Friday, April 26, 1985 ,
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THE - DETROIT -JEWISH -NEWS
PURELY COMMENTARY
AC
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
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Albania: Recolleetions Stirred By Current -ipv
Changing
Of The Guard
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L
s
Current changes in the dictatorial
rule over Albania stir recollections about
its Jewish community and especially about
an American personality who served as
U.S. envoy (the ambassadorial post) to Al-
bania.
Even the reminder of the career of
Herman Bernstein is sufficient to provide
fascination in recapitulation of notable
events prior to World War II. The Albanian
story is in itself impressive.
Jewish interest in Albania dates back
to the 11th Century, in the descriptions of
the country and its then small Jewish
community by the famous traveler Benja-
min of Tudela.
Also noteworthy is the historic inci-
dent about the False Messiah Shabbatai
Zevi, who was exiled to Albania by the
Grand Vizier of Turkey at the request of
the Jews of Constantinople. With his wife
and a group of his followers, Shabbatai
Zevi lived there from 1670 to 1675, when
he died. The community founded by the
Shabbatai followers existed in Albania for
some 40 years.
In the interest of tracing as much as
possible of the Albanian Jewish record, the
story about it and its Jewish community in
the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, writ-
ten by Jacob Magnes, has significance.
That article concludes:
Ali, the pasha of Janina, held
sway in southern Albania at the
end of the 18th and the beginning
of the 19th Centuries. In order to
satisfy his greed, the Albanian
Jews had to suffer the loss of their
possessions.
In 1938 there were only about
100 Jews in the kingdom, 60 of
them living in the city of Valona
(Avlon). There is no discrimination
against them. The Jews of Janina,
in Greece, possess an old scroll of
the Torah, formerly belonging to
the Jews of Valona. The inscrip-
tion on the crown of the scroll indi-
cates that the Jewish community
of Valona flourished as early as 500
years ago. Although the Jews of
Valona have asked that the scroll
be returned to them and promised
to build a new synagogue in Janina
in exchange, the Jews of that city
refuse to accept the offer, claiming
that the scroll has become precious
to them.
A prominent Jew of Valona,
Joseph Mattatia, is a member of
the municipal council. As there is
no organized community life in the
city, the Jews meet in his house for
prayers on the Jewish holidays.
Strange Bedfellows
A three-day Arab League conference
in Washington had a very intriguing
array of participants. They included
Bruno Kreisky, Lord Caradon, Rev.
Jesse Jackson and Vanessa Redgrave.
Each, in his and her time, left a mark of
prejudice-inspiring propagandism that
added to the obstacles to amicable ac-
cords between the nations of the Middle
East.
In every instance such bedfellowisms
are deplorable. Kreisky keeps causing
dismay, because he is Jewish and of a
political heritage from the Hitler era,
and because members of his family are
in Israel as survivors of Hitlerism. Cara-
don and Redgrave left venomous traits
that have aggravated their British com-
patriots.
Yet, one must accept experiences in
their realism: such bedfellowism is not
new to human relationships.
7.4
English section was a truly scholarly crea-
tion.
Later he, was editor of the American
Hebrew and subsequently of the Jewish
Tribune, both now long defunct.
Additionally noteworthy about Her-
man Bernstein was his libel suit against
Henry Ford as a result of the anti-Semitic
articles in the Dearborn Independent in
which Bernstein was maligned. He re-
ceived a personal apology from Ford and a
retraction of the articles.
It is with a reminder of the Herman
Bernstein career that the Albanian story
assumes special significance.
Like so many other vanishing Jewish
communities, the Albanian merits re-
membering.
•
Herman Bernstein.
The dialect spoken by the Al-
banian Jews is Greek with a
generous dash of Latin and Tur-
kish. Even the Spanish Jews who
found a refuge in Albania have
adopted this vernacular.
Those parts of the former
larger Albania which contained
the bulk of the Jewish population,
such as the cities of Janina, Kas-
toria and Monastir, were awarded
to Greece or Yugoslavia after the
Balkan wars.
Under the administration of
Herbert Hoover, an American
Jew, Herman Bernstein, served as
American Minister to Albania.
In February 1939, about 100
Jewish refugee families, coming
from Vienna, were given permis-
sion to settle permanently in Al-
bania, 60 families at Tirana, and
about 40 in Durazzo. Ninety-five
other German Jewish refugees ar-
rived in Tirana in March.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia
article does not reach the current status.
The Albanian story, like all else in
encyclopedic Jewish studies, continues in
the Encyclopedia Judaica. In a portion of
the article in the latter, under the sub-
heading "The Modern Period," what could
be judged as the current condition states:
In 1969 there were about 200
Jews in Tirana, mostly Sephardim.
There were also some Jews in
Scutari and Valona. They had no
communal organization, no rabbis,
and no Jewish educational
facilities. There appears to have
been no discrimination or pers'ecu-
tion since the end of World War II.
There are no contacts presently with
whatever may remain of Albanian Jewry.
As indicated in the last quotation, there
are no anti-Semitic prejudices and the out-
lawing of religion by the dictatorship as
well as the totality of that country's Mar-
xism wipes out any mention of Jews or
other ethnic or religious groups.
The recollection about Herman Berns-
tein is of the utmost interest. He was one of
the most noted American foreign corre-
spondents who represented in various
periods the New York Times and the New
York Herald, and wrote extensively in
Yiddish as well as in Russian.
He became world famous as the un-
coverer of the Willy-Nicky Paper, consist-
ing of 65 intimate and secret telegrams
exchanged by Kaiser Wilhelm II and Czar
Nicholas II during the years 1904, 1905
and 1907. He made his discovery as corre-
spondent for the N.Y. Herald when he vis-
ited Europe to study Jewish conditions in
war-stricken areas.
Herman Bernstein was the founder of
the Yiddish daily Der Tog (The Day). He
was editor from 1913 to 1916 and its
Jewish Rescue
Appeal In Confusion
Over U.S. Policies
Jews in the Arab-ruled countries and
amidst Islam have been isolated in recent
years. Little is known about the status or
fate of Iranian Jewry. Lebanese Jews had
not been heard from except when there was
evidence of a bit of persecuting.
There is still almost total silence from
the Lebanese Jewish community which
had numbered more than 80,000 less than
a quarter-of-a-century ago and had been
reduced to less than half in recent years.
Now there is a minimal contact with
the few Lebanese Jews. It comes in the
form of an outcry for help. "Help us," is the
resounding call from Beirut and environs.
Another of the tragic reports to which
Jewry refuses to become reconciled,
bylined Joseph Finkeistone in the London
Jewish Chronicle, reveals that word comes
at last from the insecure Jews in Beirut.
When the five leaders of the community
were kidnapped earlier this month, the
dramatic appeal for help was sent to the
Jewries of the United States, France,
Great Britain, Canada and other free
communities of the world. The' appeal
stated:
"We call upon all the - Jewish corn-
.
munities to give us their moral support.
Try to arouse the conscience of the world to
our plight! Please launch big campaigns to
save us! We are in a desperate situation."
Lebanese Jewry was affluent in what
had been one of the most progressive bank-
ing and commercial centers in the world.
The London Jewish Chronicle April 12
report calls attention to these developing
factors in the tragic Lebanese situation:
About 25 of the 100 Jews who
were living in West Beirut, the Mos-
lem section of the divided capital,
escaped to East Beirut, which is
controlled by the Christians and
where they expect to receive some
protection from attack.
The temporary new leaders of
the Beirut Jewish community held
an emergency meeting with
President Amin Gemayel last
week, and appealed to him to make
increased efforts to find the five
kidnapped Jews. The President
greeted the Jews warmly, address-
ing them as "our friends."
President Gemayel's father,
Pierre, the founder of the Phalan-
gist Christian militia in Lebanon,
was noted for his friendship for
Lebanese Jews.
This point was mentioned dur-
ing the meeting, but the President,
while promising to intensify the
search for the kidnapped men,
could throw no light on their
whereabouts, or on the identity of
the kidnappers, who have not yet
made any demands.
Leaders of Amal, the main
Shiite Moslem militia, which has
been involved in attacks on Israeli
troops in Lebanon, have con-
demned the kidnapping of the
Jews, stressing that they were not
enemies of the Moslems.
Amal promised to search for
the missing Jews, but so far with •
out any success .. .
When the fighting (in Lebanon)
broke out, many (Jews) left for Is-
Continued on Page 22
Religious News Service
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The vacant synagogue in Beirut's Wadi Abu Jamil section.