Muslims who Saved the Lives of Jews

October 8, 2014 in Viewpoints, World | 0 Comment

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Michael Curtis.
By Michael Curtis,
The horrors committed by evil people during the Holocaust are well known and documented.
Less well known are the merciful deeds performed by good people during the years of World
War II. Among the least known of these decent individual are the Muslims in Albania who
saved Jews. The screening in October 2014 of a film BESA: The Promise, directed by Rachel
Goslins, with music by Philip Glass, is a welcome reminder of this minor but significant
segment of Albanian history, in which a small number of Muslims protected Jews from Nazi
Germany.
The film portrays a number of compelling and moving stories. It is based on the book BESA,
written by Norman H. Gershman, a Jewish American who narrates and is the central figure in
the film. Over a five-year period he collected stories and photographed members of Albanian
families who acted in a compassionate way during the war years. The story remained largely
unknown during the almost 50-year period after the war while Albania was controlled by the
Communist regime known as the Socialist Peoples Republic from 1944 to 1991. During
those five decades, displays of religion were banned in what was an inhumane and brutal
regime, and contacts with the outside world, especially Israel, were forbidden.
Albania is a small country rarely making news though it is a member of NATO and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and since June 2014 has candidate
status for membership in the European Union. As a result of its defeats in the Balkan Wars in
1912, the Ottoman Empire lost control of the Albanian area it had long ruled. Following the
Ottoman defeat, Albania began its efforts to become an independent country in 1912. After
the end of World War I it was accepted in 1920 as an independent state based on a common
language, though its borders were not internationally recognized until 1926, and it was also
recognized as a member of the League of Nations.
Albania was invaded by Fascist Italy in April 1939. Jews were not allowed to leave the
country and a concentration camp was established in Kavaje, but Italy did not comply with
the German Nazi demands to hand over all Jews. After the armistice of September 8, 1943
between Italy and the Allies, German forces invaded and occupied Albania. The Nazis
ordered all Jews there to register but Albanians would not give the German any list of Jews.
The Albanians did not collaborate. On the contrary, in the face of grave reprisals for their
behaviour, they helped Jews to evade the Nazis and sheltered them in their own homes. They
gave the Jews false documentation, allowing them to mingle in public, and forged passports
for them.
In only two cases were Jews captured by the Gestapo and deported to Bergen-Belsen.
Albanian border police allowed Jews to enter the country without asking questions. The

Righteous persons gave Muslim clothes to Jewish women to help them evade Nazi
checkpoints. They took Jews to Albanian ports and helped them escape the country.
The hatred of Jews on the part of the Mufti of Jerusalem is well known, along with his eager
approval of the extermination of Jews in Europe and in Iraq, his raising of an SS Muslim
Division in Bosnia, and his association with Heinrich Himmler and other leaders in Nazi
Germany. BESA tells a different and compelling story of Muslim behaviour. The book and
the film document the participation of some Christians but mostly it was compassionate and
kind Albanian Muslims (Sunni Muslims make up about 58 per cent of the population) who
sheltered Jews who had fled to their country to escape from the Nazis.
At the beginning of World War II about 200 Jews lived on Albania, mostly in the towns of
Korce and Pristina. During the war more than 2000 Jews sought refuge in the country. BESA
is the account of the hospitality of Albanians towards them. The Albanian word BESA
apparently means faith or keeps the promise. It is a code of honour, an ethical code entailing
an obligation to provide help. It entails hospitality, providing food and shelter to those in
distress. By tradition it is a collective agreement to show kindness to and to save people in
trouble.
The story deserves to be better known. The Albanians sheltered the refugee Jews or assisted
in arranging transport to Italy. The dramatic outcome was the fact that 1800 Jews were alive
in Albania at the end of the war. The dramatic result is that there were eleven times more
Jews in the country at the end of the war than at the beginning. In comparative terms it was
the only European country in which more Jews existed at the end than at the beginning of the
war.
A comparison with some European countries can highlight the extraordinary behaviour of the
Albanians. In Poland, 90 per cent of its 3.3 million Jews perished; in Germany 88 per cent of
240,000; in Slovakia 83 per cent of 90,000; in Greece 77 per cent of 70,000; in Hungary 70
per cent of 650,000. Even in the neighbouring Kosovo area more than 600 Jews were killed.
Only Denmark where less than 1 per cent of its 8,000 Jews were murdered can compare with
the record of Albania.
After the dissolution of the Albanian Communist regime in 1991 and the creation of Albania
as a parliamentary regime the truth became more widely known. Consequently, Vad Yashem,
the World Center for Holocaust Research, in Jerusalem, that has honoured 25,000 from 49
countries, since February 1995 has recognized 70 Albanians as Righteous among the Nations.
Photographs and the narrative in the film BESA portray the heroism of the Righteous
Albanians. In the main they were simple people who did non-simple things. The film is
organized around a series of conversations, often highly emotional, told mostly through their
descendants. Jewish survivors tell of their gratitude to their Muslin rescuers.
The central story is a moving one, ultimately joyful, recounted by a man named Rexhep
Hoxha, an owner of a toy store. He is the son of one of the Righteous, and was engaged in a
search for 15 years, that took him to Bulgaria and Israel, to carry out the obligation of his
father. His father had protected a Jewish family and carefully preserved three Hebrew books
entrusted to him by the family until they could reclaim them. He had passed the torch of
kindness, the return of the books, to his son, symbolic of dedication to the next generation.
After considerable effort, the son finally located the Jewish man who had been saved by his

family. In a meaningful and emotional encounter for both men the meeting took place in an
apartment in Israel where Hoxha fulfilled the promise to his father to return the three books.
They turned out to be a complete Torah.
What is compelling in this complex narrative is the modesty as well as the enormous courage
of the Albanians who risked their lives for BESA. In a poor country, perhaps the poorest in
Europe, the Righteous Muslim individuals did what they thought was right and passed on the
promises they had made to their children. At this moment when the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria is exhibited repugnant brutality and evil, BESA is an inspiring story of Muslim heroes
who opposed inhumane terrorism and treasured human life.