Full Description
1939. War looms on the horizon. Many German Jews were looking for refuge
from the desperate situation at home. While the rest of Europe turned its
back, Albania offered unconditional asylum. King Zog announced that all
Jews residing in Albania could obtain citizenship. The next day fascist troops
invaded, sending the king into exile and putting the Jews in jeopardy. In
response Albanian families, most of them Muslim, gave their sacred oath, the
ancient besa, to protect the refugees. In 2002, Norman Gershman journeyed
to Albania to photograph Jews and the families who rescued them. There
he met Rexhep Hoxha, the son of a pastry chef who had hidden a family of
Bulgarian Jews, the Abadjens, in his home. The refugees had been forced to
leave behind their sacred prayer books, and Hoxha’s father pledged to keep
them till the Abadjens could someday return to Albania. Bringing the circle to
a close, Gershman takes Hoxha to Israel, allowing him to fulfill the 66-year-old
promise to the Jewish family he sheltered. Besa: The Promise is a powerful
look at a historic example of basic human solidarity.
