The Rescue of Jews in Albania during the Holocaust: A Story that is Still Unfolding…
Peloni: The little discussed history of Albania during WWII is an important oversight. At the beginning of the war, there were somewhere between 200-600 Jews living in Albania, but at the war’s end there were some 2,000. Even after the Germans occupied Albania and demanded the list of Jews in the country, locals refused to comply and fake documents were provided to the Jews.
Visar Malaj | January 24, 2024
Holocaust memorial in Tirana, Albabua with inscriptions in Hebrew, English and Albanian. (Photo by Bdx – Own work, CC0, Wikipedia)
Background
As a recipient of the EHRI-Conny Kristel fellowship, I spent a short research period at the Fondazione Centro Di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC) in Milan, Italy. CDEC is an independent research institute for the study of the history and culture of Jews in Italy, with particular reference to contemporary Italy and the Nazi-fascist period. The CDEC Foundation is broadly recognized as the main institute in Italy for the history and documentation of the Shoah.2 The time I spent at CDEC was fundamental for my research, which is focused on the fate of native and foreign Jews in Albania during the Holocaust. CDEC contains a significant number of documents, books, and other materials, directly and indirectly connected to the experiences of Jews in Albania before and throughout World War II (WWII).










