Judaism in Albania

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Representatives of various religions in Tirana - including Grand Mufti Selim Muça , Baba Edmond Brahimaj and Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos - at the celebration of the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel

The History of the Jews in Albania ( Albanian  Judaizmi në Shqipëri ) has a long history: first Jews arrived in late antiquity in the area that is now the Republic of Albania forms. But their number was always small, and today only a few dozen Jews still live in the country after the great majority emigrated. The number of Jews was significantly greater during World War II , when numerous Jews found refuge in Albania; Locals protected them and hid them from the Wehrmacht troops .

history

Antiquity

Ruins of the old synagogue of Saranda

The Albanian Jews are among the Romaniots who have been living in Greece and neighboring areas for 2000 years.

Legend has it that the first Jews landed in the region when a Roman slave transport from Palestine stranded on the Albanian coast and the Jewish slaves were able to escape from the ship. Flavius ​​Josephus reported on some villages in northern Albania that were entirely inhabited by Jews. In other villages, the name refers to a Jewish origin, such as Palasa (Palestine) and Orikum (Jericho) .

The remains of an ancient synagogue from the 4th century have been found in the center of the southern Albanian city of Saranda . A mosaic with a menorah shows that the building was originally used as a Jewish place of worship. Remnants of a mikvah have also been identified. The synagogue was probably converted into a church before the end of the 4th century. Other sources date the construction around 100 to 200 years later. These finds suggest a large and wealthy Jewish community in the ancient Oncheasmos .

Later waves of immigration

Another group of Jews came to Albania from Thessaloniki in the 14th century . Various documents from this period mention Jewish salt traders in the port city of Durrës .

A major wave of immigration occurred in the 15th century when the Sephardi settled in Albania. Albania became Ottoman at that time , which is why many Christians fled to Italy while the Sultan invited Jews to settle in his empire. The Jews settled mainly in Vlora - with 2000 people they made up half of the city's residents. In 1520 there were 609 Jewish houses in the city, six times more than 16 years earlier. There was a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. As traders, they also spread to Elbasan and Berat . At the end of the 16th century, however, most of the Jews left Vlora for unknown reasons. In any case, as dhimmi in the Ottoman Empire, they were repeatedly exposed to attacks and harassment. Various toponyms and graves throughout the country point to a relatively large Jewish presence in the meantime.

In the 1850s, more and more Jews from the larger communities in the cities of Ioannina and Preveza - now in northern Greece, then also part of the Ottoman Empire and the Albanian settlement area - moved to Vlora. Usually it was only men who later brought their families to join them. Over time, Jews also settled in the cities of Delvina and Gjirokastra , which also belonged to the Vilayet Ioannina . The Albanian Jews were in lively exchange with the Jewish community in Corfu . Unlike them, however, they spoke Albanian and Greek . In Vlora there is said to have been a synagogue until 1915, which was destroyed by Italian troops.

Local Jewish community

The American Ambassador Herman Bernstein, himself a Jew, wrote in 1934 about the life of the Jews in Albania:

"There is no trace of any discrimination against Jews in Albania, because Albania happens to be one of the rare lands in Europe today where religious prejudice and hate do not exist, even though Albanians themselves are divided into three faiths."

"There is no trace of discrimination against Jews in Albania, because Albania is one of the few countries in Europe where there is no religious bias or religious hatred, although the Albanians themselves are divided into three faiths."

- Herman Bernstein

Although the Jews were rarely exposed to hostility compared to other countries, Bernstein's statement is not absolutely correct: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Ottoman Empire slowly fell apart and the independent states of Greece and later Albania came into being there were attacks on and expulsion of Jews, for example in Corfu in 1821 and in the Greco-Turkish War in 1897 . The Jews were repeatedly accused of collaborating with the Turks, including in 1911 by Albanians striving for independence. In 1909 four Jews were killed by a "Greek-Albanian gang". In the same year a pogrom took place in Ioannina . In the 1930s in Vlora it was forbidden to close shops on Saturdays at high fines; however, the Jews were able to successfully defend themselves against the provision in court.

During the interwar period, the Jews lived undisturbed, which is why they called it "the golden age for Jews in Albania". However, they failed to build a new synagogue and the Jewish school was closed. A house in Vlora, which served as a synagogue in the meantime, is now a school. Most of the rabbis came from Corfu. The Albanian Jews were also in close contact with the large community of around 2000 people in Ioannina.

In 1928 religious freedom was incorporated into the Albanian constitution. But it wasn't until April 2, 1937, that the Jewish community was officially recognized by the government. Even today there are streets in Vlora and Berat that are officially designated as Judenstraße .

Before Hitler came to power in Germany, 33 Jewish families lived in Albania, 15 of them in Vlora and the rest scattered across the country. A census from the 1930s lists 204 Jews; for 1937, 120 Jews were recorded. There were also a few hundred foreign Jews. The number of all Jews in 1933 was estimated at 600 to 1800 - no precise information is available.

Second World War

Reinhard Heydrich's list of European Jews for the Wannsee Conference (1942). For Albania the number 200 is given.

After 1933, more and more Jews from Germany and Austria fled to Albania. At the beginning of 1939, under King Zogu , visas were freely issued for Jews. Most planned to emigrate overseas via Albania. Over time, however, this became more and more difficult, so that more and more Jews could no longer travel and therefore some of them received residence permits. Later Jews from Central Europe and from the neighboring states of Yugoslavia and Greece occupied by the Wehrmacht joined them. Sarner writes of around 400 to 800 refugees in the country, with some leaving and new ones being added all the time.

In April 1939 , Italian troops occupied Albania. Italy set up a puppet government and incorporated the Balkan state into the Italian kingdom . The Italians, who waged a costly war against Greece from Albania , did not care much about the Jews in the country. Jews could live their identity openly and celebrate festive days. The Albanians were asked to expel Jews, but they did not. In order to satisfy the Italians - as before the invasion - some anti-Jewish laws were passed. The Albanian government did not implement them; and some of the consuls still issued visas for Jews for months. Italians also helped transfer Jews from camps in Kosovo to Albania because they were safer there. Jews who lived in a camp near Kavaja could easily leave it if they wanted to.

Second World War: German soldiers of the Wehrmacht in Albania

In September 1943, after Italy surrendered , Germany occupied Albania. As a result, the situation for the Jews quickly deteriorated. A Regency Council was set up under Mehdi Bej Frashëri . The Wehrmacht lacked the resources to subdue Albania. The aim was to prevent an Allied invasion of the coast and to keep the partisans under control. In order to win over the population, Albania was recognized as an independent state, and the Wehrmacht committed to the new government not to interfere in internal affairs .

At the end of 1943 and 1944, the Nazis demanded lists of all Jews in Albania. Interior Minister Xhafer Deva refused, pointing out that it was an interference in the internal affairs of Albania. The foreign Jews then had to be hidden. Many Albanians, members of all religions, took in unknown Jews into their homes, looked after them, and obtained forged papers and Albanian clothes. They risked their lives for the strangers, but could save them that way. It is true that many Albanians sympathized with the Germans, who gave them more freedom than the Italians and the country with Kosovo had united. But even those Albanians who had studied in Germany or Austria were hardly susceptible to Nazi ideology . Traditional Albanian hospitality was put above the demands of the occupiers by all Albanians.

Two Jewish families were deported from Albania to concentration camps - some of them survived. Otherwise there were no transports of Jews from Albania and no concentration camps in Albania. Albania was the only one of the countries occupied by the Germans in which more Jews lived at the end of the war than at the beginning. The fact that so many refugees survived the Holocaust in Albania is certainly also due to the short duration during which the refugees there were exposed to serious danger.

In Kosovo, where many Jews from Yugoslavia had fled, it was more difficult to protect the refugees. The Albanian government and the Italian military tried to bring as many as possible to Albania after the Germans shot the first Jews. However, this was not entirely successful. An unknown number of people imprisoned in Pristina who were believed to be Jews were brought to Belgrade by the Germans and murdered there. In April 1944, 400 Jews from Albanian-speaking areas in Yugoslavia were transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by the 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS “Skanderbeg” (Albanian No. 1) , which consisted mainly of (Kosovar) Albanians 100 survived the war.

Some Albanian Jews fought as partisans against the fascist occupiers.

Occasionally it is also alleged that Albert Einstein fled to America via Albania with an Albanian passport , but this has been refuted. Attempts to evacuate the Austrian albanologist Norbert Jokl and his important library to Albania failed; he did not receive an exit permit, was subsequently arrested by the Gestapo in Vienna and died in a concentration camp after being deported.

Communism and emigration

After the Germans withdrew in November 1944, the communists took power in Albania. Most of the refugees emigrated soon after the liberation. Jews who wanted to emigrate to Israel after 1949 were refused entry. A Jewish population of 200 to 300 people is given for the post-war period.

The Socialist People's Republic of Albania declared itself an atheist state in 1967 and forbade any practice of religion - the Jews were just as affected by this as members of all other religions. This ban was only lifted at the end of 1990.

The Jewish cemetery in Vlora was used until 1965. Elsewhere, Jews were buried in Muslim cemeteries. After the religious ban, many Jews married partners from other religions; around half of the marriages were religiously mixed. In 1990 60 Jews lived in Vlora. Many Jews had moved to Tirana over time, where there were better educational opportunities.

In 1991, after the communist system collapsed, almost all Jews in Albania took the opportunity to move to Israel. Only a few Jews from mixed families stayed behind. Two families returned a few years later.

present

Prime Minister Sali Berisha with Rabbi Yoel Kaplan at a reception in Tirana

The Jewish religious community has around 50 to 150 members. There is currently (2015) no official Jewish community in Albania. Kosher food is not available.

In 2010 a synagogue and a Jewish center opened in Tirana . A competent rabbi came from Thessaloniki. The synagogue was soon closed again after differences of opinion following the appointment of Rabbi Yoel Kaplan by and by the Chabad movement, but by the government .

In 2012 the State of Israel opened an embassy in Tirana. In 2017 the Albanian community became a member of the World Jewish Congress .

In Berat a small private museum on Jews in Albania ( ) was reopened at the end of 2019 . The exhibition that had opened the year before had to be closed again soon after the initiator Simon Vrusho passed away. Vrusho had written a book on the history of the Jews in Berat. World icon

In 2020, in the presence of Prime Minister Edi Rama , the Israeli ambassador and representatives of all religions, a memorial was unveiled in the Grand Park of Tirana to commemorate the events of World War II.

Albanian "Righteous Among the Nations"

See main article List of the Righteous Among the Nations of Albania

69 Albanians have so far been recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations . This title is given to non-Jewish persons who gave their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust.

In 1993 the “Righteous Among the Nations” from Albania were invited to Israel for a week.

Prominent Jews

The self-proclaimed Messiah Shabbtai Zvi was exiled to Albania in 1672. He died in Ulcinj , Fterra or Berat in 1676 , where he is said to have been buried on the banks of the Osum . The grave of Varri i Çifutit near Berat is a place of pilgrimage for the Bektaschites .

literature

Web links

Commons : Judaism in Albania  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harvey Sarner: Rescue in Albania . Brunswick Press, Cathedral City 1997, ISBN 1-888521-11-2 .
  2. ↑ Ylber Hysi: Saranda. A different view of its history, archeology and religious cults . Gent Grafik, Tirana 2007, ISBN 978-99943-952-2-4 , p. 11 .
  3. ^ Hebrew University Archaeologists Reveal Additional Sections Of Ancient Synagogue In Albania. In: Science Daily. October 21, 2004, accessed September 13, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Things to do in Saranda. In: visitsaranda.com. Retrieved September 12, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Monika Shoshori Stafa: Tragjasi: Fshati midis malit dhe detit. In: Gazeta Shqip. July 14, 2012, accessed on September 13, 2014 (Albanian): "Në Shqipëri ka shumë varre që quhen 'të çifutit': në Fterrë, në Berat, në Ulqin dhe këtu në Tragjas."
  6. ↑ Sulo Gazhina: Hebrenjtë, si e pushtuan, mesin 's Beratit. In: Shekulli online. January 27, 2014, accessed on April 21, 2018 (Albanian, images for the article in the Wayback archive version ( Memento from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive )).
  7. ↑ a b Besa: A Code of Honor. Muslim Albanians who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust. Introduction. Yad Vashem, archived from the original on December 11, 2014 ; accessed on February 26, 2017 (English).
  8. ^ A b c Esther Hecht: The Jewish Traveler: Albania. In: Hadassah Magazine. Retrieved September 13, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Albania. (PDF) In: yadvashem.org. Shoah Resource Center, accessed September 13, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Albania. Historical background. Yad Vashem, accessed on September 13, 2014 (English): “We know only of two cases where Jews were captured and deported. Mrs. Bachar and her children were deported to Bergen Belsen, but survived. Yitzhak Arditi was deported with his wife and four children - only the father survived. All the other Jews survived the war. "
  11. ↑ Andreas Saurer: Was Einstein an Albanian? In: Berner Zeitung. February 1, 2013, accessed September 13, 2014 .
  12. ↑ a b Jewish Albania. In: In Your Pocket Tirana. 2013, accessed on September 13, 2014 (English): "A synagogue opened briefly in Tirana in 2010 but soon closed after a number of controversies with the Jewish community."
  13. ^ 1st chief rabbi inaugurated in Albania. In: ynetnews.com. December 17, 2010, accessed September 13, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger in Tirana, 2011 on YouTube
  15. ↑ Gil Shefler: Albanian Jews reject appointment of new chief rabbi. In: The Jerusalem Post. June 1, 2011, accessed on September 13, 2014 (English): "Members of the local Jewish community complain the position created without consultation, and declare that they refuse to recognize his authority. [...] Last month, the Albanian government appointed Rabbi Yoel Kaplan as the former communist country's first chief rabbi, amid much fanfare. "
  16. ^ Israel opens embassy in Tirana. In: Top Channel . August 3, 2012, accessed April 21, 2018 .
  17. ^ World Jewish Congress calls for clampdown on cyberhate. In: World Jewish Congress. April 25, 2017, accessed April 21, 2018 .
  18. ^ Daniel Gerber: Jewish Museum in Albania opened. In: jesus.ch. November 11, 2019, accessed November 13, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Vizion Plus: Memorial për Hebrenjtë / Vepra kujton sakrificën e shqiptarëve on YouTube , July 9, 2020, accessed on July 13, 2020.
  20. ^ Albert Ramaj : Rescue of Jews in Albania . In: Ecumenical Forum for Religion and Society in East and West (ed.): G2W - Faith in the 2nd World . No. 2 , 2007, p. 17-19 ( article on haGalil.com [accessed July 17, 2014]).