"The House of Jews"

"The House of Jews" 

The rescue of the Jewish population in Albanian territories has echoed so profoundly that Albania has been regarded as the "Home of Life." Textbooks, numerous books, and archival documents provide a wealth of documentation shedding light on the presence of Jews in Albania during and before the war. Archival documentation offers an official narrative of institutional stance during the wartime period, including the demands of Jews for extensions of residency permits in Albania, documentation issuance, including documents attesting to conversions from the Hebrew religion to others, and so forth. All these efforts were made to help the few Jews who had come to the country before and during the war.

Despite the official narrative, we can say that collective memory, in its entirety, derives from the lived experiences we encounter among ordinary people who saved Jews. To make this narrative more present and vivid, it is essential to tell personal stories, to which proper attention has not been given, hiding them among the lines of the collective narrative on preserving the values of a society. To bring these stories to life, it is necessary to delve into each of them, the details of which will make this reality more tangible. For this, we will focus on the history of a Tirana family, which even today preserves and transmits this history. Mr. Fatos Qoqja shares with us the memories he cherishes from the history of a Hebrew who was saved by his father.

Beqir Qoqja was born in 1914 and studied in Greece to become a tailor; he had a shop in the center of Tirana. At the same time, with this story, he inherited from his son the love, gratitude, and deep appreciation for local traditions but also for Hebrew culture. In an attempt to preserve this tradition, Fatos Qoqja has turned his father's house, inherited from his father, into a welcoming place for Jews and tourists visiting Albania. In this simple house, pieces of his father's history are still preserved, as well as the story of how a Hebrew named Avram, who lived in this house during the period when Jews were persecuted in Europe.

According to Mr. Qoqja, Avram Eliasaf was a young Hebrew boy who, in an attempt to escape persecution, managed to escape from Corfu to Vlorë, where he joined part of his family. Since harboring many people of Jewish descent in one place would attract the authorities' attention, they decided to spread out among different families in other cities. Avram, along with his brother, lived in one house, but the neighbors were informed that the Germans had arrested two Jews one day. Mr. Avraham sought help from tailor Beqir Qoqja, who accepted him to live in his house, a few minutes from the center of Tirana. He was warmly welcomed by the family, which left him a space to live in.

Avram did not speak Albanian, but he understood Mr. Beqir well in Greek. To protect Avram, Beqir Qoqja managed to secure a certificate for him under the name Gani, saying he was his cousin. Avram often encountered neighbors but did not speak a word, and Mr. Beqir would justify his silence by saying that Gani doesn't speak. The German authorities were very close to this house where a Jew stayed, and the fear of his discovery was a constant threat to the family. In such a situation, Mr. Beqir decided to remove Avram from Tirana, and together with him, he also took his family. Wearing rural clothes with a loaded donkey, they tried to pass the German checkpoint at the outskirts of the neighborhood. Beqir Qoqja says he is going to Mukje, with his family to go to the village of origin. Thanks to his acquaintance with an Albanian, they pass this checkpoint without many questions and continue on the road to Mukje. They live in the distant village for 6 months, to ensure that Avram would be safe and well.

After the end of the war, the family returns to Tirana. Now Avram was free, but his gratitude to the family that saved his life was immense. He kept a trunk in which he had hidden his savings in gold coins, so he took half of them and offered them to Mr. Qoqja as a reward. Beqir Qoqja refused, saying that his house was his friend's and a home for all Jews. After this event, they set off together for Vlorë, where Abraham met the other part of the family, who had also been saved by other Albanian families. The generosity of the Qoqja family is linked to the values of Albanian hospitality, and Avraham's nobility with the profound gratitude he and the saved Jews showed to the Albanians.

During the communist regime, Mr. Beqir Qoqja was arrested as one of the suspects in the bombing of the Soviet embassy in 1951, but in the absence of evidence, he was released after serving 2 years in prison in Tirana. After the fall of communism, Avram emigrated to Israel but never forgot his friend from Albania.

In July 1992, Beqir Qoqja was warmly welcomed in Israel by Avram's descendants and received the title "Righteous Among the Nations" from Yad Vashem.

This house where a life was saved is now a beacon that reminds every one of the hospitalities of the Qoqja family and all Albanians. The House of Jews (The Qoqja House) is a symbol of kindness, values, and the tradition of hospitality that characterizes our people.