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Albanian Jews

A protester holds an antisemitic placard during a demonstration in Tirana, Albania, June 3, 2026, opposing a luxury coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. (AP/Hameraldi Agolli)
June 26, 2026, 4:50 pm
Albanian protests against Jared Kushner resort development see emerging antisemitism
Messages demonizing Israel and playing into anti-Jewish tropes grow on fringes of mass anti-government uprising, but in country historically kind to Jews, some see outside hand
By Larry Luxner
Students and their teachers from Berlin’s Refik Veseli School and Tirana’s Gjimnazi Sami Frashëri pose for a group shot in front of Albania’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2026. (Larry Luxner/ JTA)
April 7, 2026, 3:48 pm
In Albania, teens at German school discover tribal code of honor that saved Jews in WWII
Students at Refik Veseli Schule, named for an Albanian honored as Righteous Among the Nations, learn about ‘besa,’ a precept that mandates the protection of strangers fleeing persecution
By Larry Luxner
History teachers attending the September 2-6, 2024, Holocaust education conference organized by TOLI gather for a group photo at Albania’s University of Elbasan. (Larry Luxner/JTA)
September 16, 2024, 5:00 pm
Albania saved Jews from Nazis. Now educators teach the Holocaust to a new generation
Few youth know Albania is the only European country whose Jewish population was higher after WWII; a teachers’ conference aims to change that – and inspire kids with the country’s heroism
By Larry Luxner
A view of a statue honoring 23 Kosovo Albanians who rescued Jews from the Holocaust during World War II, after an inauguration in the capital Pristina, August 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Sylejman Kllokoqi)
August 24, 2023, 3:28 pm
Kosovo inaugurates ‘Wall of Honor’ for 23 Albanians who rescued Jews from Holocaust
Monument honors those who saved their Jewish neighbors from Nazis during World War II
By SYLEJMAN KLLOKOQI and LLAZAR SEMINI
Israeli Ambassador in Albania Noah Gal Gendler speaks during the inauguration of a Holocaust memorial in Tirana, on Thursday, July 9, 2020. (Xhulio Hajdari /Tirana City Hall via AP)
October 23, 2020, 12:02 am
Albania becomes first Muslim country to adopt anti-Semitism definition
IHRA wording gets unanimous okay from Tirana days ahead of inaugural Balkans Forum on anti-Semitism led by Albania’s parliament, seeking to fight against anti-Jewish prejudice
By ToI Staff
Architect Stephen B. Jacobs (INSIDER IMAGES/Gary He/via jTA
August 22, 2020, 7:24 am
Holocaust survivor architect designs memorial for Albanians who rescued Jews
Stephen Jacobs was only 5 years old when sent to Buchenwald, where he hid in the tuberculosis ward of the camp hospital. Designing Shoah memorials brings him closure, he says
By Josefin Dolsten
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama speaks during the inauguration of a memorial in Tirana, on July 9, 2020. (Xhulio Hajdari/Tirana City Hall via AP)
July 9, 2020, 8:51 pm
Albania, only country with more Jews after the Holocaust, inaugurates memorial
Tirana honors victims, and locals who protected Jews; country was occupied by Nazis, but none of its Jews were killed or handed over
By LLAZAR SEMINI
Jonny Daniels, third from left, with the Bicaku family in their home in Durres, Albania, Dec. 11, 2019. (Courtesy of From the Depths)
December 18, 2019, 6:55 pm
Jewish group to repair earthquake-struck home of Albanian Muslim who saved Jews
House of Muhamet Bicaku, whose father and brother sheltered 20 Jews from occupation forces during Holocaust, was devastated in calamity that claimed 55 lives
By Cnaan Liphshiz
A picture taken on February 6, 2019 shows the entrance of the Solomon Jewish history museum in the Albanian city of Berat. (Gent Shkullaku/AFP)
September 29, 2019, 7:48 pm
Albania’s endangered Jewish museum celebrates ‘rebirth’
Solomon Museum, which recounts how Muslim and Christian Albanians sheltered hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust, reopens thanks to generosity of businessman
By AFP
A man walks through Hebrew Street in the Albanian city of Berat on February 6, 2019. (Gent Shkullaku/AFP)
March 4, 2019, 12:26 pm
In Albania, a unique Jewish history museum on the brink
A tiny shop in the southern town of Berat tells the remarkable story of the only Nazi-occupied state that had more Jews after WWII than before
By Sally Mairs and Briseida MEMA
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