The Albanian-American Community and Albania: Retrospect and Prospect

By Nicholas C. Pano

In a 9 September 2002 dispatch regarding the visit of President Alfred Moisiu to the United States, the Albanian Telegraphic Agency observed: “The most important part of the visit will be the meeting of President Moisiu with Albanians living and working in the U.S. and in the Albanian Autochephephalous (sic) Church in Boston.” This observation, which may have somewhat exaggerated this aspect of the Albanian president’s trip to the United States, nevertheless, underscores the importance of the Albanian-American community in Albanian history and its continuing significance in the relationship between Albania and the United States.
Indeed, since the abandonment of Albania’s stridently anti-American policy in 1990, each of the four Albanian presidents who have traveled to the United States on official business have sought to reach out to the Albanian-American community and reforge the bond between those of Albanian heritage in the United States and their ancestral homeland. All of the Albanian heads of state and virtually all prominent Albanian personalities who have come to the United States have made a pilgrimage to Boston, the historical capital of the Albanian-American community and the birthplace of three of the most revered institutions of the Albanian National Renaissanceشhe Albanian Orthodox Church in America (1908); Dielli (1909), the oldest continuously published Albanian-language newspaper in the world; and the Pan-Albanian Federation “Vatra” (1912).
As is well known, what have been termed the Albanian “colonies” in Turkey, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Egypt, along with the Albanian settlements in Italy, played a major role in the development of the Albanian National Renaissance. Albanian patriots residing in these countries sought to stimulate the national consciousness of their compatriots who were scattered in the four Ottoman vilayets of Kosova, Manastir, Shkoder, and Jannina by publishing and distributing Albanian-language books, pamphlets, newspapers, and political tracts. Within their limited abilities to do so, they also sought to sensitize European governments and public opinion to the national aspirations of the Albanians.
During the first decade of the 20th century, however, the rapidly growing Albanian community in the United States emerged as the major external focal point for the Albanian nationalist movement. The foundations for the Albanian community in the United States were laid in 1892, when seventeen young Albanian males from the town of Katundi arrived in the United States under the leadership of Koli Kristofor. There was only a modest increase in the Albanian immigration to the United States between 1892-1902, but the flow of Albanians to this country then accelerated until the entrance in 1917 of the United States into World War I.
It is at this point that we are confronted with one of the most thorny and persistent problems in dealing with the history of the Albanian-American communityؤetermining its size. A fundamental problem in this regard is that there was no independent Albanian state prior to 1912. Thus, the vast majority of Albanians who entered up to this time, and for some time thereafter, were admitted with passports issued by the Ottoman Empire. Similarly, immigrants who departed from one of the European or Egyptian Albanian colonies often entered the United States under the passports of those countries.
Thus, in comparison to other immigrant groups, it has been much more difficult to establish precisely the size of the Albanian population in the United States. A review of U.S. census data since 1910 suggests that there has been a chronic undercounting of the Albanian population in the United States. This situation has been compounded by the high percentage of mixed marriages among Albanians, especially during the second half of the twentieth century, as well as by the fact that a large proportion of Albanian immigrants during this latter period have entered from the former Yugoslav Federal Republic. Additionally, there were Albanians who for various reasons, including a reluctance to provide personal information about themselves, did not participate in the decennial U. S. census enumerations.
Based on the estimates provided by the compilers of the pioneering social study of the Albanian-American community, The Albanian Struggle in the Old World and New (1939); the research of Joseph S. Roucek; Constantine Demo’s memoir, The Albanians in America (1960); and accounts in the contemporary Albanian press, it appears that as a consequence of the first great wave of migration to the United States (1902-1917) the Albanian population in the country had grown to between 30-40,000 by 1918. The size of the Albanian-American community remained stable until the conclusion of World War I. But even at its height, the number of Albanians in the United States during the period does not appear to have exceeded 40,000.
The majority of the first generation of Albanian immigrants to the United States were young (aged 15-30 years) Orthodox Christian males from southern Albania with a sprinkling of Albanians of a similar background from the colonies in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Egypt. Most had emigrated for economic reasons or to escape possible military service, and intended to return home as quickly as possible after amassing sufficient funds to improve their lives. These early arrivals were mainly of peasant stock or from families engaged in retail trade. They were largely illiterate, but the popular assertion that in the United States in 1906 there were fewer than two-dozen Albanians who could read their native language appears to have been an exaggeration. Furthermore, these immigrants, who worked long hours at tedious factory or other menial jobs, lacked organizing skills and had only a rudimentary level of national consciousness, which was grounded in their shared spoken language; their sense of what they viewed as a common Albanian domain; their fear of the territorial aspirations of their neighborsسpecifically the Serbs, Montenegrins, and Greeks; their resentment of Ottoman domination; their customs, traditions, and folklore; and their pride in the exploits of their 15th-century national hero, Skanderbeg.
But within a decade, this community had emerged as the pre-eminent center of the Albanian national movement and assumed a crucial role in preservation of Albanian independence and territorial integrity. What were the factors in the transformation of the Albanian-American community that enabled it to provide the initiative, organization, and material support that Albania so desperately required at one of the most critical junctures in its history?
First, the community attracted a number of talented, and in some cases charismatic, individuals who were able to provide the leadership necessary to intensify the patriotic sentiments of their compatriots and mobilize them in support initially of Albanian autonomy within the Ottoman Empire and subsequently of Albania’s independence prior to World War I, and to work for the restoration of an independent Albania during and after World War I.
The first of these leaders, Petro Nini Luarasi and Sotir Peci, arrived in 1904 and both left in 1908 never to return. But their contributions to the Albanian-American community were epochal. Luarasi formed the first of the Albanian patriotic societies in the United States, which served as a model for the many that followed. Equally important, he spread the gospel of nationalism by distributing Albanian language books and pamphlets to his countrymen. Peci, in 1906, established Kombi, the first Albanian-language newspaper in the United States. In its first issue, 6 June 1906, Peci attributed the problems afflicting Albanians (lack of self-government, ignorance, poverty) to the oppressive and unenlightened policies of the Ottoman regime that had been imposed on them. He proclaimed that one of the principal aims of the paper was to inculcate patriotism among his compatriots and to move them to seek redress of their concerns by peaceful means or by force, if necessary. Kombi, which ceased publication in 1909, inspired the appearance of eleven additional Albanian-language newspapers and two journals in the United States between1909-1918.
Following the departure of Luarasi and Peci, the mantle of leadership in the Albanian-American community fell to Fan S. Noli (1882-1965) and Faik Konitza (1876-1942). Today, both these men are regarded as the principal icons of this community. In 1908, Fan Noli was among the founders of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America and became its long-time spiritual leader. The following year both Noli and Konitza were among the prime movers in the establishment of Dielli, which for nearly a century has served as an advocate for Albanian national aspirations and interests, and as a forum for the exchange of ideas within the Albanian-American community. In 1912, Noli and Konitza joined with others to form the Pan-Albanian Federation of America, Vatra. Since Vatra supplanted virtually all existing Albanian-American patriotic societies, it enabled the community for several years to speak with a single voice. Noli and Konitza, both of whom received degrees from Harvard in 1912, are also revered for their contributions to Albanian culture.
But the roster of competent leaders in the Albanian-American community during the first two decades of the 20th century was not limited to the distinguished quartet whose contributions I have summarized. The impressive lineup of those who contributed their talents to Vatra, Dielli, and other organizations that sprang up during World War I and its immediate aftermath included Kristo Dako, Kost Checkrezi, Kol Tromara, Kristo Floqi, Bahri Omari, Kostaq Kota, Mihal Grameno, and Andon Frasheri, among others. These individuals made notable contributions to the Albanian national revival during their period of residence in the United States. All subsequently returned to Albania and followed diverse political and career paths.
Second, in addition to its complement of strong leaders, the Albanian-American community developed three institutionsشhe Albanian Orthodox Church in America (1908), the newspaper Dielli (1909), and the Pan Albanian Federation of America (Vatra) (1912)إach of which made singular contributions to the preservation of Albania from 1912 to 1920, and subsequently to the spiritual, political, and cultural life of Albania. The establishment of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America enabled the practitioners of this faith to worship in their own language; provided convincing evidence that Albania’s Orthodox Christians were not in fact Greek, as the Patriarch of Constantinople and the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church of Greece claimed; and inspired the efforts of the Orthodox Church of Albania to achieve autocephalous status. In addition to its religious mission, the Albanian Orthodox Church in America served as an agency of nationalism among its adherents. Fan Noli was the first ordained clergyman of this church, and during the final three decades of his life (1932-1965) he organized and administered the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America.
Dielli in 1909 succeeded Kombi as the most important and widely read Albanian-language newspaper in the United States. It was edited between 1909 and 1920 by a succession of outstanding writers and journalists, including Fan Noli, Faik Konitza, Kristo Dako, and Kost Chekrezi. It was a dedicated advocate in behalf of Albania during the era of World War I and the Paris Peace Conference. Up to the end of the 1920s Dielli was the most prestigious Albanian-language newspaper in the world.
Vatra was formed in April 1912 following an agreement on the part of prominent members of the Albanian-American community to merge existing local patriotic societies into a national organization based on the federal principle. Under this structure Vatra was comprised of local self-governing chapters that sent delegates to an annual national convention to elect national officers and determine policies. Noli and Konitza were among the most influential and prestigious leaders of the organization. Vatra enjoyed the loyalty and support of the vast majority of Albanians in the United States. Vatra also at this time assumed responsibility for publishing Dielli. Owing to the collapse of the Albanian government and the country’s occupation during World War I, Vatra took on some of the attributes of a government-in-exile. It conducted a vigorous propaganda campaign and engaged in lobbying to secure the restoration of an independent Albania. It also appointed and subsidized an Albanian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference to protect Albanian interests.
Third, with most Albanian immigrants gainfully employed during this period, the community was in a position to provide the financial backing required to support the array of activities in which Vatra engaged. On 3 June 1917, Vatra launched a drive to raise $150,000 to cover the expenses of publishing Dielli on a daily basis; issuing an English-language monthly journal, The Adriatic Review, which was published during 1918-19; and maintaining a delegation at the peace conference. In all, the Albanian-American community raised $197,000 (a significant amount of money for the time) between 1917-20 to finance its various activities in behalf of Albania.
Fourth, the Albanian community was able to pursue its agenda for Albania owing to the large degree of freedom it enjoyed in the United States, even during wartime. This situation did not prevail in other countries where there was a sizable Albanian population. Not only were the Albanians able to publish their own newspapers, journals, and pamphlets, but they were also able to express their views in guest columns and letters to the editor in the American press. Additionally, they were able to attract the support and interest of prominent Americans such as philanthropist and diplomat Charles R. Crane; journalists and publicists William Howard, George F. Williams, and Hester Jenkins; and missionary C. Telford Erickson along with a number of academics in this effort.
Finally, as previously stated, the political vacuum and chaos that existed in Albania with the outbreak of World War I provided the Albanian-American community with a unique opportunity to participate in the shaping of Albania’s destiny at a critical point in the fledgling nation’s history. The response of the Albanian-American community to this challenge earned for it the gratitude of their compatriots within and outside the homeland, and a place of honor in Albania’s history.
It is probable that without the propaganda and lobbying efforts of the Albanian-American community, Albania would have been treated more harshly than was the case at the peace conference. The campaign mounted from within the Albanian-American community countered the agitation by Greek and Serb interests to partition the homeland and to question the capacity of Albanians for self-government. In any event, the reluctance in February 1920 by President Wilson to support all the provisions of an Anglo-French proposal that would have ceded Albanian territory to Greece and Serbia, and granted Italy sovereignty over Vlore and its hinterland as well as a mandate for the truncated Albanian state had the effect of eventually removing the Albanian question from the conference agenda and delegating it to a conference of ambassadors for ultimate resolution. As Wilson reflected on the Albanian issue, during the course of the year, he hardened his stance against the partition of the country. Writing to British Prime Minister Lloyd George on 3 November 1920, Wilson observed: “As to Albania, I am inclined to believe this problem has been approached from the wrong direction, namely, that of settling the boundaries of Albania in accordance with the aspirations of Jugo-Slavia and Greece, without sufficient regard to the aspirations of the Albanian people themselves. I now feel that if the prime objective is to accede to the just aspirations of the Albanian people, a permanent solution to this perplexing problem might be had.”
In addition to the stance of the Albanian-American community and the resolve of President Wilson, the independence of Albania was secured during 1920 by the convocation of the Lushnje government in January, the withdrawal of the Italian army from Vlore and Rome’s recognition of Albania’s independence in August, and the admission of Albania to the League of Nations as a sovereign and independent state in October. The restoration of the Albanian state was completed in November 1921 with the confirmation of the country’s independence and 1913 boundaries by the Conference of Ambassadors. The major disappointment for the Albanians on this occasion was that, despite the best efforts of Vatra and the friends of Albania in the international community, they were unable to secure a revision of the 1913 boundary settlement, which had resulted in the incorporation of nearly half the Albanian population into the neighboring states of Serbia and Montenegro.
As the Albanian state reemerged, the Albanian-American community also experienced change. During the 1920s, an estimated 10-15,000 Albanians returned to their homeland. Many went home to establish small businesses or to acquire farmland. As noted previously, many prominent members of Vatra also returned and became active participants in the political life of the nation. For the most part, those who had lived in the United States espoused political democracy, economic development, and social reform. Vatra sought to further these objectives in Albania by establishing in 1922 the newspaper Shqiptar i Amerikes. This newspaper continued to publish until 1925, when it was outlawed by the Albanian government.
Between 1919-22, the Albanian-American community worked to secure the recognition of Albania by the United States. This goal was realized in July 1922. To help balance the budget of the Lushnje government, Albanian-Americans contributed $222,900 to the National Loan drive conducted during the autumn of 1920. Albanian immigrants also helped alleviate the economic distress in the homeland through the remittances they sent to family members.
As a reward for their many valued contributions to Albania, the Albanian-American community was allotted one seat in the Albanian parliament. Fan Noli in 1921 was elected to fill this seat and in June 1924 became prime minister following a brief uprising. Although initially sympathetic to the self-proclaimed reform Noli government, many in the Albanian-American community turned against him when he failed to carry our his promised reforms, did not hold timely elections to legitimatize his regime, and recognized the Soviet Union.
The overthrow of the Noli government in December 1924 marked the end of the period (1912-24) of intensive participation and interest of the Albanian-American community in Albanian affairs. Among the factors contributing to this development were:
First, with the restoration of formal political institutions in Albania, there was no longer an independent role for Vatra or other community organizations to play. This situation became even more pronounced during the Zog era (1925-39), when the monarch viewed the Albanian-American community as a potential center of opposition to his rule and sought to neutralize it by appointing Faik Konitza as the Albanian ambassador to the United States to achieve this end.
Second, the Albanians who remained in the United States and those who settled there during the 1920s and 1930s began to marry and raise families as the number of women in the community increased. These individuals now had to devote more time to domestic concerns rather than to political questions relating to a distant homeland that were increasingly beyond their ability to influence.
Third, the Great Depression of the 1930s adversely affected many individuals within the community and further diverted their attention from matters external to family and personal concerns. Additionally, organizations such as Vatra fell into dire financial straits as members ceased paying dues and subscribing to Dielli, which was now published irregularly.
Fourth, the community was weakened by the rifts that had emerged within it. Some of these divisions, such as the defection of the anti-Noli faction of Vatra in 1918 to form the Albanian National Party, dated back to the World War I era. A split had developed in 1919 within the Albanian Orthodox Church in America when a small faction in this body refused to accept the validity of Noli’s “irregular” consecration as bishop. This group formed the Holy Trinity Albanian Orthodox Church in South Boston, Massachusetts. Noli further alienated some of his followers after 1924, when he became affiliated with anti-Zog oppositional organizations supported by the Comintern and the Communist Balkan Federation movement. But when in 1932 Noli abandoned both his opposition to Zog and his involvement in politics as a condition of his permanent admission to the United States, he lost the backing of other of his followers, some of whom formed in 1934 the St. John the Baptist Albanian Orthodox Church in Boston. The divisions in the community were exacerbated by the decision of Faik Konitza to made his peace with Zog and accept in 1926 the post of Albanian Ambassador to the United States. This move reflected Zog’s desire to counteract the influence of Noli in the Albanian- American community and to enhance the support for his regime in the United States. Konitza’s less than adroit tactics to ensure the support of Dielli and Vatra for the Zog regime produced during the mid-1930s a split in this organization that was not healed until June 1939.
Thus, the vitality of the Albanian-American community had been sapped by the ravages of the Great Depression and the divisions that had emerged within its ranks. Additionally, some Albanian-Americans were deterred from expressing their views regarding the policies of the Zog regime by the fear that the Albanian authorities might retaliate against family members still residing in the homeland.
Viewed from an organizational perspective, the Albanian-American community was in disarray when Italy invaded and annexed Albania in April 1939. There was considerable disappointment and resentment among Albanian-Americans when Washington in June terminated Konitza’s diplomatic status and decided against the recognition of an Albanian government-in-exile. Washington’s stance on these issues paralleled that of the major European powers, but this was of no consolation to Albanian-Americans, many of whom still harbored the illusion that there existed a special relationship between the United States and Albania.
The Albanian-American community responded to the fall of Albania by organizing mass protest meetings in various cities and writing letters to newspapers denouncing “this act of aggression.” This development served as the stimulus for the reunification of Vatra in June 1939. Although the Albanian diaspora was united in its efforts to obtain recognition of a government-in-exile, there was a difference of opinion as to whether this government should be headed by Zog or if it should be comprised of patriotic “anti-monarchist democratic” leaders. Noli and Konitza and, most likely, the majority of Vatra members supported Zog. But by 1941, there was growing disenchantment with the lack of success in establishing a government-in-exile and in generating greater U.S. and British interest in the Albanian question. It was against this background that Kost Chekrezi, who had returned to the United States following the Italian occupation of Albania, in 1941 founded a rival group, the Free Albania Organization (Organizata Shqiperia e Lire). The new organization brought together nationalists, monarchists, anti-Fascists, and disillusioned Vatra members. Following the example of Vatra, the Free Albania Organization established branches in a number of cities and published the weekly newspaper Liria.
Both organizations favored the restoration of Albanian independence and the preservation of its territorial integrity, and they encouraged the intensification of Albanian resistance to the Axis occupation. Aside from personality clashes, the two groups had differing views on the nature of the postwar Albanian regime. The Chekrezi followers advocated the establishment of a parliamentary democracy dedicated to the implementation of a program for far-reaching economic and social reforms. Vatra, with Noli and Konitza as principal spokesmen, favored the creation of a wartime government-in-exile comprising all Albanian political factions under the leadership of King Zog that would serve as the basis for a postwar regime. They further believed that the Albanian people should determine the ultimate form of the country’s government following post-war free elections. With the death of Konitza in December 1942, Noli again became the principal champion of Vatra’s cause.
Repeated initiatives between 1942-45 heal the rift between the two contending factions failed, and the rivalry between the two continued for some four decades. The Albanian-American community, however, was able to transcend its political differences during the World War II era to cooperate in establishing in 1941 the Albanian Relief Fund for the purpose of providing “food, clothing, and medical supplies to needy persons in Albania suffering as a result of [the] war.” Under the able and energetic direction of Dr. Nicholas J. Prift of Boston, this effort between 1944-49 raised over $117,000 for the purchase of food and medical supplies for Albania and facilitated the shipment of large quantities of shoes and clothing donated by Albanian -Americans there. This undertaking demonstrated the strong bonds that continued to exist between the Albanians in the United States and family members and compatriots in the homeland, especially in times of crisis.
Vatra maintained a representative in Washington during the war years to monitor developments relating to Albania as well as to present the views of the organization on Albanian issues to the State Department and other government agencies. Kost Chekrezi also made periodic trips to the nation’s capital for the same purposes. The Albanians had been alerted to the possibility that Greece would again seek to detach Albania’s southern provinces by British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden’s December 1942 pronouncement that the frontiers of the
Albanian state would have to be reviewed as part of the postwar peace settlement unless Albania reached a prior agreement with its neighbors on this issue. Albanian representatives both in Washington and in London were also aware of the agitation of the Greek government-in-exile to reopen the boundary question. Thus, at war’s end the Albanian-American community again prepared to defend the sovereignty and integrity of the homeland.
The cessation of World War II in 1945 marked a major watershed in the history of the Albanian-American community, whose population now was estimated between 40,000-60,000. The first stage of the migration that began at the turn of the twentieth century had now concluded. A second wave of Albanian immigration began in the late l940s and continued into the 1960s. This cohort of immigrants was comprised primarily of what might be best termed political refugees, that is, those Albanians associated with the non-communist World War II resistance organizations, or those who had managed to flee Albania following the advent to power of the oppressive Communist regime of Enver Hoxha. This cohort was more diverse in its composition than that of its predecessor, encompassing Albanians from all regions of the country who practiced each of the nation’s three religions؉slam, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism. This group was better educated than its predecessor with high school and university graduates well represented. Not surprisingly it was politically active and critical of the established Albanian-American organizations for their allegedly uncritical attitudes toward the Hoxha regime. It was not until the late 1950s as Vatra adopted a tougher stance toward Communist Albania that the newcomers were welcomed into the organization. The infusion of this “new blood” revitalized Vatra and enriched the cultural life of the Albanian-American community, much to the chagrin of Tirana. This development intensified the hostility of the Albanian government toward Vatra and widened the breech between Vatra and the Free Albania Organization, which was more sympathetic to the Hoxha regime.
The immediate post-World War II period was also characterized by additional changes within the Albanian-American community. Most Albanian-Americans had prospered during the war. As a consequence, many began to move from the urban neighborhoods where they had been concentrated into the suburbs. An increasing number of young Albanian-Americans (mostly males, but including some females) were enrolling in colleges and universities, and embarking on careers in business and the professions. These educated younger generation, as well as those who had served in the U. S. armed forces, tended to marry non-Albanians and were moving to diverse regions of the country. Many were alienated by the conflicts and controversies that were prevalent in the Albanian community at the time. And the fact that the United States and Albania did not resume diplomatic relations after World War II ensured that the Albanian-Americans who came of age between 1945 and 1990 would have little opportunity to visit the country or to maintain close ties with family there. Also, many in this cohort of Albanian-Americans essentially turned their backs on their Albanian heritage because of their revulsion toward the Hoxha regime. The alienation of this “lost generation” deprived both the Albanian-American community and Albania of the talents, skills, and resources of this group.
Between 1945-46, both Vaatra and the Free Albania organization had sought to promote the restoration of U.S.-Albanian diplomatic ties. Much to the consternation of the Albanian-American community this goal was not realized owing to the refusal of the newly installed
Albanian Communist government to recognize the existing bilateral treaties between the two countries. Fan Noli’s valiant efforts to obtain Albania’s admission to the United Nations during the late 1940s were thwarted by what can be best described as “cold war politics.” It should be noted that Noli in this endeavor worked independently of the Soviet Union and its allies, which had officially sponsored Albania’s application for U.N. membership. The Albanian-American community, however, enjoyed more success in countering Greek efforts to annex what Athens termed Northern Epirus. In 1946 the Albanian Orthodox Church, the Free Albania Organization, Vatra, and various other community organizations mounted mass protests during the U. S. visit of the pro-expansionist Greek Bishop Pandelimon Kotoko. The major Albanian-American organizations and prominent community members on various occasions wrote letters to legislators and the press and signed petitions supporting the homeland’s independence and territorial integrity. Albanian-Americans also at this time began to display renewed interest in the questions of Kosovo and Chamuria. This latter development reflected the growing influence of the postwar political emigres whose platforms had favored the redrawing of Albania’s frontiers to encompass all ethnic Albanians.
Beginning in the late 1940s, the Albanian-American community became one of the minor battlegrounds in the anti-communist hysteria that emerged in the United States at this time. In 1949, at the request of several dissident Albanian Orthodox clergymen and some long-time opponents of Fan Noli., the Patriarch of Constantinople dispatched the newly consecrated bishop Mark Lipa to the United States to combat alleged “Communist” influence in the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese headed by Bishop Noli. In turn, Noli’s supporters accused Lipa and the Patriarch of undertaking this venture to promote Greek nationalist goals. Although the overt conflict between the two Albanian dioceses continued into the 1980s, Lipa during this time was able to gain the loyalty of only two Albanian Orthodox parishes.
The rift between Vatra and the Free Albania Organization widened during the 1950s and 1960s as Vatra became increasingly critical of the Hoxha regine in response to its attacks on Vatra for its refusal to toe Tirana’s line. The Free Albania Organization, on the other hand, sought to publicize the positive economic and cultural accomplishments of the regime and to laud its successes in preserving Albania’s independence and territorial integrity. Working closely with then Senator John F. Kennedy and senators and congressmen from New England, the Free Albania Organization was instrumental in having the United States lift its ban on travel to Albania in 1957. Albanian-American visitors who now traveled to Albania often wrote glowing reports of their experiences in Albania which appeared in Liria. These articles were designed to counteract the negative accounts of conditions there that were published in Dielli or in the anti-communist ꮩgr顰ress.
Following the admission of Albania to the United Nations in 1955, the Albanian Mission to the United Nations began to intrude itself into the affairs of the Albanian-American community. In addition to representing Albanian interests at the UN, the Mission was also responsible for enhancing the image of the Albanian regime within the Albanian-American community and discrediting the ꮩgr顡nti-communist organizations and their leaders. These activities at times fostered tensions within the community and hindered cooperation among its various organizations on such occasions as the celebration of the Albanian national holidays.
By the beginning of the 1960s, as the post-World War II political ꮩgr고were being assimilated into the Albanian-American community, a new and larger wave of Albanians were making their way to the United States. This group was comprised of ethnic Albanians from Montenegro, Kosova, Macedonia, and other regions of the former Yugoslav Federal Republic. Although the inflow of this wave continues today, it reached its height during the 1970s and 1980s. The new arrivals were mainly Roman Catholics or Muslims, and they were the first significant cohort of Albanian immigrants to the United States who had not lived within the boundaries of Albania. The initial arrivals were primarily economic emigrants, but those who came during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, when Albanians were being repressed in Kosova and Macedonia, were also motivated to flee to the United States to escape the oppression and discrimination to which they had been subjected in Yugoslavia,
This new wave of immigrants included individuals of diverse backgrounds in respect to education, occupations and training, and economic status. Although this immigrant group maintained its tradition of strong family loyalties and ties, it also was active in the promotion of organizations such as the Union of Kosovars, branches of the Democratic League of Kosova, and other similar groups that publicized the injustices suffered by the Albanians in Yugoslavia and advocated the independence of Kosova and the creation of “an ethnic democratic Albania” which would include all the Albanian-inhabited territories of the former Yugoslav Federal Republic.
Although the new arrivals settled in diverse areas of the United States, they were concentrated most heavily in New York, Michigan, and Illinois and became the dominant Albanian element in these areas. Since the new immigrants were divided in respect to their support of the Albanian Communist regime, some identified more closely with Vatra and others with the Free Albania Organization. Both organizations welcomed the newcomers and increased their respective coverage in Dielli and Liria of issues relating to Kosova and Macedonia. The new immigrants, however, did not join either of the established organizations in large numbers, preferring instead to align themselves with the various groups they had formed.
Since most of the new immigrants had come to the United States in family groups, adjustment problems, especially for wives and children, were more difficult than for their predecessors who had arrived as bachelors and did not marry and raise families until they were somewhat established and acclimated to life in the United States. But, despite these problems, the great majority of these motivated individuals quickly entered the labor force. Many, in a relatively short time, have become successful in such pursuits as real estate, finance, construction, and food and lodging, among other areas. This group has also included physicians and lawyers who have qualified to practice their professions in the United States.
Since arriving in the United States, many of the third-wave immigrants have given generously of their time and wealth to promote causes aimed at improving the political and socio-cultural lot of the Albanians of Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Southern Serbia. They appreciated the need to organize and expend their resources to influence U. S. policy on issues of importance to the Albanian-American community. This realization led to the formation of the Albanian-American Civic League (AACL) in the mid-1980s and the emergence of what has been termed the “Albanian Lobby.” This Albanian lobby resulted from the efforts of many groups and individuals in the Albanian-American community. But Joseph DioGuardi, a former U. S. Congressman from New York of Arberesh origin, played a leading role in this endeavor. Despite some problems that have arisen in connection with the activities of the AACL in recent years, its formation represents a significant milestone in the history of the Albanian-American community. This development marked the beginning of the community’s organized involvement in U.S. politics and ensured that its views on issues of concern to Albanian Americans would be effectively presented in Washington.
In addition to its efforts to ameliorate the plight of the Albanians of Yugoslavia, the Albanian-American community also strongly encouraged political, economic, and socio-cultural reform within Albania. By the late 1980s, even the Free Albania Organization and its newspaper Liria, which had been generally sympathetic to the Albanian Communist regime, joined the ranks of those advocating changes. Prominent Albanian-American intellectuals and academics regularly provided analyses in the U. S. media of the deepening systemic crisis in Albania during the 1980s, and the Albanian Service of the VOA played a significant role in the demise of Albanian communism through its accurate reporting of events in Albania and its broadcast of interviews with respected and courageous Albanian advocates of reform.
The demise of the Albanian communist regime during 1991 sparked the most recent wave of Albanian emigration to the United States. This group, during the past decade, has been comprised mainly of political asylum seekers; students, visitors, and members of Albanian delegations to the United States who fail to return home; holders of U.S. citizenship and their children who had not been able to return to the United States since 1939; and recipients of “green cards.” This latest cohort of immigrants encompasses a broad range of age and socio-economic categories. As with the immigrants from the former Yugoslav Federation, some (mostly families of lower socio-economic status) have experienced difficulties in adjusting to life in the United States. Another major problem has been the unwillingness of most students and many visitors to the United States to return to Albania. This situation has both contributed to the Albanian brain drain and created difficulties for Albanians seeking student and visitor visas for study or travel in the United States.
With the resumption of U.S.-Albanian diplomatic relations in 1991, an Albanian Embassy was reestablished in Washington, and there has been a steady stream of official Albanian delegations to the United States. Owing to financial constraints, the Embassy has been able to engage in only limited outreach activities to the Albanian-American community. In turn some segments of the community, motivated by partisan or personal considerations, have resisted these overtures. Since 1990, as noted previously, each of the four Albanian presidents and other dignitaries who have visited the United States have made goodwill visits to Boston and other major centers of the Albanian-American community. These contacts have emphasized, at least symbolically, the importance that Tirana attaches to the maintenance of a close relationship with this community.
As relations between the Albanian-American community and Albania were being restored during the decade of the 1990s, the community itself was undergoing a transformation. As the remaining first generation of Albanian leaders passed from the scene, the impact of the vacuum created by the “lost generation” became apparent. By the beginning of the 1990s, only a handful of active Vatra chapters remained. Dielli was no longer published on a regular schedule, and the organization might have become extinct were it not for the leadership provided by the New York chapter, which was comprised largely of post-World War II political ꮩgr곮 Given these circumstances, Vatra’s central offices were moved to New York, and Dielli is published from that site. The Free Albania Organization and its organ Liria also encountered difficulties as its membership and subscribers declined. The death of Liria’s long-time editor, Dhimiter Nikolla Trebicka, in the early 1990s and its inability to generate continued support from the community contributed to the demise of this organization and its newspaper by the end of the decade.
Of the major institutions that had made Boston the “capital” of the Albanian-American community, only the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese remains today. Although the Church had encountered some difficulty following the death of Archbishop Noli in 1965, it had survived this crisis owing to the efforts of dedicated laypersons and clergy such as the venerable businessman and patriot, Anthony Athanas, and the Very Reverend Arthur Liolin, Chancellor of the Archdiocese. Athanas, at the age of 92, is one of the last remaining links to the first generation of the community, while Father Liolin is one of the few members of the “lost generation” to have assumed a leadership role in the community. The future, at least for the near term, of the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America, now affiliated with the Orthodox Church of America, seems assured with the recent consecration of Father Nicholas Liolin, now Bishop Nikon, to the episcopate. It was unfortunate that the Patriarch of Constantinople appears to have reacted to this development by consecrating Father Ilia Katre as Bishop of the rival Albanian diocese formerly headed by the late Bishop Mark Lipa, despite the fact that this body enjoyed only minimal support from Albanian Orthodox communicants in the United States.
By the 1990s, New York City had emerged as the center of the Albanian-American community. Both the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Censuses confirmed that the greatest concentration of Albanians was located in that city. And the city was home to numerous organizations ranging from Vatra and the Albanian-American Civic League to dozens of special-interest groups such as the Albanian-American Women’s Organization, the Sisters Qiriazi, and the United Federation of Teachers Albanian-American Teachers Committee. By the mid-1990s, there were at least four weekly Albanian-language radio programs and one weekly television program available in the city. In 1991, a young, successful Albanian businessman, Harry Bajraktari, established the newspaper Illyria in New York City. With the decline of Dielli and Liria, this new publication has played a major role in the promotion of Albanian democracy and socio-economic reform. Additionally, it has been a tireless advocate in the defense of the political and civil rights of the Albanian population in the former Yugoslav Federation, and has opened its pages to the expression of a broad range of viewpoints on issues of concern to Albanians. Since 1997, Ekrem Bardha, a distinguished Albanian-American entrepreneur and community leader from suburban Detroit, has served as publisher of Illyria. This respected New York-based newspaper, with a circulation of about 10,000, is distributed in Albanian communities of the United States and Europe, as well as in Albania.
Reflecting the shifting demographics of the Albanian-Americans, there were well-organized Roman Catholic and Muslim communities in both New York and Detroit by the 1990s. In addition, there were Muslim houses of worship and cultural centers in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, and Connecticut. These institutions and organizations have done much to strengthen the cohesion of these groups, as did the formation in 1993 of the Presidency of the Albanian-Muslim Community Centers of the United States and Canada.
Despite the progress in the establishment of religious, cultural, and special interest groups, there is still a lack of coordination and sustained cooperation among the various Albanian-American organizations. Of the current community organizations, the National Albanian-American Council (NAAC), founded in 1996, sponsors the broadest array of programs. NAAC was established to lobby in Washington to influence U.S. policy on issues relating to Albania, and to Albanians residing in the former Yugoslavia and Greece. It has also served as an agency to mobilize public opinion within the Albanian-American community and in the U.S. media on these matters. NAAC has also reached out to the community, especially its youth and recent arrivals, by offering seminars and programs designed to help them adjust to life in the United States and to foster career advancement and personal growth. Unfortunately, the rivalries, divisions, and indifference that exist within the Albanian-American community have up to this point discouraged initiatives to enhance greater cooperation.
One of the memorable manifestations of community unity and resolve during the 1990s centered on the concerted effort to restore U.S.-Albanian diplomatic relations following the demise of the Communist regime. After this goal had been realized in March 1991, the community cooperated in the establishment of such institutions as the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund and the Albanian-American Trade and Development Association. Albanian-Americans serve on the board of both these organizations, which are dedicated to promoting economic development and progress in Albania. Other community members have been involved in projects in such areas as health, legal reform, education, economic development, and religion within Albania. Given the broad array of professional expertise and skills available in the Albanian-American community, the Albanian government needs to develop a realistic strategy to utilize this valuable pool of talent. It also must make a concerted effort to combat the political instability, corruption and red tape that have discouraged greater Albanian-American investment and activity in the country.
The Albanian-American community also played a conspicuous and significant role in the Kosova crisis during the late 1990s. Both the Albanian-American Civic League and the National Albanian-American Council were active in garnering support in Congress and the executive branch for NATO military intervention. The Albanian Congressional Caucus, which had been formed at the behest of the Albanian Lobby and politically active community leaders, served as a useful political adjunct in this endeavor. Beyond this, the Albanian-American community raised considerable sums of money to finance Kosovar diplomatic and propaganda activities and to equip the Kosova Liberation Army. Additionally, a contingent of young Albanian-Americans formed the “Atlantic Battalion” and served in Kosova during the hostilities in 1999. Albanian-Americans both opened their homes to and assisted in other ways thousands of Kosovar refugees during their temporary stay in the United States. Finally, Albanian-American academics and community activists served as analysts and panelists on numerous television and radio programs to ensure that pro-Albanian or balanced perspectives on Kosova would be available to the American and world publics.
The Albanian-American response to the Kosova situation demonstrated the potential of the community for cooperation and concerted action in time of crisis. Unfortunately, the community up to now has been unable to display the same resolve at most other times. The tendency to focus on special interests (such as Albanian partisan politics; developments in Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro, and southern Serbia; religious and social concerns) and the inability to develop a central coordinating structure suggest that the community is currently incapable of engaging in the sustained cooperation and planning that would enable it to realize its potential for serving its members, Albania, and its compatriots in the Balkans more effectively. The failure to address this issue will in time further erode the cohesiveness and blur the identity of the Albanian-American community. This situation in turn could undermine the significance of the community in U.S.-Albanian relations.

Summary and Conclusions

The comments of President Moisiu during his September 2002 visit to the United States as well as the observations of his predecessors on similar occasions reflect the special affection on the part of the pre-World War II and immediate post-World War II generations of Albanians for the United States and the Albanian-American community. This sentiment stems from the conviction that the Albanian-American community and the United States played a decisive role in the preservation of Albania’s independence and territorial integrity during and after World War I. These Albanians also revere the contributions to Albanian literature and culture of Faik Konitza and Fan Noli, the twin pillars of the Albanian-American community in its heyday. It is interesting to note that these positive attitudes toward the United States and the Albanian-American community have persisted despite the efforts of the Communist regime to downplay the roles of President Wilson and the Albanian-American community in Albania’s history.
Unfortunately, however, younger generation Albanians (those under the age of 30) do not appear to be as well informed as their parents and grandparents about the significance of the Albanian-American community in their national history or to share their elders’ sentiments regarding the community. It is therefore essential, in my view, that ties between Albania and the Albanian-American community be continually nurtured lest they wither.
It is to Albania’s advantage to cultivate a strong relationship with the Albanian-American community. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, there are approximately 116,000 persons of Albanian ancestry residing in the United States. As I have noted, since the Albanian-American population for a variety of reasons has been chronically undercounted in the census enumerations since 1910, it is likely that there could be as many as 250,000 to 350,000 individuals of Albanian heritage in the country. About 90 percent of these reside in states east of the Mississippi River, with the greatest concentration of Albanian-Americans located in the states of New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida.
According to1990 U.S. Census data the median family income of those who identified themselves as Albanian-Americans was 16 percent above the national average, and 59 percent of these self-identified Albanian-Americans were employed in the managerial, professional, technical, and sales areas. Moreover, the percentage of community members holding undergraduate and graduate university degrees was significantly above the national average for these categories. Even taking into account the impact on the data of the non-reported segments of the Albanian-American population, it is apparent that the Albanian-American community is one of the largest and possibly the best educated in the Albanian diaspora. It is highly concentrated in specific areas of the United States and is generally prosperous. Its demographic profile suggests that the community has the potential to contribute to the development of Albania in a variety of areas. Viewed in this perspective, it is a resource that, up to this point, has been underutilized by both the Albanian government and the growing private sector in the country.
Given the profile of the community, the Albanian Embassy in Washington, working with appropriate Albanian-American organizations and institutions, should seek to identify and inventory the qualifications of community members who might be able to assist in various aspects of the development process in Albania. Those individuals with appropriate skills and experience could be invited to contribute their services for both short- and longer-term assignments in Albania. The nature of their assignments should be commensurate with their qualifications and compatible with their expressed interests. The participants in a program of this type should be provided with housing along with a nominal stipend to cover essential expenses while in Albania. A well-conceived program of this nature could be underwritten in whole or in part by a grant from a national or an international development agency, or even a private foundation. It has the potential to contribute to Albania’s development and to heighten the interest of Albanian-American program participants in Albania and their Albanian heritage.
In a similar vein, the Albanian government needs to make a more systematic effort to establish contact with Albanian-American entrepreneurs, businessmen, and those who hold corporate managerial positions. These individuals will need to be cultivated and, where warranted, formally solicited to invest in Albania or to establish ties with Albanian firms. They could be requested to advise Albanian firms and government agencies on commercial issues. Where appropriate, some of these activities could be conducted in conjunction with the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund or the Albanian-American Trade and Development Association. Beyond this, however, Tirana must give serious consideration to expanding the scope of the commercial activities conducted by its Embassy in Washington and to the opening of a Consulate in New York to promote more meaningful and systematic interaction between Albania and the Albanian-American community. In this connection, the Albanian government should explore the appointment of honorary consuls in Detroit and Chicago and possibly other centers of the Albanian-American community where such representation is presently lacking.
The Albanian government should also become more actively involved in promoting tourism to Albania by Albanian-Americans. This initiative might target those community members who have had limited or no contact with the birthplace of their ancestors. In this context, the government should also explore the feasibility of establishing a summer school and camping program to introduce young Americans of Albanian heritage to the language and culture of their parents and grandparents.
A key factor in fostering a closer and more productive relationship between Albania and the Albanian-American community is ongoing communication and contact with the community. In addition to participating, when invited, in as many community functions as possible, Embassy and U.N. Mission personnel also need to be responsive to communications from community members that fall within their respective areas of responsibility. Given the financial constraints under which Albanian diplomatic posts must function, it might be impossible to distribute on a mass scale a publication similar to the Kosovar magazine URA. It might, however, be possible to prepare an annual newsletter for a selected audience within the Albanian-American community, or to distribute to this group periodic supplements such as the one published in the Washington Times in 2001. For Albanian-language readers, the Embassy might also produce a supplement for distribution by the newspaper Illyria. Additionally it could provide brief recorded features of a non-political character on topics of interest to Albanian-Americans for broadcast on the Albanian-language radio programs in the United States. And, finally, the Embassy should develop an attractive and informative Website with non-partisan content that would appeal to various segments (including the younger generation) of the community. This Website should be well publicized and its content regularly updated to ensure that it will attract a large audience.
Given the changing character of the Albanian-American community, Albania needs to assess without delay its expectations of and its policies toward the community. If the community is to continue to enjoy a special status within the overall context of the U.S. relationship with Tirana and to serve as a resource in Albania’s quest for political democracy, economic development, and social progress, Albania must adopt a more creative and proactive stance toward its American diaspora than has been the case since 1991. Within Albania, the government must give its highest priority to the establishment of internal stability and security, the implementation of legal reform, and the upgrading of the infrastructureءll prerequisites for increased investment, technical assistance and tourism on the part of the Albanian-American community.

Selected Bibliography

“Albanians,” in Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Stephan Thernstrom, ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980, pp. 23-28.
Demo, Constantine M. The Albanians in America: The First Arrivals. Boston: The Society “Fatbardhesia” of Katundi, 1960.
Duka, Valentina.Shqiptar촠n롲rjedhat e shekullit XX. Tiran뺠Panteon & Af쳤ita, 2001.
Federal Writers Project. The Albanian Struggle in the Old World and New. Boston: The Writer, Inc., 1939.
Jurgens, Jane. “Albanian Americans,” in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, vol. 1, pp. 43-54. New York: Gale Research, 1995.
Karamitri, Eleni. Peter R. Prifti n롢oten e dij쵡reve shqiptaro-amerikan뮠Shkod첺 Universiteti i Shkodr쳬 1997.
Link, Arthur S., ed. The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, vol. 66 (August 2-December 23, 1920). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Meta, Beqir. Federata Panshqiptare “Vatra” (1912-20). Tiran뺠Globus R., 2002.
Nagi, Dennis L. The Albanian American Odyssey. New York: AMS Press, 1989.
“Albanians,” in American Immigrant Cultures, vol. 1, pp. 27-31. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1997.
Noli, Fan S., ed. Fiftieth Anniversary Book of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America. Boston: Albanian Orthodox Church in America, 1960.
Panarity, Qerim. Albumi II. Boston: [n. p.], 1966.
Pano, Nicholas C. “The ‘Three Generations’ of the Albanian-American Community.” Paper presented at the Symposium on Albania, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, May 1981.
Rama, Shinasi. “The Albanian Diaspora in the United States and Its Relationship to Motherland.” Illyria, 5-9 April 2002, p.7.
Roucek, Joseph S. “Albanian Americans,” in One America. Francis Brown and Joseph S. Roucek, eds. New York, Prentice Hall, 1952, pp. 234-39.
“The Albanian and Yugoslav Immigrants in America.” Revue Internationale des Etudes Balkanique 3 (1938): 499-519.
Silajxhi笠Haris. Shqip쳩a dhe SHBA n롡rkivat e Washingtonit. Tiran뺠Dituria, 1999.