A memorial dedicated to the Holocaust and the struggle of Albanians to save Jewish families persecuted by the Nazis was inaugurated today at the Artificial Lake Park of Tirana.<\/p>\n
The inauguration ceremony was attended by US Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim, Ambassador of Israel Noah Gal Gendler, Prime Minister Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj, representatives of religious communities and families of those who contributed to the salvation of Jews in Albania.<\/p>\n
“This memorial will serve generations to remember that life is a balance between fear and hope, fear of what humanity is capable of doing to itself and hope that good always prevails over evil, humanity stands between these words and it’s up to us as leaders or public servants, or ordinary citizens to teach young people which side of history we should weigh on,” said Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj.<\/p>\n
Around 78 Albanians are recognized with honorary titles in Israel for their act in rescuing Jewish families, while in world historiography there is no trace of their persecution in Albania during the Second World War.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Nazis demanded the list of Jews in Albania, the Albanians refused. Albanians from all walks of life, muslims, chrictians, elites, peasants, teachers, government officials, everyone. An entire nation pulled together to help the Jews. To help their guests. It\u2019s a truly inspiring story of humanity, courage and honor. In other words, it is the story of Albanian besa,\u201d said Ambassador Yuri Kim. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The memorial was launched as a project pushed by former Ambassador Withers and Warren Miller, former chairman of the U.S. Commission on the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad. It was designed by Steven Jacobs and was made possible by former Commission member funds donated by Ronald H. Bloom.<\/p>\n
Israeli Ambassador Noah Gal Gendler quoted Jewish writer Anna Frank saying, “If we endure all this suffering and if there is any Jews left when this is over, they will no longer be held as condemned, but as an example.”<\/p>\n
Ambassador Gendler said that \u201cit would be great if other nations in the world would learn this chapter of history.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Before the Second World War, Albania was the only country that in its legislation had approved the Sabbath, which means that all citizens living here and belonging to the Jewish people had the right not to work on Friday and no one had the right to terminate their remuneration for the work.<\/p>\n
Without going into the history that preceded the chapter of the Albanian-Israeli relationship in the war, Albania with the epic episodes of its righteous people who helped the Jews, remains a stain on the Hollywood conscience that has created several masterpieces related to this era, but it would certainly have created much more, even more incredible, if it had referred to the episodes of Albanians to save Jewish families,\u201d concluded Prime Minister Edi Rama, recalling the stories of the Bicaku and Myrto families, who sacrificed a lot for holding and rescuing dozens of Jews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A memorial dedicated to the Holocaust and the struggle of Albanians to save Jewish families persecuted by the Nazis was inaugurated today at the Artificial Lake Park of Tirana. The inauguration ceremony was attended by US Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim, Ambassador of Israel Noah Gal Gendler, Prime Minister Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana Erion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":3322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n