial cost from my USD 40 monthly retirement money,
adding this to all the sacrifices that my country made during the War for the
salvation of the Jews.