International conference on Holocaust in Tirana

TIRANA, May 20 – Local and international experts on Tuesday convened in Tirana to look into the circumstances which made Albania the only country in Europe with more Jews after the World War II than before it.
A special two-day Holocaust Conference entitled “Albania, Albanians and the Holocaust,’ organized by the Tirana University and Israeli’s Bar-Ilan University, convened senior research dignitaries from Albania, Israel and other countries to discuss on the tiny Balkan country’s extraordinary record in the Second World War as a haven for persecuted Jews, something that has not received widespread international publicity.
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the Israeli ambassador attended the conference.
Some 1,200 Jews, residents and refugees from other Balkan countries, were hidden by Albanian families during the war, according to official records.
“The heroic rescue of Jews in Albania is very exceptional,” said Mordechai Arbell of the World Jewish Congress Research Institute. “Jews have been saved in Albania for almost 2,000 years. The special harmonious life of the religious communities in this country must be an example to the world,” he added.
Berisha also expressed surprise how Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could deny the Holocaust saying that “such voices are sirens that deserve true punishment because if they increase they could become punishable for others.”
Albania was occupied from 1939 to 1943 by fascist Italy and then by Nazi Germany until 1944. Partisan groups who helped liberate the country formed the communist party that ruled Albania until 1990. About 300 Jews lived in Albania until the collapse of communism, but most have since emigrated to the United States and Israel.