Claire
pre 17 godina
Dear Administrators,
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to tell you from France, without being disrespectful, that rather than "quarrelling" we should better admit that both in Serbia and in Albania the majority of people did their very best to protect the Jewish community during World War II, Gentiles were to be found in both countries. Indeed we must not forget that the Yugoslavian Jewish community and official Institutions were among the first ones in Europe to pay an homage to Albanian people for its behaviour during the war. Let us remind the declarations of The Hebrew Committee in Yugoslavia written in 1945.
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."
Tirana Times Article "From Titus o Hitler, an overview of Jewish" (abstract)
August 28, 2005.
By the Professor Apostol Kotani, author of the " The Hebrews in Albania during the centuries".
Of course one can always oppose to historical facts, which are recognized by the Yad Vashem Institute of Jerusalem itself, the exactions committed by the Skanderbeg SS division but does this prevent us from speaking of the other Albanians, the very population , whose vast majority organized the rescue of Jewish familes ?
Everybody knows that in Kosovo many Albanian and Serbian Kosovars helped Jews to cross the borders to find refuge in Albania proper where not a single Jew was handed to the Nazis. It is not myself who speaks but the Jews themselves who found a safe haven in the country. Once again we must not forget that the Yugoslavian Partisans also permitted many Jewish families to find asylum in Albania helping them to reach the frontiers.
As a French woman and quite aware of my history, I would never dare saying that the French people was only composed of Partisans and Résistants or only of collaborators. Things are more complex than this and all is not black or white. Denouncing the Vichy State and the French collaborators does not prevent me from speaking of the French Résistants, the example given by le Chambon-sur-Lignon population and many other people, on the contrary.
I would never the less stress a difference of huge singularity between us and other European countries, whereas we all knew massive deportations from our countries, Albania proper such as Bulgaria and Denmark are officially mentioned among the Righteous Nations.
Whereas it is our duty to condemn the crimes of certains it is also our duty to celebrate the attitude of others of any faith or any nationality.
Regarding religion, here again, as a French catholic, I would not allow myself to stigmatise such or such religion as Gentiles are to be found among non only Protestants, Catholics, Orthodoxes but also among many Muslims and atheists
Being catholic myself I must say that I always keep in mind a certain past which we can't be proud of such as the Great Inquisition times and this just to remind me and us that any religion, badly interpreted, can lead to atrocities...Would it be possible, if you please, not to constantly oppose good or wrong religions which at the time we are referring to had little to do with the Jewish rescue. The salvation of persecuted people being before everything a question of humanity, duty and personal ethics involvement.
Talking of religion, you are to know that Albanians never claim their religious
belief. Knowing a lot of Albanian intellectuals, diplomats, artists and writers living in France, I would be incapable to say of what faith they belong to. They all are Albanians. Come to speak of belief, when approaching the question, it is very surprising and very comforting to notice that Albanians can refer to the three monotheists precepts without any complex. Most of them consider the original roots are the same. You are to know that in Albania nobody would define himself as Moslem, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant or even Jew, for those remaining in the country, but above all as Albanian. It is even not rare in Albania to find in the same family members of different beliefs who all honour the different religious feast Days. Indeed if nowadays such is not always the case in Kosovo it is rather to indicate a difference between communities. Religious belonging became a way of distinguishing the ones from the others...
If I put a stress on the Albanian contribution, it is just because as we can't deny the example of a majority of Serbs, we must not accuse the totality of Albanians of the crimes committed by the Skanderbeg division. A division which was not only composed of Albanian collaborators but also of mercenaries and other traitors coming from different countries.
On the other hand speaking of the historical belonging of the Kosovo has nothing to do with the Jewish rescue in Albania and here again, rather than fighting each other or distilling hate, we should rather admit that the Kosovars of Albanian and Serbian origin should have the right to live in peace and security on the same land such was the case in the past.
To come back to the Albanian contribution one must admit that whereas the remarkable attitude of the Bulgarians and the Danes towards the rescue of the Jewish community during World War II is well known all over the world, most European people ignore that a tiny isolated country, Albania, did also its best to protect the Jews. The Albanian contribution far from diminishing the heroic behaviour of the majority of Serbs allows us to realize that different people from the Balkans have been capable to unite a time to fight evil.
Besides "my exposé" I would like to tell you about a very nice novel written by an Albanian writer, well known for his involvements for human rights, Neshat Tozaj, who tells us the story of a friendship between two young boys, one being a Jew and the other not.
Very best regards from France.
Claire.
PRESENTATION OF THE WORK
"Ils n’étaient pas frères et pourtant… Albanie 1943-1944"
(They were not brothers and yet...Albania 1943-1944)
By
Neshat TOZAJ
French Publishers: La Société des Ecrivains (S.d.E)
A SOMEWHAT UNKNOWN HISTORY
In his work "Ils n’étaient pas frères et pourtant... Albanie 1943-1944" Neshat Tozaj describes the Jewish community that had been present in Albania for centuries as well as Jews from other countries welcomed during, hidden and protected during the second world war. “Shalom”, the original title of the work published in Albania has been modified for French readers since the author wished to reach them in all their diversity.
The author deals with this period with an approach different to that which one is used to reading, hearing or seeing in most documentaries. The Jewish community is not only depicted as a persecuted community but also as an Albanian community living among other Albanians, united in the same struggle against Nazism and Fascism. A struggle carried on to protect life, human dignity, the property of each person and the cultural heritage. The joint commitment to this fight and friendship taken to the ultimate sacrificed by non-Jewish Albanians to save their brothers and their guests set an example that is almost unique and especially unusual in History.
This book, very largely inspired by actual facts, is an opportunity to pay homage to a little nation often forgotten, which was merely doing its duty in barbarous times.
The publication of this book, apart from the moment of history that it reveals, seems to me to be essential and salutary for many people, starting with the youngest, of all origins, religions or other philosophical allegiances. In fact, in our age in which the problems of racism, anti-Semitism or excessive community loyalty are the order of the day, this work brings a very comforting ray of light. ” Ils n’étaient pas frères et pourtant …” is also a message of hope and encouragement.
The book of Neshat Tozaj, intentionally produced in the form of a novel, the man being mainly an author and journalist, is an opportunity to learn about the Albanian resistance and to recognize the particularly warm welcome extended by the Albanian people to the Jewish community in this dramatic period.
I would add that, for a more profound insight into the period described in Neshat Tozaj’s novel, I had access to the remarkable work “The Hebrews in Albania during centuries” (sic) by Professor Apostol Kotani, a historian and a very young resistance fighter at the time. This work retraces the history of Albanian Jews settled in the country since antiquity and it allows us, above all, to discover that in Albania, the Jewish community was spared during the Second World War. During his long years of research, Mr Kotani has gathered the poignant testimony of many Jews of ancient stock or refugees, all of whom express their eternal gratitude to this “little” country that was able to honour its tradition of “Besa”, the sharing of bread, salt and the heart with anyone who is in distress, a foreigner, a guest of the like, on Albanian soil. Survivors, many of whom emigrated to Israel or the United States after the war, spontaneously collaborated on the work and they all assert in it that no Jews were deported in Albania during Nazi and Fascist occupation.
Nor did Mr Ferit Hoxha, the Albanian Ambassador to France, fail to stress in his speech at the ceremony held on the occasion of the publication in France of Neshat Tozaj’s book that his country was the only state in Europe where the Jewish population had increased at the end of the Second World War.
On the other hand, Mr. Ismaïl Kadaré and Mr. Avner Shalev, amid other personalities, often publicly declared that the number of the persons who found refuge in Albania compared with the initial Albanian Jewish population must be without any doubt multiplied by ten. Mr. Avner Shalev moreover wrote, that only to speak of the Yugoslavian Jews, around 2000 persons had been welcomed and hidden in Albania, not to speak of Greek and Austrian Jews.
Such was the case for instance of the Professor Albert Einstein whose first wife was a Jewish Yugoslavian lady.
Let me state that this information concerns Albania proper as the territory of Kosovo, annexed territory at the time, despite the exemplary attitude of its local population and local authorities, was witness to tragic deportations perpetrated by the Nazis.
------
A FORGOTTEN HISTORY
By Monsieur Pierre Stambul, Vice président de l’Union Juive Française pour la Paix, UJFP.
By means of a novel set in Albania during the thirties and then the war which deals with real events, Neshat Tozaj (*) reminds us of an episode of history largely unknown in France and to Jews all around the world.
Even during the worst periods of Nazi barbarism and genocide, if there had been people steeped in the most abject racism and collaboration in mass crime, there were also those who were not in the least predisposed to the slightest form of “heroism” but who nevertheless resisted the inhumanity morally and with weapons in their hands.
The attitude of the great majority of the Albanian people during the occupation reminds one a little of the French Protestants peasants of Chambon-sur-Lignon who saved hundreds of Jewish children by hiding them among their own children.
The Albanian Jewish community has never been very large. Although an ancient Jewish presence in Albania seems certain, the Albanian Jews probably descend from the Jews taken in by the Ottoman Empire from the XV th century onwards and dispersed within the Empire. An educated urban population in a very rural Albania, they never suffered persecution. The book describes this meeting between two very different worlds, the little Jewish community and the village communities that were founded on the great traditions of hospitality and mutual aid.
When war broke out, whilst the Communist Party was organising the whole nation’s resistance movement and the self-organisation of the villages, this resistance movement was at the same time organising the saving of the Jewish community. What is more, the Albanian villages welcomed and hid Jews fleeing from Eastern Europe. No deportation ever occurred in this country. The book tells of the real brotherhood that developed. It should also be known that the Albanians welcomed Italian soldiers (although they had invaded them) after the capitulation in 1943. [...]
The Albania of these tragic years shows that anti-Semitism is not inevitable and that a genuine entente is possible between a nation and a minority that lives within it.
Albania has often been given a very negative image: Stalinism dictatorship, economic ruin, the mafia. Neshat Tozaj gives us back a human, hospitable and generous people who are capable of solidarity. Village mutual aid structures allowed the emergence of a national resistance movement which controlled the mountains of the interior throughout the whole war.
Thank you to the author for having reminded us of this edifying history.
Pierre Stambul
Vice président de l’Union Juive Française
pour la Paix. UJFP
(*)"Ils n’étaient pas frères et pourtant... Albanie 1943-1944"
Neshat Tozaj, Editions S.D.E(Société des Ecrivains)
------
Back cover of the book:
Le hasard veut que se rencontrent deux enfants albanais, l’un juif l’autre pas. Sazan et Solomon se lient d’amitié et découvrent les richesses de l’un et de l’autre. Puis vient la guerre et l’occupation nazie, la famille de Solomon est immédiatement cachée et protégée. C’est ainsi que par ce récit inspiré de faits authentiques l’on apprend qu’aucun Albanais juif ou réfugié ne fut déporté pendant la seconde guerre mondiale dans ce pays. Certains protecteurs particulièrement humains et courageux sont même allés jusqu’à sacrifier leur vie pour sauver ce qu’ils avaient accueillis. Pour eux c’était une question d’honneur.
Ce livre passionnant et émouvant écrit dans un style limpide et poétique, malgré l’horreur des évènements, nous permet d’aborder une Albanie méconnue.
Neshat Tozaj est né à Vlora en Albanie le 1er janvier 1943. Ecrivain, journaliste, juriste et directeur de la société Albautor (protection des droits d’auteur), Neshat Tozaj est au premier rang de ceux qui défendent les droits de l’homme et met son talent au service de son pays et de son devenir.
------
-Few testimonies of Ladies and Gentlemen who found refuge in Albania under the nazi occupation:
"Farewell, Albania, I thought. You have given me so much hospitality, refuge, friends, and adventure. Farewell, Albania. One day I will tell the world how brave, fearless, strong, and faithful your sons are; how death and the devil can't frighten them. If necessary, I'll tell how they protected a refugee and wouldn't allow her to be harmed even if it meant losing their lives. The gates of your small country remained open, Albania. Your authorities closed their eyes, when necessary, to give poor, persecuted people another chance to survive the most horrible of all wars. Albania, we survived the siege because of your humanity. We thank you."
Irene Grunbaum.
------
..."There is a small country in the heartland of Europe called Albania where I was fortunately born, where hospitality to foreigners is part of their tradition. During the Second World War, not only did the Albanians save all the Jews who were living among them but they dared to share their homes, their food and their lives with them. Albania has its share of Oscar Shindlers, and, indeed, so many that we could never have thanked each glorious one of them.
Let us be reminded that not one - not one - of the Jews living in Albania, or those who sought refuge there were turned over to the fascists -all found a safe haven at great danger to their protectors."...
Dr. Anna Kohen.
------
"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 world’s and every cultured man’s 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."
Samuel Mandili (1945)
------
..."Albania was one of the only European countries that did not turn over a single Jew to the Germans. There simply were no deportations from Albania.
My parents and I, along with many other German and Austrian families, found refuge in Albania and were hidden by Albanians during the German occupation of that country. In 1941, when Germany occupied Yugoslavia, hundreds of Yugoslavian Jews were able to escape to the safety of Albania because the Albanian government opened the border at Kosovo and let as many Jews into the country as were able to escape from the pursuing German army. It is a documented fact that the German general in Belgrade knew the names of all those who had escaped across the border and demanded their return within 48 hours. The Albanian government, instead of turning over even a single Jew, dispersed them in villages and on farms, gave them Albanian names and documents and then reported back to the German general in Belgrade: “We know no Jews. We know only Albanians.”
...Albanians, whether Muslim or Christian, are the most hospitable, generous and kind human beings. It should be emphasized that this was not just an act of their customary, known hospitality, this was an act of personal courage. They simply placed their belief in the necessity to help those in need above their and their family’s safety.
Johanna J. Neumann, Silver Spring, MD
------
I remain at disposal to any one who would like to study this page of history many documents and testimonies about the Jewish rescue in Albania.
My congratulations to the Redaction of B92 news for the quality of articles available on the Internet site.
Considération renouvelée from Paris.
P.S. It is possible for the readers of French language "lovers" to order "Ils n’étaient pas frères et pourtant...Albanie 1943-1944" via Internet on Amazon.fr, alapage.com or La Société des Ecrivains, French Publishers.
31 Komentari
Sortiraj po: