Albaniens Londonambassadör: "The history of Albanian – Hebrew relations goes back to the Roman times"

Bild ur Norman H. Gershams bok Besa, professor Kotani
som är ordförande för Albansk-Israeliska vänskapsförbundet

Albaniens Londonambassadör, Mal Berisha, har skrivit en mycket intressant artikel om albanernas relation med judarna, historiskt och nutida. Han går förstås tillbaka till Besa-begreppet som jag skrivit om vid flera tillfällen här i bloggen. Hans artikel börjar med ett konstaterande som få folk och nationer kan stoltsera med:

"There has never been a pogrom, crime, offense, persecution performed by Albanians as a native population in their country against the Jews in more than two thousand years since the first Jewish settlement is recorded in the country."

Liksom Norman H. Gersham konstaterade i sin stora fotobok Besa, påpekar Berisha att begreppet (som hederskod både i det egna folket och i relation till gäster, privata eller nationella) hade mycket bestämda och uttalade syften:

"The Kanun is a very old code among the Albanian society. According to this Code Kanun explains: 'The house of an Albanian belongs to God and to the guest'. Every hour of the day and night, a man must be ready to receive a guest with bread, salt, and an open heart. He must offer him a bed, a pillow and a worm hearth. To the delight of the Jewish refugees seeking shelter among Albanians – many of whom were Muslims – from the Nazi killing machine. 'Guest' meant guests in the country as well guest in the house. Every Albanian can see himself as a good man when he is addressed as a man of honour. 'A man must defend his guest’s honour even if he endangers his own life in doing so.'"

Berisha berättar sedan om några konkreta familjer från tiden för den nazistiska ockupationen av Albanien. Här ett exempel:

"Sulo Mecaj was a farmer in Kruja and lived with his wife and son in a small house he built with his father. In 1943 he opened his house to ten Jews, members of the Battino family. When Sulo received a message that the Germans were going to his house looking for Jews, he told the Jews that when he gives a signal, they should go to the space that he had prepared for them in the attic. Panic surfaced and Sulo tried to reassure the Jews that it was unlikely they would be discovered. One Jew asked, what would happen if the Germans will set the house on fire. To reassure them, Sulo asked his only son to go to the attic with them and suffer their fate if the house is set on fire. Sulo had no choice. It was a matter of honour."

Vi vet alla hur den europeiska judenheten decimerades av förintelsen. I Albanien kunde man efter kriget istället konstatera att landets judiska minoritet hade vuxit från 1.000 till 3.000 individer, tack vare att man för det första räddat landets alla judar, och för det andra tagit emot de manga judiska flyktingarna som kommit dit:

"It is estimated that in the beginning of 1930, Albania had about 1000 Jews. In 1945 this number was about 3000. The Jewish population increased in Albania three times while in Europe it was reduced in millions.."

När jag läser artikeln kommer jag att tänka på att jag en gång i tiden, för ett halvt liv sedan ganska exakt, sa till mig själv, att det knappast varit en tillfällighet att jag intresserat mig för och studerat båda dessa folk. Liksom judarna har albanerna under århundradena tvingats i exil, gång på gång. De är ett litet folk som ständigt ifrågasatts och fortfarande ifrågasätts. Men de har bevarat sin nationella kultur, sitt språk, sin stolthet. Precis som judarna.