The contribution of Albanian diplomacy in the 1930s to the rescue of Jews

The Holocaust encompasses millions of personal stories of its victims. Amidst these tragedies are extraordinary tales of courage and sacrifice.

 

In 1920, Jews were an integral part of Albanian society. By the beginning of World War II, the 1931 population census recorded 200 Jews in Albania. Notably, during the years 1929–1931, Albania conducted the first and only free registration of Jews, a practice that had never been undertaken elsewhere in Europe. Despite this small number, British journalist Leo Elton, who visited Albania in 1935, reported to the President of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem that Albania was an ideal refuge for Jews and could ultimately become a national home for them. By the end of the war, the Jewish population in Albania had grown to approximately 2,000.

At least 2,741 Jews were saved in Albania by the end of World War II. This figure includes only those who left documented traces or were recorded in personal accounts. It does not include Jews who entered Albania with false passports or under different names.

As of January 2019, Yad Vashem has recognized 75 Albanians as “Righteous Among the Nations”—non-Jews who risked their lives to shelter or save Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust.

What remains less known is the role of Albanian diplomacy in this rescue mission. An integral part of the now well-known contribution of Albanians to the rescue of Jews from Nazi anti-Semitic policies before and during World War II is the vision and work of Albanian diplomats who worked and directed Albanian legations in countries with Jewish populations in Central and Eastern Europe. Anti-Semitic policies with Hitler’s rise to power and the proclamation of the “Final Solution” doctrine, which formed the basis of anti-Semitic violence, posed before German Jews, but also Polish, Austrian, Czech, Hungarian Jews, their final departure from Germany and the surrounding endangered areas, and their settlement in a new homeland, either in the Middle East or in the USA. But the second issue that arose before the Jews was the method of their relocation and transfer. Albania was thought of as an important and safe transit country, as well as a temporary place of residence for the Jews who would later move.

The arrival and protection of the Jews in Albania was prepared over a decade and a half through many factors, including those pertaining to diplomatic action:

 

1.  In 1926, the League of Nations recognized Albania’s legitimate authority as a country for the temporary settlement of Jews, granting it the right to issue movement documents for them.
2.  One of the key initiatives that encouraged the arrival of Jews in Albania was the efforts of Counselor Mehmet Bey Konica and U.S. Ambassador Herman Bernstein between 1931 and 1933. The Bernstein–Konica Agreement of 1934 included the Albanian government’s commitment to accept 500 Jewish families. Ambassador Bernstein even published an article in The New York Times, calling Albanians “the least antisemitic people in the world.”
3. In 1930, Albania and Austria signed a visa-free agreement, which facilitated the arrival of Austrian Jews in Albania. Many Austrian Jews found their way to Tirana through the Albanian consulate in Vienna.
4.  During 1934–1935, the Albanian government negotiated with several international institutions and organizations, including the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Jewish Congress, to accept Jewish refugees. The League of Nations appointed James MacDonald as High Commissioner for Jewish resettlement in Albania. In discussions with Albanian Foreign Minister Xhafer Bey Vila and the Albanian ambassador in Geneva, an agreement was reached to grant Albania the status of a transit country for Jews traveling to America.
5. On March 17, 1935, Sir William Rey, a British Member of Parliament, wrote to King Zog, proposing the possibility of investing Jewish capital in Albania as a continuation of negotiations held in Paris.
6. The most significant international project for accepting Jews in Albania was presented to Albania’s Minister of Economy by Zionist representative Leo Elton. He and the Albanian government agreed to accept groups of Jews in danger.
7.  The acceptance of Jews alarmed Fascist Italy, which feared losing its privileges established during the 1921 Ambassadors’ Conference. Meanwhile, Tirana was negotiating with the British government to facilitate the acceptance of Jews, a move accompanied by investments and protected international status. In February 1939, Albanian diplomat Çatin Saraçi held talks in London with future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill about transferring Jews from Palestine to Albania. For political reasons, King Zog later returned to the idea of accepting 25,000 Jewish families in Albania after the restoration of peace.
8.  During 1938–1939, requests from Jews holding German, Polish, Czech, or Hungarian citizenship to obtain transit permits and residence in Albania increased. These requests were often accompanied by financial projects in various sectors of the Albanian economy, which increased the interest of Albanian governments in reviewing and approving them.
9.  In this context, the role of Albanian diplomats was pivotal. They forwarded these requests to the government with well-structured arguments and followed the process to completion. Their diplomatic work took place under the pressure and interference of the Fascist Italian government, which had significant influence in Albania during the 1930s. Two distinguished Albanian diplomats in this effort were Rauf Fico, Minister of the Albanian Royal Legation in Berlin, and Dhimitër Berati, Minister of the Albanian Royal Legation in Rome. A 1939 document from the Albanian Legation in Berlin reflects their efforts, showing a request for assistance from a former German Weimar Republic official of Jewish origin seeking settlement in Albania. Fico concluded his report with the words: “The position of Jews, being unstable and subject to sudden restrictions or prohibitions, I kindly ask for your instructions on how to proceed as soon as possible.”
10. During the Fascist period, complete lists of Jews arriving in Albania were prepared, and several transit camps were established. In this period, there were three major waves of Jewish arrivals: 192 Jews from Montenegro, 350 from Dalmatia, and around 600 from Kosovo. In September 1943, when Hermann Neubacher visited Tirana to establish the Regency, he demanded the surrender of gold, the Berat Codices, and Jewish lists. These demands were refused, and Jews were protected by Albanian families.
11. In October 1943, during a meeting in Berlin between Gestapo representatives and the German Foreign Ministry, it was decided that no action would be taken against Jews in Albania without further consultation with the Albanian government, which was highly sensitive to the matter. Even in April and May 1944, Tirana rejected Nazi demands to hand over lists of Jews, thus preventing their deportation and extermination.
12. During World War II, there was a tacit agreement between rival organizations, such as the National Liberation Front and “Balli Kombëtare”’, to exclude Jews from internal conflicts and protect them from the threat of mass extermination.

By the end of the war, Albania was home to approximately 2,000 Jews due to the courage of its citizens, who risked their lives to provide a haven for Jews fleeing neighboring countries. Albania was the only Nazi-occupied territory that experienced an increase in its Jewish population during the Holocaust.

Exhibition on Jews in Albania

Scanned materials and documents related to the Jewish presence and rescue in Albania.