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TIRANA, Sep. 29 – The Albanian government ratified an agreement with Israel on eliminating visas for all categories of civilian passports between the two countries.
Thousands of Jews from Albania and other Balkan nations hid in the country to escape the holocaust during World War II which killed six million Jews.
Albania, which aligned with the Allied forces during the war, was occupied from 1939 to 1943 by fascist Italy and then by Nazi Germany until 1944. Its partisans liberated the country themselves and led the communist party, which ruled the country until 1990.
About 300 Jews lived in Albania until 1990-1991 when they departed for the United States or Israel. (Tirana Times Staff)
