The Jews of Albania during the Zogist and Second World War Periods

Bernd J. Fischer^*

Religious tolerance in the West in our time is often gauged by the treatment of Jews - in this respect Albanians have acquitted themselves very well. While others in the Balkans - and obviously in the rest of Europe - have institutionalized discrimination, participated passively or often enthusiastically in some of the most horrific crimes against humanity in relation to Jews, Albanians, often at personal risk, have opened their country and often their homes to not only Albanians Jews but to foreign Jews as well.

It is the purpose of this short paper to examine some aspects of this issue in terms of the interwar and World War II periods - specifically I would like to focus on a number of interrelated issues. First I plan to explore King Zog's policy of religious nationalization and his encouragement of further religious diversity in terms of motives, policy and impact. The remainder of the paper will focus specifically on Jews in Albania during the Second World War, in terms of their experience in Albania, concluding with a brief discussion of some of the possible motives behind the various attitudes that Jews in Albania encountered during the war.

1. Zog - religious nationalization and the encouragement of further religious diversity in Albania

It is clear when looking at King Zog's religious policy as a whole, that he saw religion as a potentially divisive force that might stand in the way of the creation of the modern, western, unified state he sought. Zog was determined to reduce the potentially divisive effect of religion in Albania by following a policy of religious nationalization, by urging and supporting administrative and political independence for Albania's various religions from any foreign influence, and by following a policy of what may be described as furthering religious diversity.

In terms of religious nationalization, Zog's policy towards the majority churches is well known but let me briefly summary. Zog was to a certain extent guided by his monarchical constitution of 1928 and his own law on "Albanian Religious Communities" passed by his controlled parliament in January 1930 which declared Albania to be non-sectarian, which reserved for the state the right of controlling religious communities, requiring that - based on article 8 of the law that - "religious leaders, their immediate subordinates, the coadjutors and their vicars, should be of Albanian descent and language." At the same time, however, Zog also proclaiming individual religious freedom for Albanians. The 1928 constitution guaranteed that "All religions and faiths are honored and their liberty of practice assured. Religion can in no way form judicial barriers and cannot be used for political purposes."

Much of the work of nationalization had already been done prior to the establishment of the monarchy but Zog contributed in important ways. Let us briefly survey the road towards religious independence followed by Albania's principal religious communities.

1. Sunni Moslems had separated themselves from outside control at the Congress of Tirana in 1923. The work of the Congress included the election of a new national leadership, as well as various reforms including the severing of ties with many traditional practices, detaching the church from the caliphate, abolishing the title of bey along with the practice of polygamy, and doing away with the compulsory veiling of women.

2. Bektashi Moslems, too, sought independence and were encouraged in their efforts by the state. In 1922 in Prishta, Albanian Bektashi declared themselves independent of the Turkish Bektashi. A new leader of the Bektashi was nominated by Zog's royal decree in March 1929.

3. The Orthodox community, where the efforts of Fan Noli were of importance, held the Congress of Berat in 1922. Here is was declared that the Albanian Orthodox church would henceforth be autocephalous, and that Albanian instead of Greek would be used for liturgical purposes. The Congress appealed to the ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul to legalized the projected severance, but this step was delayed, at least in part because of the lack of a hierarchy and, so Zog argued, because of the Patriarch's obstructionism. Zog reopened negotiations in 1926 but to no avail, but in 1929 he took matters into his own hands and created a synod that was finally recognized by the Patriarch only in 1937 after Zog had relieved Bishop Vissar, a member of the synod. After considerable delay then, Zog had achieved his goal and another of Albania's major churches had been essentially nationalized.

4. Albanian Catholics were considered a special problem by Zog, because of their perceived connection with the Italians. Zog argued that through Catholic schools, Italians were politically and culturally influencing Albanian students. Zog's minister of education even suggested that portraits of Albanian heroes were being replaced by those of Victor Emmanuel and Mussolini. Zog was particularly concerned about Italian inroads in the north, and felt the Italians were attempting to replace his influence with their own. In an attempt to deal with this problem, Zog, as he often did, overreacted. While his motives might have been reasonable enough, his policy was ill-conceived and poorly implement, resulting in the closing of religious schools without careful enough preparation to insure that the damage this move created, in terms of education in Albania in general, would be kept to a minimum. After several years, and new agreements with Italy, the schools were for the most part reopened. With the Catholics, then, Zog was less successful but then effective Catholic resistance (both from the indigenous hierarchy and the Vatican) to state control was not limited to Albania.

This leads us to the acceptance of religious diversity and the creation of further religious diversity. In terms of the former Zog launched extensive programs including improved communications and transportation that was intended to allow for cultural and religious mixing among Albania's various religious groups. Zog also put greater emphasis on national education. He used the army to integrate Albanians religiously by insisting that units be constructed of individuals from different regions and different religions. He also introduced some coercive measure with regard to dress codes. The best example here would be his prohibition on the wearing of the veil. His own marriage to Geraldine, who was a practicing Roman Catholic, while motivated by many factors, can also be seen in light of his emphasis on accepting religious diversity.

In terms of encouraging further religious diversity, Zog's policy with regard to Jews stands out. First, Zog fully accepted Albanian Jews as part of the religious community. The Jewish community was officially recognized in April 1937. The 1930s witnessed the first Orthodox-Jewish intermarriage that took place in the large Jewish community in Vlora, something which became more common in subsequent years. But Zog went even further and even seemed willing to accept Jewish immigration into Albania. As a result of both of these policies of tolerance, members of the Albanian Jewish community have labeled the period of Zog as the "Golden Age of Jews in Albania"

Important in the process of the acceptance of Jewish immigration was the American minister Herman Bernstein who served in Albania between 1930 and 1933. Bernstein was himself Jewish and was able to take some time to conduct research on Albania's Jews. He published articles as a result of his research and remained active in Jewish affairs in Albania until his death in 1935. His principal contribution to the Jewish community in Albania was his negotiations with Zog for the resettlement of Jewish families from Austria and Germany, once the rise of Hitler made it clear to many that Jews were in danger all over Europe.

Bernstein's efforts resulted in many central European Jews coming to Albania in 1933 on their way to the United States, South America, Turkey and elsewhere. This was made possible by Albanian consulates that issued tourist and transit visas. Records indicate, for example, that 100 Jews and their families came from Vienna in February 1939, and in March 1939, 95 Jewish families came to Albania, mainly from Austria and Germany. Once in Albania the new immigrants received support from the Albanian Jewish community, but many were also given residency permits so that they could work. Zog's government, then, actively participated not only in bringing these Jews to Albania but was also concerned with their welfare once they had arrived.

It is true that Zog imposed some restrictions on further Jewish immigration in 1938-1939, as a way to appease the Italians. The Albanian consulate in Rome reported to the Albanian foreign ministry that "We have the impression that Italy does not see with a benevolent eye the congregation of Jews in our soil, especially their settling down in our country." In response tourist visas were limited to 30 days, the minimum amount of money Jewish immigrants were to have in their possession was increased and eventually consuls were instructed not to issue more visas - although even this seems to have been ignored in some instances. Numbers are somewhat difficult to verify but in 1938 there were officially about 300 Albanian Jews but probably hundreds of foreign Jews. Of the latter few had intended to stay in Albania but once the war began were no longer able to leave. The number of those who had successfully used Albania as a transit station is unknown because the rescuing networks were clandestine but estimates run anywhere between 600 and 3,000.

Further religious diversity in Albania would have taken a significant step forward had Zog been able to successfully negotiate a plan he developed while in exile in England during the course of the war. In January of 1944 in an interview with members of the Anglo-Jewish Association, Zog offered to sponsor a plan for a large Jewish settlement in Albania - apparently on the order of some 50,000 families to be given land owned by the state - if the British Jews helped him to regain his throne. The association seems to have taken this seriously enough to consult the British Foreign Office which quickly dismissed the notion. Zog at this point was of course desperate, considering that no official entity had allowed him to form a government in exile or indeed had recognized him as anything more than a private citizen. Still this was certainly a unique offer and perhaps can be considered as an indication of Zog's commitment to religious diversity.

2. The Jews in Albania during the Second World War

With the Italian invasion in April 1939 the situation for both foreign and Albanian Jews changed. Officially of course, religion was free in Albania and the revised constitution of 1939 maintained that all religions were to be respected and their external practices guaranteed by law. But fascists, as we know, often had difficulty with the concept of the rule of law. The Italians clearly favored the Catholics and Catholics often benefited from Italian largess. Italians appealed to Albanian Catholics by bringing them priests, sending Albanian Catholic children to seminaries and of course by giving the Albanian Catholic church a great deal of money. During the Italian period the Albania Catholic church received nearly half of the funds given to the much larger Moslem community. In general it is safe to say that Italian policy was both socially and religiously divisive.

For the foreign Jews in Albania under the Italians, emigration became much more difficult. This left possibly thousands stranded. There was also pressure put on the Albanian puppet regimes for the expulsion of the foreign Jews, as well as other restrictions. In July 1940 the Italian Viceroy General Francesco Jacomoni in Albania ordered that "all Jews of foreign citizenship.must be returned to their countries of origin as soon as possible." But these new restrictions seem to have been administered in a rather half-hearted manner since not a single Jew was apparently expelled. While emigration became more difficult, immigration into Albania continued apace. Albanian frontier authorities caught dozens of Jews coming from Yugoslavia and Bulgarian occupied areas using false documents. With few exceptions, they were released to find shelter among Albanian families. So instead of expulsion, Albania, during the Italian period experienced an influx of Jews during three major periods - September 1941, a second influx from Kosova in April 1942, and a third also from Kosova in July of 1942. These statistics are in sharp contrast to the situation in Bulgaria - which also claims to have saved its Jews. In Bulgaria, however, foreign Jews, as well as the Jews in Bulgarian occupied Macedonia were handed over to the Germans.

Albanian Jews under Italian occupation were certainly subjected to new restrictions. Jews were cut off from cultural, social and political activity. They were, for example not allowed to join the Albanian fascist party - which, I imagine was not considered much of a hardship - and could not join the Albanian army. Jews were occasionally removed from sensitive areas. In July 1940 the Viceroy General ordered, for example, that all Jews living in the port of Durres be relocated to inland towns like Berat, Lushnja, Fier and elsewhere. Documents suggest that 26 families were sent to Berat and 6 to Lushnja. But still, in very general terms, the lives of Jews in Albania during the Italian period were ordinary enough. Financial hardship was often a serious problem but at least some of this hardship was mitigated by aid from Jews abroad. Italian documents note that Jews in Spain, Switzerland, Italy and even Bulgaria sent monetary aid to Jews in Albania. Many were offered employment by Albanians. Jews in Albania during the Italian period apparently felt little need to hide and Jewish holy days were openly celebrated.

With the coming of the Germans the situation for the Jews deteriorated somewhat. The new German occupiers began by asking for lists of all the Jews in Albania from both the Jewish community and from the puppet regime of the regent Mehdi Frasheri. This request was of course an ominous sign because in other instances such action was the first step in the arrest, deportation and eradication of Jewish communities.

But the Germans were denied the lists by the Albanian Jewish community, the Albanian puppet regime, and local prefectures, communes and villages. In some instances, even the Italians would not cooperate as in Kavaja where lists of resident Jews had been produced. The Italian commander apparently destroyed the lists on the eve of the German invasion. But it is significant to note that the Germans did not pursue the matter. Their reluctance to do so can be attributed, in part, to Hermann Neubacher, a former mayor of Vienna, who became the German foreign office's special representative for the Balkans and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop's personal representative in Albania. For a time during the German occupation he was the most powerful figure in Albania. His charge was to hold Albania with a minimum number of troops which, he recognized, required genuine collaboration. He insisted on a new Albanian declaration of independence and insisted that Germany respect this independence whenever possible. Neubacher came up with what he considered to be two new categories in international law, "relative neutrality" and "relative sovereignty." While some of this was certainly a sham - the Germans clearly did in Albania as their interests dictated - the German occupation of Albania had relatively few signs of fascism. The local press had considerable leeway, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler was temporarily prevented from creating an Albanian Waffen SS division, there were no fascist organizations, and no forced labor was required. And what is important for our purposes, Jews were not hunted. They naturally felt much less safe under the Germans so many - particularly the foreign Jews (estimated in 1943 to be approximately 800 from Austria, Germany but also from Poland, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia) -remained in hiding, often moved from location to location and always protected by Albanian Moslems, Orthodox and Catholics alike. There is no known case of this trust being betrayed, no known case of a Jew being exposed, and no known case of an Albanian host requiring payment for the service

The Jews of Kosova - or "new Albania" as it was called during the war - were less fortunate. With the destruction of Yugoslavia in 1941, many Jews from Croatia and Serbia sought refuge in Kosova. While initially well treated, most were eventually returned to Belgrade where many were simply executed. And the Italians complied with German demands in Kosova and complied lists of Jews who were identified and then required to wear white armbands with the word "Jud" written in black letters and had their identity cards stamped with a red "J." The Germans subsequently required the Italian authorities to arrest and transfer Jews in Kosova to German control. But local Albanian authorities in Prishtina and elsewhere often resisted these efforts by providing false documents. Particularly active in this regard was Preng Uli, the Secretary of the Prishtina Municipality, whose efforts have been recorded in Italian documents.

Local Albanian authorities also appealed to the Italian command in Prishtina to help at least some Jews to either simply flee or be relocated to Albania. After consulting with Rome and with Viceroy Jacomoni in Tirana, Italian authorities sent many Jews to Albania, under various ruses including apparently, that the Albanian Jews in Kosova had typhus and needed to be sent to a hospital in Albania. In his memoirs, Jacomoni tells us that he was encouraged in his decision to allow Kosova Jews entrance into "old" Albania by the Albanian puppet Prime Minister Mustafa Kruja. The transfer was accomplished quite rapidly with the first group of 100 Jews arriving in Berat, followed by 79 Jews sent to Preza, all during the month of April 1942. In July 1942 a further 88 Jews were removed from prison in Prishtina and sent to Kavaja, Burrel, Kruja and elsewhere. Those who were fortunate enough to be included in these groups were almost immediately released. Many others were not so fortunate. The SS Skanderbeg division, which Himmler organized in Kosova in the spring of 1944, arrested 281 Albanian Jews and sent them to a camp in Prishtina before they were transported into the Reich. Other non-Albanian Jews joined them later - of the 400 Jews from Kosova sent to Bergen Belsen concentration camp, only about 100 survived.

Conditions for Jews in old Albania would also become more dangerous. By September the German civilian administration had essentially dissolved and power - what little was left - devolved to SS General Joseph Fitzhum, who like Neubacher was from Vienna where he had been police chief. Unlike Neubacher, however, Fitzhum was a particularly arrogant racist whose venom was directed against not only Jews but also Albanians in general. Fitzhum had frequently bitterly objected to Neubacher's insistence on respecting Albania's "relative independence." Ultimately Fitzhum apparently did order that the Jews of Vlora be arrested and be transported to the Reich with the retreating Germans. Apparently, however, the partisan advance interfered with this plan and the Jews of Vlora were saved.

In the final analysis 100% of Albania's Jews survived the war - even 60% of the Jews of Kosova survived. In Yugoslavia, excluding Kosova, the rate of survival was a mere 18-28% and in Greece no more that 14-22% of the Jewish population survived. Because Albania became known as a haven, there were many more Jews in the country as the end the war then there had been at the beginning. The Wannsee conference, where the holocaust was planned, estimated that there were 200 Jews in Albania in 1941 which was likely an underestimation. By the end of the war it is estimated that there were 1800 Jews in Albania - a remarkable development unrivalled in the Balkans and possibly even in Europe as a whole.

3. Motivations

Let us take a few moments and examine the possible motivations for these various at least benign policies towards both Albanian and foreign Jews. Zog's motivation in terms of all of his religious policies was I think nationalism, and his own political survival - not necessarily in that order. Zog has seen accused of anti-Catholicism but I not sure that is the case. I think he did believe in his concept of a modern western state in which there was no role for religious bigotry and in which religion would play no political role.

The motivation of the fascists during the Second World War varied. For the Italians their somewhat benign attitude stemmed in part from little in the way of a tradition of anti-Semitism. The Italians were also willing to thwart the Germans whenever given the chance. Further, the Italians were aware that anti-Semitism simple did not resonant with the Albanians and they were clever enough to realize that active anti-Semitism would therefore have provided little in the way of political capital. German motivation was principally expediency. Neubacher was likely not particularly interested in saving Jews but felt that his job would be made easier and the German position strengthened if he was able to live up to the notion of "relative independence" and "relative neutrality."

But what of the motive of the Albanians who took not only Albanian Jews but foreign Jews into their homes, protected them and kept them safe for often months, even years - what was the motive there? Part of the answer was the lack of a threat. Albanian Jews - even augmented by the Jewish refugees - were certainly few in number and they were therefore not a threat. But I believe there is more in explaining this attitude. The Albanian tradition of hospitality and besa certainly plays a very important part. Albanian custom requires that guests be protected and provided for.

But at least part of the motivation was inspired by a deeper religious tolerance, encouraged by Albania's long-term religious diversity. Many voices lend credence to this assertion. Myrteza Studenica, who identifies himself as the president of the Kosovar Jewish Committee has written that "Among the Albanians, both inside Albania and outside its state borders, as well as among those living in the Albanian diaspora, there is no anti- Semitism. Religious prejudices have never deteriorated into hysterical hatred against Jews. Since the time of the Roman invasions, when the Jews left their territories and settled in the Illyrian territories, up to the present day not a single case of Albanians murdering a Jew had been recorded." American Minister Herman Bernstein, writing in the early 1930s argued that "there is no trace of any discrimination against the Jews in Albania because Albania happens to be one of the rare lands in Europe today where religious prejudice and hate do not exist." In her book Escape through the Balkans Irene Grunbaum, who enjoyed Albanian protection during the war, writes "Farewell Albania.You have given me so much hospitality, refuge, friends, and adventure. Farewell Albania. One day I will tell the world how brave, fearless, strong, and faithful your sons are; how death and the devil can't frighten them. If necessary, I'll tell how they protected a refugee and wouldn't allow her to be harmed even if it meant losing their lives. The gates of your small country remained open Albania. Your authorities closed their eyes, when necessary, to give poor, persecuted people another chance to survive the most horrible of all wars. Albania, we survived the siege because of your humanity. We thank you".

The story of Jews in Albania during the Zogist and World War II periods is well known in Albania, but it is less well known abroad - and it should be. Conferences like the one that produced this volume, will help in that process.

^*Bernd J. Fischer
Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History
Indiana University, Fort Wayne