Pittsfield — A Nazi transport pulls into an Albanian village, its cargo including a Jew destined for execution. With guile and wine a storekeeper keeps the Germans occupied while he slips the prisoner a note in some melon urging him to flee. For two years he conceals the young Jew in his house until war’s end, saving his life. Stories such as these lost for 50 years can now be heard in a moving and important presentation this Sunday at the Berkshire Museum.
In honor of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires will host a program revealing how Albanians and Kosovars defied the Nazis and risked their lives to save Jews during World War II.
Unique among wartime European countries, Albania succeeded in protecting every Jew who resided or could make their way there, saving an estimated 2,000 lives.
The inspiring account will be presented by former Congressman Joseph J. DioGuardi and his wife, Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, both instrumental in bringing the story into the light of day. Speakers will include Lek Rezniqi and Agim Alickaj, descendants of Albanians who conspired to smuggle Jews from Kosova to Albania using false IDs, with filmed testimonies by Johanna Neumann, a German Jew sheltered for the duration of the war, and Felicita Jakoel, who with her survivor father helped Albanian Jews emigrate to Israel.
After the presentation, Rabbi David Weiner of Pittsfield’s Knesset Israel and Rabbi Leonard Guttman of New York City will lead a candle-lighting ceremony and prayers, followed by a reception with an accompanying exhibit of photographs, and a display on Righteous Gentiles by 8th graders from Clarksburg School.
The story lay undiscovered until DioGuardi and the now-late Congressman and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos paid an official visit to Albania in 1990. The last Communist dictator handed them a state archive of letters, photographs and clippings documenting the heroic Albanian wartime actions. They passed this on to Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Authority “Yad Vashem” to ensure those involved received past-due recognition.
DioGuardi is descended from Christian Albanians, who fled to Italy following the Ottoman Turk invasion in the 15th century, which left two-thirds of Albania and the 2 million ethnic Albanians in neighboring Kosova secular Muslims. Albanians are governed by the Kanun, a deeply rooted code of conduct that includes “Besa,” an obligation of tolerance and compassion that regards foreigners as guests deserving of hospitality and protection.
Both officials and ordinary citizens risked death to smuggle and shelter Jews, often passing them off as locals in plain sight, with Muslims, Christians and Jews uniting against a common enemy.
DioGuardi founded the Albanian American Civic League & Foundation, and met Cloyes when she was publishing a book against brutal Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. She became Balkan Affairs adviser to his organization. Deeply affected by war crimes trial coverage she saw as a youth, “it was the driving force for me, the point of departure for how I responded,” she said. “Social justice issues are most important to the way I have chosen to live my life.”
Together, they have promoted Albania’s role during the Holocaust. The message must be told, she says: “Genocide has to be dealt with in every generation, just as human rights and democracy have to be upheld.”
The Balkans went straight from Nazi domination to communism, suppressing all discussion of atrocities past and present, Cloyes said. “If [DioGuardi] and Lantos hadn’t gone in 1990, I’m not sure we would have known about the Albanian rescue at all,” she said.
When organizations around the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of Albania’s independence, Cloyes organized presentations at the Capitol in Washington D.C. in 2012 and the NYC Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2013. The following year, she spoke at the UN’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
This is the first time the program has been shared with the general public.
Jewish Federation executive director Dara Kaufman and Rabbi David Weiner of Knesset Israel learned of the story after congregant Ronald Rettner brought it to their attention.
“As the years pass and survivors pass away, it’s not only our obligation to remember, but also to make sure that education beyond the Jewish community continues,” Kaufman said. “It’s the story of a people, individuals and government officials, who had the moral courage to stand up and say, `We are going to collaborate and protect [the Jews] because it’s our ethical duty to do so.'”
The Federation has long championed positive intercultural relations, hosting a recent Israeli art show of olive tree paintings by Jewish and Arab artists and an upcoming photography exhibit in May.
“Coexistence can and does exist even under the most difficult of situations,” Kaufman said.
In Albania, everyone in society responded, regardless of position or background, with no distinctions on the basis of religion, nationality or anything else, Cloyes explained.
“It’s an ability to reach out and respond to human suffering,” she said, “a conscious cultural act that should be held up as an example for our time.”
http://www.reformer.com/stories/how-albanians-saved-holocaust-jews-a-lesson-for-our-time,505065
