Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II by Norman H. Gershman
Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II by Norman H. Gershman is full of beautiful stories of people helping people in the face of evil. In Albania, a country directly located across the Adriatic Sea from the "boot" of Italy, nearly two thousand Jews were saved from Nazi persecution in 1943 and 1944. Albania was fairly unique in that it had been majority Muslim for centuries. While Italy occupied Albania, the Jews were relatively safe, but with the withdrawal of Italy in September 1943, the Nazis assumed control of the country until late 1944. Photographer Norman H. Gershman travelled throughout Albania and neighboring Kosovo gathering family stories of the people who risked their lives and property hiding Jews in the surrounding countryside, in barns, in guest homes and, in many cases, taking them in their own households and claiming they were extended family. The book's title comes from the Albanian for giving one's word of honor: Besa. This was intrica