SUITE COMMUNAUTE JUIVE PROTEGEE EN ALBANIE SOUS L'OCCUPATION

SUITE HISTOIRE DE LA COMMUNAUTE JUIVE PROTEGEE EN ALBANIE SOUS L'OCCUPATION NAZIE:

C’est naturellement à titre bénévole et amical que j’entreprends cette «campagne d’information». Si le sujet de cet ouvrage me tient tant à cœur c’est que je suis issue d’une famille d’enseignants composée de catholiques, de protestants, de juifs ou "d’athées totaux " aux nationalités également fort variées qui tous s’attachent depuis toujours à respecter les différences et à rassembler. L’ouvrage nous apprend et nous démontre en effet que cela fut possible en terre isolée, multiculturelle et multiconfessionnelle.

J'ajoute que le sujet évoqué par Neshat Tozaj fit l'objet de plusieurs études en Italie, en Allemagne, aux États Unis et outre-Manche notamment de la part de Messieurs Michele Sarfatti et Lino Sciarra (Italie), Chaim Frank (Allemagne), Bernd Fisher, Stephen Schwartz, Jack Goldfarb et Harvey Sarner (USA) sans parler de Madame Antonia Young en Grande Bretagne. Cette page d'histoire fut également abordée en France par Messieurs Claude Wainstain et Meïr Waintrater mais aucune étude approfondie n'y fut jusqu'à ce jour réellement consacrée, sans doute en raison du manque d'information à disposition. Informations fort récentes auxquelles nous avons à présent accès et qui ne nous furent communiquées qu'après la chute d'Enver Hoxha.

Un dossier consacré au sujet mériterait d'ailleurs d'être publié tout particulièrement en France et pourquoi pas à l'initiative d'historiens présents sur le Forum.... Dossier auquel collaboreraient sans doute volontiers, à condition naturellement d'y être invités, Monsieur Alfred Moisiu, Président de la République d'Albanie très au fait du sujet (dont les grands parents, ai-je lu à plusieurs reprises, information à vérifier, étaient albanais juifs), Monsieur Ferit Hoxha, Ambassadeur d'Albanie en France, Monsieur Ismaël Kadaré, Monsieur Refik Veseli, Président of The Albanian-Israel Friendship Society, le Dr. Anna Cohen, diplomates, universitaires et historiens albanais vivant en France et autres spécialistes, théologiens etc. sans oublier naturellement le remarquable Professeur Kotani. M. Kotani, très jeune résistant à l'époque des faits qui actuellement tente avec moult difficultés financières de faire paraître une deuxième édition de son ouvrage "The Hebrews in Albania during the centuries".

Dans l'espoir de vous voir accorder quelque intérêt à la page d'Histoire que Neshat Tozaj nous révèle, je vous prie, Mesdames, Messieurs, de croire à toute ma considération.


P.S. Je tiens naturellement à disposition des personnes désireuses de se pencher sur cette Histoire méconnue, voire ignorée, un grand nombre de documents et de témoignages relatifs au sujet évoqué.

Claire.

Mesdames, Messieurs, chers Administrateurs,

Soucieuse de vous faire partager le fruit de mes recherches, J'en profite pour vous adresser les derniers éléments suivants concernant le sauvetage de la communauté juive en Albanie sous l'occupation mussolinienne et nazie:


-La résolution présentée au Sénat des Etats-Unis par Messieurs les Sénateurs Charles Schumer et John McCain le 27 juin 2006:


SRES 521 IS

109th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. RES. 521

Commending the people of Albania on the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the Jews from the Nazi death camps, for protecting and saving the lives of all Jews who lived in Albania, or sought asylum there during the Holocaust.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 27, 2006

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mr. MCCAIN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.


RESOLUTION

Commending the people of Albania on the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the Jews from the Nazi death camps, for protecting and saving the lives of all Jews who lived in Albania, or sought asylum there during the Holocaust.

Whereas at the start of World War II, approximately 200 Jews lived in the Republic of Albania, and approximately 1800 Jews escaped to Albania from Western Europe and the former Yugoslavia;

Whereas in 1934, United States Ambassador to Albania Herman Bernstein wrote that, `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.';

Whereas based on their unique history of religious tolerance, Albanians sheltered and protected Jews, even at the risk of Albanian lives, beginning with the invasion and occupation of Albania by Mussolini's Italian fascists in 1939;

Whereas after Germany occupied Albania in 1943 and the Gestapo ordered Jewish refugees in the Albanian capital of Tirana to register, Albanian leaders refused to provide a list of Jews living in Albania, and Albanian clerks issued false identity papers to protect all Jews who travelled to and hid in Tirana;

Whereas Albanians considered it a matter of national pride and tradition to help Jews during the Holocaust, and due to the actions of many individual Albanians, virtually the entire native and refugee Jewish community in Albania during World War II survived the Holocaust;

Whereas Albania had more Jewish residents after World War II than before World War II; Whereas in June 1990, Jewish-American Congressman Tom Lantos and former Albanian-American Congressman Joe DioGuardi were the first United States officials to enter Albania in 50 years and received from the Communist Party leader and Albanian President Ramiz Alia a thick file from the Communist archives containing the records of the unpublicized heroicdeeds of hundreds of Albanians who rescued Jews during World War II;

Whereas Joe DioGuardi, upon returning to the United States, sent the file for authentication to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Museum in Jerusalem, Israel;

Whereas Yad Vashem has thus far designated 63 Albanians as `Righteous Persons' and Albania as one of the `Righteous Among the Nations';

Whereas in February 1995, Congressmen Tom Lantos, Benjamin Gilman, and Jerrold Nadler and former Congressman Joe DioGuardi spoke at a ceremony at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, commemorating the addition of Albania to the museum's `Righteous Among the Nations' installation;

Whereas based on the information authenticated by Yad Vashem, Jewish-American author and philanthropist Harvey Sarner published `Rescue in Albania' in 1997, to call international attention to the unique role of the Albanian people in saving Jews from the Nazi Holocaust;

Whereas in October 1997, the Albanian American Civic League and Foundation began the distribution of 10,000 copies of `Rescue in Albania' with forewords by Congressmen Lantos and Gilman to bring to the attention of the Jewish people and their leaders in particular the plight of Albanians living under Slobodan Milosevic in order to forestall another genocide;

Whereas on May 15, 2005, Jews and Albanians gathered in New York City in a `Salute to Albanian Tolerance, Resistance, and Hope: Remembering Besa and the Holocaust' on the occasion for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps; and

Whereas in a statement presented at the ceremony Dr. Mordechai Paldiel, Director of the Department for the Righteous at Yad Vashem, commemorated the heroism of Albanians as `the only ones among rescuers in other countries who not only went out of their way to save Jews, but vied and competed with each other for the privilege of being a rescuer, thanks to besa', the code of honor that requires Albanians to save the life of anyone seeking refuge, even if it means sacrificing his own life: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) commends the people of Albania for protecting and saving the lives of all Jews, both native and refugee, living in Albania during the Holocaust;

(2) commends Yad Vashem in Israel and encourages others to recognize Albanians who took action to protect Jews during the Holocaust for their great courage and heroism; and

(3) takes this occasion to reaffirm its support for close ties between the United States and Albania.

-----

Exemples de témoignages de personnes ayant trouvé refuge en Albanie sous l'occupation nazie:

Témoignages adressés dans leur langue d'origine afin de ne pas altérer leur authenticité.

"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

-----

Considération renouvelée
et un grand bravo aux membres de Historia Mundi pour la qualité des contributions adressées.

Claire.


P.S. Je tiens toujours à la disposition des historiens qui souhaiteraient étudier cette page page d'histoire méconnue qui jamais ne fut l'objet d'études affrofondies en France bon nombre de documents et de témoignages. Documents relatifs au sujet abordé par Neshat Tozaj dans son dernier roman publié en France "Ils n'étaient pas frères et pourtant... Albanie 1943-1944"