During World War II 65 Albanian Muslims risked their lives in order to save 2000 Jews fleeing the Nazis. Photographer Norman Gershman gathered their stories into his book, Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II. NPR recently interviewed him. You can listen to the interview or read the transcript. Here is one story from the interview:
[The foreign minister of Albania] sent out a secret message to all Bektashi [a form of Shiites] that the Jewish children will sleep in the same bed as your children. The Jewish children will eat the same food as your children. The Jewish children will be your family.
Gershman, who is Jewish, closed the interview with this:
There are well over a billion Muslims. They’re good people. Unfortunately, in the media you rarely read or hear about the good people. I found the good people in Albania.
