Albanian Muslims risk their own lives ...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Albanian Muslims risk their own lives to save Jews from Nazis during World War II

By Leisa Zigman

Creve Coeur, MO (KSDK) -- With rising anti-Muslim sentiment across the country, an untold story is raising greater awareness about the Muslim faith and the teachings of the Quran. That awareness comes from an unlikely source: a small Jewish congregation in Creve Coeur.

Temple Emanuel is premiering a groundbreaking exhibit of photos that reveals Albanian Muslims who saved 2,000 Jews during World War II.

It's a story you've likely never heard. It is a story told through the faces of Albanian Muslims who risked their own lives to live by a code of faith and honor called Besa.

Dr. Ghazala Hayat is a neurologist at St. Louis University and serves as spokesperson for the Islamic Foundation of Greater Saint Louis.

Hayat said while Besa is an Albanian word, it is part of Islamic culture and teachings. According to Dr. Hayat, Besa is an ancient code which requires people to endanger their own lives if necessary to save the life of anyone seeking asylum. To this day, Besa is the highest moral law of the region, superseding religious differences, blood feuds, and even tribal traditions.

The exhibit is opening eyes throughout the world.

"You don't have to share the same faith. You have to respect each other's faith," Hayat said.

Pictures of the Albanian Muslims in the exhibit tell a lifetime of stories. As a young mother, one woman did not have enough breast milk to feed her son. A Jewish woman she hid nursed him instead. She was asked if she minded that a Jewish mother had fed her baby.

"Jews are God's people like us," the woman said.

Another man who also hid Jewish families said, "I did nothing special. All Jews are our brothers."

And the head of the Bektashi sect, with more than seven million followers, tells the story of Albania's prime minister, who gave a secret order during the Nazi occupation.

"All Jewish children will sleep with your children, all will eat the same food, and all will live as one family," the order read.

In post-war Europe, it is said Albania was the only Nazi-occupied country to boast a greater number of Jews than before the Holocaust.


"They were among the people who at great personal risk sheltered Jews and protected them in their homes and did so out of a religious obligation," said Rabbi Justin Kerber, Temple Emanuel.

The Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis and several local Jewish agencies hope the St. Louis community will experience this rare look at the role Albanian Muslims played in sheltering Jews from the Nazis.

"At this time of tension over Islam in America, there is so much more to understanding Islam," Rabbi Kerber said.

The BESA exhibition at Temple Emanuel is October 21- December 1, 2010
12166 Conway Road
Thursday 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays, 12 p.m. to 4pm and by appointment

For more information, contact Gail at gail@testl.org or call 314-432-5877.

KSDK

[Trolldor]

If true, then tat would make it a first... and shows selective ignoring of particular passages.

[Trolldor]

..oh, also implied is:

"Wow, amazing story, want to know more."

[kiki5711]

It's not out of the goodness of their heart or love of god. Read a bit more about this "code" they live by:

HOSPITALITY AND HONOR
The key issue in Kanun, which also helps to understand the entirety of traditional Albanian culture, is hospitality. The term 'honor' is strictly connected with it. A house becomes a bastion for the Albanian - a place, where the clan revenge will not reach him and where he feels safe. Anyway, the traditional building confirms the state completely - houses are surrounded with a high fence or a wall; one cannot peep into a window or get inside imperceptibly. Kanun requires keeping a dog, which protects his fortress. A dog should have its own kennel, but at the same time, should not run free from dinner time till daybreak. Kanun clearly describes how one should visit the Albanian house. So, one ought to call from the outside to welcome a guest. Next, a householder takes a weapon from a guest, puts it next to his own one and seats him in the center of a house, near fire. A guest should stir it a little bit. Then, a guest is treated to bread and salt and his feet are washed. If an invitee is someone special, then he is treated to rakija, coffee and meat. A crucial issue is giving the weapon back - it is done due to security, but it also means, symbolically, that the house is free from violence and revenge. Besides, a weapon is the determinant of virility - only a man is obliged to carry one. A crucial element of a boy's initiation is handing a weapon to him [12] - thus, one of ways of man's punishment is depriving him from it. Guest is left completely to a householder's protection, and if an invitee is killed, a householder becomes responsible for revenge. The last episode was used by I.Kadare in his book, already mentioned one, and entitled "Blood for blood". A bloody revenge rested on a man's family, whose guest was killed on his territory. Moreover, his head was turned towards his house.
Despite such an attitude towards an invitee, as the Albanian house belongs to God and guest, also he is obliged to obey some strict rules. The violation of any regulations may hurt a householder. In order to insult a master of the house, one may, for instance, take a pot's lid from the hearth. Violating such an important rule of hospitality for the Albanian results in loss of honor. A personal honor may also be violated when somebody calls man a liar in presence of other people, spits at him, threatens or beats him and also if he does not keep a given word, commitments or debt and when someone abuses his wife or takes his weapon back.

BLOODY REVENGE AND BESA
The most striking, inspiring or simply exotic and sensational element of a common law for a modern man is the one concerning a bloody revenge. Moreover, from a circulatory and superficial knowledge of Albania, it is usually put forward in the foreground. The law, or even the responsibility to kill a man, still exists in some Albanian regions. But in order to understand them, one should gain to the bases of law and ask: in what situation one may kill another man, who can be killed and what additional conditions should be fulfilled due to make it in accordance to traditional obligations. First of all, the Albanians distinguish clearly the difference between a bloody revenge and retaliation. The retaliation occurs when someone steals or destroys his property. A bloody revenge is the consequence of a crime committed earlier - a murder or an injury as a result of honor depriving. [13]
As it was already mentioned, a man who is a guest in one's house must be avenged by a householder. If the invitee is killed in a householder's place, or on a road to his house, and if he falls down with a head turned towards the house, the guest should be avenged. If not, he also should be paid off by the family of a killed man. The act of killing is also strongly ritualized. One should do it from an ambush and shoot straight in one's head. Next, one should go to dead, turn him on his back and lean a weapon on his head. Kanun, as I.Kadare highlights in a detailed description of a murder act, expected the shock stadium, as the avenger may get into after killing, and let the passers-by to take care of things he simply could take care of. But leaving the dead lying on his stomach with a discarded weapon would be the unforgettable disgrace. [14] Furthermore, a murderer must take part in a funeral of a victim and even feast with his family at a funeral party.
After the act of killing, a murderer may get - and usually gets - so called besa, meaning a guarantee given by a victim's family, that during a specific time no-one will avenge the dead. The period is the first twenty-four hours [small besa], later on - 30 days [large besa]. During that time, the murderer may live freely and no-one has the right to kill him. Then, his life will be based on hiding and moving only at night. A bloody shirt of a victim will be hung on the door of a house - it reminds the inhabitants that a relative must be avenged.
The term besa is worth a deeper consideration here because it is, similarly to honor, one of the key terms due to the Albanian culture understanding. Besa means both: a guarantee and giving or keeping one's word. Not keeping one's word is equal to the loss of honor.
Bloody revenge evokes so many controversies and indignation because, firstly, its idea is not understood and secondly, it still exists in the Albanian mountains. Some statements simply horrify, such as: According to Albanian press, 6.000 boys do not attend school because they hide from vendetta with men from their families.

http://www.ethnology.pl/?page=pages/in- ... e-to-kanun

[Feck]

On the contrary to dismiss actions of that sort as not being worthy of praise is unfair . The Prime minister did not have to remind people to take in and care for Jews even at thier own risk ,and the people didn't have to follow his lead.
That is like discounting actions of the Partisans who fought against the nazi's in Italy as driven by communism and therefore not brave

I you dismiss all the 'good' actions of the 'faithful' or of people with a different culture then you also accept that an individuals not responsible for 'evil' acts promoted by his culture .

If a jewish comunity wants to make public the kind actions of a group of muslims in an effort to reduce the Hate then good for them !

[kiki5711]

What I feel is that they are driven by the code of "how to act" towards others, rather than "freedom to act" towards others. Not that there are no good hearted people, but their fear of NOT following the code is greater than acting with goodness out of random acts of kindness.

[Trolldor]

Actually, doesn't seem like that's the case at all.

[kiki5711]

doesn't seem like it but you've never been around any so it's just what you read. In Bosnia, there are a lot of Albanians and they are not the most friendly people. They act like someone's always out to get them, and probably have a good reason for it. Within that code they live by, it could be their own son or daughter/ or husband at risk of being beaten or killed if they do anything wrong or offend a person in another family. Those offended will hold a grudge for years and years to find and pay back in same way they were wronged. If not to the immediate family, then to the next generation. It's a very stressful way to live. In Albania, as of present, there is a police task force that keeps an eye on a family member that they know is/or might be planning a revenge. They urge them to forgive and move on. They don't give up though. They don't want to give up their code.

[Trolldor]

I wasn't aware you were there during world war 2.

[kiki5711]

I wasn't aware you were there during world war 2.

Unfortunately this is going on now. I wasn't talking about ww2.

[Trolldor]

Well that's what this thread is about. If you aren't talking about their actions during World War 2 why are you wasting so much time carrying on?