History of the Jews in Albania

rdf:langString History of the Jews in Albania

rdf:langString The history of the Jews in Albania dates back about 2,000 years.According to historian Apostol Kotani (Albania and the Jews): "Jews may have first arrived in Albania as early as 70 C.E. as captives on Roman ships that washed up on the country's southern shores...descendants of these captives that would build the first synagogue in the southern port city of Sarandë in the fifth century...[but] Little is known about the Jewish community in the area until the 15th century." In the early 16th century, there were Jewish settlements in most of major cities of Albania such as Berat, Elbasan, Vlorë, Durrës and also they are reported as well in Kosovo region. These Jewish families were mainly of Sephardic origin and descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews expelled from Iberia in the end of 15th century CE. Present-day Albanian Jews, predominantly of Romaniote and Sephardi origin, have in modern times only constituted a very small percentage of the population. During the Italian and German occupations of Albania which coincided with World War II, Albania was the only country in Nazi-occupied Europe which saw an increase in its Jewish population, because Albanian Jews were not turned over to the Germans thanks to an Albanian set of laws which is known as the Besa from the Kanun. During the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha which was named the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, all religions were banned in the country from February 1967 to 1990, including Judaism, in adherence to the doctrine of state atheism, and all foreign influences were also restricted. In the post-communist era, these policies have been abandoned and freedom of religion is permitted, although the number of practicing Jews in Albania is very small today, with many Jews having made aliyah to Israel.