Albania's 200 Jews were saved from the Holocaust by Muslims
I was reading Point of No Return this morning as we add their feeds on our ME Faith site.
I came across this post which I thought would be interesting to share here:
Albania’s 200 Jews were saved from the Holocaust by Muslims acting according to a traditional code of honour. The Jerusalem Post reports that Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, is about to pay tribute to them with a special exhibition:
“The extraordinary story of Albania, where an entire nation, both the government and the population, acted to rescue Jews is truly remarkable,” said exhibition curator Yehudit Shendar. “Many, if not all, were heavily influenced in their choice by Islam… This very human story, told through these sensitive portraits, combine to highlight a little-known but remarkable aspect of the Holocaust.”
“This is a story that has rarely been publicized,” said Holocaust survivor Ya’acov Altarat, 74, from Tel Aviv, who escaped to Albania with his parents as a boy of eight in 1941 and found refuge there for the duration of the war.
“It is a story of a nation saving all of its Jews because of a code of behavior,” he said.
“Why did my father save a stranger at the risk of his life and the entire village?” asked Enver Alia Sheqer, son of Righteous Among the Nations Ali Sheqer Pashkaj, who is featured in the exhibition. “My father was a devout Muslim. He believed that to save one life is to enter paradise.”
The exhibit will be on display at Yad Vashem for two months and will then travel to New York, where it will be displayed at the United Nations headquarters on January 27 for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Thursday morning opening ceremony will take place in the presence of Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ghaleb Majadle – Israel’s first Muslim cabinet minister – as well as Gershman, Chairman of the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous at Yad Vashem Ya’acov Turkel, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev and Honorary Consul of Albania in Israel Raphael Faust.
“What I found were good people who did good deeds,” said Gershman, who hails from Basalt, Colorado, and began the project four years ago after coming across pictures of Albanian Muslims who had been honored by Yad Vashem for saving Jews during the Holocaust.
He noted that the some of the Muslims he’d met in Albania had referred to the Koran when asked why they took in the Jews, while others talked about a culture of hospitality.
“This is a story that [shows] there are good Muslims in the world,” he said.
About 22,000 non-Jews have been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations since 1963, including 63 – predominantly Muslim honorees – from Albania.
To date, more than 70 Muslims have received the award, Yad Vashem spokeswoman Estee Yaari said.
No Arabs have received the honor, although one candidate, Khaled Abdelwahhab of Tunisia, in January became the first Arab to be nominated for the award.
Join the Conversation
Thanks for posting this. I think it’s important for both the Jewish and Muslim communities to know that there were, in fact, Muslims who saved Jews during the Holocaust. These stories really need to be told more and more. In fact, I’ve written a bit about it happening in the Maghreb (North Africa).
Wiesenthal Center Honors One of Shoah’s Righteous Arabs (Tunisia)
and
Moroccan King Nominated for ‘Righteous Among Nations’ Title
As a Jew, my favorite thing about the way contemporary Jews treat the Holocaust is the incredible work Yad Vashem does in digging up so-called “righteous gentiles.” My personal favorite story is the story of the Japanese diplomat in Germany during WWII who conspired to ship Jews out of Germany by train, across Russia and on to Japan with forged Japanes visas. Yad Vashem found this guy living impoverished up a mountain in Japan a few years ago and brought him to Israel to live in a home for the elderly.
It is really heartenig when you read pieces like this, it just exemplifies the existance of true human spirit and cooperation, if only we heard more examples like this!
haha if you ask Serbs, they’ll think this is all lies lol
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i second that “?”
didn’t iran also take in a bunch?
I’ll throw another spin on this regarding Japan. Japan provided asylum status for Muslims escaping from Russia during and after the Bolsheviek Revolution. These people were Tatars, Turkoman, Persians, Azeris and some others. Japan was and still claims Buddhism/Shintoism as its national religions. The immigrants from Russia formed the first Muslim community in Japan. I do not recall the number of people who escaped to Japan or how many actually stayed on rather than emigrating on to another country. It is interesting, nonetheless. I am certain that some did intermarry with Japanese, and as is required by Japanese law, one must take a Japanese family name, so it would be interesting to get more info on this. Anyway, thanks for the creative catalyst regarding the Jews saved by Muslms during the Holocaust.
If you look at scripture, it is ridiculous how we use religion to justify killing one another, in God’s name no less. I say, let God speak for Himself. Both Jews and Muslims believe in the idea that: “If you save a life; it’s as if you saved the whole world.” It’s time to start believing in what makes sense, and to let go of what doesn’t.
The Pahlavi Dynasty were buddy-buddies with the Third Reich, so don’t count on it.
Turkey, however, did, and three Turkish diplomats did a lot to save Jews during WW2: Selahatin Ulkummen, Necdet Kent, and Namik Kemal Yolga.
Very interesting Esra’a , thanks for sharing, good stuff as always:-)
Ulkumen paid for it, too: the Nazis bombed his house giving his wife injuries that eventually proved fatal. I think all three have received awards from Israel?
Ulkummen was declared a “Righteous Gentile” in 1990, making him the first non-Christian to be bestowed with such an award.
Not sure about the other two, but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the case.
I was privileged to be at the exhibition in Israel at Yad Vashem and spent the week prior with Norman Gershman, the photographer and inspiration for this entire project which is coordinated under the auspices of The Eye Contact Foundation
( http://www.eyecontactfoundation.com ). During that time, I was able to meet and spend time with people from Kosovo and Albania as well as North America and Israel, who have played significant roles from a historical perspective and a current basis. These experiences as well as the exhibition, were positively inspirational.
January 29th is the opening of a one month exhibition at the United Nations of the travelling exhibition from Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial and then a greatly expanded exhibition of double the photos at Hebrew Union College, which include others who practice the concept of Besa-their code of honor. That exhibition will be open from February 28th and run for approximately 6 months before it too becomes a travelling exhibition.
Be the end of 2008, the book of many of the stories and photographs will be published and early 2009 should see the full length documentary released.
If you are interested in this extraordinary exhibition, and the stories behind these remarkable photographs, be sure to check back regularly to http://www.eyecontactfoundation.org
This is a totally non political organization. Its purpose is to bring more of the stories and testimony corroboration to happen as soon as possible, and also to encourage new photographers who are committed to look for the goodness in all they see.
Thanx to USA and JEWISH LOBBY
“GRETINGS FROM KOSOVA”
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