This document discusses the story of Albanian Muslims who saved Jews during World War II. It provides several examples of Albanian Muslim families who risked their lives to shelter and protect Jews, motivated by their cultural code of besa which demands responsibility for others in need. The document then provides historical context on the Balkan states in the 19th-20th centuries, including the emergence of Albania as an independent state. It argues that the Albanian Muslims and Jews formed deep bonds of communitas during this time due to the Muslims' commitment to protecting Jews according to their cultural traditions.

1. Ethan Todd
Dr. Phil Dorroll
Religion 480B
11 May 2014
Besa: the untold story of the Albanian Communitias during WWII
Aitizaz Hasan is widely regarded as nothing but a one-day news story. Unlike most
stories on CNN, however, he was a fifteen-year old Pakistani schoolboy who sacrificed his life to
prevent a suicide bomber from killing “2,000 students in the school.”1 Despite Hasan’s bravery,
his Islamic faith prevented him from receiving praise and admiration for his courageous acts in
today’s public sphere.
During the turbulent time of World War II, there are also many tales of bravery that have
gone unnoticed and uncelebrated due to the religious faith of the sixty-five Albanian Muslims
who saved over 2,000 Jewish lives during the war. According to Delina C. Hanley’s “Muslims
who saved Jews in WWII,” there have been several exhibits throughout the United States since
2008 telling the stories and revealing pictures of the Albanian rescuers2; however, I have never
been introduced to these profound testimonies until 2014.
In this paper, I will argue that the Albanian Muslims formed an existential communitas
with the Jews that they saved during WWII. First, I provide a short description of besa and
summary of the testimonies of Albanian Muslims who saved Jews during WWII. Second, I
1 "Saving Lives: A Teenager's Sacrifice for Hundreds of Mothers." The Express Tribune. N.p., 9
Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://tribune.com.pk/story/656766/saving-lives-a-
teenagers-sacrifice-for-hundreds-of-mothers/>.
2 Hanley, Delinda C. "Muslims Who Saved Jews In WWII." Washington Report On Middle East
Affairs 27.8 (2008): 53. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

2. position the Albanian Muslims in the history of the Balkan States and the emergence of the new
independent state of Albania in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Third, I introduce Victor
Turner’s Rites of Passage and briefly describe the liminality stage and communitas. Fourth, I
discuss how Turner’s theory applies to the communitas of the Albanian Muslims and the Jews
that they protect. Finally, I conclude my argument and express my own admiration for the
Albanian Muslims and the hope they provide us today.
1. The Testimonies of Albanian Muslims who saved Jews during WWII
In Besa: Muslims who saved Jews during WWII, Norman H. Gershman documents the
Muslims of Albania who sheltered and protected Jews during the Holocaust. Throughout WWII,
sixty-five Albanian Muslims saved at least 2,000 Jewish lives, not allowing a single Jew to die in
Albania. But why would Muslims willingly risk their lives for another faith community during
the darkest human evil of the twentieth century? Albanian Muslims were committed to the moral
code of besa, It is a code of honor deeply rooted in Albanian culture and integrated in the faith of
Albania Muslims; however, besa does not originate from the Islamic faith, but from the Albanian
historical context of the ninetieth and twentieth centuries. In fact, besa is shared between
Albanian Catholics and Muslims, requiring a sacred devotion so permanent that taking no action
brings dishonor to one’s family, regardless of the religion being practiced. According to
Mordecai Paldiel, the former Director of the Department of the Righteous at Yad Vashem,
“when a person gives you his (or her) besa to act in a certain way, then he (or she) is committed
to abide by it whatever the circumstances.”3 Thus, besa demands that Albanians take
responsibility for the lives of others in their time of need.
3 Gershman, Norman H. Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II. Syracuse, NY:
Syracuse UP, 2008. Print, xiii.

3. The Albanian Muslims protected not only the Jews of their homeland but also Jews
fleeing the Nazis from the surrounding Great Powers and Balkan states. Testimonies from the
Albanian Muslims include:
 The family of Destan and Lime Bella did not even own a dining table for their own
meals, but insisted on living out besa and providing meals and protection for the Lazar
brothers.
 King Zog of Albania issued four hundred passports to Jews, including the Oestereicher
family, the Jewish jewelers who designed the Zog family crown jewel. As Zog was
dealing with territorial conflicts with Italy and Germany in 1939, he managed to return
his crown jewel to its maker to help the Oestereicher family escape and survive in
London.
 The family of Njazi and Liza Pilku sheltered a Jewish family in their home in Durres,
hiding them for four years between there and their seaside home. Since Ms. Pilku was
German, the Nazis visited the Pilku family often. They were forced to introduce the
Jewish family as their relatives from Germany, which the Nazis believed and left the
home.
 The family of Njazi Mefail Bicku and his son Njazi led “twenty-six terrified Jews out of
Tirana. They traveled twelve hours on horseback to the village of Qarrishta” (Gershman
10). The Jews remained in hiding in a barn outside of the village for two and a half years.
During this time, the Bicku family provided food and protection until they led the Jewish
group to Yugoslavia to depart to Argentina, Italy, Israel, etc.
 The family of Hysen Marika, a well-known dairy in Tirana, met several Jewish families
on his milk routes and brought them back to his home. On one occasion, the Albanian
police seized a briefcase belonging to a Jewish family hiding in his home. “Hysen went to
police headquarters and demanded the return of the briefcase, because it is protected
under his besa. The police honored his besa and returned the briefcase unopened”
(Gershman 12).
 The family of Islam Proseku protected three Jewish men for one year. Islam worked at
Radio Tirana and saved the archives and recordings of his “brothers” (Gershman 16). His
grandson is now an evangelical Christian.
 The family of Halil Frasheri sheltered fourteen members of three Jewish families who
were hiding on the streets of Berat fleeing the Nazis. For eighteen months the four
families lived as brothers and sisters, participating in both Muslim and Jewish
celebrations. The Frasheri family lived with the tradition of besa, because they “would
sooner have [their] son killed than break besa” (Gershman 20).
 The family of Ismail Gjata owned a children’s clothing store in Fier. After taking in the
Jewish family of Nesim Bahar in 1942, the Gjata’s allowed the family to first work in the
store and later even gave the ownership of the store to the Bahar family. The Gjata’s
represented the greater calling to take care of one another.

4.  The wealthy family of Lilo Xhimitiku and the poor family of Tagi Simsia shared
fellowship with each other and the three Jews that they promised to protect.
 The family of Nuro Hoxha sheltered four Jewish families. Nuro said to his Jewish
friends: “Now we are one family. You won’t suffer any evil. My sons and I will defend
you against peril at the cost of our lives” (62). Besa compelled the Hoxha family to
extend their protection to the Jews against the dark human evil of the Nazi regime.
 The family of Rifat Hoxha rescued a Jewish family from Bulgaria and brought them to
their home. The family had their own room and was treated as special guests. Before the
family journeyed to Palestine for safety, the father gave Mr. Hoxha “three beautifully
bound books in Hebrew to keep until he could retrieve them after the war” (Gershman
68). The Hoxha family still holds the Hebrew books and keeps the honor and
responsibility of besa until the family returns.
 The family of Xhevat and Aferdita Gjergjani sheltered a Jewish family in their Berat
home for 6 months. Aferdita Gjergjani did not have enough milk to feed her baby boy, so
the Jewish mother was able to nurse him along with her daughter. “It is an Albanian
tradition that when the same woman feeds two babies they become brother and sister”
(Gershman 72). Thus, the Musilm and Jewish families became one.
 Ali Sheqer Pashkaj owned a general store that was visited by a German transport with
nineteen Albanian prisoners, and one Jew who was to be shot. Pashkaj showered the Nazi
soldiers with wine until they became drunk. Simultaneously, he gave the Jew a hidden
note that led him to a designed place in the woods. Pashkaj retrieved the man from the
forest and sheltered him for two years until the war was over. Pashkaj lived out his besa
and the Muslim belief “that to save one life is to enter paradise4” (Gershman 94).
2. The historical context of the Balkan States, specifically Albania, in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries
In order to understand the Albanian Muslims’ commitment to besa throughout World
War II, we must first examine the historical context of the Balkan states in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. During the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire retreated from
the Balkans and left Orthodox Christian and Muslim communities in the “new successor states of
southeast Europe” after its demise in the early part of the twentieth century.5 Excluding Albania,
where the Muslims formed the superiority of the population, they became minorities within the
4 This is somehow connected to Quran 5:32; this demonstrates how the Muslim ideals are at least
connected to besa; in the minds of Albanian Muslims, besa is not only a nationalistic ethic, but
also influenced by their Islamic faith.
5 Poulton, Hugh. “The Muslim Experience in the Balkan States, 1919-1991.” Nationalities
Papers 28, no. 1 (2000), 45.

5. new states. Tension between Orthodox Christian rulers and the Muslim minority populations,
along with “the Balkan states’ conflicting aspirations for national expansion” led to the Bulkan
wars.6
But before I can describe these national wars, let us look at the historical context of the
Balkans that the Ottoman Empire created. The arrival of Islam in the Balkans through the
Ottoman conquest in the fifteenth century brought large numbers of Turkish-speaking Muslims
from Anatolia, allowing the introduction of Islamic populations into the region, both through the
migration of administration and military elites. In addition, local communities converted to
Islam, including: the Albanians, Pomaks of the Rhodope Mountains, and Serbo-Croat-speaking
Slavs in Bosnia-Herecgovina and the Sandzak mountains. On the other hand, the Ottomans
remained tolerant to the Christian and Jewish communities. They used the millet system to
organize non-Muslim communities and give each minority religious group a limited amount of
power to regulate their own affairs under the overall supremacy of the Ottoman administration.
The millet system proved to be an “ideal tool for assimilating different Orthodox people into a
single national body”7; however, this initial pattern of mixed urban populations would pose a
problem that each of the ethnically self-conscious Balkan states would have to face in the
nineteenth century.
In the context of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, the majority of the population knew
the community to be the village inhabitants that they personally interacted and formed
relationships with, “while the ‘imagined’ one was the religious community as per the millet
6 Hupchick, Dennis P. The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism. New York, NY:
Palgrave MacMillan (2002), 296.
7 Poulton, 47.

6. system.”8 As a result, the Balkan states were divided by religion and the combination of Turkish,
Arabic, and Persian languages which restricted the cultural autonomy of the Ottoman Empire.
Nationalism spread to wider circles in Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria and political activity aimed
at the creation of national states began, which was aided by the fact that the Ottoman Empire was
becoming weaker.
The emergence of four Balkan states (Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro) from
the Congress of Berlin in 1878 with complete or nearly complete political independence from the
Ottoman Empire signifies the start of the Ottoman Turks’ loss of power. It should also be noted
that the Albanians, whose “use of language rather than religion as the basis for Albanian national
identity,” fought for an independent state at the Berlin settlement, but were ultimately denied the
territory.9 After the settlement, the Ottoman Empire entered a period of repression under
Abulhamid II. Although the Ottomans had adopted a constitution and established a parliament in
1876, he preferred to rule with “unimpeded authority.”10He increased his authoritarian
tendencies after the territorial losses from Berlin, preventing the Ottomans the implementation of
true reform; thus, this “evident Ottoman weakness increased the Balkan peoples’ appetites for
the realization of their nationalist agendas” and forced the Ottoman Empire to play the Balkan
nationalists off against each other in order to regain their authoritarian power.11
The triumph of nationalism was partly due to the efforts of the Balkan peoples
themselves, who had fought against the Ottoman rule through their uprisings and resistance; but
their efforts were limited until Europe’s Great Powers intervened in their favor. The Great
8 Ibid, 50.
9 Hall, Richard C. The Modern Balkans: A History. London, UK: Reaktion Books Ltd (2011),
64.
10 Ibid, 71.
11 Ibid.

7. Power’s supported the Balkan States’ nationalist aspirations and understood that the “sense of
mission in Balkan politics was driven by the dream of territorial expansion.”12 Because of their
support, the Balkan states looked to the Great Power’s for approval in their internal affairs. In
addition, the Great Power’s “hastily convened policy meetings with one another in a flurried
attempt to reshuffle the balance of power in the Balkans should the Ottoman state completely
disintegrate amid conflicting nationalisms.”13 In 1912, the Ottoman Empire remained unable to
govern and deal with the rising ethnic nationalism of its diverse regions. Meanwhile, the Great
Powers quarreled among themselves and failed to assure the Balkan states that the Ottoman
rulers would carry out the needed reforms. Therefore, the four Balkan states formed the Balkan
League and declared war on the Ottoman Empire in October 1912.
After the Treaty of London ended the First Balkan War of 1912, the Ottoman Empire’s
“power in Europe vanished in a matter of weeks” while Greece and Serbia acquired large
territories, Bulgaria and Montenegro also were victors.14 Even a group of Albanians from Vlore
gained land to be recognized as an independent Albanian state. In spite of the victory for the
Balkan League, Bulgaria and Greece “never reached any agreement for the disposition of
conquered Ottoman territories and soon feel to skirmishing over northern Macedonia.”15As the
Greeks and Serbs finalized an alliance against Bulgaria, Bulgarian troops started the Second
Balkan war by attacking Serbia’s positions in southeastern Macedonia.
During the course of the Second Balkan War, the Serbian and Greek armies held back the
Bulgarian troops while Romania and the Ottoman Empire also attacked Bulgaria to regain
12 Mazower, Mark. The Balkans: A Short History. New York: Modern Library, 2000. Print, 96.
13 Hupchick, 310.
14 Mazower, 105.
15 Hall, 77.

8. territory. In the resulting Treaty of Bucharest in August 1913, Bulgaria lost most of the territories
gained in the First Balkan War and the Ottoman army was forced to reorganize itself with
“Western advice and was led by Polish and Hungarian émigrés as well as British, American, and
German soldiers of fortune.”16 Thus, the Ottoman Empire used its last resources to support
Germany in World War I, which ultimately was the end of the Balkan liberation struggles with
the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire before its remaining territory became present-day
Turkey in 1923.
Before I begin to summarize the history of Albania in the late nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, it should be well documented that Albanian Muslim Highlanders, Greek Orthodox
Christians, and Catholic Christians lived in close proximity and allowed shared customary law to
regulate their everyday activities. Unlike the other Balkan states, the Albanians speak one
common language. According to the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, “Albanian is the only
extant representative of a distinct branch of Indo-European, whose pre-Roman Balkan ancestry is
uncertain.”17; thus, the Albanian language unites its people to each other and creates a
nationalistic community. Albanian culture is not based upon religion, but upon unity and loyalty
to each other. In fact, Dr. Tonin Gjuraj concludes in his paper, “The Inter-Religious Tolerance of
the Albanian Multi-Religious Society” that Albania is a “multi-religious society that includes
religious harmony.”18 Therefore, the common language and kinship system contribute to the
religious tolerant attitude of the Albanian people.
16 Mazower, 109.
17 "Albanian Language." In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Chicago: Encyclopaedia
Britannica, 2012. http://0-
search.credoreference.com.library.wofford.edu/content/entry/ebconcise/albanian_language/0
(accessed May 12, 2014.)
18 Gjuraj, 90.

9. To further pursue our discussion of the historical context of Albania, we must understand
that the Albanian people struggled to gain territorial authorization from the Great Powers and
other Balkan states in the late nineteenth century. In 1878, the Prizreni League promoted the
Albanian nation-state and established the modern Albanian alphabet, updating a language that
survived the centuries of Ottoman rule. During their initial stand for an independent state,
“Albanians from all different religions were assembled in order to defend the rights of the
Albanian nation,” which proves the arrival of Albania and its unified people.19 Following the end
of the First Balkan War, Albanians issued the Vlore Proclamation of November 28, 1912 and
declared independence. Like I briefly mentioned in my discussion of the Balkan states, the 1913
Treaty of Bucharest established that independent Albania was a country with about 28,000
square kilometers of territory and a population of 800,000.
However, Albania became a warzone for Serb, Montenegrin, Greek, Italian, Bulgarian,
and Austrian armed forces that ignored the multiple ultimatums to withdraw from their self-
claimed territory in Albania. During this time, Essad Pasha sought after becoming Albania’s first
ruler by proclaiming “himself the savior of Albania and the champion of Islam [and] announced
his intention to overthrow the provisional government, declaring that central Albania desired a
Muslim sovereign.”20 But unfortunately for Essad and the Muslim contingency, the Great Powers
named Prince William of Wied the first ruler of Albania in November 1913. Wied was
“completely unaware of the danger of his new position,” which was expected by those who both
selected him and planned to take over the new state of Albania. After accusations of being an
19 Ibid, 93.
20 Vickers, Miranda. The Albanians: A Modern History. Gordonsville; London: I. B. Tauris &
Company, Limited (2001), 81.

10. “anti-Muslim” and a traitor, Wied fled the country before the start of WWIl and never returned,
leaving the divided country without a leader.21 Following Wied’s departure, the Young Turks
and the majority of the Albanian people advocated for a Muslim ruler to lead them into a new
chapter of autonomy.
But contrary to the Albanian’s optimism towards their territory, there were several
treaties drafted during WWI that further encouraged Albania’s independence to be called into
question. The outbreak of the war “gave the neighboring countries an opportunity to seize what
land they could, amidst the confusion of rapidly mobilizing armies throughout the region.”22
Still, the Albanian resistance continued to fight for freedom, despite the surrounding Balkan
states claiming their right to the Albania territory. After the conclusion to World War I, Albania
was further confirmed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, when U.S. President Woodrow
Wilson dismissed a plan by the Great Powers to divide Albania among its neighbors. In fact,
Wilson commitment to the restoration and unification of Albanian’s territory caused the
Congress of Lushnje to reassert Albania as an independent state in 1920.
Furthermore, despite overcoming the initial post-WWI resistance to its territory, Albania
found itself in a struggle between “conservative landlords” such as Ahmed Zogu, a nephew of
Essad Pasha, and “Westernized-liberals” under Bishop Fan S. Noli.23 Zogu was the son of the
chief of the Muslim tribe of Mati, the largest and most influential tribe in Albania; thus, he came
from a line of “hereditary chieftains who governed a virtually independent principality” and
Zogu himself earned a reputation for being a confident leader during WWI. After the
21 Ibid, 85.
22 Ibid, 86.
23 “Albania.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.
http://0search.credorereference.com.library.wofford.edu/content/entry/columency/albania
/0 (accessed April 20, 2014).

11. government collapsed in April 1921, Bishop Noli started the democratic Popular Party to combat
the wealthy landowners of the conservative Progressive party. Interestingly enough, Zogu was
also initially a member of the Popular party; however, he quickly distanced himself from Noli
because Zogu “believed that Albania should first establish itself as a viable state before pursuing
ireedentism.”24 As a result, Zogu became Prime Minister in 1922 and started the Verlaci
government. He secured the support of the Catholic Christians, who controlled the most
prosperous and developed region in the country, in order to overcome the regional divisions that
hindered Albania’s unity before the war.
But after the death of Avni Rustemic, a prominent member of the Democratic Party, the
opposition to Zogu’s Verlaci government accused Zogu of “being unable to ensure the safety of
either Albanian or foreign citizens” and forced him out of the country.25 Zogu withdrew to
Yugoslavia to plan his return while Biship Noli gained power and led the emergence to
Albania’s Democratic government. He introduced “agrarian reforms, tried to minimize Italian
influence in Albania and made steps towards recognizing the Soviet regime.”26 But unfortunately
for Noli, Zogu returned and overthrew the Democratic government. While Noli abandoned his
political duties and returned to the United States, Zogu became president and declared Albania a
republic in 1925.
During his rule, Zogu aimed to achieve order among the regional divisions in Albania. He
successfully obtained the support of both Muslim and Catholic tribes, which brought unity to the
Albanian people. But unfortunately, since Yugosalvia did not provide the financial backing they
24 Vickers, 104.
25 Ibid, 110.
26 Noli, Fan S. Chambers Harrap, 2011.

12. promised Albania, Zogu was forced to look elsewhere for support and adopt a “policy of
cooperation” with Italy.27 This policy allowed Italy to maintain a political and territorial presence
in Albania in exchange for their economic influence. In 1928, Zogu saw an increased need for
financial support from Italy, especially since Albania no longer received any support from
Yugoslavia and Great Britain. He then shifted the government from a republic to a monarchy,
ensuring an increased authority for himself. He became Zog I, King of the Albanians and
mandated that there was no state religion in his Albania.
Throughout his reign as King of Albania from 1928-1939, Zog focused on his alliance
with Mussolini and restoration of Albania’s monarchy. At the same time, he became
apprehensive of his safety in the 1930’s and “lived in constant fear of assassination.”28
According to Miranda Vickers’ research in “Albanians: A Modern History,” Zog survived fifty-
five assassination attempts as he fought for the advancement of Albania’s financial situation. But
by the summer of 1937, towards the beginning of WWII, Italy’s control of Albania greatly
increased when they controlled every sector of the Albanian state. Zog refused to “accept money
in exchange for countenancing a full Italian takeover and colonization of Albania, and on April
7, 1939, Mussolini’s troops invaded Albania” to fight Zog’s resistance.29 Since Zog was
unwilling to conform to the Italian forces, he fled his country once again and never returned.
When King Zog was forced out of Albania, Mussolini finalized the personal union
between Albania and Italy under his cousin, King Victor Emmanuel III. As Italian colonists
settled in Albanian territory, the new ruler of Albania declared war on the Allies in 1940. Within
27 Vickers, 118.
28 Ibid, 131.
29 Zickel, Raymond E., Walter R. Iwaskiw, and Library of Congress. Federal Research Division.
Albania: A Country Study. Washington, D.C: The Division (1990), 32.

13. Albania, however, “there was considerable hostility towards the Italians,” which caused
communist resistance groups to fight in guerilla warfare against the occupying Axis armies.30 By
1943, Nazi occupation forced the remaining Italian forces into hiding. The Italians found
protection in Muslims homes under besa throughout Nazi Germany’s invasion of Albania in
1943 and 1944, which proves that besa is rooted in Albanian culture and more than the religious
bond of two Abrahamic faiths. Therefore, while Albanian Muslims were risking their lives for
Jewish families on besa, the country was in the midst of a civil war over the transition to a
communist provisional government and liberation from Axis invaders.
3. Introduction to Victor Turner’s The Ritual Process
In The Ritual Process, Victor Turner analyzes tribal rituals in order to conceptualize
society and provide his anthropological account of the liminality state the establishes the
communitas. He argues that liminal states are neither “here nor there” and separate the periods of
structure within culture31; therefore, within liminality, meaning is ambigious and characterized
by the lack of order. For example, in a rite of passage, children go from one state within culture
to a new state of adulthood. In between these states, they are neither children nor adults. They are
nothing at all and have no clear role or position within society until they emerge into the
aggregation state. Turner suggests that the children experiencing the liminal state come together
and develop a common agenda. Moreover, the deep connection that Turner describes transcends
itself into a “communion of equal individuals who submit together to the general authority of
30 Vickers, 144.
31 Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-structure. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine
Transaction, (2008), 95.

14. ritual elders” and becomes the communitas.32 The communitas heightens an emotional sense of
connectedness and the beginning of imaginative ideas. Additionally, the individuals now view
status to be inherently flawed and desire to relate as equals, deviating from the hierarchical
framework of society and begin to assemble ideas that cultivate equality.
In fact, Turner describes three types of the communitas: existential communitas, which is
“a happening” and arises among concrete individuals when social structure is abandoned;
normative communtias, which has evolved into a type of social system due to the “influence of
time, the need to mobilize and organize resources, and the necessity for social control among the
members of the group in pursuance of these goals33; and ideological communitas, which is an
utopian model for societies that permit a permanent communitas. From observing Turner’s
descriptions of the communitas, I conclude that the communitas exists between periods of
structure and are revealed in the liminal state. Because the communitas exists where order does
not, it has a transcendental and sacred quality, providing a powerful religious experience to the
individual.
4. Application of Turner’s theory to Albania during WWII
Now we shift from discussing the historical context of Albania and Ritual Process in
isolation to describing the communitas of the Albanian Muslims and Jews through the lens of
Turner. To begin with, we must first establish Van Gennep’s rites of passage, which Turner uses
as an introduction to his discussion on the liminal state. Van Gennep’s argument is essential to
understanding Turner’s theory, because Turner introduces the rites of passages and expands its
context to contribute to his analysis of tribal rituals, which will allows us to focus on the
32 Turner, 96.
33 Ibid, 132.

15. importance of liminality to the Albanian people. Within the rites of passage, there are three
stages: separation, liminality, and aggregation. First, the separation stage begins when symbolic
behavior occurs that signifies the detachment of an individual or group either from a fixed point
in the social structure or community. By Nazi Germany invading European countries such as
Macedonia and forcing Jewish families to flee their original historical context, the surviving
Jews are exercising the rite of separation from their community. Second, the liminality stage,
which I will further describe later, occurs when the Jew passes through a cultural realm that has
few attributes of the past. As they enter into Albania and the homes of Albanian Muslims, they
become liminal entities and gain “sacred attributes”34 while losing their normal identities. They
have no social identity, but rather are united with the Muslims as equals within the context of
WWII. Third, the aggregation stage occurs when the Jew returns to his or her original context.
During the final stage, the Jew is welcomed back and believed to bring new energy through the
ordeal of transition. It is the beginning of understanding for the Jew’s identity, creating
opportunities for them to have something substantial to offer their original community.
To further pursue the liminality stage, we must discuss the testimonies of the Albanian
Muslims saving Jews during WWII. Every Albanian Muslim saved Jewish families for the same
purpose: to fulfill their personal commitment to the moral code of besa. Everyone that the
Muslims saved, no matter the origin of their faith, come from different sociological and
economic background and the Muslims saved them regardless. Why? When they are outside of
their original context and experiencing the liminality stage in Albania, their identity is
ambiguous and characterized by the current situation that Nazi Germany has brought upon them;
thus, Jews, Italian soldiers, and everyone else who were saved by the Muslims were united as
34 Turner, 109.

16. equals within the context and give “recognition to an essential and generic human bond, without
which there could be no society.”35 For that reason, when the Jews return to their original
context, they are reintegrated with a deeper understanding of the Muslim faith ands share a
connectedness with those families who sheltered and protected them during the war.
Having established the contextual framework of the liminality stage, we can begin to
describe the communitas of the Albanian Muslims and the Jews that were saved. Besa creates the
communitas between Muslim and Jew. By living together, both individuals are liberated from the
obligatory everyday constraints of status and role, presenting a religious orthodoxy of universal
fellowship. During the integration of the Jew to the Muslim home, there is a surrender and
breakdown of status hierarchies, because these individuals are no longer experiencing their
original context. Instead, phenomena such as celebrating both Jewish and Muslim holidays under
one roof force individuals within the communitas to stand “outside the totality of structural
positions one normally occupies in a social system”36 and recreates this new community in
Albania. For example, the family of Xhevat and Aferdita Gjergjani sheltered a Jewish family in
their Berat home for six months, but Aferdita did not have enough milk to feed her baby boy. So,
the Jewish mother was able to nurse him along with her daughter, which represents the shared
fellowship of the Albanian Muslim and Jew communitas. By challenging social boundaries and
classifications, the communitas has “sacred attributes”37 that manifests itself from their shared
agenda. The sacredness of the Albanian Muslim/Jew communitas liberates both parties from the
difficulties of each other having surviving on their own, providing energy to the greater
community and restores unity that makes life much more attainable. Thus, the individuals of the
35 Turner, 97.
36 Ibid, 138.
37 Turner, 109.

17. communitas feel the presence of spiritual power within the connectivity of their shared
fellowship.
On this basis, we must further engage Turner’s theory to classify the type of communitas
that existed between the Jews and Albanian Muslims during WWII. Clearly, the communitas
cannot be considered ideological, because the communal living of Jews and Muslims in Albania
is only temporary. Unfortunately, there is no permanent “optimal social condition under which
such experiences might be expected to flourish and multiply.”38 If there was a permanent
communitas in Albania, Norman Gerschman would have witnessed Jewish and Muslim
communities when he visited the relatives of the Muslim rescuers; however, he did not come
across such a community. In addition, the communitas cannot be considered normative, either.
According to Turner, the normative communtias has evolved into a type of community due to the
“influence of time, the need to mobilize and organize resources, and the necessity for social
control among the members of the group in pursuance of these goals”39; in other words, the
normative communitas would require individuals to exert top-down control over the different
sub-movements, creating social structures. Besa makes this type highly unlikely because the
Albanain Muslims view the Jew to be their equal and treat them like their own family member.
Since the Albanian Muslims such as the family of Destan and Lime Bella provided meals and
protection for three Jewish brothers despite not even owning a dinner table for their own meals, I
conclude that the Jew and Albanian Muslim communitas is not normative.
As a result, the Albanian Muslims and Jew communitas is existential, because the social
structure and religious order of Albania is entirely abandoned during the dark evil of Hitler’s
38 Ibid, 132.
39 Ibid, 137.

18. Nazi Germany. For example, the family of Ismail Gjata owned a children’s clothing store in Fier.
After taking in the Jewish family of Nesim Bahar in 1942, Ismail gave the ownership of his store
to the Bahar family; thus, the Muslim and Jewish identity of both families became nonexistent,
which created an environment for them to present themselves independently of race and religion
and even compelled Mr. Gjata to entrust his store to the Bahar family. The “essential We”40
relationship arises out of liminal states and promotes appreciation and respect for both Muslim
and Jewish faiths, allowing both parties to confront each other without dividing factors such as
social position, private property, rank, etc. As the social structures of original contexts are
abandoned, the interest and divided consciousness of the communitas depart, allowing for the
Muslims and Jews to experience the independent being of each other. Albanian Muslims no
longer recognize their Jewish friends in terms of themselves and their own Jewish identity, but
rather allow the Jewish faith to present itself independently. For Turner, the “We relationship”41
between Albanian Muslims and the Jews they saved during the war is the quintessential social
experience arising out of the liminal state of WWII; therefore, the Albania Muslims and Jews
that were saved during the war form an existential communitas.
5. Concluding remarks
To summarize, we have established that the Albanian Muslims and the Jews they saved
during WWII form an existential communitas. First, my short description of besa and the
testimonies of the Albanian Muslims reveal that besa has a connection with Albania nationalism.
Second, the historical context of the Balkan States, specifically Albania, in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries provides understanding for the religious tolerant attitude of the Albanian
40 Turner, 137.
41 Ibid.

19. Muslim. Third, my introduction to Victor Turner’s Rites of Passage presents a short description
of important terms such as: liminality and communitas. Fourth, viewed through the lens of
Turner, I discuss besa and the Albanian testimonies to suggest that the Albanian Muslims and the
Jews that were saved during WWII form an existential communitas. Finally, I conclude that my
time spent studying the Albanian Muslims of WWII brought a newfound sense of admiration for
a community of unexpected people going against the social norm. For this particular community
of Muslims and Jews, they bonded and formed a fellowship in a moment of transition that
included overcoming the darkest human evil that has ever existed. May the story of the Albanian
Muslim provide us hope to form relationships with others when they sincerely are in need of a
faithful community.

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