Kavaja: A story to be unfold by Albanian Institute for Public Affairs

ECOSMeG â&#x20AC;&#x201C; European Cosmopolitanism and Sites of Memory through Generations

Kavaja A story to be unfold

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Tirana, 2014

 Albanian Institute for Public Affairs – Tirana, May 2014 St."Sami Frashëri", Nr 41, Tirana Tel. +355 04 2430 333 Fax. +355 04 2252 621 E-mail: director.aipa@umb.edu.al Website: aipa.umb.edu.al

The research is undertaken in the framework of ECOSMeG project, supported by the “Europe for Citizens Programme - Action 4 - Decision no. 2012 - 3683 / 002 – 001”, European Commission The opinions and views on this report do not necessary reflect those of the European Commission

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Table of Content PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................................... 8 1.

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 9

KAVAJA CAMP ....................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1. 2.2. 2.3.

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ................................................................................................................................ 12 PHOTOS .......................................................................................................................................................... 20 ORAL HISTORIES AND PRIMARY DOCUMENTS LEFT BY INTERNED INDIVIDUALS. ............................... 27

LIFE OUTSIDE THE KAVAJA CAMP............................................................................................... 45

KAVAJA’S RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS ........................................................................ 50 4.1 MIHAL LEKATARI ................................................................................................................................................ 50 4.2 KADIU’S FAMILY (BESIM AND HIS WIFE AISHE) .............................................................................................. 51 4.2 SHYQYRI MYRTO ................................................................................................................................................. 52

WHY JEWS WERE SAVED IN ALBANIA ......................................................................................... 52

INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 54

BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................................... 55

ANNEXES: ........................................................................................................................................................ 57 1. 2.

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LIST OF NAMES INTERNED AT KAVAJA CAMP ............................................................................................... 57 KUMANOVO STEAMER ....................................................................................................................................... 60

Table of Boxes, Documents and Testimonies BOX 1 CHRONOLOGY: JEWS IN ALBANIA DURING WORLD WAR II ............................................................................. 9 BOX 2 JEWS IN ALBANIA THAT HAVE BEEN MURDERED IN THE SHOAH ................................................................. 10 BOX 3 KAVAJA CAMP ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 DOCUMENT 1: AN OFFICIAL NOTE DOCUMENTING THE ARRIVING OF 192 JEWS FROM KOTOR WITH KUMANOVO STEAMER IN 30.07.1941 ................................................................................................................. 12 DOCUMENT 2: A CONFIDENTIAL OFFICIAL NOTE DOCUMENTING THE INTERNMENT OF 350 JEWS FROM DALMACIA .............................................................................................................................................................. 13 DOCUMENT 3: A LETTER SENT TO POPE PIUS XII FROM SARICA SALOM PERERA ON 24 MAY 1943 .................. 13 DOCUMENT 4: A LETTER SENT TO THE GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF POLICE ABOUT WOLLSTEIN OSCAR, A RESIDENT OF TIRANA. ........................................................................................................................................... 14 DOCUMENT 5: A DOCUMENT ISSUED BY THE IV CARBINIERI BATTALION "LAZIO" LISTING THE NAMES OF 18 JEWS, AMONG THOSE LISTED ARE THE THREE MEMBERS OF THE ALTARAC FAMILY AND THE FOUR MEMBERS OF THE MANDIL FAMILY. THEY WERE REFUGEES IMPRISONED IN PRISHTINA AND WERE AUTHORIZED TO LEAVE BY TRUCK FOR ALBANIA. ............................................................................................. 15 DOCUMENT 6: LETTER OF THE PREFECT OF KAVAJA, QAMIL XHANI, REQUESTING PERMITION FOR ALLOWING THE RELATIVES OF ISAK ALBAHARI INTERNEE IN KAVAJA, TO COME TO ALBANIA ...................................... 15 DOCUMENT 7: OFFICIAL LIST OF JEWS RESIDENT IN KAVAJA ................................................................................ 16 DOCUMENT 8: THE LETTER OF ARON TUVIJ AND THE ANSWER FROM THE GENERAL POLICE DIRECTORATE . 17 DOCUMENT 9: THE LETTER OF ALEXANDER HERZOG AND THE ANSWER FROM THE GENERAL POLICE DIRECTORATE, ASKING PERMITION TO LEAVE KAVAJA CAMP AND GO INTO TIRANA FOR HEALTH ISSUES 17 DOCUMENT 10: IDENTITY CARD OF SALLOMON ISAK SALTIEL AND JAKOV GATENJO WITH FALSE NAMES (SALI ISA SALTIELI AND JAK GATENI), ISSUE ON DT. 17.12.1943 NR. 2021 BY VICE PREFECT OF KAVAJA MEHMET GANI (QANI) .......................................................................................................................................... 17 DOCUMENT 11: TELEGRAM OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE FORCE OF PRIZREN SEND TO CARABINEERS OF KAVAJA NOTIFYING ABOUT SENDING TO CONCENTRATION CAMP IN KAVAJA BAUN NUS ZLAK, SARIKA ALKANAJ, MIRKO ALKANAJ AND THEIR MOTHER. ............................................................................................................... 18 DOCUMENT 12: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS WITH SUPRERIOR COMMAND OF THE ARMED FORCES, THE PREFECTURE OF DURRES ABOUT THE ARREST IN MONTENEGRO OF 350 JEWS, TAKING THEM TO THE CONCENTRATION FIELD IN KAVAJA AND THEIR TREATMENT AS WAR PRISONERS. . 18 DOCUMENT 13: LIST OF NAMES OF JEWS, RESIDENTS OF KAVAJA ETC ................................................................. 18 DOCUMENT 14: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS WITH THE PREFECTURE OF SHKODRA AND ULQIN ABOUT TAKING ISRAELITES WHO LIVE IN THIS SUB-PREFECTURE TO KAVAJA, KRUJA, SHIJAK, AND BURREL; WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DR. MARGULIS, ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF GENERLA REGENCY AND THE MINISTRY OF GENERAL REGENCY .................................................................. 18 DOCUMENT 15: NOTIFICATION OF THE ROYAL POLICE FORCE OF SHKODRA ABOUT IMPRISONMENT FOR PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE AXIS POWERS OF THE YUGOSLAVIAN CITIZEN OF ISRAELITE NATIONALITY TUTI AARON, WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE “SAVOYA” INN, AND HIS INTERNMENT TO THE CONCENTRATION CAMP IN KAVAJA. .................................................................................................................................................. 18 DOCUMENT 16: LIST OF NAMES OF ISRAELITES RESIDENTS IN BERAT, DURRES, KAVAJE, KRUJE, AND SHIJAK ................................................................................................................................................................................. 18 DOCUMENT 17: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF POLICE WITH THE POLICE FORCE OF DURRES, PETITION OF KOEN MORENO, INTERNED IN KAVAJA, BY WICH HE ASKS PERMISSION TO BE CURED IN TIRANA. ................................................................................................................................................. 18 DOCUMENT 18: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF POLICE WITH THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS, POLICE FORCES OF TIRANA ABOUT THE INTERNMENT OF SHWARTZ SIEGFRIED, AND TEJESSI KARL IN KAVAJA .................................................................................................................................... 18

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DOCUMENT 19: NOTOFOCATION OF POLICE FORCE OF PRISTINE SENT TO THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF POLICE ABOUT THE INTERNMENT IN KAVAJA AND LATER IN ELBASAN OF MORDEHAJ LAZAR, BORN AND A RESIDENT IN PRISTINE. ........................................................................................................................................ 18 DOCUMENT 20: PETITION OF AARON TUVI, INTERNED IN KAVAJA, SENT TO THE GENERLA DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THIS DEPARTMENT WITH THE POLICE FORCE OF DURRES, ASKING PERMISSION TO GO WORK IN TIRANA, THE REQUEST IS NOT APPROVED. ....................................................... 18 DOCUMENT 21: PETITION OF THE ENGINEER MAKS VAJNER, INTERNED IN KAVAJA, SENT TO THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS, BY WHICH HE ASKS PERMISSION TO BE TREATED IN TIRANA. .................................. 18 DOCUMENT 22: PETITION OF SALOMON AND RIKA SADIKARIA, STELLA, AVRAM, AND SILVA AVROMI, AND JAKOV ARNESTI, REMOVED FROM SARAJEVO BECAUSE OF THEIR MISTREATMENT BY YUGOSLAVIAN AUTHORITIES, SENT TO THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF POLICE BY WICH THEY ASK TO COME IN ALBANIA; THEY ARE INSTALLED IN THE CONCENTRATION FIELD OF KAVAJA. .............................................. 19 DOCUMENT 23: PETITION OF SOME ISRAELITES SENT TO THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, THE LSIT OF THEIR NAMES, AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS, THE POLICE FORCES OF TIRANA, SHKODRA, PEJA, AND PRIZREN ABOUT COMING TO ALBANIA OF THE ISRAELITES, INVESTIGATIONS ABOUT THEIR PERMANENCE AND TAKING THEM TO THE CONCENTRATION FIELDS OF

BERAT, LUSHNJA, KAVAJA, KRUJA, AND SHIJAK. ............................................................................................ 19 DOCUMENT 24: LISTS OF NAMES OF THE ISRAELITES INTERNED IN DURRES, KAVAJA, KRUJA, SHIJAK, LUSHNJA ETC., AND ALSO THE MEASURES THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN FOR THEIR TRANSFER TO THE INTERNMENT SITES. .............................................................................................................................................. 19 DOCUMENT 25: PETITION OF ALEGRA KOEN SENT TO THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS, BY WICHE SHE ASKS TO BE TRANSFERRED NEAR HER BROTHERS IN KAVAJA (HIS REQUEST IS APPROVED) ........................ 19 DOCUMENT 26: PETITION OF ISAK ALBAHAR ADDRESSED TO THE SUB-PREFECTURE OF KAVAJA BY WICH HE ASKS THAT HIS WIFE MATILDA ISAK ALBAHAR AND HIS SISTER VENUCA ALBAHAR MAY COEM FROM BULGARIA TO KAVAJA. ......................................................................................................................................... 19 DOCUMENT 27: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PREFECTURE OF DURRES WITH THE SUB-PREFECTURE OF KAVAJA ABOUT NOT GRANTING PERMISSION TO ANDJELBOVIÇ TAJA TO BE VISITED IN THE CIVIL HOSPITAL IN TIRANA ............................................................................................................................................ 19 DOCUMENT 28: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PREFECTURE OF DURRES WITH THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS THE SUB-PREFECTURE OF KAVAJA ABOUT THE REQUEST OF THE ISRAELITE NISIM ALADJEN TO BE ALLOWED WITH HIS FAMILY TO GO TO ITALY AND FROM THERE TO SPAIN ............................................... 19 DOCUMENT 29: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PREFECTURE OF DURRES WITH THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS, SUB-PREFECTURE OF KAVAJA ABOUT GIVING PERMISSION TO NISIM ALADJEM, A RESIDENT IN KAVAJA, TO GO TO TIRANA FOR MEDICAL VISIT ................................................................................................ 19 DOCUMENT 30: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE GENERAL DEPARMENT OF POLICE WITH THE PREFECTURE OF DURRES ABOUT GIVING A MOUNTH PERMISSION BY THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS TO THE ISRAELITES ISAK AZRIEL AND JACOB RUCHWARFER, INTERNED IN KAVAJA, TO GO TO DURRES AND TIRANA TO CHECK THE CONSTRUCTION WORK OF THE ENGINEER VIKTOR PAN. .......................................... 19 DOCUMENT 31: A LIST OF NAMES OF ISRAELITES INTERNED IN KAVAJA WHO HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE REIMBURSED BY THE STATE BUDGET TO GET FOOD .......................................................................................... 19 PHOTO 1: A FAMILY, PROBABLY SERBIAN OR MONTENEGRIN, HAS A MEAL ON A PLANK ON THE OUTSIDE OF A BUILDING OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP OF KAVAJA; OTHER PEOPLE ARE IN THE BACKGROUND. ALSO NOTE THE MAN WITH A CAMERA ON HIS LEFT SHOULDER WHO IS FILMING THE SCENE. 19.08.1941 20.08.1941 ............................................................................................................................................................. 20 PHOTO 2: A FAMILY, PROBABLY SERBIAN OR MONTENEGRIN, EAT THE OUTSIDE OF A BUILDING OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP OF KAVAJA. 19.08.1941 - 20.08.1941. ...................................................................... 20 PHOTO 3: FAMILIES, PROBABLY SERBIAN OR MONTENEGRIN, AFTER THE MEAL, SITTING OUTSIDE THE BUILDINGS OF CONCENTRATION CAMP KAVAJA, 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941. .................................................. 20

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PHOTO 4: MEN AND WOMEN, PROBABLY DISPLACED SERBIANS OR MONTENEGRINS, PLAYING CARDS INSIDE THE CONCENTRATION CAMP KAVAJA WITH BYSTANDERS WATCHING THE SCENE. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 PHOTO 5: A FAMILY, PROBABLY SERBIAN OR MONTENEGRIN, EATING OUTSIDE OF A BUILDING IN THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP. BACKGROUND: TWO SOLDIERS TALKING WITH A WOMAN, OTHER BYSTANDERS. 19.08.1941 - 20.08.1941 ...................................................................................................................................... 21 PHOTO 6: A GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN, PROBABLY DISPLACED SERBIANS OR MONTENEGRINS, ARE LINED UP WITH THEIR MESS KITS IN HAND AT THE TABLE OUTSIDE OF THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP. CHILDREN PLAY IN THE FOREGROUND AND CURIOUS LOOK TOWARDS THE PHOTOGRAPHER, SOLDIERS ARE ALSO PRESENT. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941. .................................................................................................. 21 PHOTO 7: A GROUP OF WOMEN, PROBABLY DISPLACED SERBIANS OR MONTENEGRIN, IN FRONT OF ONE OF THE DORMITORY BUILDINGS OF KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP KAVAJA; ALSO PRESENT SOME CHILDREN NEXT TO THEIR MOTHERS. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941 ..................................................................... 21 PHOTO 8: THE VIEW OF THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP WITH FAMILIES, PROBABLY SERBIAN OR MONTENEGRIN, FORCED INTO A CONFINED SPACE WITH BARBED WIRES ALONG ALL THE BUILDINGS. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941 ...................................................................................................................................... 21 PHOTO 9: THE OUTDOOR KITCHENS OF THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP. IN THE FOREGROUND TWO MEN CARRYING FOOD USING A STICK THROUGH THE POT HANDLES. SOLDIERS ARE ALSO PRESENT. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941 ........................................................................................................................................................... 22 PHOTO 10: A GROUP OF CHILDREN IN THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941 ........... 22 PHOTO 11: AN IMAGE OF THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP. ON THE BACK SIDE IT IS HANDWRITTEN KAVAIA: REBELION MONTENEGRIN PRISONERS, 28.9.41. ............................................................................... 22 PHOTO 12: IMAGE OF THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP. ON THE BACK SIDE IT IS HANDWRITTEN KAVAIA: MONTENEGRIN PRISONERS, 8.8.41, FRONT OF YUGOSLAVIA. ........................................................................ 22 PHOTO 13: THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE KAVAJA CONCENTRATION CAMP FACILITIES. THE AREA HAS NO OFFICIAL USE BUT IS SOMETIMES INHABITED BY ROMA. .......................................................................................................... 23 PHOTO 14: PICTURE OF THE ‘RED HOUSE’ BUILDING WHERE JEWISH REFUGEE FAMILIES RENTED APARTMENTS AFTER HAVING ESCAPED FROM EX-YUGOSLAVIA....................................................................... 45 PHOTO 15: THE SAME ‘RED HOUSE BUILDING’ TODAY. OWN PHOTO MAY 2014 .................................................. 46 PHOTO 16: JEWISH FAMILIES OF MANDIL, AZRIEL, ALTARAC, RUCHVARGER AND BORGER IN A GROUP PORTRAIT. (KAVAJË, 1 MAY 1942) ...................................................................................................................... 46 PHOTO 17: MAJER ALTARAC, RESIDENT IN THE “RED HOUSE” .............................................................................. 46 PHOTO 18: MAJER AND MIMI ALTARAC (TOP ROW, 4TH AND 5TH FROM THE LEFT) AND THEIR SON, JASA (IN FRONT OF MAJER), AND MOSA AND GABRIELA MANDIL (TOP ROW, 1ST AND 2ND ON THE LEFT), THEIR SON, GAVRA (IN FRONT OF GABRIELA), AND DAUGHTER IRENA (FRONT ROW, CENTER). ...................................... 47 PHOTO 19: COPPER TRAVEL CLOCK WITHIN A LEATHER CASE BY JEWISH LIVING ‘RED HOUSE’ ......................... 47 PHOTO 20: GROUP PORTRAIT OF JEWISH REFUGEE CHILDREN AT A BIRTHDAY PARTY IN KAVAJA. ................... 47 PHOTO 21: A GROUP OF JEWISH REFUGEE CHILDREN LIVING IN AN APARTMENT HOUSE IN KAVAJA, ALBANIA POSE WITH AN ITALIAN SOLDIER WHO IS THEIR TUTOR. ................................................................................... 48 PHOTO 22: JEWISH RESIDENTS WITH KAVAJA OFFICIALS ....................................................................................... 48 PHOTO 23: A GROUP PORTRAIT OF STUDENTS AT AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN KAVAJA, ALBANIA. .................. 48 PHOTO 24: GROUP PORTRAIT OF GAVRA MANDIL'S CLASS AT THE ALBANIAN SCHOOL HE ATTENDED IN KAVAJA. GAVRA IS MARKED WITH A NUMBER 30 (FIRST ROW, AT THE FAR RIGHT)....................................... 49 PHOTO 25: RESIDENTS OF THE NEIBORHOOD SALLBEG IN KAVAJA 26.06.1943. THE TWO WOMEN CIRCLED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PHOTOGRAPH ARE THE JEWISH SISTERS LUCI AND KORI OF SAMUEL HAIM FROM CORFU..................................................................................................................................................................... 49 TESTIMONY 1: THE HISTORY OF THE ROBICHEK FAMILY REGARDING KAVAJA PRISON CAMP (SUMMER/FALL 1941), AS TOLD BY VERA ROBICHEK SIPOREN .................................................................................................. 27

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TESTIMONY 2: BOZA RAFAJLOVIC‘S TESTIMONY CONDUCTED ON MAY 2ND 1997 IN BELGRADE, BY JASA ALMULI. .................................................................................................................................................................. 28 TESTIMONY 3: SARA ALKALAJ’S TESTIMONY GIVEN IN BELGRADE IN 1997, INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY JASA ALMULI. .................................................................................................................................................................. 29 TESTIMONY 4: THE STORY OF VERA KOHN ............................................................................................................... 29 TESTIMONY 5: PETER SILBERSTEIN (SILTON), WAS BORN IN HAMBURG, GERMANY ON 18.02.1924. ........... 30 TESTIMONY 6: SAŠA BOŽOVIĆ: (BELGRADE 1912 - BELGRADE, 1996). ................................................................... 31 TESTIMONY 7: JAN HERMANN’S STORY, INTERNED ALSO AT KAVAJA CAMP IN JULY 1941. .............................. 32 TESTIMONY 8: JOHANNA NEUMANN......................................................................................................................... 33 TESTIMONY 9: MIRKO HALLER’S STORY OF HIS EXPERIENCE AS A REFUGEE FROM SARAJEVO AND INTERNMENT AT KAVAJA CAMP IN 1941. ........................................................................................................... 34 TESTIMONY 10: ALBERT ALCALAY INTERVIEW (CONDUCTED BY ROBERT BROWN, MASSACHUSETTS, 1979 JAN. 17). IN JULY 1941 ALCALAY WAS DEPORTED TO ALBANIA AND INTERNED IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMP OF KAVAJE. AT THE END OF 1941 HE WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE CONCENTRATION CAMP OF FERRAMONTI DI TARSIA (COSENZA PROVINCE) WHERE HE REMAINED UNTIL THE END OF 1942............... 37 TESTIMONY 11: IRENE GRUNBAUM. IN HER AUTOBIOGRAPHY GRUNBAUM DESCRIBES, HER LIFE AS A JEW AND HOW SHE WAS PROTECTED AND SHELTERED. IN THE EXTENSIVE SECTION ON ALBANIA SHE INCLUDES HER EXPERIENCE AT KAVAJA. ........................................................................................................... 41 TESTIMONY 12: ZHAK (ISAC) EMANUEL RUBEN FROM PRISTINA WAS INTERNED ON 05/04/1942 IN KAVAJA. IN THE FALL OF 1943 HE WAS CAUGHT BY THE GERMAN NAZIS, WAS SENT TO A CONCENTRATION CAMP NEAR BELGRADE AND WAS EXECUTED. .............................................................................................................. 43

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PREFACE Last year, my colleagues, students and I joined the European Cosmopolitanism and Sites of Memory through Generations (ECOSMeG) project, researching on ‘small’ historical sites of memory and collecting stories, documents and interviews of Jewish survivors during the Second World War. Our interdisciplinary project of memory reconstruction aims to collect stories and documents to better understand our shared past and help transmit it to younger generations. We spent months searching for and putting together survivors’ stories, documentary records and scholarly articles of Albanian, Italian and exYugoslavian provenience. The challenge is to match all survivors’ memories and documents with dates and events in order to place memories accurately in time and place. Our paper avoids implicit and explicit interpretation. We present the comprehensive materials to the judgment of the readers, allowing them to form their own opinions. Other researches may do follow-up research and uncover more on these under reported sites of memory and individual Jews that lived in Albania during the period of the World-War II. ECOSMeG philosophy seeks to empower younger generation to access memories of the Holocaust and to retain and to express them. ECOSMeG project is an exercise of how to present primary documents and also to express oneself freely and without any prejudice.

ECOSMeG methodology considers everyday experiences and locations extremely important for constructing and preserving collective memory. This document preserves individual oral histories and specific sites of interest. You will find collections of reprinted official documents, images and testimonies related to the southern Albanian city of Kavaja. The survivor’s stories are a detailed first-hand resource. Documents are an additional instrument to verify or clarify information. The accumulation and systematization of these documents facilitates and systemizes access to information which will help future generations and researchers understand Albania’s holocaust period. Special thanks for their direct contribution to ECOSMeG project in Albania goes to my colleagues Eurona Leka, Anjeza Llubani, Andi Gjokutaj, Ervis Martani and the students Dorina Terziu and Eduart Qatja with whom I worked. I am very grateful to Paolo Rago, Avrham Lev-Louis, and the ECOSMeG coordinator Maura de Bernart and all partner universities’ professors and students who made this common journey of revisiting and sharing our common European memories, a lifetime experience. Sincere gratitude for their help and support to many others who share ideas and join our ECOSMeG activities. Last but not least, we acknowledge also the support of Marin Barleti University and the ‘Europe for Citizens’ program of the European Union. Dr. Dorian Jano

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1. Introduction There is no agreement on the exact number of Jews living in Albania, or the exact locations of their communities especially during the Second World War. The Albanian Jewish community numbered 156-200 native Jews, negligible compared to more prominent communities located elsewhere in the Balkan region. With the outbreak of War World II, Albania became a transit point and a shelter for Jews who were escaping Nazi persecution. Although, in July 1940 the Italian Viceroy General Francesco Jacomoni in Albania ordered the expulsion of the foreign Jews 1 yet not a single Jew was apparently expelled, in fact Jewish immigration into Albania continued quickly. Dozens of Jews coming from Yugoslavia and other European countries were coming or caught using false documents and with few exceptions they were released to find shelter among Albanian families (Fischer, 2007: 98). In order to deter Jewish emigration, Jacomoni ordered the house arrest of foreign Jews or their confinement in concentration camps that Italian authorities had set up in the Albanian interior in 1940 (Perez, 2013:26). ‘Parallel’ civil internment camps administered by the Royal Army (Regio Esercito) were located in Kukes, Klos, Germen, Kavaja, Puke, Shkoder, Durres (Spinelli, 2013: 14). As of 1943, it is estimated that approximately 500 (Kotani, 2007) or 600 (Capogreco, 2010: 161) or even 800 (Fischer, 2007: 99) Jews from Austria, Germany but also from Poland, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were interned in the camps in Berat, Krujë and Kavajë. According to the International Red Cross about 2500 Montenegrin were interned in Albania, in the camp of Kukes (about 4000 person), Klos (1900 internee), Kavaja (about 1300 internee), Germen (about 700 internee) 1 “all Jews of foreign citizenship must be returned to their countries of origin as soon as possible.” (Fischer, 2007: 98)

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Shkodra and Vermoshi (see Capogreco, 2010: 157). Jews moved into Albania during several major periods (see Fischer, 2007: 98).

Box 1 Chronology: Jews in Albania during World War II July 1940, all Jew in Durres were ordered to transfer to Berat, Lushnje and Fier. In 1941, the Italian army brought 350 Jews prisoners of war from Montenegro to Albania. April 1941, during the battles between Greece and Italy and when Yugoslavia had been annexed, 120 Jews from Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia arrived in Albania In July 1941, nearly 200 (187) Jews mainly from Belgrade and Sarajevo were eventually placed in a transit camp in Kavaje (Capogreco 2010: 154; lager.it), In October 1941 because of the disastrous conditions of this camp the group were embarked and transported to Italy, first to Bari and then in the concentration camp of Ferramonti. In April and July 1942 a further influx from Kosovo. 88 Jews were removed from prison in Prishtina and sent to Kavaja, Burrel, Kruja and elsewhere. Those who were fortunate enough to be included in these groups were almost immediately released. Early in 1942, refugees from Prishtina were transferred to Berat. A number of Jews refugees found shelter in Elbansan, Vlora, Diber, Shkodra and Tirana, where they were joined by refugees from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany. When danger approaches, many went into hiding in villages in surrounding hills. In Kavaje (1941-1942) the local community assisted some 200 Jews refugees concentrated under harsh conditions in a camp there. March 1943, a number of Jewish youths escaped from Yugoslavia and found shelter in Albania. That summer Germans took over Albania and Jews in Kavaja moved to Tirana to find safer hiding places. However Tirana was no longer safe and some moved north to Kruja. Likewise Jews of Berat were forced to disperse and find shelter in other areas. In spring 1944, the governors of Albania refused to cooperate in submitting lists to all the Jews in Albania. The Jews were promised they would be protected and Albanians Christians and Muslims made every effort to defend them. In September 1944, some refugees escape to find safety in liberated Italy. Source: Spector and Wigoder 2001: 26-27; Marcus, 2007: 584

Box 2 Jews in Albania that have been murdered in the Shoah David Juda Kohen (David ?, Item ID: 5681047) arrived in Kruja on 05/16/1943 from Uroshovac, Yugoslavia. He was caught by surprise and then killed on 4th February 1944; Jakov Avramoviç (Jakov Abramovic, Item ID: 1933922) from Prishtina arrived on 05/04/1942 internment in Berat then joined the National Liberation Army and felt martyred in a fighting in Lushnjė in November 1943. Jusef Solomon Konforti (Yosef Komforti, Item ID:739562) born in Skopie, from Prishtina arrived on 05/04/1942, interned in Berat then joined the National Liberation Army and felt martyred fighting in Vlora Selenice in February 1943. Jusef David Bivas (Yosef Bivas, Item ID: martyred fighting on August 18, 1943.

715382, 1702320) from Prishtina was interned on 16/05/1942 in Berat. He feld

Zhak (Isac) Emanuel Ruben from Prishtina was interned on 05/04/1942 in Kavaja. In the fall of 1943 he was caught by the German Nazis send to a concentration camp near Belgrade and executed. Leo Tyjeri from Prishtina settled in Lushnjė and joined the Battalion Group II of Muzeqe were he felt martyr in October 10, 1943. Jakov Josef Bahar (Jakov Bachar, Item ID: 9924592) from Prishtina interned on 05/04/1942 in Berat. Felt martyred in June 1944. Baruh Isaac Baruh (Baruh Baruhovic, Item ID: 1736890) from Prishtina setteled in Berat on 05/04/1942 and in autumn 1943 he felt martyre in the war against Nazi Germany. Dario Zhak Arditi (Dario Arditi, Item ID: 6973774) caught by Nazist in Shkodra and was taken into the concentration camp in Pristina where he was brutally massacred. Yitzhak Arditi (Zhak Arditi, Item ID: 6973775). He was born in Saloniki in 1880 and married Luna. He lived in Shkoder and during the war he was deported with his wife and four children – only the father survived. Yitzhak Arditi (born 1880), wife Luna (born 1888, Item ID: 6973776), their three sons: Leon (born 1913 – pharmacist, Item ID: 6973772), Daris/Dario (born 1917- physician, Item ID: 6973774), Ugo (born 1922 – violinist, Item ID: 6973772), and their daughter Lucia (born 1910, Item ID: 6973771) from Shkodra, were arrested in October 1944 and deported to Prishtina. Only the father survived, but was totally broken, made several suicide attempts and died only several months after liberation. Sources: Yad Vashem, Pages of Testimony, The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names; Pirra, 2012: 78-79; Hamzai, 2014.

In 1942, approximately 250 Yugoslav Jews were transported to concentration camps; and in July 1943 up to 500 Jews were confined to house arrest or held in concentration camps in the Albanian towns of Kavaja, Berat and Kruja (Perez, 2013: 27). Some 600 Jews (inhabitants and refugees) were saved from the Holocaust in Albania, (Spector and Wigoder, 2001: 27), yet there are few cases where Jews were caught, deported or martyred. Upon searching the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, the following Jews born in Albania but residing either in Greece and Yugoslavia were murdered in the the Holocaust (Koloman Press; Sarina and Samuel Matathia; (Yit)Zhak and Luna Arditi and their children Lucia, Leon, Ugo, Dario Arditi; Niko Bahar; Isaac Isaias;

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Leon Levy; Fortuna Mizan, Chino’s wife) 2. Yaffa Reuven née Bachar fled with her family from Pristina to Berat and later moved to Shkodra where they were caught by Germans and deported to Bergen Belsen, but fortunately they survived. 3 Yitzhak Arditi, his wife Luna and their four children Leon, Daris, Ugo and Lucia were arrested and deported in October 1944, only the father survived the Holocaust. The other nine Jews that had been caught and executed were members of the Albanian partisan movement. They were given, in 2011-2012, the title “Martyr of the Nation” by the Albanian Authorities. 2 The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. Page of Testimony http://db.yadvashem.org/names/search.html?language=en 3 “We thought that in a bigger city they would not find us. We lived in a small rented apartment and hid there. Unfortunately there was persecution also in Shkodra. One day the Germans came to our home with a list of the entire family. My late father was not at home, and I was playing with the children of the neighborhood. My mother, sister and my two small brothers were taken to Pristina". Yad Vashem M.31/5370

It is difficult to reconstruct a basic narrative of the Holocaust in Albania, because of the shortage of research into Albanian wartime history as a whole and the shortage of primary sources specifically related to Albanian Jews (Perez, 2013: 26). Furthermore, the rare publications and the elite perception on holocaust is a product of the contributors’ politicized and/or romanticized views regarding Albanian national character (Perez, 2013: 44-45).

Here we present the primary information that we have found during our research of different sources, including: documents, articles, photos and internments database. Our study helps reconstruct the basic narrative about Jewish experience in Albania during World War II, with focus to the concentration camp in Kavaja and its neighbourhood places through documents, testimonies and photos, is the main focus of this research.

2. Kavaja Camp

Inside the concentration “camps” the treatment by the Italians had a touch of humanity. The camps were surrounded by barbed wires; interned individuals slept in wooden barracks, and were poorly fed. They were paid a small amount of money, sufficient to avoid starvation. Yet, they were allowed to leave the concentration ‘camp’ for religious services, to go to a movie or attend a soccer match in the town stadium. In the concentration ‘camp’, youngsters played football with the Italian guards. Jewish internees from Kosova sent a telegram to the Ministry of Interior on May 15, 1943 in which they asked for their Page 11

release. Amnesty was declared for all those who were sent to the concentration camps before August 11, 1941. 4

4 Albanian State Archives, Box 152/2 (1943) File 886, pp.16. Reference: Repishti, Sami (2007) “The Jews in Albania. A story of Survival” ANASH–Approaching Science, Year II, Nr 3, p.10-11

Box 3 Kavaja Camp Camp position: The camp in Kavaja was formed in the second half of the 1941 and it interned a certain number of Jewish refugees from Serbia and Bosnia, who have taken refuge on the Montenegrin coast by the capitulation of Yugoslavia; in the second half of the 1942 the Jewish prisoners from the camp were send in various places in Italy (Romano, 1980: 167). The camp was situated near Kavaja, 50 meters on sea level, 2 km west of Kavaja and about 27 km from Tirana (Capogreco 2010: 160). Official Name: Concentration Camp of Montenegrin Rebels and Hostages (Capogreco 2010: 161) Type of Camp: Transit or concentration camp?. Referring to the two categories identified by Capogreco, Kavaja is a ‘parallel’ civil internment camp administered from Royal Army (Regio Esercito) not the Ministry of Interior of Italy. Camp Conditions: Surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by a garrison of Italian soldiers, Kavaja camp was directed by a Major in the Royal Army, assisted by four non-commissioned officers. Internees, on average 1200/1500 units, were housed in wooden huts on the size of 20 meters for 5 people, with windows missing or crumbling and dilapidated floor. In each cabin there were ‘pinched’/ crammed 250 to 300 people who possessed three level bunk beds. (Capogreco 2010: 161). Itinerary: Arrival: 28 June 1941 with steamer Kumanovo the 192 Jews approach the port of Durres and then through bus to the camp of Kavaja (testimonies). Departure: 25 October 1941, transfer to Durres with trucks and then directly to Bari with steamer, then by train arriving on 27 October in Ferramonti camp (testimonies).

2.1. Official Documents A collection of official documents that verifies the existence of the camp in Kavaja Document 1: An official note documenting the arriving of 192 Jews from Kotor with Kumanovo steamer in 30.07.1941

Source: AQSH, Fond 153, Year 1941. Box 160, pages 34-38. Reference to Sinani, 2006: 85.

...have been transported… to the concentration camp of Kavaja, where for the moment they are handed over to the military authorities assigned earlier to this camp ...sono state transportate... nel campo di concentramento di Kavaja, dovo sono state prese momentariamente in consegna dall‘Autorita militare preposta al campo steso.

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Document 2: A confidential official note documenting the internment of 350 Jews from Dalmacia

I have arranged for the 350 Jewish political detainees, sent to Durres by the Italian authorities of Dalmatia, to be interned in the concentration camp set up in Kavaja Ho disposto che i 350 ebrei arrestati politici, avviati a Durrazo dalle autorita italiane della Dalmazia, siano internati presso il campo di concentramento constituito a Kavaja.

Source: P.M. 22/A. Nr 1660. 29. June 1941. Reference to Sinani, 2006: 85.

Document 3: A letter sent to Pope Pius XII from Sarica Salom Perera on 24 May 1943 Sarica Salom Perera a Pio XII (Miracoli, 24 maggio 1943) A Sua Santità – Città del Vaticano La sottoscritta Sarica Salom internata civile di guerra a Miracoli (Chieti) appartenente alla razza ebraica, si rivolge alla Santità del S. Padre fiduciosa che nella Sua Pietà, voglia soccorrerla nella angoscia che la affligge. Due anni or sono, nel maggio 1941, essa lasciò col proprio marito Jesua Salom e 2 figli Elly di anni 18 e Mento di anni 15 la sua casa di Sarajevo (Croazia) e si stabilì in Castelnuovo (Dalmazia). Di lì è stata internata in un campo di concentramento a Kavaja (Albania) e successivamente a Ferramonti-Tarsia (Cosenza). Dall’ottobre 1942, coi suoi, ha ottenuto il libero confino in Miracoli (Chieti). Dal giorno doloroso della sua partenza, essa non ha avuto più notizie da alcuno dei suoi parenti. Ma ciò che non da pace al suo cuore è il non aver più alcuna nuova della propria madre Blanca Perera nata Albahary a Sarajevo, di anni 70. Solo da pochi giorni indirettamente, ha potuto conoscere che la sua cara madre si trova in un campo di concentramento a Gradiska (Croazia). Sola, completamente sorda, senza l’affetto e l’assistenza di alcun famigliare, perché anche la figlia che viveva con essa è stata allontanata e trasferita in Germania in un campo di concentramento, in età ormai avanzata, la povera donna dovrà condurre una vita ben triste e dovrà forse chiudere gli occhi senza aver presso di se una persona che l’assiste nel suo estremo momento. La sottoscritta ardisce rivolgere la sua implorazione a S. Santità affinché voglia muoversi a pietà e interporre i Suoi uffici per ottenere dal Governo Croato che la sudetta Blanca Perera nata Albahary di Sarajevo, venga trasferita dal campo di Gradiska (Croazia) in Italia presso la figlia in Miracoli (Chieti). Prostrata, umilmente si firma Sarica Salom nata Perera

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Source: Uff. Inf. Vat., 1708, prot. 00616770. Reference from Collectanea Archivi Vaticani 52 (2004), Inter Arma Caritas, Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ufficio Informazioni Vaticano Per i Prigionieri Di Guerra Istituito Da Pio XII (1939-1947), II Documenti, CittĂ Del Vaticano, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Perseguitati Per Motivi Politici, Religiosi E Razziali, p.693.

Document 4: A letter sent to the general Directorate of Police about Wollstein Oscar, a resident of Tirana.

Source: Nika & Vorpsi, 2006: 237

Being a Jewish foreigner, it is proposed, in accordance with the telegraphic circular General Directorate no 04440 of 28.08.1942 that the above mention is precedes at the complulsory habitat in Kavaja. Trattandosi di ebreo stranier, si propone, a norma della circolare telegrafico di codesta Direzione Generale no 04440 del 28.08.1942 che il medesimo venga avviato al domicilio coatta di Kavaja. Page 14

Document 5: A document issued by the IV Carbinieri Battalion "Lazio" listing the names of 18 Jews, among those listed are the three members of the Altarac family and the four members of the Mandil family. They were refugees imprisoned in Prishtina and were authorized to leave by truck for Albania.

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy/provenance: Jasa & Ester Franses Altarac, Source Record ID: Collections: 2002.438.8P.693, Photograph #59684; and, Mandil, Gavra (2001) â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Temunot Be-Shahor-Lavanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Hertsliyah: Milo, p.45

Document 6: Letter of the prefect of Kavaja, Qamil Xhani, requesting permition for allowing the relatives of Isak Albahari internee in Kavaja, to come to Albania

Source: Nika & Vorpsi, 2006: 233

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Document 7: Official list of Jews resident in Kavaja

Source: Nika & Vorpsi, 2006: 234

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Additional references to official documents Document 8: The letter of Aron Tuvij and the answer from the General Police Directorate Source: AQSH, F.153, V.1943, D.386, fl.32, Kërkesë e Aron Tuvit Drejtorisë së Përgjithshme të policisë Tiranë, dt. 12.3.1943 AQSH, F.153, V.1943, D.386, fl.32, Tuvit. Aron i të ndierit Salomon –ish jugoslavv nga prishtina – i internuem në Kavajë, dt. 30.4.1943 Document 9: The letter of Alexander Herzog and the answer from the General Police Directorate, asking permition to leave Kavaja camp and go into Tirana for health issues Source: AQSH, F.153, V.1943, D.386, fl.35, Kërkesë e Alexander Herzog Drejtorisë së Përgjithshme të policisë Tiranë, dt. 30.3.1943 AQSH, F.153, V.1943, D.386, fl.40, Alexander Herzog e moglie Carolina Herzog – Ebrei da Prishtina e internati a Kavaja – Concessione di Licensa, Tiranë, dt. 4.5.1943 Document 10: Identity Card of Sallomon Isak Saltiel and Jakov Gatenjo with false names (Sali Isa Saltieli and Jak Gateni), issue on dt. 17.12.1943 Nr. 2021 by vice prefect of Kavaja Mehmet Gani (Qani) Source: AQSH, F.153, V.1944, D.215, fl.44-45, Mbi 6 cifutë e arestuar nga Gjermanët në bashkëpunim me organet e kësaj zyre. dt. 12.5.1944 Reference: Malaj, 2012: p.223; p.224; p.236

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Additional references to official documents Document 11: Telegram of the Chief of Police Force of Prizren send to Carabineers of Kavaja notifying about sending to concentration camp in Kavaja Baun Nus Zlak, Sarika Alkanaj, Mirko Alkanaj and their mother. Source: AQSH, F.153, V.1941, D.262, fl.27, 02.05.1941 Document 12: Correspondence of the Ministry of Interior Affairs with Suprerior Command of the Armed Forces, the Prefecture of Durres about the arrest in Montenegro of 350 Jews, taking them to the concentration field in Kavaja and their treatment as war prisoners. Source: AQSH, F.149, V.1938, D.I-1806, fl.53-60; AQSH, F.153, V.1941, D.160, fl.67-67. 01.08.1941; 18.12.1941 Document 13: List of names of Jews, residents of Kavaja etc Source: AQSH, F.153, V.1941, D.160, fl.42,43,45,79, 81-96. 1944 Document 14: Correspondence of the Ministry of Interior Affairs with the Prefecture of Shkodra and Ulqin about taking Israelites who live in this sub-prefecture to Kavaja, Kruja, Shijak, and Burrel; with the exception of Dr. Margulis, according to the order of Generla Regency and the Ministry of General Regency Source: AQSH, F 346; V 1942; D 119; fl 40-46, 03.11.1942; 09.12.1942 Document 15: Notification of the Royal Police Force of Shkodra about imprisonment for propaganda against the Axis Powers of the Yugoslavian citizen of Israelite nationality Tuti Aaron, who have served in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Savoyaâ&#x20AC;? Inn, and his internment to the Concentration Camp in Kavaja. Source: AQSH, F 346; V 1942; D 119; fl 35-36, 09.12.1942 Document 16: List of names of Israelites residents in Berat, Durres, Kavaje, Kruje, and Shijak Source: AQSH, F 166; V 1942; D 92; fl 1-9, 9/1; F 204; V 1942; D 12; FL 1, 1942 Document 17: Correspondence of the General Department of Police with the Police Force of Durres, petition of Koen Moreno, interned in Kavaja, by wich he asks permission to be cured in Tirana. Source: AQSH, F 153; V 1943; D 386/2; fl 194-215, 05.01.1943, 17.09.1943 Document 18: Correspondence of the General Department of Police with the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Police Forces of Tirana about the internment of Shwartz Siegfried, and Tejessi Karl in Kavaja Source: AQSH, F 153; V 1943; D 386/2; fl 218-230, 18.01.1943, 27.08.1943 Document 19: Notofocation of Police Force of Pristine sent to the General Department of Police about the internment in Kavaja and later in Elbasan of Mordehaj Lazar, born and a resident in Pristine. Source: AQSH, F 143; V 1943; D 386/2; fl 224-236, 28.01.1943, 08.04.1943 Document 20: Petition of Aaron Tuvi, interned in Kavaja, sent to the Generla Department of Police, and correspondence of this Department with the Police Force of Durres, asking permission to go work in Tirana, the request is not approved. Source: AQSH, F 153; V 1943; D 386; fl 32-34, 12.03.1943, 30.04.1943 Document 21: Petition of the engineer Maks Vajner, interned in Kavaja, sent to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, by which he asks permission to be treated in Tirana. Source: AQSH, F 153; V 1943; D 386/1; fl 237-242, 15.03.1943, 29.05.1943

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Additional references to official documents Document 22: Petition of Salomon and Rika Sadikaria, Stella, Avram, and Silva Avromi, and Jakov Arnesti, removed from Sarajevo because of their mistreatment by Yugoslavian authorities, sent to the General Department of Police by wich they ask to come in Albania; they are installed in the concentration field of Kavaja. Source: AQSH, F 153; V 1943; D 386/2; fl 139-147, 20.03.1943, 13.04.1943 Document 23: Petition of some Israelites sent to the General Department of Police, the lsit of their names, and correspondence with the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the police forces of Tirana, Shkodra, Peja, and Prizren about coming to Albania of the Israelites, investigations about their permanence and taking them to the concentration fields of Berat, Lushnja, Kavaja, Kruja, and Shijak. Source: AQSH, F 153; V 1943; D 386; fl 70-281, 13.04.1943, 07.10.1943 Document 24: Lists of names of the Israelites interned in Durres, Kavaja, Kruja, Shijak, Lushnja etc., and also the measures that should be taken for their transfer to the internment sites. Source: AQSH, F 235; V 1943; D 141; fl 5-21, 27-36, 41-48, 53-73, 82, 12.05.1943, 03.07.1943 Document 25: Petition of Alegra Koen sent to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, by wiche she asks to be transferred near her brothers in Kavaja (his request is approved) Source: AQSH, F 153; V 1943; D 386/1; fl 162-173, 01.06.1943, 14.08.1943 Document 26: Petition of Isak Albahar addressed to the sub-prefecture of Kavaja by wich he asks that his wife Matilda Isak Albahar and his sister Venuca Albahar may coem from Bulgaria to Kavaja. Source: AQSH, F 235; V 1943; D 141; fl 22-25, 07.06.1943, 14.06.1943 Document 27: Correspondence of the Prefecture of Durres with the sub-prefecture of Kavaja about not granting permission to Andjelboviรง Taja to be visited in the Civil Hospital in Tirana Source: AQSH, F 235; V 1943; D 141; fl 74-75, 21.06.1943 Document 28: Correspondence of the Prefecture of Durres with the Ministry of Interior Affairs the subprefecture of Kavaja about the request of the Israelite Nisim Aladjen to be allowed with his family to go to Italy and from there to Spain Source: AQSH, F 235; V 1943; D 141; fl 75-79, 25.06.1943, 07.07.1943 Document 29: Correspondence of the Prefecture of Durres with the Ministry of Interior Affairs, subprefecture of Kavaja about giving permission to Nisim Aladjem, a resident in Kavaja, to go to Tirana for medical visit Source: AQSH, F 235; V 1943; D 141; fl 49-52, 22.07.1943, 18.08.1943 Document 30: Correspondence of the General Deparment of Police with the Prefecture of Durres about giving a mounth permission by the Ministry of Interior Affairs to the Israelites Isak Azriel and Jacob Ruchwarfer, interned in Kavaja, to go to Durres and Tirana to check the construction work of the engineer Viktor Pan. Source: AQSH, F 235; V 1943; D 141; fl 80,81, 27.07.1943, 25.07.1943 Document 31: A list of names of Israelites interned in Kavaja who have the right to be reimbursed by the state budget to get food Source: AQSH, F 255; V 1943; D 96; fl 37-40, 52,53, 12.08.1943, 14.01.1944 Reference: Nika & Vorpsi, 2006

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2.2. Photos Photo 1: A family, probably Serbian or Montenegrin, has a meal on a plank on the outside of a building of the concentration camp of Kavaja; other people are in the background. Also note the man with a camera on his left shoulder who is filming the scene. 19.08.1941 - 20.08.1941

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005269

Photo 2: A family, probably Serbian or Montenegrin, eat the outside of a building of the concentration camp of Kavaja. 19.08.1941 - 20.08.1941.

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Foto code: AL00005270

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Photo 3: Families, probably Serbian or Montenegrin, after the meal, sitting outside the buildings of concentration camp Kavaja, 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941.

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005267

Photo 4: Men and women, probably displaced Serbians or Montenegrins, playing cards inside the concentration camp Kavaja with bystanders watching the scene. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005272

Photo 5: A family, probably Serbian or Montenegrin, eating outside of a building in the Kavaja concentration camp. Background: two soldiers talking with a woman, other bystanders. 19.08.1941 20.08.1941

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005271.

Photo 6: A group of men and women, probably displaced Serbians or Montenegrins, are lined up with their mess kits in hand at the table outside of the Kavaja concentration camp. Children play in the foreground and curious look towards the photographer, Soldiers are also present. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941.

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005273

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Photo 7: A group of women, probably displaced Serbians or Montenegrin, in front of one of the dormitory buildings of Kavaja concentration camp Kavaja; also present some children next to their mothers. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005274

Photo 8: The view of the Kavaja concentration camp with families, probably Serbian or Montenegrin, forced into a confined space with barbed wires along all the buildings. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005268

Photo 9: The outdoor kitchens of the Kavaja concentration camp. In the foreground two men carrying food using a stick through the pot handles. Soldiers are also present. 08/19/1941 - 20/08/1941

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005275.

Photo 10: A group of children in the Kavaja concentration camp. 08/19/1941 20/08/1941

Source: Enrico Bufalini (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/, Photo code: AL00005276

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Photo 11: An image of the Kavaja concentration camp. On the back side it is handwritten Kavaia: Rebelion Montenegrin prisoners, 28.9.41.

Source: Pier Vittorio Consonni (private archive), www.campifascisti.it, Photo code: FKA01

Photo 12: Image of the Kavaja concentration camp. On the back side it is handwritten Kavaia: Montenegrin prisoners, 8.8.41, Front of Yugoslavia.

Source: Pier Vittorio Consonni (private archive), www.campifascisti.it, Photo code: FKA02

Photo 13: The current situation of the Kavaja concentration camp facilities. The area has no official use but is sometimes inhabited by Roma.

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Sources: Photos taken by the author, April 2014 Page 26

2.3. Oral Histories and Primary Documents left by Interned Individuals. Foreign Jews who were either interned at Kavaja or who passed through the camp during their transfer to Italy left oral histories and primary document. This document presents all known extant records of those primary documents. Testimony 1: The history of the Robichek family regarding Kavaja Prison Camp (summer/Fall 1941), as told by Vera Robichek Siporen “Albanian Prison Camp--Summer/Fall 1941: Albania was a godforsaken country. The group was taken to a prison camp in Kavaja, on the west coast of Albania, where they remained for three months. The Montenegrian prisoners of war were placed in an adjacent camp and were treated worse than the Serbs because they had fought back against the Italians. No one was killed in the camp. Barbed wire surrounded the camp. The prisoners from Split were kept in one large room and could shower but once a week. The beds were triple deck bunk beds with open wooden slats. One night, Alex and Vera found a hole in the wall, behind which they discovered blanket storage; even though the blankets were flearidden, they distributed them to the other prisoners, which made things a bit better for sleeping. The mice were ever present and Vera would wake up knowing that they had been crawling around during the night. She vowed to stay awake all night because she didn’t want the mice running over her, but after three nights it didn’t matter what ran over her! Vera has subsequently had a lifelong aversion to and hatred of mice. The food was atrocious, with the Italians cooking what was left of the rations they didn’t steal (about half), so Adolf spoke to the Italian camp commander and convinced them to give the rations directly to the prisoners so they could cook meals themselves. He was also able to secure additional rations from the Albanians.

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All writing for presentation had to be approved by the camp commanders. To try and lighten the oppressive mood, Adolf wrote a script in Yugoslavian that made fun of everyone in camp (both the Italians and prisoners). In order for it to be approved, he split the script and when two people read it separately, it was totally innocent; yet, read together it poked fun at the Germans and Italians. When it was presented, no one knew that he wrote it, not even his family. Passage to Italy--Fall 1941: In the fall, the entire group of 200 was taken from Albania to Italy by ship. The Italian soldiers were on top of the ship and flew the Red Cross flag in order to travel safely. However, the prisoners were kept in the hold. One night, the prisoners were quickly Alexander Robichek: escorted to the beautiful October 31, 1925 – dining room and sat down February 2, 1978 Born in Belgrade to a sumptuous dinner (they didn’t question why, they just began eating). It turns out that the Red Cross was on board and came through to see the prisoners being treated like royalty, but the minute the Red Cross left, the food was taken away mid-bite. (The Red Cross would also come through the camps, but the captors wouldn’t show them anything.) They arrived on October 27, 1941 at a concentration camp called Ferramonti. Source: The history of the Robichek family, as told by Vera Robichek Siporen. Family Chronology, Chapter “Albanian Prison Camp-Summer/Fall 1941”

http://robichek.com/chronology5.htm

Testimony 2: Boza Rafajlovic‘s Testimony Conducted on May 2nd 1997 in Belgrade, by Jasa Almuli. Boza Rafajlovic escaped occupied Belgrade in April 6th 1941, when he was 17 years old. He managed to survive Holocaust after a period of time spent in Feramonti and Kavaja transit camp. Q: Well, now, where did you go on that boat after you left Boka Kotorska? A: After we left Boka Kotorska we arrived very soon. We were able to figure out that we traveled southward, considering the movement of the sun. As soon as the boat was unloaded we knew that we had arrived to Drac. From Drac by the trucks… Q: In Albania? A: In Albania. From Drac we were taken to Kavaja. That was a camp, we saw it from the distance. Later we talked to the people inside the camp. These were hostages from Montenegro. We were put in the camp next to the people from Montenegro, but the next day we recognized that we had a special status. We had received bread, while they hadn’t seen bread for days. We have received several warm meals, while they have received one at noon. For children they have provided milk, while people from Montenegro hadn’t even seen milk at all. Kavaja was terrible camp. Probably terrible because it was the first one for me. A real concentration camp, surrounded by wire. I was behind it. Q: What did the guard look like? A: The guard was camice nere. “Black Shirts”. Q: Fascists! A: Fascists’ military police. Although, we recognized very few Jews who spoke any Italian and established connection with the Italians. That black shirt brought milk for children. The Camp Commander gave a speech. I didn’t understand. I heard several versions of it, but in short was to celebrate and congratulate the Italian flag. I had to admit, that was the Page 28

hardest for me. That was called apelo. Raising of the flag was followed by fanfares, and all prisoners had to face the flag, raise one hand in Fascist’s manner, and congratulate the Italian flag. We youth tried to skip that procedure, but the guard made us do it. The fact that the Commander in his speech promised to transport us to Italy relieved us of worry. He promised not to molest anyone, and he promised a protection for women and children. I was one of these who organized Vrabac, humorous-entertaining show that made fun of the Italians, and us as well. The Italians would visit, and even if they didn’t understand the jokes they would still laugh at them. The Italians liked the parts where we sing songs and play music. Q: How did you sleep there. What did the rooms look like? A: That was one huge room. Whether it was storage or school, it was built solid, and the roof hadn’t leaked. There was a lot of moisture from inside, and we had wooden beds that hosted a lot bugs. I mean that was the first camp for us. We came from Belgrade, so we used to have closets, bathrooms, showers, but here we were all together. In the same room they put children, women, men, elderly, adults. Curtains, blankets that we received from Italians, separated us. We also received straw beds and covers. We didn’t have sheets. Everything was awful. Awful for us, but for Montenegrians it was unbearable. Q: All of these 200 people, entire families, children, women and elderly, they all slept in the same rooms and in the wooden beds! A: There were exactly 216 people in one room. Bojana Jakovljevic made the list. In the same camp were her mother, her younger sister, her brother, and a number of others. Q: Were they Jews from Belgrade? A: Yes. That was a difficult period for us. Even though if we compare with other tragedies that war brings, that was one natural consequence. That was the beginning of suffering not only for Jews, but also for all people in Europe and in the world. Finally, as Italians promised, we were transported to Italy. Q: When was that? A: Before the end of the year. Prior to a severe Albanian winter, we were transported by boat

first to Bari, and then by train to the top of the Italian Boot, in Kalabria, in the camp Feramonti, Tarsija county, Kozenca province. We arrived to Feramonti at the end of November 1941. Source: Transcript of Rafajlovic’s interview, RG-50.459*0002/ 1997.135.2, p.11-12

http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog /att513554_5141 Audio/Video:

http://collections.ushmm.org/search /catalog/irn513554

Testimony 3: Sara Alkalaj’s testimony given in Belgrade in 1997, interview conducted by Jasa Almuli. Sara Alkalaj is one of Belgrade’s few Jewish women who survived the Holocaust. In the summer of 1941 she ran away from Belgrade and moved to Pirot and from Pirot to Macedonia and from Macedonia to Albania. Q: To the countryside? A: Correct. In Kavaja. Q: Is that in the center of Albania? A: Correct, it is very close to Tirana. Q: Did the Italians give any financial support? A: No, nothing. Q: Were you allowed to leave that camp? A: No. We had to have a permit to leave the camp. Q: Did you have to report to the police station every day? A: Only men had to. Q: How many of you were in Kuvaja? A: There were a lot of us. Page 29

Q: Were there Macedonia?

Jews

from

Serbia

and

A: Correct. Q: Were you allowed to work and make some living? A: Everyone managed to do something. Q: Whom did you stay with, in Kavaji? A: I found Omni Solomon’s brother. He was there with some friends from Macedonia. Q: You did not stay with Bojana? A: No. Those who had money lived in Tirana. When Italy capitulated, my brother and his friends started organizing partisans’ brigades and units, connecting them with the Albanians and the Italians. We stayed here quite long. Source: Transcript or Notes for Oral history interview with Sara Alkalaj, RG-50.459*0010/ 1997.135.10, p. 17-18,

http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog /att513562_5147 Audio/Video:

http://collections.ushmm.org/search/ catalog/irn513562 Testimony 4: The story of Vera Kohn Vera Kohn Alkalaj born in Zagreb, Croatia on July 8th, 1921. Renè Kohn (24.10.1924) and Vera Kohn were interned from Kotor to Kavaja, then at Ferramonti (27.10.1941) and from there to Parma (14. 10. 1942). The two sisters Khon, Vera and Rene, suffered the following story told by them. My sister Rene, then sixteen, and I headed further south with my mother's brothers; our parents were to join us later. We reached Boka Kotorska and the village of Orahovac, planning to wait there for the war to end. However on July 13, 1941, there wa an uprising by the Montenegrins against

the occupiers. The Italians immediately arrested us along with other Jews, refugees from Belgrade and Sarajevo who had taken refuge in Kotor, Herceg Novi and Dubrovnik. Our parents head no news of us for the next three years. We were put on board the King Alexander along with the other Jews and set sail for Albania. We arrived at the Kavaje camp, via Durres. There were 187 of us in the camp, mostly from Belgrade and Sarajevo, together with some people from Vojvodina. The

Testimony 5: Peter Silberstein (Silton), was born in Hamburg, Germany on 18.02.1924. Silberstein gave Lauren Taylor a direct interview on 13.07.2012 discussing his interment in the Kavaja camp (and Ferramonti di Tarsia). Duration: 83'59. Min 16.51”: They put us on a ship, the ship sail and arrive in Albania… You know there must have been closer to 200 of us, people of all ages… we got off the ship in Durazzo and they put us on tracks and they put us on camps on interior of Albania... Min 19.32” – 26.29: They took into a camp, an army Camp in Kavaja, a big building with 3 sections, one section was for single women, the middle section was for married couples with little childrens, the third section was for single men...

Source: TPS1

campifascisti.it,

File:

Audio: http://www.campifascisti.it/ ascolta.php?id_file=53

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camp was improvised in a large barracks and lacked the basic necessities such as water and electricity. We were in Kavaje until October 1941. We were then taken by ship from Durres to Bari, then on the Cosenza in Calabria in the south of Italy, were we were put into the Ferramonti concentration camp.

Source: http://veraleopold-alkalaj.lastmemories.com/index.php?co=lifestory

His sister, Ruth Silberstein born on 19.02.1928 in Konisberg, was also interned in Kavaja camp. According to her brother’s testimony, Peter, she was accidently killed after liberation at the Ferramonti camp.

Source: Pages of Testimony, The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. Item ID: 5664275.

Testimony 6: Saša Božović: (Belgrade 1912 - Belgrade, 1996). She finished the School of Medicine in 1937 in Belgrade. After the bombing of Belgrade on April 6, 1941,

she (a pregnant woman) and her husband Dr. Borislav Bozovic went to Podgorica (the place of his husband birth). Borislav Bozovic was one of the main organizers of the uprising in Montenegro. In July 1941, they were arrested by Italians and taken into the Kavaja camp. Before giving birth she was transferred to a hospital in Tirana, where in November 1941 she gave birth to a daughter, and called Dolores.

Kavaja! Logorski centar. Već vidimo i žicu. U više pojaseva ograđuje ogroman prostor. Zaustavljamo se. Tu je ulaz, kao nekakav tunel od žice. Okolo stražari, Italijani. Opet komanda "avanti" i mi prosto ispadamo iz kamiona. Ispred žičanog ulaza stoji i nekoliko oficira. Prebrojavaju nas i ubacuju. Ovde nemam svoje ime. Postajem broj "254". Ne shvatam. Sve mi je

kao san, kao bunilo. Niko nas ništa ne pita. Ko sam? Šta sam? Da li sam uopšte čovek, ljudsko biće? Sećam se, kako je veliki bio naš sluga, čika Marko. Kako smo ga svi u kući poštovali. Jednom se nisam htela pozdraviti sa njim, jer su mu ruke bile prljave. Uz to sam napravila gadljivu grimasu. Dobila sam od oca koprivicom po turu, popraćeno rečima: "Radne

ruke se poštuju". Imala sam samo četiri godine. Ko će moju bedu zaštititi? Ko će koprivicom istući one koji u meni gaze čoveka?! Prolazim kroz redove bodljikavih žica. Strašne su te žice. Nikad mi bodlje na njima nisu bile tako velike, grube, oštre. Viđala sam takve žice i ranije. Nisu štrčale i

zlokobno vrebale koga će ubosti što dublje, što bolnije. Noge me ne slušaju. Vuku se tromo, otežano. Oči se izbečile, bulje okolo i hoće da iskoče. Bole me. Htela bih da ih sklopim, ali ne mogu. One same neće mir. Hoće da vide, da upiju svu bedu, svu nesreću.

Kavaja! The camp center. Already we see the wire. In more belt encircles a huge area. We stop. There is an entrance, like a tunnel of wire. Around Italians guards. Again command "Avanti" and we simply strike out the truck. In front of the entrance with the wire stand several officers. They were counting us and throwing. Here I do not have a name. Getting the number "254". I do not understand.

Everything was like a dream, like delirium. Nobody asks us nothing. Who I am? What I do? Am I at all a human being? I remember, how great was our servant, Uncle Mark. As we all respected him in the house. Once I did not wanted to say hi to him, because his hands were dirty. In addition, I made a disgusting face. I got from

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http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nam eDetails.html?itemId=5664275&lan guage=en

my father I got from my father hackberry on tour, accompanied by the words: "Working hands are respected." I was only four years old. Who will protect my misery? Who will hackberry beaten those who gaze at me man! Coming through the ranks of barbed wire. Terrible as these wires. I'm spines on them, they were not so big, rough, sharp. I've seen

these wires before. They did not come together and sinister lurking that will stab you deeper, and more painful. My legs do not listen. Wolf is slow, difficult. Eyes bulged, staring around and wants to end up. I ache. I wanted to close them, but I cannot. They alone will not rest. You have to see it, you absorb all the misery, all the evil.

Source: Božović, Saša (1985) Ratne ljubavi; Tebi, moja Dolores (War of love; To You, my Dolores), Književne novine: Beograd 1984 / 1985)

Testimony 7: Jan Hermann’s story, interned also at Kavaja camp in July 1941.

Source: IL FONDO ISRAEL KALK, VII. Testimonials and documentation, Case 6, Issue 70: Report by Jan Hermann on school life at Ferramonti Tarsia, typescript, Relazione di Jan Hermann sulla vita scolastica al Ferramonti Tarsia, dattiloscritto, cc.9.

http://www.cdec.it/fondo_kalk/mostra_buste.asp?id_unita=81&id_struttura=7&indice= 6

Own translation.

In July, 1941, by order of the Governor Bastianini, Italian troops stationed in Montenegro arrested about 200 people, mostly families, with women and children, to use them as hostages and brought them to the Kavaja concentration camp, Albania, where were locked together to about 1950 Montenegrins, mostly women and children, in poor hygienic and sanitary conditions. These two hundred Jews, mostly refugees from the former Yugoslavia and Central Europe, had the good luck to be transferred in Calabria before the rainy season in October 1941. The Montenegrins stayed there had a tragic fate. Before our departure, the commander of the camp, reserve Mayor, in civilian life trader of citrus in Pavia, there made a speech which ended with these words: "Touching the Italian soil do not forget that on you waving a noble flag: the flag of law and justice " Page 32

Testimony 8: Johanna Neumann

Johanna Neumann was born Hamburg, on December 2, 1930.

In 1939, they escaped to Albania along with a few other Jewish-German families. They remained in Albania, fleeing from one town to another throughout the war until they were freed by the Allies in 1945. In 1945, Johanna and her family went to Italy where they lived in the Tricase Porto displaced persons camp. Source:

Neumann, Johanna Jutta (1983) â&#x20AC;&#x153;Via Albania: A Personal Account, pp.32-33

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Testimony 9: Mirko Hallerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story of his experience as a refugee from Sarajevo and internment at Kavaja camp in 1941. Mirko Haller was interviewed by Carlo Spartaco Capogreco, in Pula, on 8 September 1997 We were under the surveillance of the military. No one informed us of the causes of our arrest, no one have controlled our identity and we have never been examined. After 8 days, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kumanovoâ&#x20AC;? lifted the anchor and put the bow to Albania. We traveled all day and into the evening we found ourselves in the Durres harbor. Kavaja concentration camp We spent the night on the ship. The next day we went with our luggage on the coach, which we were waiting in the harbor. After a short trip we arrived in the Kavaja concentration camp, who had settled on the suburb of the city with the same name. Some security guard said to many internees we will be accommodated in villas or in the good hotels in Albania. It is not difficult to imagine our surprise and disappointment when we found ourselves in a real concentration camp settled in the sheds of an unfinished warehouse with glassless windows and large holes in palce of the doors. Some naive went to complain to the camp commander, convinced that we were there by mistake. Of course, the mission was not successful and we had to settle in the slums with a few feral words. In each cabin there were three large spaces with 12 beds on three floors, the floor was of beaten earth. Around our barracks there was a barbed wire and on the other end of the barbed wire there were the places for Sentinels. With clamorous protests we went to take a seat on one of the three floors of the beds. A sergeant, treasurer of the camp, gave each two military blankets. If you had your blanket, this was enough comfortable to sleep. Women were separated, only to sleep, in their areas, but during the day we were all together. In other barracks of the camp were interned nearly a thousand anti-fascists of Montenegro, Dalmatia, and Albania. Also among them were women and children. To illuminate the barracks were used candles and oil lamps. The food prepared in the kitchen of the camp was like in all camps and prisons, but with some contribution we improved a bit. For the truth must be said that for the children prepared a bit of condensed milk and adults had daily half a pound of black bread. Page 34

An Albanian had a small shop in the camp and you could buy some fruits, food, and other stuff, but the prices in this shop were doubled to which ones on the market Kavaja and the little money we had, we spent there. The bravest among us did everything possible to improve our surrender moral. It started with the jokes and cheerful songs, but soon after they organized the evening with songs, sketches, stories and dances. The young people were the organizers of the evening, but many older people participating in the program. Among young people who made the program included Rodolfo Marton, Deleon brothers, Bata Rafajlovic, Davico Mirko Mirko Felic, and many others. The elderly participants were Raffaele Tolentino, Dr.Munk, Robicek, Isakovic and other. He sang operatic arias, light and popular songs, but also anti-fascist and revolutionary songs. We had a great luck because none of the Italian soldiers knew the Serbian-Croatian language. I remember that i was charged to write "the broken radio". This was a fictional story of the radio programs which have been mixed together and, if it was well written, it was very funny. Once i mixed three stories, one was a service from the front lines of the war, the other was a service of an exhibition of livestock, and the third was a conference of fascist ideology. Mirko Felic sang "zuravke", cheerful and funny rhymes with which he criticized some very proud people, and with these "zuravke" you could say a lot of political events in fascist countries. Kabilje spouses danced the Spanish dances, some Hungarians danced the ciardas. Mirko Levi played the violin very well and the lecturer was Raffaele (?) Isacovic. During our stay in Kavaja we held a dozen of these party. Usually we kept them in front of the barracks under the light lamp of the camp. Italian officers and soldiers, who regularly watched our programs, they never made any comments, maybe because they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know our language. A few weeks after our arrival we were allowed to go out in the city. Every day, under the supervision of the soldiers, a group of a dozen inmates, went to Kavaja to buy something in the shops or in the marketplace. One of the inmates took advantage of this privilege and it is connected with a Jew dentist in Kavaja. This dentist has promised that with his influential friends to assist our release and transport to the border with Italy.

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I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if, a few weeks later, we were transferred to Italy through the intervention of this dentist or everything happened according to a extraneous plan. In September, we celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In the dinner space, covered with a large canvas, deodorized with flowers and carpets, were made festive prayers. The prayers were sung by Raffaele Tolentino and Giacono Alkalay. Their beautiful voices made it very solemn these difficult and painful hours of our lives. Although then i accepted the atheistic ideas, for me this celebration was very emotional and impressive, because he occurred in very difficult times. We wished happy holidays and all the best in life. One evening we were taken to the city cinema and there was presented an Clark Gable old movie. This was the only time during our internment that we were at the cinema. Near the camp there was a football stadium and from the barracks we could watch the games. We were fans of the teams for which we did not know the names, and we prompt they exclaiming their colors. We started from Kavaja at the end of October 1941. Trucks sent us to the port of Durres and we boarded a ship carrying soldiers on leave in Italy. The next day we were in Bari and we have been taken over State Police agents, in civilian clothes. This was the first time i was in Italy and, among the rest, i have left in the memory an event a little strange. While the policemen accompanied us to the streets of Bari (walking) some women, seeing our group of nearly 200 people, perhaps not knowing who we were, ran ahead with his hands raised, shouting "Long live the Duce". My opinion is those women did that gesture automatically, perhaps for fear of the hard consequences by the fascists. But in our situation that conducts didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have sense. In the afternoon we were at the railway station and we were settled into two wagons prepared for us. After the departure of the train the police advised us that we start to Calabria and the next morning we would arrive at our destination. Source: IL FONDO ISRAEL KALK, VII. Testimonials and documentation, Case 5, Issue 66: Memories of Mirko Haler, a refugee from Sarajevo.

http://www.cdec.it/Fondo_kalk/mostra_buste.asp?id_unita=77&id_struttura=7&indice= 1. Own translation. Page 36

Testimony 10: Albert Alcalay Interview (Conducted by Robert Brown, Massachusetts, 1979 Jan. 17). In July 1941 Alcalay was deported to Albania and interned in the concentration camp of Kavaje. At the end of 1941 he was transferred to the concentration camp of Ferramonti di Tarsia (Cosenza Province) where he remained until the end of 1942 MR. BROWN: And Albania, was it occupied? MR. ALCALAY: Albania was occupied by the Italians. So we decided to go to Durazzo, which is a harbor of Albania. It's a big harbor on Ionian Sea. And so we did. We came to Durazzo. We picked up a hotel there, which is not a hotel. It's called han. It's one of those big huge wards that you have 50 beds lying down there. MR. BROWN: How do you spell it? What MR. ALCALAY: Han, h-a-n. And that's where we went. And we checked up to see if maybe a boat goes from there up the whole Adriatic. Used to go all the way to Trieste. As a matter of fact we found one would go in 10 days. So I said, "All right. Let's wait 10 days. There are no Germans here, nobody." It was beautiful. The Italians built Albania very beautiful. Durazzo looked like Nice, a really very beautiful town. And so we relaxed. We stayed for MR. BROWN: They weren't checking your passports or anything? MR. ALCALAY: No. They check passports. We have regular passports. Something happen very strange here. We were enjoying ourself, and I walked through the street. I didn't know one word Italian. One word Italian I didn't know, and I didn't know one word Albanian. But we were walking around. We look, and I see names of stores. I read names of stores. I see some Jewish names - Abraham, Page 37

Samuel, and so on. So I said, you know, Jews always help Jews in the times of stress. They're very tight. There is that kind of a sense of destiny that connections them together somehow. So we enter this store. We try to talk. Finally they spoke French, so we spoke French with them. And here something happened very strange. They told us that there is a concentration camp 18 miles from that place, from Durazzo, in a place called KavajĂŤ. And they said that a lot of Yugoslavs came there. And I was bold enough with this passport, I don't know why really I - I maybe suspected maybe my parents I didn't know where my parents were at all. My friend didn't want to go. He was scared. I took a bus and I went there. And as I descended from the bus, it says there - on the sign said, "Do not approach 100 meters. This is a concentration camp." And I was - I'm far-sighted. I take a look and I see through the wires, inside of the camp, my sister, my little sister, who saw me. My father describes this all very beautifully in his diaries. My sister ran immediately back to tell to my father, who in that time was giving lectures, lessons in English, to some other people. She just opened the door and said, "Daddy, come out. I got to tell you something." My father - this is really uncanny - my father opened the door and said, "Where is he?" He already sensed it. And so I met them in that camp. MR. BROWN: Oh, you went into the camp? MR. ALCALAY: I went into the camp. What really happened was my parents escaped and lived in Dubrovnik. We used to spend summers in Dubrovnik. They rented a hotel room there, or a suite, whatever it is, and they thought they will stay the whole war there. It was kind of a forgotten corner. But when the revolution came in Montenegro, which is very close -

MR. BROWN: Yeah.

June 1941

MR. ALCALAY: The Fascist government came and picked up all Jews that were all - the whole coast of Dalmatia, picked them up, put them on ships, and moved them to this concentration camp, and took all their money. Now, my father was so smart that he took all those gold bags, threw them under the couch, and left them there. The owner of the hotel found that gold, kept that gold for the whole war, was changing he took 50 coins for himself - was changing all the time and was sending money to my parents in one direction, to me in another direction. And after the war, my uncle went there and pick up the rest that was left. And he was a Croatian, even. It's incredible how you can find people like that.

. ..We have been transferred from the Alexander to another ship, the Kumanovo, which is anchored in front of Tivat. The personnel of the Kumanovo are treating us much better. We have been assigned cabins. The Union of Serbian Sisters of the town of Kotor has sent us food. Many stories circulate about where we are to be sent-to Italy or to a concentration camp somewhere. Three men from our group from Herceg Novi are allowed to return there to collect our belongings. They bring us back a Letter from Albert asking us to help him escape from Belgrade. Unfortunately, it is now too late. We are interned. But what is happening in Belgrade? M y wife is torn with worry. We barely manage to keep her calm. We are all very worried about Albert.

So I stay for 10 days in - I'm going inside and outside in that camp. I was like a nephew of my father. So they really arrested them not for any reasons. I mean, they just put them in that camp.

… We are suffering terribly in this heat. It is impossible to sleep in the cabins. We sleep on tables in the various salons of the ship. Finally, the ship starts sailing. The sea is very rough outside the harbor of Kotor. We look out for the last time at Herceg Novi. We have had to leave a great deal of our money there, all consisting of gold coins. I say to myself, “It is better for it to be lost than for the enemy to take it and buy more weapons with it, against all our hope - an Allied victory.”

MR. BROWN: Yeah. MR. ALCALAY: Maybe the Fascists wanted their gold. Maybe they - for some other reasons. But they did. They were not molested at all. They were kept under very bad hygienic conditions, but they were not molested at all. Source: Oral history interview with Albert Alcalay, 1979 Jan. 17-Oct. 19, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/int erviews/oral-history-interviewalbert-alcalay-11606 Audio:

http://www.aaa.si.edu/assets /audio/OHProgram/alcala79_1of3_re el_SideA_e.mp3 Page 38

…We land in Durres, where we climb into a huge bus and set out for a camp at Kavaja. The bus discharges us at the gate. We are taken into the camp without any formality and are pushed into a large stable, into which are crowded three rows of rough wooden bunks, really little more than crude shelves. The hygienic conditions here are terrifying. Filth and garbage are piled everywhere. The women and children start to scream and cry, especially those who believed that we would go to Italy. One of the Italian officers has told one of our people, Lela Mevorah, "Sarete delusi, andate in un brutto paese" (You will be disappointed; you are going to a horrible land). We have all been given two blankets, a spoon, a fork, and a

container for soup. There is no running water. They deliver water in two big barrels. There are no toilets. They plan to dig a crude latrine. The heavy atmosphere is black with mosquitoes and insects, so thick that it is impossible to stand still. It is even impossible to lie down. A squat Italian major lines us up in two columns, one male and one female, and in a very vigorous voice declares, "Signori e signore, c'e che c'e, c'e" (Ladies and gentlemen, what we've got is all we've got). But as soon as he hears the women crying, he runs to us en and, with tears in his eyes, declares, "Prego, dite alle signore che la vita non e sempre di rose. Non devono disperare! Calmatele, prego!" (Please, tell the women that life is not always a bed of roses. Don't despair! Quiet them down, please!) …What can we do? We must accept reality. We have to take care of ourselves first. We are going to have to take responsibility for a general cleaning of the camp, especially our shelter in the stable, which the Italians are calling a capanone (a huge barracks). Yesterday, the Italian officers and soldiers were very sharptongued. Today, they are polite and ready to help. They complain themselves about being obliged to live in Albania under such conditions. We have filled a freight car with garbage. The camp is infested with rats and frogs. The clouds of insects are a constant torture. We are going to have to do our best to clean them all out. Somehow, we are going to improve conditions and become acclimatized to the situation. I don't know if we will be able to do anything to improve our crude sleeping quarters. That the men are isolated from the women and children is an additional hardship for many of us. What can we do? ...The steady rainfall has transformed the camp into a muddy swamp. Many of the women and children are feverish and sick. Some of the men have also fallen ill. We have soup with macaroni, canned food, and some kind of coffee for breakfast. Everything tastes good enough. The Italians have granted our petition to permit one of our men to go to town every day to purchase fresh food. Some of the men are very depressed. I am trying to comfort them. Who knows how badly off Jews are elsewhere in Europe? Some of the people, especially those who are well-to-do, have not lost hope that the Italians are going to send us all to Italy. Page 39

…Women and children from Montenegro are quartered in other stables - capanoni - in our camp. We don't know why they have been brought to Kavaja. We are forbidden to communicate with them. We are somehow getting used to this new life. The women are washing the laundry, starting to take care of themselves, and not crying anymore. July 1941 It is Sunday today. I meet a lawyer recently arrived from Belgrade who tells me that Germany and Italy have declared war on Soviet Russia. This is hard to believe, but it confirms other reports we have heard, and many of us feel new hope because of it. The Axis have made a major mistake. The lawyer has told us that the Germans have advanced deep into Russia, and that the Germans are sinking many British ships. It is certain that the war is going to be very long, but we are going to win. The news from Belgrade is not good. The destiny of us Jews is growing darker. August 1941 We have made great progress in improving conditions in the camp. We have cleaned up all the garbage dumps. Dry weather over the past weeks has helped us a lot, but we choke in the dust stirred up by passing truck convoys. The Italians have built covered latrines for the women. We can walk outside the wire in the afternoon, but only within the limits of the camp. Today, a great number of Montenegrins arrive. They are put into a separate compound, but we manage to speak with them. They tell us that the revolution in Montenegro has been crushed. Last night, a Montenegrin woman gave birth to a baby. Our Dr. Bauer was invited to help her. He told us that they live in great misery. Many among us, especially those who have money, still believe they will be sent to Italy. Some have lost hope, and believe they are going to perish here. Dr. Bauer, his brother, and I have decided to start studying the Italian language. Everyone else is studying English. Source: Albert Alcalay (2007) The Persistence of Hope: A True Story, Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp. New York, 99-102

Sunday, February 15, 1941 To our great joy, Albert finally arrives at dusk today. His arrival provokes great interest among our friends from Kavaja, who all press around him eagerly to hear his stories of what he has experienced. Only now do we learn about the first few days of the war and the disintegration of his command. Only now do we learn how much Albert suffered after he was captured last April and imprisoned at the makeshift schoolhouse prison, how he was transferred to a German prison camp whose commandant treated him well, and miraculously allowed him to leave. Albert tells the full story of how he reached Belgrade after his release from the German prison camp and what he found there when he arrived. He explains what he did in the city, how the situation there had worsened until finally he had to escape to Albania with his friend Salam. He tells us how he found us in the camp in Kavaja. He also tells us about the selfish and indecent behavior that wealthy Jewish refugees in Split have shown toward him and in general toward poor Jewish refugees, especially the orphaned and the young, who are nearly starving, while the wealthy worry only about their own comfort. But Albert is careful not to say anything about his experiences in Italy before he turned himself in to the authorities at Vicenza, although, when things calmed down, he tells me privately all that has happened. Albert tells me about the time he spent in Padua, about the cruel weeks he spent in Milan, how he and Salom failed in their plan to reach Palestine, and also about poor Salam's fate. And Albert told me how joyful he is to have rejoined us, that he is at peace with himself now that he knows that it is right that he should remain at our side throughout the duration of the tragic insanity we are experiencing. We have worried so deeply about Albert. Now we are here, all together again, reunited as a family, to face whatever lies before us - together. We finally found a ship that would be steaming to Trieste, but it was not scheduled to leave for another fifteen days. We had no choice but to accept this delay, glad at least that we had found a way to move north. There were no signs of danger in Durres, so we took life easily and explored the town. One day, soon after our arrival, I noticed a tailor shop whose sign bore Page 40

the name of "Samuel and Jakoel." I remarked to Salom that it was surely a Jewish establishment, so we entered the store and found out that the owners were indeed Ladino speaking Sephardic Jews. Neither Salom nor I spoke any Italian or Albanian, but I knew enough Ladino to be able to communicate with the tailors. They told me that many refugees from Yugoslavia had been collected in a large refugee camp at Kavaja, only eighteen kilometers to the southeast. Now I can't say exactly why I was so interested in seeing this camp and was prepared to take the risk of approaching it. I did have confidence in my forged Italian passport, and I certainly had a lot of chutzpah, so I decided to take the bus and go there. Salmon did not want to go, so he stayed behind, and I set off on a bus with Samuel, one of the tailors who had offered to accompany me. When I descended from the bus at Kavaja, I saw a large camp only a little more than one hundred meters away, but a large sign clearly barred me from approaching it. I stared intently at the barbed wire fence, and even at that distance I immediately recognized my sister and my friend Jasa Almuli behind the barrier. But the moment I caught a glimpse of my sister, she hurried away and out of sight. She had also seen me, and had run immediately to call my father, who was at that moment studying Italian with Dr. Bauer. "My daughter is coming in from her walk and calling me to go with her," my father told Dr. Bauer. Turning to my sister, he said, "Don't you see that I am working?" She replied urgently, "Come, Father, come now!" My father later told me that he had immediately felt that perhaps I had arrived. He asked Dr. Bauer to excuse him. As soon as my father and sister were alone, my father asked, "Where is he?" My sister looked up at him and asked, "Who?" "Albert," replied my father. "How do you know?" asked my sister. My father answered, "I had a premonition. Besides, why else would you have called me as you did?" He was agitated now. My sister said, "I saw him in front of the camp, and he was alone."

My father and sister hurried toward the camp gate, where an Italian officer was chatting with Rafa Konforti. The officer looked toward my father and asked him, "Are you Alcalay?" When my father affirmed this, the officer demanded, "Who is the youngster who is looking for you?" "I don't know," my father replied. "Let me get out to see. Maybe he is the son of an Albanian friend." The officer agreed to allow my father to meet with me, but he ordered a soldier to accompany him and to remain with him during our conversation. Rafa also came with my father and the sentry. Sunday, October 26, 1941 Everything has happened so suddenly. The entire camp was emptied last Friday. We were transported in relays by truck from Kavaja to Durres, where we were hurried onto a large old freighter. We crossed the Adriatic due west to Bari. The passage lasts twenty hours. I am told that the distance is about 120 miles. After we debark at Bari, we are transported by truck to a newly built camp in Calabria. It is called Camp Ferramonti di Tarsia. The director of the camp, accompanied by a number of Yugoslavs, welcomes us. Families are assigned separate apartments. Single men and women are housed in barrack dormitories, which accommodate twenty-five to thirty persons. The camp has been built on reclaimed marshland. It is already enormous, and new barracks are still being built. There is plenty of water, even electric lighting. A barbed wire fence surrounds the camp. Police and security agents circulate inside the fence to maintain order. Appel (roll call) is held for famil.ies only in the morning, but Appel is held for single men and women both in the morning and at noontime. Apparently, single people escape more readily, because they are not attached to their families. In the evening, we are forbidden from going beyond the unfenced courtyards of our barracks. Thursday, November 6, 1941 What little money that was left to us is gone. We can't do anything in this camp without money. Everything, even the smallest service, has to be paid for immediately. In the smaller camp at Page 41

Kavaja, where there were fewer than three hundred people, we were able to maintain some communal life. Here, there is no sense of community. This is understandable, since there are more than a thousand people from all over Europe. Our group from Kavaja has been dispersed throughout the camp, and has already lost its identity. Only the young people sheltered in Barracks Number Nine still somehow maintain a communal life. Even so, Ferramonti is loosely organized into a small Jewish republic. There are two synagogues, one for orthodox Jews and one for conservative and other Jews. Friday and Saturday, synagogue services are very pompous, and they remind everyone of home. There are also schools for the children, but lessons are given only in German, because most of the refugees in the camp are from Germany and Austria. Source: Albert Alcalay (2007) The Persistence of Hope: A True Story, Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp. New York,

Testimony 11: Irene Grunbaum. In her autobiography Grunbaum describes, her life as a Jew and how she was protected and sheltered. In the extensive section on Albania she includes her experience at Kavaja. CAVAIA We arrived safely. In this small village I met many old friends from Belgrade, each happy to find the other alive. For the time being I lived with the Asriel family in the "red house.â&#x20AC;? Five families had rented it, and each had one small room to itself; there was only one kitchen. I slept on the floor, covered with my greatest treasure, my raincoat. Old newspapers functioned as both mattress and pillow. After three days I was "exchanged," whereupon the pattern was repeated and I slept in another room. I went happily from one family to the next until I had stayed with all five. Then the impulse for independence stirred me to search for a room, and I ended up in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;white house.â&#x20AC;? Things there were loud and merry. With the exception of a young married couple who had a small child, only very young men lived there,

the oldest being twenty two. The whole day was devoted to making noise screaming, singing, chopping wood, and cleaning the stairs, and in the evening there were reports. Everyone was helpful. One loaned me a stinking horse blanket, and another filled an old sack with straw for me to sleep on. I lived like a princess! My nutrition had also changed. I didn't eat bread and green peppers here, because they had much better fare: fresh, sweet figs. They were cheaper than everything else, and I stuffed myself as if I were eating all the figs of a lifetime at once. Unfortunately, my stomach rebelled against this wonderful, cheap fruit, and the consequence was that I lost five more kilos. Now I looked like a skeleton; there was no trace of my former fullness. But this didn't bother me, because life here was so peaceful. I had so much time that when足 ever I felt weak I could lie down on my straw sack and sleep. Nothing disturbed me, neither children's screams nor singing. The people of Cavaia slowly got used to the peculiar foreigners. They looked on in amazement as men helped their wives carry water across the street. The men were usually with their own spouses, but sometimes they even took walks with other women on the dirt road. These male foreigners helped with the housework and even washed clothes and floors. It was just unbelievable! The veiled Muslim women regarded their sisters with much distrust, but the Muslim men stared at the foreign women with great interest and goodwill, provided, of course, that they were young and beautiful. One night a young single woman was taken away forcibly by a young man who funded her. Nobody got very excited about it, because Frau Erna's reputation had long been disreputable. But it was a different story when an old, respectable, and very wealthy townsman went to a jewish home and told a couple in confidence that the Italians wanted to hand the jews over to the Germans and then immediately asked for the hand of their barely fifteen year-old daughter Miriam to "save" her. The parents of the young girl could do nothing but say no. Page 42

They said that their daughter was too young to get married and that the suitor was too old for her. They didn't dare say that it was blackmail, although they suspected that it was. How were they to know? That night the jews of Cavaia were carried off, or at least that was the story that went around like wildfire. An hour later the first pessimists were already on their way to save themselves. Some fled to the next village, and others hid in a nearby forest, whereas the optimists wanted to wait till the next morning to see what news awaited them. Anyway, I don't believe that even the bravest among us slept very well that night. It turned out to be a false alarm. Miriam wasn't allowed to go out of the house, and her excited mother calmed down a bit. But the incident had other consequences. Solitary women whose husbands were in concentration camps began to be friend men whose wives and children had been taken away. A considerable demoralization began. There were women who began to do "housekeeping" for a few young men; brother-in-law and sister-in-law began to live in the same room with one straw mattress, the one wanting the warmth, protection, and advice of the other. The feeling of loneliness was worse than ever. Around this time I was offered a position as housekeeper for two brothers, a doctor and an attorney, and many were astounded that I didn't take the offer gleefully. I preferred loneliness. I was waiting for Bobby. The war had to end sometime. One day the people would return from the work camps. Perhaps they would be sick, weak, and in need of physical and spiritual help. Wasn't it my duty? It was nothing to be proud of, to wait for Bobby. But at least I would be able to look him in the eye. It was not always easy for me. Life was so difficult, and I understood the other women who wanted to capture a moment of happiness in their miserable lives. Today was today. In those times who could think about tomorrow? And still good things blossomed from the unions. I knew many women who had found a

father for their already orphaned children, others became good companions and mothers for children whom they had not brought into the world, and still others had become true marriage partners, because their suffering and fear had united them for the rest of their lives. In the "red house" they were diligently working on a list of all the jews in Cavaja, and I was writing all the names down. A request was supposed to be sent to the Pope. Perhaps he would have pity on the handful of people here in Cavaja and we would be "transferred" to Italy. Maybe we could stay in the Vatican and wait there until the end of the war. These and other audacious dreams and plans made the time go by more quickly and fanned the flame of our faint hope. An inhabitant of the "red house" went to Albanian friends daily and heard the latest news of the Allies behind tightly locked doors. He made short notes of the most important events in order to relate them later to an anxious audience. So one day we heard that in Greece another transport of Jews had left for Poland, and indeed a few days later four Greek jews arrived in Cavaia - a married couple, a young girl, and a man. They registered with us in the "red house" in order to be put on the "Pope's list” I wrote down the names of Ernst Alger, his wife Katarina, Hilde Luft, and Egon Kreiser. Herr Alger told us that he was able to save himself and the others only with great effort and the help of his purely Aryan German wife. He said that Egon Kreiser was a chauffeur by profession and had brought them out of the country by car. … On 5 September 1943 our small community was thrown into panic once again. Italy had capitulated! At first we didn't believe it, and listened to the distressful news skeptically. But three days later we were panicstricken and terrified when we heard that the first Italians from the nearby port in Durazzo had fled by night and fog to Bari and that the Germans had

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begun to occupy Albania. Wild confusion began. People sought escape everywhere and anywhere. The clever and cautious knew farmers in the next village or the village after that and tried as quickly as possible to secure their help. Each person concealed from the others where he intended to go. One couldn't worry about saving the others, because no one knew if he would be able to save himself. Source: Grunbaum, Irene (1996) Escape Through the Balkans: The Autobiography of Irene Grðnbaum, p. 54-61

Testimony 12: Zhak (Isac) Emanuel Ruben from Pristina was interned on 05/04/1942 in Kavaja. In the fall of 1943 he was caught by the German Nazis, was sent to a concentration camp near Belgrade and was executed.

Jacky (Žak/Zhak) Ruben (son of Lea Baruch) was born in Pristina (Yugoslavia) in 1927. He was interned on 05/04/1942 in Kavaja. Latter on he become involved in partisan Command of Peza Detachment. In the fall of 1943 while he was sent on a combat mission he was caught by the German Nazis send to a concentration camp near Belgrade and executed. Source: Pages of Testimony, The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. Item ID: 5583279.

http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetail s.html?itemId=5583279&language=en#!pre ttyPhoto See also: Sokol Solomon Pirra, (2012) “Albania and the Jews" Tirana, Albania, pg. 78-79; Hamzai, Dhurata (2014) “Kreshnik Hashorva: 9 Jews who fell for freedom of Albania” (Kreshnik Hashorva: 9 hebrenjtë që ranë për lirinë e Shqipërisë), 28 Janar, Shqiptarja.com Magazin.

http://www.shqiptarja.com/kultura/2730/kr eshnik-hashorva-9-hebrenjt--q--ran--p-rlirin--e-shqip-ris--197992.html

Strangely enough, this time things were the most placid in the "white house." Ruben, one of the young guys, stood at the top of the steps and called out in a loud voice, "Brothers and sisters, don't lose heart, we won't fall into the hands of the Germans. Enough innocent victims have surrendered without a fight. I have connections with the partisans, and today they will come down from the mountains and show us where to go. Remain calm, and those who have something to pack, bring your things here to the hall. Take only the most important articles - don't burden yourselves with old straw sacks. Pack your clothes. Don't be afraid. We will fight, and we will win!" A deathly silence reigned as he spoke. Then an excited murmur rose, as more and more people continued to gather inside the "white

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house" during the speech. People exchanged ideas: what would happen to the children, to the older ones, to the pregnant women? But Ruben reassured us even about that. "Children, the old, and the sick will hide out in the partisan villages. Decide among yourselves who wants to go with me. Those who do should meet me here in a half-hour in the 'white house.' To the others, may God be with you, as well as with us!" A few old people murmured "Amen." The room emptied quickly, but only a few minutes later it was full again. Almost all of the people had decided to flee across the mountains. Ruben tried to organize everyone. Families stood together, young men and women were on one side, and the old and sick sat on the steps. Those who had bundles or knapsacks sat on them. It was a sad group that gathered there: the faces were pale and thin: mothers' eyes were red from tears. The young men were rough and defiant, and the older people were resigned to their fate. Source: Grunbaum, Irene (1996) Escape Through the Balkans: The Autobiography of Irene Grðnbaum, p. 58-59

3. Life outside the Kavaja camp The 18 prisoners from five families (the Altaracs, Borgers, Azriels, Mandils and Ruchvargers) 5 were sent by truck to Kavaja and they rented several apartments on the top floor of one building that they referred as the “Red House” (Savich, 2004; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Photo 14: Picture of the ‘Red House’ building where Jewish refugee families rented apartments after having escaped from ex-Yugoslavia. Members of five Jewish refugee families look out from the windows of their adjoining apartments. Pictured in the windows from left to right are: the Mandil family, the Azriel family, the Altarac family, the Ruchvarger family, and the Borger family. 01.05.1942, Kavaja Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Gavra Mandil and Jasa & Ester Franses Altarac, http://www.ushmm.org/, Foto code: #24721, #59678

5 See: Document 5: A document issued by the IV Carbinieri Battalion "Lazio" listing the names of 18 Jews, among those listed are the three members of the Altarac family and the four members of the Mandil family. They were refugees imprisoned in Prishtina and were authorized

to leave by truck for Grunbaum

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Albania. And

Testimony 11: Irene

Source: Mandil, Gavra (2001) ‘Temunot Be-

Shahor-Lavan’, Hertsliyah: Milo, p.49

Photo 15: The same ‘Red House building’ today. Own photo May 2014

Photo 16: Jewish Families of Mandil, Azriel, Altarac, Ruchvarger and Borger in a group portrait. (Kavajë, 1 May 1942)

The couples pictured in the top two rows are, from left to right: Yehiel and Ilona Ruchvarger, Emil and Irena Borger, Isak and Gita Azriel, Majer and Mimi Altarac, and Mosa and Gabriela Mandil. In the front row, from left to right are: Marki Azriel, Gavra Mandil, Irena Mandil, and Jasa Altarac Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/, courtesy of Gavra Mandil, Foto code: #24730

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Photo 17: Majer Altarac, resident in the “Red House”

1. A false identification card used by the Jewish refugee Majer Altarac in occupied Yugoslavia. 2. Both sides of a registration card issued by the German occupation authorities in Belgrade to Majer Altarac, indicating that he has registered with the police. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/, Foto code: #59675, Foto code: #59682

Photo 18: Majer and Mimi Altarac (top row, 4th and 5th from the left) and their son, Jasa (in front of Majer), and Mosa and Gabriela Mandil (top row, 1st and 2nd on the left), their son, Gavra (in front of Gabriela), and daughter Irena (front row, center).

Photo 20: Group portrait of Jewish refugee children at a birthday party in Kavaja.

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/, courtesy of Jasa & Ester Franses Altarac, Foto code: #59679, 1943-1944.

Photo 19: Copper travel clock within a leather case by Jewish living ‘red house’

Pictured from left to right are: unknown, Marki Azriel, Michael Levy, Stella Gershon, Ela Mandil, Gavra Mandil, Irena Mandil, unknown, Michael Konforti, Jasa Altarac. 27.07.1942, Kavaja

Travel clock used by all the Jewish occupants of the “red house” in Kavajë, Albania. This was the only working clock owned by any member of the Altarac family. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, donated by Jas̆a Altarac, 2002

http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog /irn520800,

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Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Gavra Mandil & Ester Altarac, http://www.ushmm.org/, Foto code: #08261.

Photo 21: A group of Jewish refugee children living in an apartment house in Kavaja, Albania pose with an Italian soldier who is their tutor.

Jasa Altarac (bottom, right), Gavra Mandil (top, right) and Irena Mandil (bottom, left). 01.08.1944, Kavaja Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jasa & Ester Franses Altarac, http://www.ushmm.org/, Foto code: #59677.

Photo 22: Jewish residents with Kavaja officials

Mosa Mandil (right) and his son Gavra pose with Kavaja town officials (the mayor and chief of police at the Kavaja police station, where they had to register every day. 1942 - 1943, Kavaja Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Gavra Mandil, http://www.ushmm.org/, Foto code: #24734.

Photo 23: A group portrait of students at an elementary school in Kavaja, Albania. Among the students are several Jewish refugee children from Yugoslavia. Jasa Altarac is pictured in the front row, second from the right. 1942-1943, Kavaja Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jasa & Ester Franses Altarac, http://www.ushmm.org/, Foto code: #59680.

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Photo 24: Group portrait of Gavra Mandil's class at the Albanian school he attended in Kavaja. Gavra is marked with a number 30 (first row, at the far right).

States Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/, Foto code: #08216, Year 1942. Source:

United

courtesy

Gavra

Mandil,

Photo 25: Residents of the neiborhood Sallbeg in Kavaja 26.06.1943. The two women circled in the middle of the photograph are the Jewish sisters Luci and Kori of Samuel Haim from Corfu

Source: Petritaj, Ergent (2010) “Besa: shpëtimi shqiptar i hebrenjve”, Photo reportage, Educative Week on Holocaust, Toronto, Canada. Voice of Albanians. 11.23.2010,

http://www.voalonline.ch/index.php?mod=article&cat=INTERVIST%C3%8BPRESS&article=10333

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4. Kavaja’s Righteous Among The Nations Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The State of Israel awards the title Righteous Among the Nations to non-Jews who risked their lives to protect Jews during the Second World War. Thirty four Albanian families have been honoured as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem as of 1 January 2014; three of these families are from Kavaja. 6

identity paper with a Muslim name on it. Lekatari then instructed Yussuf Konforti and the others about how to reach Tirana, which was about 50 km away. Lekatari even supplied them with the addresses of his friends in the city, who helped them find shelter until the end of the war. On July 21, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Mihal Lekatari as Righteous Among the Nations.

4.1 Mihal Lekatari Rescued Persons: Konforti, Jakov; Konforti, Rachel; Konforti, Naftali; Konforti, Nisim; Konforti, Michael When Mihal Lekatari, who was active with the Albanian partisans, heard about the Jewish refugees that had arrived in Kavajë, he immediately went to meet them to welcome them to the area and to offer them his help. Lekatari spoke Italian and became friendly with the Konforti family, which included the parents, Jakov and Rachel and their three sons, Naftali, 18, Nisim, 13, and Michael, 11. He was in daily contact with them, and he taught them Albanian (which assisted them a great deal), arranged for discounts for the refugees at the market and scolded anyone that abused them. When the Italians surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, Lekatari insisted that the Jewish refugees in Kavajë should move to Tirana, where it would be easier to hide. When the problem of inadequate documentation arose, Lekatari went to the municipality of Harizaj and stole blank identity papers and stamps and began to distribute forged papers to the Jewish refugees. Every Jew received

See http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/statistics/albani a.pdf 6

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Source: Yad Vashem, File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/5324), Date of Recognition: 03/06/1992.

http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.h tml?language=en&itemId=4016073

4.2 Kadiu’s Family (Besim and his wife Aishe) Rescued Persons: Batino, Sandra;

Batino,

Jakov;

Shyqyri Budo, who sold essential oils, lived with his wife Xhemile and children, Vera, Drita, Liri, Bujar in Tirana, the capital of Albania. Budo was a good friend of Haim Batino who lived in Durrës, on the west coast of Albania, with his wife, Eftiqia, and their three children, Jakov, Sandra, and Moise. In September 1943, after the German occupation of Albania, the Batinos moved to Tirana as they felt they would be less conspicuous in a big city. Budo visited the Batinos, and offered them shelter in his home in Tirana. The Batinos accepted this offer and the five-member Batino family as well as Haim’s brother, Menachem, his brother, David and his wife, Ester, moved to the Budos’ home. The Jews were given two rooms, at no cost. Despite the risks involved and the ever-present fear, Shyqyri, his four children, and in particular his wife, Xhemile, managed to make the Batinos feel at home. They lived under Budo’s roof for about three months and then, with the increased risk of discovery, it was decided that the family should look for shelter elsewhere. The adults – Menachem, David, Esther, Haim and Eftiqia – and 14-year-old Moise, were moved northwards to Krujë, a town in the mountains in northern Albania where they hid with Sulejman Meçe, a wellto-do farmer, his wife, Zenepe, and their children Ije and Ismail. Meçe gave the Batinos a room in their home and took care of all their needs. One day, Meçe discovered that a local resident was planning to inform on his wards. He thought of shooting this traitor but his family persuaded him not to. Instead, he spoke with the potential informer and threatened to avenge any actions he took that led to the Jews being caught. The man backed down from his intention. They stayed with the Meçes from November 1943 until the liberation of Albania on November 29, 1944. Meanwhile, in early February 1944, Abdulla Myrto a fabric merchant in Kavajë, south of Tirana, went to visit his friend Budo, where he Page 51

noticed the two siblings, 18-year-old Jakov Batino and 16-year-old Sandra. He recognized them because he was a customer of the Batino family’s wholesale shop in Durrës. When he heard about their plight and the danger they were facing, he invited them to move to his home Kavajë. Thus, Jakov and Sandra arrived at the Myrtos’ home, where Abdulla and his wife, Ije, made them feel very welcome and provided them with everything they needed. However, Myrto’s home was located on the main road and was very conspicuous and consequently the risk of hiding Jews there was especially great. Besim Kadiu, a clerk at the Kavajë municipality and a friend and confidante of Myrto, offered to relocate the Jewish siblings to his home on the outskirts of the town, surrounded by fruit trees, far from the road. Kadiu, his wife, Aishe, and their children, Taip, Ismail, and Merushe welcomed Jakov and Sandra into their home and made them feel like members of the family. The Kadiu children were told that the presence of Jakov and Sandra in their home had to be kept a secret. Jakov and Sandra stayed with the Kadius until August 1944. Sandra and Merushe had developed a very deep friendship by then and it continued for many years thereafter. The members of the Batino family remained in touch with their rescuers for years after the war, even after some of them immigrated to Israel On June 3, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Shyqyri and Xhemile Budo, Sulejman and Zenepe Meçe, Abdulla and Ije Myrto and Besim and Aishe Kadiu as Righteous Among the Nations Source: Yad Vashem, File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/5323), Date of Recognition: 03/06/1992.

http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/famil y.html?language=en&itemId=4021511

4.2 Shyqyri Myrto Rescued Persons: Jakoel, Yomtov.

Jakoel,

Josef;

Shyqyri Myrto lived with his parents, Abdulla* and Ije*, 18-year-old sister Bejte, and four brothers in Kavajë. Shyqyri often traveled to Tirana on business with his father, who sold fabric. On one of their trips, in March 1944, Shyqyri met his friend Josef Jakoel, with whom he had attended high school in Vlorë. Jakoel had fled with his 18year-old sister Eriketa (later Yomtov) to Tirana in the hope of living anonymously there. However, as a consequence of the regular document checks in the city by the Albanian militia, Jakoel and his sister had had their papers confiscated. Thus, the siblings were in particular danger. Upon hearing this, Shyqyri offered to take Jakoel and his sister to his parents’ home in Kavajë. The Myrtos, who had recently sheltered Jakov Batino and his sister Sandra, happily opened their home to the Jewish siblings and provided for their wards for a period of about six months. One night in July 1944, the entire household was woken up by the sound of loud knocking on the door, and it was obvious that there were Germans waiting there. Before the soldiers broke the front door down, Shyqyri and his parents managed to escort Jakoel out of the house and to dress his sister in traditional Albanian garb and move her to a room for women, where men were forbidden to enter. The Germans entered the house forcefully, searched thoroughly, and then, after they discovered nothing, left angrily. Following this ordeal, some of Shyqyri’s friends that were involved with the partisans offered to help the two Jews. They took them to a temporary hiding place with friends in the village of Ballute, from where they crossed the Shkumbini River and arrived at an area that had already been liberated. Shyqyri and his family were motivated to help the Jewish refugees by friendship and religious belief. They never received any compensation for their deeds. The relationship between the two families continued also after the war, and the whole Myrto family saw Jakoel’s family off at the Page 52

airport when they immigrated to Israel in 1991. On June 6, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Shyqyri Myrto as Righteous Among the Nations. Source: Yad Vashem, File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/5323), Date of Recognition: 06/06/1993.

http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/famil y.html?language=en&itemId=4021511

5. Why Jews Were Saved in Albania Why Jews were saved in Albania during the Shoah. The traditional Albanian code of honour – Besa - has been one of the most cited explanations; yet, insufficient unless we depict the circumstances of the general Albanian context, the case and its varieties of explanations. The case of Albania needs careful and deep analysis of complex approaches. Below we list a number of factors that merit careful attention. According to different scholars there are a number of possible motivations why Jews were saved in Albania or at least why they were not arrested, deported or eradicated. - Few in numbers: Part of the answer could be the lack of a perceived threat. Albanian Jews and Jewish refugees were few in number compared to Jewish communities in Europe and they were therefore not perceived to be a threat - Besa: Often there is a popular ‘romantic’ explanation of why Jews were saved in Albania relates to ancient traditions.. This is attributed to the Albanian tradition of hospitality and code of honor “BESA”, requires hosts to protect guests and refugees.

- Religious harmony and Antisemitism: Albania did not have a history of anti-Semitism before World War II. A deep sense of religious tolerance is rooted in the Albania's longterm religious diversity. - Italian Occupation in Albania: The Italian fascist attitude has been summarized in the formula: “Sorvegliare, ma non punire!” (Keep an eye, but do not punish) (Repishti, 2007: 11). For the Italians their somewhat benign attitude stemmed in part from little cultural of anti-Semitism. AntiSemitism simple did not resonant with the Albanians thus active anti-Semitism would therefore be a political liability to Italians. The Italians, gave lip service to Nazi demands, they decided to concentrate all Jewish non-residents in several different locations in Albania; first they were placed in an abandoned school, and later, transferred to the city's main prison or but otherwise were left alone but Jewish families were required to report to the police station every day (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) - Albania’s Late Accession by NaziGermany. Albania was invaded by Nazi-Germany after November 1943 and only for few months. Germans did not aggressively seek, deport, or exterminate Jews from Albania because few Jews lived in Albania. The Nazi were principally concerned with the Communist and other Nationalist Albanian resistance forces. Germany concentrated its effort against the Red Army (Fischer, 2007: 100; Perez, 2013: 28). 7 Sinani suggests that immediate Si tratta del riassunto di un colloquio, avvenuto il 17 ottobre 1943, a Berlino, tra un alto responsabile del ministero degli Esteri del Terzo Reich e il capo della polizia segreta di Stato, la Gestapo… Nella riunione del 17 ottobre 1943, i due alti esponenti del governo nazista parlarono anche della situazione albanese. Il capo della Gestapo disse al suo interlocutore che egli “comprende benissimo la 7

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German objective to elicit Tirana’s support to suppress the Albanian resistance in late 1943 and early 1944 took precedent over Berlin’s long-term design to exterminate Europe’s Jews. - Non Collaboration of Albanian Officials: Even with the coming of Germans, the Albanian Jewish community, the puppet regime of the regent Mehdi Frasheri and local prefectures, communes and villages and in some instances, even the Italians would not cooperate and refused to hand over the lists of Jewish people. 8 Berlin knew, at least after October 1943, that it could not count on Tirana to deport the Jews (Sarfatti 2005). Moreover, some Albanian officials tried to rescue the Jews of Kavaje, by issuing identity papers to hide them in the capital Tirana. 9 But it is significant to note that the Germans also did not pursue the matter. Their reluctance to do so can be attributed, in part, to Hermann Neubacher, a former mayor of Vienna, who became the German foreign office's special representative for the Balkans and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop's posizione del ministero degli Esteri (tedesco), secondo cui una operazione eseguita senza il consenso del governo albanese, o senza che questi ne sia a conoscenza, apparirebbe offensiva e potrebbe causare gravi complicazioni in Albania”. Per questo motivo, il capo della Gestapo concluse che l’azione in Albania era sospesa, in attesa del “momento opportuno”. See: Michele, Sarfatti (2005) “Grazie, Albania”, Bota Shqiptare, Year VII, N. 127, 27 janar-9 shkurt. In a summary of the interview of a senior official of the Foreign Ministry of the Third Reich and the head of the Secret State Police, the Gestapo, which took place in Berlin on 17 October 1943, and devoted to the development of German anti-Jewish policy in all the former Italian territories, the two senior officials of the Nazi government talked also about the situation in Albania. The head of the Gestapo told his interlocutor that he “perfectly understands the position of the Foreign Ministry (German), according to which an operation performed without the consent of the Albanian government, or without them being aware of it, would appear offensive and could cause serious complications in Albania” For this reason, the head of the Gestapo in Albania concluded that the action was suspended, waiting for the “right time”. 8 “… as in Kavaja where lists of resident Jews had been produced. The Italian commander apparently destroyed the lists on the eve of the German invasion.” (Fischer, 2007: 99). 9 Scheib, Ariel (No date) The virtual Jewish World – Albania. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/albania.ht ml

personal representative in Albania. For a time during the German occupation he was the most powerful figure in Albania. His charge was to hold Albania with a minimum number of troops which, he recognized, required genuine collaboration. He insisted on a new Albanian declaration of independence and insisted that Germany respect this independence whenever possible. Neubacher came up with what he considered to be two new categories in international law, "relative neutrality" and "relative sovereignty." While some of this was certainly a sham - the Germans clearly did in Albania as their interests dictated - the German occupation of Albania had relatively few signs of fascism. The local press had considerable leeway, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler was

temporarily prevented from creating an Albanian Waffen SS division, there were no fascist organizations, and no forced labor was required. And what is important for our purposes, Jews were not hunted. They naturally felt much less safe under the Germans so many particularly the foreign Jews (estimated in 1943 to be approximately 800 from Austria, Germany but also from Poland, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia) -remained in hiding, often moved from location to location and always protected by Albanian Moslems, Orthodox and Catholics alike. There is no known case of this trust being betrayed, no known case of a Jew being exposed, and no known case of an Albanian host requiring payment for the service. (Fischer, 2007: 99)

6. Instead of a conclusion "Farewell, Albania, I thought. You have given me so much hospitality, refuge, friends and adventure. Farewell, Albania. One day I will tell the world how brave, fearless, strong, and faithful your sons are; how death and the devil can’t frighten them. If necessary, I’ll tell how they protected a refugee and wouldn’t allow her to be harmed even if it meant loosing their lives. The gates of your small country remain open, Albania. Your authorities closed their eyes, when necessary to give poor, persecuted people another chance to survive the most horrible of all wars. Albania, we survived the siege because of your humanity. We thank you”. Irene Grünbaum 1996, 130

Even though today the story of the survival of Jews in Albaniais well known, the details are often more interesting than expected. Society’s collective memory of the holocaust becomes less detailed as individuals are distanced by time and generations from those who experienced the horrors of the Holocaust first hand. Our perception of history is shaped by the historians who reconstruct events, schools that perpetuate public narratives, and museums and cultural institutions which select which narratives, images, and films are most often brought to the public eye (Assmann 2006: 216). However a generalist’s story Page 54

should not satisfy a true student of history. Memories of the Holocaust vary vastly among survivors depending on their individual experiences. We need to listen to individual histories and consult primary documents in order to build up a more colourful and complete history of the events surrounding Holocaust and what happened in Albania. Very often the narratives and writing on Albanian Holocaust ‘glorify’ the rescue efforts in Albania, leaving aside the context in which this phenomenon developed and other individual motives. Without context or individual case and motivations we can hardly explain what happened in Albania and run the risk of publishing nationalistic propaganda. Understanding why Jews were saved in Albania may have not found bold answers and yet raise pertinent questions, but the narratives of collective memories should reflect and give voice to victims and not heroes.

7. Bibliography --- “Rescue in Albania” A Documentary Film --- CDEC, Il Fondo ISRAEL KALK, http://www.cdec.it/ --- Family Chronology, http://robichek.com/chronology5.htm ---

Smithsonian Institution, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-historyinterview-albert-alcalay-11606

--- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org Alcalay, Albert (2007) The Persistence of Hope: A True Story, Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp. New York.

Grünbaum, Irene (1996) Escape through the Balkans: The Autobiography of Irene Grunbaum, University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln And London Hamzai, Dhurata (2014) “Kreshnik Hashorva: 9 Jews who fell for freedom of Albania” (Kreshnik Hashorva: 9 hebrenjtë që ranë për lirinë e Shqipërisë), 28 Janar, Shqiptarja.com Magazin. http://www.shqiptarja.com/kultura/2730/kreshnikhashorva-9-hebrenjt--q--ran--p-r-lirin--e-shqip-ris-197992.html

Božović, Saša (1985) Ratne ljubavi; Tebi, moja Dolores (War of love; To You, my Dolores), Književne novine: Beograd 1984 / 1985)

Iael Nidam-Orvieto & Irena Steinfeldt (nodate) The Rescue of Jews in Albania Through the Perspective of the Yad Vashem Files of the Righteous Among the Nations. Available at http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/resources.asp

Bufalini, Enrico (ed.), ‘Luce’ Database Archive, Cinecittà Luce SpA, http://www.archivioluce.com/

Kotani, Apostol (2007) Albanians and Jews during the Centruries, Mesonjetoria Tirana

Carlo Spartaco Capogreco (2010) “I profughi ebrei rastrellati in Montenegro nel luglio 1941 e il loro internamento in Albania e in Italia”, in Laura Brazzo and Michele Sarfatti (eds.) Gli ebrei in Albania sotto il fascism Una storia da ricostruire.

Mandil, Gavra (2001) ‘Temunot Be-Shahor-Lavan’, Hertsliyah: Milo.

Consonni, Pier Vittorio (private archive), www.campifascisti.it

Michele, Sarfatti (2005) “Grazie, Albania”, Bota Shqiptare, Year VII, N. 127, 27 janar-9 shkurt. http://www.giovanniarmillotta.it/ospiti/sarfatti.html

Fischer, J. Bernard (2007) “The Jews of Albania During the Zogist Period and the Second World War” in Pettifer, J., Nazarko, M. (eds.) Strengthening Religious Tolerance for a Secure Civil Society in Albania and the Southern Balkans, IOS Press: Amsterdam.

Marcus, Simon (2007) “Albania”, Fred Skolnik, Michael Berenbaum (eds) in Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume 1, 2nd Edition, Granite Hill Publishers

Neumann, Johanna Jutta (1983) “Via Albania: A Personal Account

The research is undertaken in the framework of ECOSMeG project, supported by the “Europe for Citizens Programme - Action 4 - Decision no. 2012 - 3683 / 002 – 001”, European Commission

56 Nika, Nevila & Liliana Vorpsi (2006) Guidebook: a reference to records about Jews in Albania before, during, and after the Second World War, (Sokol B. Bega, transl.), Tirana: the General Directorate of Archives of Republic of Albania. Perez (2013) ‘“Our Conscience is Clean”: Albanian Elites and the Memory of the Holocaust in Postsocialist Albania’ in Perez, D.; Himka, John-Paul; Michlic, Joanna Beata (eds.) Bringing the Dark Past to Light: The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe. Lincoln, Nebraska. Petritaj, Ergent (2010) “Besa: shpëtimi shqiptar i hebrenjve”, Photo reportage, Educative Week on Holocaust, Toronto, Canada. Voice of Albanians. 11.23.2010, Pirra, Sokol Solomon (2012) “Albania and the Jews" Tirana Albania. Pizzut, Anna (nodate) “Foreign Jews interned in Italy during the war”, http://www.annapizzuti.it/ Polovina, Ylli (2009), The Jew and Albanian Zino Matathia (Hebreu dhe shqiptari Zino Matathia) Repishti, Sami (2007) “The Jews in Albania – A Story of Survival”, ANASH–Approaching Science, Year II, Nr. 3.

Sinani, Shaban ed. (2008) Jews Presence and their Salvation during the War (Studies and Documents, albPapers Tirana Spector, Shmuel and Geoffrey Wigoder (eds) (2001) The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A-J 1, New York University Press. Spinelli, Antonio (2013) “Don't fence me in!”: L'esperienza di Fort Ontario tra il silenzio alleato e la persecuzione nazifascista, Tesi finale del Master in Didattica della Shoah dell'Università RomaTre. http://www.dalrifugioallinganno.it/ontario_ricerca/ricerca. html Spinelli, Antonio and Tagini, Paolo (nodate) “Dal rifugio all inganno”, www.dalrifugioallinganno.it Vrusho, Simon (2010) Jews of Berat (Hebrenjtë e Beratit), Uegen Tirana. www.lager.it - Il Portale italiano della Shoah - 22 dicembre 2002 Yad Vashem, Pages of Testimony, The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameResults.html?place DuringTheWar=Albania&placeDuringTheWarType=THE SAURUS&language=en

Romano, Jasa (1980) Jevreji Jugoslavije 1941-1945, zrtve genocida i ucesnici narodnooslobodilackog (Jews of Yugoslavia 1941-1945, Victims of Geneocide and Freedom Fighters), Savez jevrejskih opstina Jugoslavije.

The research is undertaken in the framework of ECOSMeG project, supported by the “Europe for Citizens Programme - Action 4 - Decision no. 2012 - 3683 / 002 – 001”, European Commission

Annexes: 1. List of Names interned at Kavaja Camp -

First and last pages of the internee at the concentration camp at Kavaja. Source: Häftlingsliste Kavaje, 05.10.1942, Liste von Internierten die am 28.7.1942 im KZ Kavaje interniert waren, 1.1.14.1, 459398 e 459434, ITS Digitales Archiv. LINK: http://www.campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=92 Internees from Kavaja, 190 names. Source: Pizzut, Anna (nodate) “Foreign Jews interned in Italy during the war”, http://www.annapizzuti.it/. LINK: http://www.annapizzuti.it/pdf/gruppo.php?g=6 Inteernees from Kavaja Camp, moved into Sondrigo commune, Italy. Also their family tree. LINK http://www.dalrifugioallinganno.it/Comuni/sandrigo.htm

ASCHEROVIC (Ascherovitch) Tilda, di Davide, nata a Belgrado il 17.02.1934. Di nazionalità croata. Trasferita dal campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania) al campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia. Internata nel comune di Sandrigo dal 10 dicembre 1942. Allontanata arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)]. Nel 1945 risulta a Santa Maria al Bagno (LE) AZRIEL Berta, di Daniele e di Matilde Ascerovitch, nata a Belgrado il 18.01.1909, coniugata con Mandil Isacco. Di nazionalità croata. Trasferita dal campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania) al campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia. Internata nel comune di Sandrigo dal 10 dicembre 1942. Allontanata arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. In data 1 febbraio 1946 presente a Bari. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)] AZRIEL Daniele, di Davide e di Albachari Sole, nato a Belgrado il 27.05.1877, industriale. Di nazionalità croata. Trasferito dal campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania) al campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia. Internato nel comune di Sandrigo dal 10 dicembre 1942. Allontanato arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)] AZRIEL Ella, di Daniele e di Matilde Ascerovitch, nata a Belgrado il 23.09.1917, coniugata con Mandil Giacomo*. Di nazionalità croata. Trasferita dal campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania) al campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia. Internata nel comune di Sandrigo dal 10 dicembre 1942. Allontanata arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. In data 1 febbraio 1946 presente a Bari . * Capitano ex esercito jugoslavo, internato a Vestone di Brescia poi nell’Ospedale militare di Treviglio. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)] AZRIEL Olga, di Daniele, nata a Belgrado il 10.09.1906, coniugata con Davide Ascerovich. Di nazionalità croata. Allontanata arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)]. Nel 1945 risulta a Santa Maria al Bagno (LE) AZRIEL Solcika (Solscika) (Seleika) di Daniele e Ascerovitch Matilda, nata a Belgrado il 25.02.1905, coniugata con Mazliach Bukic. Di nazionalità croata. Allontanata arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)]

The research is undertaken in the framework of ECOSMeG project, supported by the “Europe for Citizens Programme - Action 4 - Decision no. 2012 - 3683 / 002 – 001”, European Commission

DE LEON Ascer, di Leon e di Kajon Lotti, nato a Belgrado il 12.05.1921. Di nazionalità croata. Internato nel luglio 1941 nel campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania). Giunto nel campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia il 27 ottobre 1941. Trasferito da Ferramonti il 12 aprile 1942 a Rosà. Internato nel comune di Sandrigo dal 3 luglio 1942. Allontanato arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)] DE LEON Elias, di Leon e di Kajon Lotti, nato a Belgrado l’01.01.1923. Di nazionalità croata. Internato nel luglio 1941 nel campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania). Giunto nel campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia il 27 ottobre 1941. Trasferito da Ferramonti il 12 aprile 1942 a Rosà. Internato nel comune di Sandrigo dal 3 luglio 1942. Allontanato arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)] DE LEON Gavrilo (Gabriele), di Leon e di Kajon Lotti, nato a Belgrado il 13.07.1928, studente. Di nazionalità croata. Internato nel luglio 1941 nel campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania). Trasferito dal campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia a Rosà il 5 ottobre 1941. Internato il 3 luglio 1942 a Sandrigo. Allontanato arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)]

ESKENASI Venezia, di Maurizio (Daniele) e di Almuli Elena, nata a Vienna il 24.03.1884, casalinga. Di nazionalità croata. Internata nel luglio 1941 nel campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania). Trasferita dal campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia nel comune di Sandrigo dal 10 dicembre 1942. Allontanata arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)] KAJON Lotti, di Elias e di Levi Flora, nata a Sarajevo il 05.05.1893 (05.06.1893) coniugata De Leon, casalinga. Di nazionalità croata. Internata nel luglio 1941 nel campo di concentramento di Kavaje (Albania). Trasferita dal campo di concentramento di Ferramonti di Tarsia a Rosà il 5 ottobre 1941. Internata il 3 luglio 1942 a Sandrigo. Allontanata arbitrariamente dal comune di internamento il 10 settembre 1943. [Fonte: Cr; Fp1 e Fp1 (Sandrigo, corrispondenza generale)]

The research is undertaken in the framework of ECOSMeG project, supported by the “Europe for Citizens Programme - Action 4 - Decision no. 2012 - 3683 / 002 – 001”, European Commission

60 2. Kumanovo steamer

Source: Dejan Jovanovic, http://www.hajoregiszter.hu

The research is undertaken in the framework of ECOSMeG project, supported by the “Europe for Citizens Programme - Action 4 - Decision no. 2012 - 3683 / 002 – 001”, European Commission