This is one of the truly underreported stories from World War II. Albania did not have a large Jewish population before the War, but after it began, the Jewish population of the state increased greatly as refugees from other, Nazi-occuppied countries flooded in. Then, the Nazis invaded and took over Albania too, and one of the first things they did was demand that the Albanian authorities turn over a list of Jewish people living in the country. The Albanian officials refused, and consequently, at the end of the War, there were actually MORE Jews in Albania than when the Germans invaded: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1192380676042&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull.
Maybe today's Albanian Muslims aren't the same people as the ones who saved many Jews 60+ years ago, but I still feel a debt of gratitude towards them..........
2 comments:
So I guess that the Holocaust really did happen then. My sincerest thanks to the Albanian Muslims.
They are still a good people. When President Bush visited them in June he was praised and they even are releasing stamps with his picture on them. Although because of communist rule, it is believed that the majority are either atheists or agnostics.
Post a Comment