Albania to build museum to citizens who saved Jews during Holocaust
The Besa Museum will be named after the strict neighborly honor code that Albanians say motivated them to protect their Jewish neighbors during World War II
The Besa Museum will be named after the strict neighborly honor code that Albanians say motivated them to protect their Jewish neighbors during World War II
TIRANA, Albania (JTA) — Most anywhere else in Nazi-occupied Europe, an encounter with police would have likely sealed the fate of Jewish refugees like Nissim and Sarah Aladjem and their 10-year-old son, Aron. Instead, when the family was detained by police in the Muslim nation of Albania 75 years ago, it was the key to…
Not quite two weeks after being knighted by Pope Francis and made a member of the Papal Order of St. Sylvester, Park East Synagogue’s Senior Rabbi Arthur Schneier received Albania’s Presidential Medal for Special Civilian Merits at a ceremony on May 8th held at New York’s Russian Tea Room. Addressing a roomful of international consuls…
Of all the stories of Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Shoah, there’s one story that rarely gets told: the Muslims who risked their lives to save Jews. Norman H. Gershman’s photographic exhibition “Besa,” currently showing at the Soho Photo Gallery, redresses this imbalance, focusing exclusively on the unsung Albanian Muslim heroes who hid…
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