Screening “Rescue in Albania” on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day
The Honorary Consulate of Israel in Albania, the Albanian Royal Court and the Academy of Film & Multimedia Marubi screened on Thursday Rescue in Albania, a documentary by Alush Gashi, on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Locked in the vaults of one of the world’s most secretive regimes for half a century, this is the incredibly story of how Albanians saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Rescue in Albania is the result of a painstaking exploration in search of those who were given refuge in Albania and Kosovo.
The documentary, which premiered in Tirana on Thursday, tells how Albania was the only country in Europe to emerge from the Second World with a larger Jewish population than before. The director hopes this will be the first of many screenings.
Before the Holocaust, just 200 Jews lived in Albania, but the population swelled by 2,000 as the Nazis implemented their policy of mass extermination throughout continental Europe. The London-based Jewish Daily Post reported in July 1935: “It has been a month since the Albanian diplomats in Europe have been implementing the order received from King Zog’s government to issue as many Albanian passports to Jews wanting to go and live in Albania.” Information from the Albanian national archive in Tirana confirmed that King Zog I invited Jews to Albania in the 1930s to help develop the country. Most obtained Albanian visas and some were even issued Albanian passports. Jews found shelter in many Albanian households in cities, but when the threat grew too high from the occupying forces’ frequent checkpoints, many escaped to the remote mountains and pretended to be local shepherds. They were provided food and shelter by the local Albanians. In April 1942, 100 Jewish families left Kosovo for Berat, Albania, and 195 people went to Kavaja, Albania. Others were placed in Kruja, Tirana, Fier, Shijak, Shkodra and elsewhere. Many were employed in shops, manufacturing and agriculture. In Berat, 38 Albanian families sheltered about 600 Jews arriving from 1942. 350 Jews came from Dalmatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and FYROM, and 400 from Greece. Some Jews were provided with identity cards, giving them local Albanian names to hide their true origin from the Italian police and military.
What is International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs on January 27, is the first universal commemoration in memory of the victims of The Holocaust. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on November 1st 2005 during the 42nd plenary session. On 24 January 2005, during a special session, the United Nations General Assembly had previously marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust which resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazi German regime. January 27 is the date, in 1945, when the largest Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) was liberated by Soviet troops.
The General Assembly Resolution 60/7
The Resolution 60/7 establishing January 27th as an International Holocaust Remembrance Day urges every member nation of the U.N. to honor the memory of Holocaust victims, and encourages the development of educational programs about Holocaust history to help prevent future acts of genocide. It rejects any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event and condemns all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief. It also calls for actively preserving the Holocaust sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labor camps and prisons, as well as for establishing a U.N. programme of outreach and mobilization of civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education. The essence of the text lies in its two-folded approach: one that deals with the memory and remembrance of those who were massacred during the Holocaust, and the other with educating future generations of its horrors.
