Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al/publikon some unknown archival documents extracted from the Central State Archive in Tirana, which show the decision taken by the royal government of the Zog Monarchy headed by Prime Minister Koço Kota in February 1939, on issuing tourist visas to Israelis living in different European countries, who sought to come to Albania.
Correspondence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, headed by Minister Ekrem bej Libohova, with some of the consulates of the Kingdom of Albania accredited in various European countries, such as Berlin, Zagreb, Belgrade, etc., headed by well-known diplomats , Rauf Fico, Tahir Shtylla, etc., regarding the circular issued by the cabinet of Koço Kota, for the facilities that should have been created for the Israelis who wanted to come to Albania and not to return to Germany, as they were immediately interned in the Dachau camps. Buchenwaldit.
The correspondence of the Albanian consulate in Vienna, in 1938 for the well-known albanologist of Jewish origin, Prof. Dr. Norbert Jokli, regarding the etymological dictionary that the Albanian government had assigned to him, the payments that would be made to him for the work he had done, up to the granting of Albanian citizenship and the provision of a passport, so that he could come to Albania , taking with him his library that he would need to work.
In the Balkan Forum against Anti-Semitism, which was held a few days ago in Tirana by the Albanian Parliament, but also in various activities of this nature, such as that of January 27, known as “Holocaust Remembrance Day”, it is noted with pride that “The Albanian people protected and sheltered the Jews during the Second World War”!
That being said, unfortunately is only half the truth! We say this because the Jews in Albania were not only protected and sheltered during the Second World War, but also during the period of the Zog Monarchy, mainly from November 1938 (November 9 and 10, otherwise known as ” “Crystal Nights” or “Nights of Broken Glass”) when in some of the main cities of Nazi Germany as well as Austria, the first attacks on Jews began by SS paramilitary formations, (extremist hooligans) who attacked, broke, looted and destroyed hundreds of Jewish homes, businesses, and businesses.
As a result of this pogrom, about 100 Jews were left dead and thousands more ended up in concentration camps in Dachahu and Buchenwald. This, the “Crystal Nights”, would also mark the de facto painful beginning of the Holocaust that would take the lives of more than 6 million Jews as well as Russians, Poles, and other non-Jewish ethnicities (whose mids and Albanians), in Nazi extermination camps in Europe.
After the ’90s, many documents have been made public, where ministers, prime ministers and other senior officials of the Zog Monarchy, such as: Mehdi Frashëri, Koço Kota, Vasil Avrami, Yzedin Beshiri, Rauf Fico, Tahir Shtylla, but also in period of occupation (1939,1944) as Qazim Mulleti, Kol Bib Mirakaj, Shefqet Vërlaci, Mustafa Kruja etc., were provided with visas and passports, with dozens and dozens of Jews, bringing them to Albania, where they later found refuge and protection from Albanian families. As above, among other things, this is confirmed and made known by some archival documents issued by the Central State Archive and published for the first time in this article, exclusively by Memorie.al.
Continued from the previous issue
Letter from the Albanian Consul in Vienna, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, Ekrem Libohova
THE ROYAL CONSULATE OF ALBANIA IS COMING
Coming on 17 August 1939
MINISTRY OF P. FOREIGN
Nr. Prot VIII 51
Arrived on 30.1.1939
No. 29 III (Reserve)
Abbreviation: A copy of the res act is sent. No. 335 – 1, 16
– 1 – 1939 on Prof. Jokl.
His Excellency Mr. Ekrem Libohova
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In Tirana
Following my report res.nr. 18 III dt 12.10.1938. I have the honor to send you here the sticker for information the copy of the act res.nr. 335 – I dt. 16 that I transmitted yesterday to the Ministry of Education on the important issue of the local albanologist Prof. Dr. Nobert Jokl.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Consul
(Firms)
Letter from the Albanian Consul in Vienna, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, Ekrem Libohova
No. 335 – 1
reserves
His Excellency Mr. Abdurrahman Dibra Royal Minister of Education, in Tirana
I have the honor to inform you that on the 16th of this month I communicated orally to Prof. Dr. Nobert Joklit the content of the act in question and here closed I am sending you his answer.
On this letter, please be interested in being given some explanations, especially on the task that will be assigned to him. He first wants to complete the etymological dictionary he started 10 years ago. And as it is known in August 1929 he received from that honest minister a reward of 5000 Fr. Sv. for committing this offense. This amount is deposited in Landerbank here. It is available to this Ministry, but since it belongs to Mr. Jokli, it can not be used for anything other than to buy books and school materials.
The professor in question, like the Israeli who he is, predicts that he will be severely hindered by the local circles, in case of his relocation from Vienna to Albania, both for himself and for the library. Therefore, in order to escape as soon as possible from the hell here, and to come to Tirana in a hurry, I propose that he be given Albanian citizenship and swear from here in this office. As the Civil Code states, because if he becomes an Albanian citizen, the local authorities do not cause him any problems. And in this case he will be able to more easily get the library, without which he can not work.
Another important point is the setting of his pension here in Swiss francs and not in German marks, as this currency is stabilizing. We ask that these be completed as soon as possible as Proff Nobert Jokli is concerned. Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Consul
(Firms)
Letter from the Albanian Consul in Vienna, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana
ALBANIAN ROYAL CONSULATE, COME
Vienna on 14 August 1939
(I Plankengasse 3)
Nr. 120 / II
01/18/1939.
Abbreviation: An article from the Hungarian notebook “Uj Magyarsag” on Albania is sent.
Hones Royal Minister of Foreign Affairs
In Tirana
We have the honor to announce that our friends in Budapest, sent us these days, the coupon of the Hungarian notebook “Water Magyarsag” on the 8th of this month, which contains an important article on the possibility of integration of Hungarian Jews in Albania, and as It seems that a relevant commission has been set up for our country. It is not believed that our Consulate General in Budapest has anything to do with this issue.
However, given the importance of this article, measures must be taken in time to send Jews to Albania. For regulation, we are referring that the notebook in question is also a nationalist body and a government newspaper. For the meaning of this article we are closing here, inside along with the original, and its translation into German.
With special honors
Consul
(Firms)
