History of the Jews in Albania

First reports of Jews living in Albania date from the 70 CE, with it being thought that Jews first arrived as captives on Roman ships that shipwrecked and washed up on the shores of southern Albania. The descendants of these refugees, according to Albanian historian Apostol Kotani, would found Albania's first synagogue in the fourth According to archaeologists Gideon Foerster and Ehud Netzer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “five stages were identified in the history of the site. In the two early stages fine mosaic pavements (2nd to 4th century), probably part of a private home, preceded the later synagogue and church. In the third stage several rooms were added, the largest of these containing a mosaic pavement representing in its centre a menorah flanked by a shofar (ram’s horn) and an etrog (citron), all symbols associated with Jewish festivals. Mosaic pavements also decorated the other rooms. A large basilical hall added in the last two stages of the history of the site (5th to 6th century) represents the heyday of the Jewish community of Anchiasmon (Onchesmos), the ancient name of Saranda.” In sixth century Venosa (in Italy) there are references to Jews hailing from Onchesmos, which was also called Anchiasmos. The synagogue in Onchesmos was supplanted by a Christian church in the sixth century. ==Medieval and Ottoman period==

In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela visited the area and recorded the presence of Jews. In the thirteenth century, a Jewish community existed in Durrës and was employed in the salt trade. Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the Ottoman state resettled additional Jewish exiles in Vlorë toward the end of the fifteenth century. Ottoman censuses from 1506 and 1520 recorded the Jewish population in Vlorë as consisting of 528 families. It is thought that the beginning of the Jewish community in Elbasan was in 1501 but when Evliya Çelebi visited the city he reported that there were no Jews, nor any "Franks, Armenians, Serbs or Bulgars"; Edmond Malaj argues that Celebi was simply unaware of the local Jewish neighborhood which existed in the city, which had its own Jewish market. After the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the deterioration of security along the Ottoman controlled Adriatic and Ionian coasts, the numbers of Jews within Vlorë decreased. Followers of Sabbatai Zevi existed in Berat among Jews during the mid sixteenth century. ==1900–1939==

During the Albanian nationalist revolts of 1911, Ottoman officials accused the Jewish community of colluding with and protecting Albanian nationalist rebels. Vlorë was the site of Albania's only synagogue until it was destroyed in the First World War. According to the Albanian census of 1930, there were only 204 Jews registered at that time in Albania. The official recognition of the Jewish community was granted on April 2, 1937, while at that time this community consisted in about 300 members. With the rise of Nazi Germany a number of German and Austrian Jews took refuge in Albania. Still in 1938 the Albanian Embassy in Berlin continued to issue visas to Jews, at a time when no other European country was willing to take them. One of the major Albanologists Norbert Jokl asked for Albanian citizenship, which was granted to him immediately; but this could not save him from concentration camps. ==World War II==

at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. Albania is listed as having 200 Jews. Albania had about 200 Jews at the beginning of the war. It subsequently became a safe haven for several hundred Jewish refugees from other countries. At the Wannsee Conference in 1942, Adolf Eichmann, planner of the mass murder of Jews across Europe, estimated the number of Jews in Albania that were to be killed at 200. Nevertheless, Jews in Albania remained protected by the local Christian and Muslim population and this protection continued even after the capitulation of Italy on September 8, 1943. At the end of the war, Albania had a population of 2,000 Jews. During the Second World War, Jews were concealed in the homes and basements of 60 families from the Muslim and Christian communities in Berat. ==Communist era==

Throughout Albania's era of communist rule under the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, the Jewish community was isolated from the Jewish world, but its isolation was not caused by specifically anti-Jewish measures. In order to forge a sustainable form of national unity as well as the new system of socialism, Hoxha banned confessional loyalties across the religious spectrum. In this manner, the fate of the Jewish community was inextricably linked to the fate of Albanian society as a whole. All religions were strictly banned in the country. After the fall of Communism in 1991, nearly all of the Jews of Albania emigrated. Because they were not victims of anti-Semitism, their primary reasons for leaving Albania were economic. Some 298 Albanian Jews emigrated to Israel (mostly settling in Ashdod and Karmiel) and about 30 others moved to the United States. About a dozen Jews, most of whom were married to non-Jews, chose to remain in Albania. ==Jews in present-day Albania==

meeting with Rabbi Yoel Kaplan in Tirana Today, around 40 to 50 Jews are living in Albania, most of them are living in the capital, Tirana. An old synagogue was discovered in the city of Saranda and a new synagogue which is known as "Hechal Shlomo" started providing services to the Jewish community in Tirana in December 2010. A synagogue still exists in Vlorë, but it is no longer in use. Also in December 2010, Rabbi Joel Kaplan was inaugurated as the first chief rabbi of Albania by the former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar. A Jewish Community Center which is named "Moshe Rabbenu" was also inaugurated in Tirana, in total disaccordance with the Jewish community who denies Kaplan's status of chief rabbi, partly because they were never consulted. Kaplan is an emissary or shaliach of the Chabad or Lubavitch sect of Hasidic Judaism. In the late 2010s, a Jewish history museum which is named the "Solomon Museum" was established in southern Berat and it contains exhibits about the Holocaust in Albania and the survival of Jews in the country during the war. In early July 2020, a Holocaust Memorial was unveiled in Tirana and it honors Albanians who safeguarded Jews from Nazi persecution during the Second World War. On 22 October 2020, the Albanian parliament adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Working Definition of Antisemitism to support international efforts in combating antisemitism, becoming the first Muslim-majority country to do so. Partnering with the Jewish Agency for Israel and the New York-based Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), Albania hosted the first meeting of The Balkans Forum Against Anti-Semitism on 28 October 2020, which was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Edi Rama has been commended for his efforts to fight antisemitism. ==Notable Jews of Albanian origin==

• Robert Shvarc, translator • Aleks Buda, historian ==Further reading==