Muslim Albanians saved the life of almost 2,000 Jews from exile to the camps of concentration during the great World War II. US author Johanna Jutta Neumann’s family was also there among those rescued from exile.
US author Johanna Jutta Neumann said that the Albanians were fantastic and also he said that there were more Jews than before after the war. During the 2nd World War, a Hamburg born Jewish woman found shelter. Before the war, less than 500 Jews used to reside in the southeastern European country with an overall population of a million people. Not only that, about 2000 Jews called Albania their home after the World War II ended.
Today the author lives in Washington. The Albanian-German Friendship Association called her to Germany for presenting her book entitled has narrated the story of Albania during 1938.
he Jews till 1942. Till 1943 summer, several European Jews sent application to Albania for something that was no longer possible; asylum. Albanians during that time saved Neumann’s life from exile and extinction. Initially they used to live in hotels only for getting acquainted with the Albanian hospitality. Neumann said that they left the hotel after three months and started living with a Muslim family. He added that it was the first when the Jewish family experienced their first Bairam and Ramadan festivals. It was a wonderful experience for him as people over their treated them like their own family.
On the other hand, a New York dentist Anna Cohen’s family went to Thessaloniki and found shelter in a village named Tre Vllaznit near Vlora. Cohen said that she was born in Albania after the world war ended and she was brought up there. She added that she has always felt Albania as a Jewish heritage.
Albania buries remains of exiled king
Thousands of Albanians as well as the top leaders of the country were present at the burial ceremony King Ahmet Zog I to pay their last respect. Zog I was the only post-independence monarch of Albania. He died around 50 years ago and was buried in exile.
On Saturday, the television channels of Albania the burial ceremony live from the country’s capital. The ceremony took place a day after his remains came from France. Zog I was buried at the mausoleum of his family, alongside Queen Geraldina, his Hungarian wife.
Zog l proclaimed himself as the monarch of the country in the year 1928 and ruled the country till 1939. Once his monarch was occupied by Italy, he was force to leave the country. In 1946, after the Second World War, the communist rulers of the country abolished the monarchy.
In 1990, after the communists’ regime’s fall, Albania is now a parliamentary republic. The Royal Family came back to the country in 2002. Since then they lived a quiet life dispensing with the claim for the throne.
Sali Berisha, the Prime minister of the country, told that the people of Albania honor Zog l for his contribution to build the country. Albanian President Bujar Nishani as well as Kosovo President Ahtifete Jahjaga were present at the event, but the ceremony was unheeded by the opposition parties. Albanian President told that Zog l was one of the most prominent figures in the history of the country.