Why Did Albanians and their Collaborationist Governments Rescue Jews during the Holocaust?

Abstract

The article aims to analyse the policy of the Albanian quisling governments on 200 Albanian-Jewish residents and 2000 Jewish immigrants from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, ex-Yugoslavia during WWII. The study focuses on the treatment of Jews by the puppet governments under the Italian occupation of Albania (1939– 1943) ; secondly, the policies enacted by the Albanian central and local authorities to protect Jewish lives under the German occupation and, thirdly, the reasons that explain the positive stance of Albanians towards Jews, as : hospitality, Besa (the sworn oath), religious tolerance, lack of anti-Semitism etc. Based on classical hermeneutics, archival research and bibliographical analysis, this article intends to analyse the policy of the Albanian quisling governments under the pressure of the German authorities and the reasons why they rejected the Nazi request to hand over the Jews, giving an important contribution to the rescue of the Jewish people from the racial persecution.