[sologoub]

This! Kosovo (and all of Balkan conflicts) are an ongoing tragedy, drawn around ethnic and religious lines.

The article doesn't appear to clearly state that the refugees were largely ethnic Albanians and of mostly Muslim faith, same as the host population.

That's very different from taking in large numbers of culturally dissimilar refugees and successfully integrating them into your society.

[tpllaha]

Religion is one of those things that doesn't really play a role in Albania. Granted, the majority of the population are officially muslim. However very few are religious. This is probably the result of one of the toughest communist regimes in Europe, which fought religion very aggressively, but also because Albanians have been forced to change their religion by the Ottoman empire, eventually reducing the extent to which people identified themselves with a religious group and giving birth to the phrase "albanians' religion is albanianism".

While it is true that most refugees that were hosted during the Kosovo war were ethnic albanians, and that nationalism is still present (expressed mostly as a disliking of neighbouring countries), the article does mention the case of jewish immigrants during WW2, who came from a quite different culture and religion.

Hospitality in Albania is one of those few older values that is still obviously present. As I already mentioned, nationalism still exists, but that is a whole different discussion.

[sologoub]

But did they equally take in Serbs with the same hospitality?

I'm sure a handful of examples can be found, but I doubt it's quite as open as the article makes it sound.

As for religion, whether we want it or not, religion of our ancestors has a strong influence on our secular customs and norms. In this case, while being a practicing Muslim was not a requirement, shared identity and religious past definitely helped.

Regarding shielding Jewish refugees in WW2, most countries have examples of heroism, as well as atrocities by the local polulations.

[tpllaha]

I don't think they took in serbs (maybe a few, but definitely no number that is comparable to the kosovo albanians). I don't even know if any serb would seek shelter in Albania. I agree, the noble thing to do would have been for people from both countries to try and feel some empathy for each-other. But I think a better question to ask would be whether albanians from northern Kosovo protected serbs who lived there from ethnic albanian nationalists (which I do not know). Albania doesn't share a border with Serbia.

Regarding jewish immingrants in WW2, I don't think there are reports of any attrocities in Albania. The number of Jews before the war was 200. After the war it was 2000. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Alban... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_Albania

Anyways, the article probably does make it sound a bit bigger than it is, and even somewhat emotional. I just think that it must speak at least some truth regarding hospitality as a value among the population.

[vkou]

Mind you, Albania was under Italian military occupation in WW2 - and Italian Fascists while repressive, and anti-Semitic, were not exactly co-operative with the Nazis when it came to carrying out the Holocaust. Their internment camps were prisons, not death camps. [1] (Until it switched sides, and was invaded by Germany.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Italy#J...

[sologoub]

From the wikipedia article linked above:

"In 1944, an Albanian Waffen-SS division was formed, which arrested and handed over to the Germans a further 281 Jews from Kosovo who were subsequently deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where many were killed."

WW2 was a deplorable part of Europe's history and I honestly don't think there is a place not mired in some kind of tragedy from that period...

[tpllaha]

If you read the paragraph before that sentence, you'll se that this part refers to Kosovo albanians (so in Kosovo, not Albania). Though the culture and heritage between the two countries is similar, there are actually no cases of Jews that were given up in Albania, a fact which I find interesting, because no other country in Europe has such clear statistics. The way most people helped Jews in Albania was by not only offering them a home, but also giving them albanian names and teaching them albanian customs and the language, so they would blend in . Additionally, there have also been many reports of locals sending anonymous threatening letters to officials who were looking for the refugees.