When
Muslims
Saved Jews
It is written in the Qur’an, “Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.”
It is written in the Talmud, “If you save one life, it is as if you have saved the
world.” And there was a time not so long ago when, once again – the Spanish
Inquisition being another – Muslims came to the aid of Jews during their
darkest hour. Somaiya Khan-Piachaud recounts this incredible story.
Portraits by Norman H. Gershman
January marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of sible to accept that there was one country in Europe that saw
Auschwitz. January also marks the Holocaust Memorial Day. its Jewish population grow. But that is exactly what happened
The horrors of the Holocaust stole the lives of millions of inno- in Albania and Kosovo - Jews were safe there. Muslims ignored
cent people. The historian Robert Satloff has written that, “the the grave risks to themselves and sheltered not only their Jewish
Germans employed the most scientifically advanced means of the neighbours, but also thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi
day in the most culturally advanced society in the world to kill terror. “During the Nazi occupation of Albania,” states Johanna
the greatest number of people as quickly and efficiently as pos- Neumann of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, “there is
sible.” Yet there were notable exceptions – the German Schindler not one confirmed instance of a Jew being handed over to the
being one. Less notable were the Muslims in Europe and North Nazis by a Muslim Albanian.” By contrast, in Macedonia, just 170
Africa that saved the lives of Jews in the Second World War. miles from the Albanian capital, the oldest Jewish community in
Agim Sinani’s parents hid a Jewish family in their home. mainland Europe was exterminated.
They sheltered Fritz and Katherine, and their daughter Gertrude The Albanian government actively defied Nazi rule. In 1938
during a time of intense conflict. When German patrols came King Zog, the first and only Muslim King of Europe, issued four
too close to their hideout, Agim’s parents would move the fam- hundred passports to refugee Jews, granting them safe entry
ily back and forth between various houses. Miraculously, the into Albania. After learning of the Nazi campaign elsewhere in
family survived the Nazi occupation and came to England, after Europe, the Mayor of Tirane issued documents to Jewish fam-
which all contact was lost. ilies, protecting them by stating they were Muslims. When the
During that time of systematic persecution, it is nearly impos- Germans occupied Albania and demanded lists of Jews from the
32 emel magazine |
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