In a CBC radio documentary (November 2010) Heda Aly notes that, “In a little known fact of history, in Muslim Albania, not a single Jew was handed over to the Nazis during WW2 because opening your door to strangers is entrenched in an ancient Albanian code of honour, Besa.”
Photographer Norman Gershman has created an exhibit of how the Albanians saved Jews. He notes that Besa is deeply rooted in Albanian culture, and describes it as “…a code of honour [that] goes back probably thousands of years. It is more than just hospitality. If someone comes into their aura, they will lay their lives down for anybody.”
Besa means “one who keeps his word” and implies a level of trust that extends to protecting the lives of not only family but also strangers.
Nazis Occupy Albania
In 1943, Hitler’s Nazis occupied Albania and, as they had done elsewhere, set about rounding up Jews to be sent to the extermination camps. But, as recounted by Yad Vashem, Israel’s centre for Holocaust research, the stormtroopers ran into a problem in Albania: “in an extraordinary act, [Albanians] refused to comply with the occupier’s orders to turn over lists of Jews residing within the country’s borders.”
The resistance went further than just a refusal to obey orders. Jews were given Muslim names and Muslim clothes to wear. Doctors bandaged up the faces of Jews and then hid them in their clinics.
The Courage and Cost of Defying Nazis
In the CBC documentary Randi Winter, a colleague of Norman Gershman, tells the story of a Muslim family that was hiding a Jewish boy. The Nazis came to the door and demanded “Give us the Jew.” The father replied that there were no Jews in his house, only his two Muslim sons.
Winter tells how the Nazis said they knew he only had one. The father “turned to his son and said, in a quiet voice, ‘Now is the time to show who we are.’ And when they asked for the Jew his own son stepped forward and they shot him on the spot.”
Alberto Colonomos and his family were among those hidden from the Nazis. David Weinberg, writing for Voice of America (December 2010) reports that, “A wealthy man who worked in a tobacco factory took in the Colonomos family. Unlike many Jews in other parts of Europe who survived the war in cellars and attics, Jews in Albania were …treated as honoured guests.” Besa dictated that the welfare of guests was put before that of family.
Colonomos, who was ten when the Germans arrived, said the host family knew of the risks they were taking: “They really hid us with their lives. They knew that the Germans - the consequences if they catch them were very, very stiff. So they would be shot. But when they have that Besa, they will not denounce their guests. They were amazing people.”
It’s estimated that as many as 2,000 people were saved from the gas chambers by the actions of Albanian Muslims.
Story of Albanian Audacity Almost Unknown
After World War II, the Communist Iron Curtain fell across Europe and Albania became an almost closed society, having little contact with the world outside its borders.
The story of the Muslims who protected the Jews from persecution was almost unknown until Norman Gershman decided to document it. Through his Eye Contact Foundation he tracked down and photographed many of the surviving family members who gave sanctuary to the Jews. He also found some of those who had been saved, many of whom had fled to Israel after the war.
Toby Tabachnick in The Jewish Chronicle writes that, “Gershman sees his calling as finding and honouring families who saved Jews, regardless of their religious heritage or cultural background.”
Tabachnick quotes Gershman as saying that his goal is to “break down stereotypes and build upon the deep roots of humanism that cross racial, ethnic, religions and national boundaries.”
Sources
- “Albania’s BESA.” Heda Aly, CBC The Current, November 17, 2010.
- “Muslims Save Jews in Untold WWll Story.” Voice of America, David Weinberg, December 8, 2010.
- “BESA: A Code of Honour.” Yad Vashem, undated.
- “Albanian Muslims Took Vow to Save Jews, Photographer Says.” The Jewish Chronicle, Toby Tabachnick, undated.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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