ADL Honors Albanians Who Saved Jews

[maryjoe]

ALBANIAN AMERICAN CIVIC LEAGUE





Throughout their long history Albanians have desired and promoted peace and cooperation among all peoples. They have welcomed foreign visitors to their shores in a spirit of friendship. And, when Jewish refugees found their way to Albania, often fleeing for their lives, the Albanian peolple gave them shelter and protection.

Under fascist rule in Albania, as in other occupied countries during World War II, the Nazi authorities maintained strict surveillance over the Jewish population, registering both natives and new arrivals, and then herding them into camps. In Albania, Jews were removed from Burresi and Vlora, because these towns were strategic transportation links, and while the Nazis tried to deport all Jews not of Albanian citizenship, the Albanian people helped them escape concentration camps by taking them into their homes, giving them food and shelter, and hiding them.

At first, individual Albanians saved Jews on their own initiative. Later, when it became more dangerous, the task was organized by National Liberation Councils in the towns and villages. There were cases where Jewish families, in great danger of discovery, were moved from family to family and village to village, from town to country and back again. Sometimes Jewish families traveled with false passports given to them by Albanians. Often Jews were disguised as Albanian peasants and covertly relocated. In the process, many Albanians were arrested and shot to death for their heroic activities.

The Albanian American Civic League was founded in January 1989 to express the concerns of 400,000 Albanian Americans about the national identity and well-being of seven million Albanians living side by side in their original Balkan homeland - - in Albania, Kosova, western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia (Presheva), and northern Greece (Chamria). As a Member of the House of Representatives from 1985 to 1989, and as chairman of the Albanian American Civic League since that time, I have repeatedly sounded the alarm about Slobodan Milosevic's brutal treatment of the Albanian people of Kosova and in other parts of the Balkans under his influence.

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[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

This is horse manure. Everybody knows the Albanians were the biggest collaborators there were. The Balle Kombetari was the Albanian fascist party during the war, and the SS were extremely successful in recruiting Albanian members (the Skanderbeg division). And don't you dare try to paint the Albanian Muslim jihad against Serbia as anything else.

[maryjoe]

   
ADL honors Albanians who protected Jews


Anti-Defamation League praised Albania as only occupied country where no Jews died at hands of Nazis

Associated Press Published:  01.18.07, 12:05 / Israel Jewish Scene 




World War II was over and Dr. Anna Kohen, then a small child, was walking with her mother in Vlora, Albania, when a woman ran toward them, crying and calling her mother by an unfamiliar name.

 

Kohen was stunned as the women hugged and cried. Her mother later explained that the Muslim woman was from a village where she, Kohen's father and other Jews had hidden during the Nazi occupation before Kohen was born. To protect themselves, Kohen's mother, Nina, and father, David, had taken Muslim names.

 

"Everyone in the village knew they were Jews, but no one betrayed them," Kohen recalled Wednesday as the Anti-Defamation League praised Albania as the only occupied country where no Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, thanks to the country's Christians and Muslims.

 

The league posthumously honored a Muslim Albanian man and his son for protecting six Jewish families.

 

The organization presented its Courage to Care Award to three relatives of the late Mefail Bicaku and his son Njazi. The two led the six families - a total of 26 people - to safety in the mountains of central Albania.

 

For months, the Bicakus shared their home and food with the families while guarding them with a carbine, the league said. Mefail's wife, Xhevrie, washed their clothes.

 

When some suggested that the Bicakus turn the Jews in to the Nazis and claim their wealth, the family refused, according to the league. When the Nazis arrived in the mountain hiding place in 1944, no Jews fell into their hands, according to the league.

 

'Shining stars'

"In the moral void that engulfed the world in those nightmare days when the cruelty of the Nazis ran rampant, the Bicaku family was among those few shining stars," said Michael Salberg, the league's director of international affairs. He presented the award to Mefail's son Muhamet and Njazi's daughter, Elida Hazbiu, and son, Qemal Bicaku.


 

Kohen, whose parents took refuge in another village, said Muslim and Christian Albanians' "humanity and compassion" at that time has been "little-known."

 

Although records from that period are incomplete, Salberg estimated that several thousand Jews fled to Albania from surrounding countries in Eastern Europe.

 

"All of them were saved," Salberg said. "Albania is the only country occupied by the Nazis that had more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning of the war, which is a reflection of Jews having sought refuge in Albania and survived."

 

Acknowledgment 'long overdue'

H.E. Adrian Neritani, Albania's ambassador to the United Nations, said acknowledgment of Albanians' "bravery and humanity" was "long overdue."


 

"No single Jew was allowed to be captured by the occupiers," Neritani told the more than 100 people gathered at the ceremony.

 

 
Muhamet Bicaku traveled with Hazbiu from Albania to New York for the ceremony; Qemal Bicaku came from New Hampshire.

 

With Kohen translating, Muhamet Bicaku thanked the Anti-Defamation League said he was greatly honored to accept the award on his father's behalf. His father was jailed in 1961 for "collaborating with Jews" and died in 1969, he said.

 

"I'm very proud of what he has done," he said.
 

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See More  Ukraine: Jewish school torched   ADL, Yad Vashem share US award 


 
 
   

 
   13 Talkbacks for this article    See all talkbacks
   
 
 
 
 
 
1.  More Jews after the War 
Allan  ,  Phoenix USA   (01.18.07)
 
 
 
2.  wrong 
nell  ,  switzerland   (01.18.07)
 
 
 
3.  Interesting - I didn't know that history.  (End)
Andy  ,  ramat hasharon   (01.18.07)
 
 
 
4.  Why 
leon  ,  Grand Rapids USA   (01.18.07)
 
 
 
5.  moving to learn about  (End)
gabriela ben ari    (01.18.07)
 
 
 
6.  Article Inaccurate - Jews Were Killed 
Joshua  ,  New York, NY, USA   (01.18.07)
 
 
 
7.  Jew loving Albanians ? 
Gaston Boucher  ,  Holland   (01.18.07)
 
 
 
8.  So what was Albanian SS Division Skanderbeg 
Jake    (01.19.07)
 
 
 
9.  WW2 Albania was under Italian control 
Jake    (01.19.07)
 
 
 
10.  Honouring Muslims who fought against Nazism 
Cat  ,  London, UK   (01.20.07)
 
 
 
11.  jews should vacation in albania as a thank you 
debra  ,  usa   (01.20.07)
 
 
 
12.  #2 Wroing: Bulgaria deported Jews from parts of its territor 
Semsem  ,  New York, USA   (01.21.07)
 
 
 
13.  Minor correction to Talkback 10 (about Macedonia) 
Joshua  ,  Brooklyn, NY   (01.22.07)
 
 


 

 
   
 
 

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[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Is this a joke?

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

The GayDL is only slightly less anti-Semitic than the authors of the Protocols. 

[maryjoe]

This is horse manure. Everybody knows the Albanians were the biggest collaborators there were. The Balle Kombetari was the Albanian fascist party during the war, and the SS were extremely successful in recruiting Albanian members (the Skanderbeg division). And don't you dare try to paint the Albanian Muslim jihad against Serbia as anything else.

Like it or not Albanians save jews.

[Zionist Revolutionary]

The Albanians JOINED the Nazis durring World War 2.  They both sent us Jews to the gas chambers, and fought the Allies durring WW2.

It was the SERBS who saved the Jews durring WW2.  They fought off the Nazis and asked the Jews to join them to fight of the Nazis.

[Trumpeldor]

This is horse manure. Everybody knows the Albanians were the biggest collaborators there were. The Balle Kombetari was the Albanian fascist party during the war, and the SS were extremely successful in recruiting Albanian members (the Skanderbeg division). And don't you dare try to paint the Albanian Muslim jihad against Serbia as anything else.

Like it or not Albanians save jews.

There were also several Germans who saved Jews. This doesn't mean we should start saying the Nazis weren't so bad as a whole.

[maryjoe]

This is horse manure. Everybody knows the Albanians were the biggest collaborators there were. The Balle Kombetari was the Albanian fascist party during the war, and the SS were extremely successful in recruiting Albanian members (the Skanderbeg division). And don't you dare try to paint the Albanian Muslim jihad against Serbia as anything else.

Like it or not Albanians save jews.

There were also several Germans who saved Jews. This doesn't mean we should start saying the Nazis weren't so bad as a whole.

We have to give honor were honor is do.

[Barach Velvel ben Lazer Eliazer]

Muslims saved Jews during the Holocaust? What the hell is ADL talking about?

These disgusting traitors to the Jewish people and the state of Israel have lied and been self-hating Jews ever since they were organized. This outrageous claim is beyond belief!

For those unaware, ADL supports Arab Muslim Nazis taking over the Land of Israel. The ADL are Muslim lovers and just some of the worst kind of liberal nutcases.

[MassuhDGoodName]

We shouldn't get mad.

We should get even!

Shouldn't there be a Jewish Holiday celebrating the eventual death of Foxman?

I can only imagine being a "fly on the wall" listening in on Abe's meetings when he asks for suggestions "for the next fundraising effort".

That's one sick fat piece of drek...maybe some genuine "Albanians" will "fix" him for implying that Moslem Nazis rescued Jews in distress.

There can be no doubt that we are now in the time immediately preceding the coming of Moshiach...we are now in "the generation of the dog" which our sages foretold.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

I am wondering if Maryjoe is a troll.

[Barach Velvel ben Lazer Eliazer]

This is horse manure. Everybody knows the Albanians were the biggest collaborators there were. The Balle Kombetari was the Albanian fascist party during the war, and the SS were extremely successful in recruiting Albanian members (the Skanderbeg division). And don't you dare try to paint the Albanian Muslim jihad against Serbia as anything else.

Like it or not Albanians save jews.

There were also several Germans who saved Jews. This doesn't mean we should start saying the Nazis weren't so bad as a whole.

We have to give honor were honor is do.

You're absolutely right; we should give credit where it is due. And we shouldn't give credit to Albanian Muslim Nazis who hate Jews and reveled in their destruction during the Holocaust.

The Albanians are cowards who gave up their Christian values for a terrorist religion, and tried to conquer Serbia, and did so thanks to Bill Clinton.

[Mstislav]

If there is truth to the article, then it was Christian Albanians who helped the Jews and not the islamic filth who joined the ranks of the Nazis.

[Ultra Requete]

We shud honour them; all five. And sorry but ADl is no authoritate here.

[HiWarp]

You want me to honor the Albanians?  OK, I'll honor them.  I'll honor them when they remember who they were before they capitulated to their Muslim conquerors and decided to be converted to Islam instead of retaining their beliefs and their heritage.  Europe was overrun by the Ottomans but where are the Serbian, Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian... Muslims today?  No, it was Albania and Bosnia that decided that it was easier to become Muslims than retain their identities.  And even when the the Ottomans were defeated and driven out of Europe, the Albanians continued to be good Muslims.  So like all Islamic nations, they are mired in a stagnant, centuries old mind frame.  Instead of renouncing this "religious" cancer that eats away at all countries that it touches, they try to spread it the only way a good Muslim knows how;  they invade Serbian land and then attempt to take it over by force.

Yeah, I'll honor Albania.  I'll honor it about the same time that I'll honor every other Islamic sh|thole in the world.

[Srbin]

If there is truth to the article, then it was Christian Albanians who helped the Jews and not the islamic filth who joined the ranks of the Nazis.

second that.

[mord]

Yes the majority of Christian Albanians left Albania hundreds of yrs ago and moved to Sicily they villages in Sicily where the still remember the Albanian Christian roots.As a matter of fact many people in Inwood Long Island will tell you they are Sicilians whose ancestors where Albanian Christians

[Mstislav]

Yes the majority of Christian Albanians left Albania hundreds of yrs ago and moved to Sicily they villages in Sicily where the still remember the Albanian Christian roots.As a matter of fact many people in Inwood Long Island will tell you they are Sicilians whose ancestors where Albanian Christians

Ahh, ic. Well, who can blame them for leaving their homeland?