In 1943, according to sources (Apostol Kotani) the number of Jews present in Albania that we know of is 863, although the actual number is estimated to be much higher since many were not registered and were passed on as being of different nationalities or crossing the open borders. How safe were the Jews in Albania. For comparison out of 7762 Jews in N. Macedonia 7200 were killed.

Albania was thus the only country in occupied Europe where the Jewish population after the war was higher than before.

How?

For starters the existing Jewish population in Albania was small, in fact almost invisible. They never lived in gettoes and were never seen as a threat or danger. The Jewish population was not very distinct from the local population. They were never persecuted and remained under the radar. At the beggining of WWII, under Italian occupation, Albanian authorities on line with Axis directives, were forced to issue an order to ban all Jews entering Albania and deport all those who had already entered. Albanians being Albanians did not execute the order. Those that entered from Greece were settled in Berat. The ones that entered from Kosovo were settled in a camp in Kavaje. A number of Jews coming from Kosovo (around 300) “vanished”. In other words everytime the German authorities asked the Albanian and Italian authorities to hand them over in Kosovo , they simply would be told to wait “until the paperwork are arranged and then simply bury the requests” while hurriedly prepare them passports with false identities and send them into Albania where they would blend in. Credit is to be given to the Italian authorities in Kosovo who knowingly helped these efforts. However this all ended when Albania fell under the Nazi occupation after the Italian capitulation, and they simply demanded a quick account and handover of the Jews present in the country. The Albanian authorities burned the office where the paperwork were kept in Kavaje. The Italian commanders were in on it as well. The Jews that were kept in the camp were released and they simply vanished in the crowd. The Albanian families took them in, gave them Albanian names and made them members of their families. A fact often dismissed is that the Albanian minister of interior, German collaborator, Xhafer Deva more than once rejected orders to actively hunt and pursue the Jews.

Why?

Albanians did not handover the Jews because that goes against the core value of Albanian culture. BESA. The promise given to someone for safe passage and hospitality. None wanted to soil their family name by “handing over their guest”. The collaborationist Prime minister, Ibrahim bey Bicaku, in cahoots with the Nazis, himself sheltered one Jewish young man named Marko Menachem from Skopje.

AntiSemitism is not an Albanian trait. Jews were never viewed with suspicion.

In total 48 Albanians are honored in Yad Vashem.

A few Jews did not make it to safety however. The German authorities caught up with a few of them and took them away never to be seen again. A few joined the ranks of the partisans.

At the end of the war the Jewish community in Yugoslavia sent a thank you note to Albanian leader and the Albanian military mission in Belgrade.

In the letter Gavril Mandil states:

“In those dark days, when danger and death lingered everywhere, the small and courageous Albanian people gave proof of their strength. Without making much ado about it and without demanding compensation, the Albanian people fulfilled their basic duties as human beings and saved the lives of the Jewish refugees. All the Jewish families found refuge with Albanian families who saved and protected their guests, despite the danger involved for their own lives. It was more than simple hospitality. It was the highest form of sacrifice and duty! The Albanians may know nothing of the culture of Goethe and Schiller, but, in a very natural and instinctive way, they placed the greatest importance on human existence.”