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The Holocaust In Albania
The Holocaust saw crimes committed against Jews in Albania while Albania was under Italian and German occupation during World War II. Throughout the war, nearly 2,000 Jews sought refuge in Albania-proper. Most of these Jewish refugees were treated well by the local population, despite the fact that Albania-proper was occupied first by Fascist Italy, and then by Nazi Germany. Albanians often sheltered Jewish refugees in mountain villages and transported them to Adriatic ports from where they fled to Italy. Other Jews joined resistance movements throughout the country. For the 500 Jews who lived in Kosovo, the experience was starkly different, and about 40 percent did not survive the war. With the surrender of Italy in September 1943, Germany occupied Albania. In 1944, an Albanian ''Waffen-SS'' division, the 21st ''Waffen'' Mountain Division of the SS ''Skanderbeg'' was formed, which arrested and handed over to the Germans 281 Jews from Kosovo who were subsequently deported to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Protectorate Of Albania (1939–1943)
The Treaties of Tirana were signed in Tirana between Albania and Italy in the 1920s, bringing Albania into the Italian sphere of influence and gradually turning the Albanian state into a ''de facto'' protectorate of Italy. Background The Kingdom of Albania At the time of the signing of the treaties, the country of Albania was under the kingship of Zog I of Albania, known in Albanian as the king of the Albanians, ''Mbreti i Shqiptarëve.'' In 1925, Ahmet Zogu, was elected president for seven years and on 1 September 1928, during his swearing ceremony, he proclaimed himself as the King. Being the first and the last king of the Albanian nation, he served the country from 1922 until he fled to London during the start of the Second World War in 1939. Albania was thought by Italy as the portal for the rest of the Balkan countries, Greece, and the Near Eastern countries. In May 1925, Albania accepted the proposal of the Italians and the Albanian National Bank was founded. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the northwest and the Po Valley. The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovenia. The Adriatic contains more than 1,300 islands, mostly located along its eastern coast. It is divided into three basins, the northern being the shallowest and the southern being the deepest, with a maximum depth of . The prevailing currents flow counterclockwise from the Strait of Otranto. Tidal movements in the Adriatic are slight, although acqua alta, larger amplitudes occur occasionally. The Adriatic's salinity is lower than the Mediterranean's because it collects a third of the fresh water flowing into the Mediterranean, acting as a dilution basin. The surface water temperatures ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Besa (Albanian Culture)
Besa ( Albanian indefinite form: ) is an Albanian cultural precept, usually translated as "pledge of honor", "solemn faith" or "solemn oath", that means "to keep the promise" and "word of honor", regarded as something sacred and inviolable. ''Besa'' is of prime importance as a cornerstone of personal and social conduct in the Albanian traditional customary law ('' Kanun''), which has directed all the aspects of Albanian tribal society. The Albanian adjective ''besnik'', derived from besa, means "faithful", "trustworthy", i.e. one who keeps his ''word''. Besnik for men and Besa for women continue to be popular names among Albanians. Etymology The Albanian word ''besa'' is an Indo-European cognate and shares similarities with the Classical Latin word ''fides''. In Late Antiquity and the Medieval period, Latin ''fides'' took on the Christian meaning of 'faith' or '(religious) belief,' a sense that persists in modern Romance languages and was borrowed into Albanian as '' feja''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fall Of Communism
The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. This revolutionary wave is sometimes referred to as the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the revolutions of 1848 in Europe. The revolutions of 1989 were a key factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Union—one of the two global superpowers—and in the abandonment of communist regimes in many parts of the world, some of which were violently overthrown. These events drastically altered the world's balance of power, marking the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the post-Cold War era. The earliest recorded protests which led to the revolutions began in Poland on 14 August 1980, the massive general strike across the entire nation which led to the Gdańsk Agreement on 31 August ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Socialist Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe. It was established in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, breakup of Yugoslavia, dissolving amid the onset of the Yugoslav Wars. Spanning an area of in the Balkans, Yugoslavia was bordered by the Adriatic Sea and Italy to the west, Austria and Hungarian People's Republic, Hungary to the north, People's Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgaria and Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania to the east, and People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania and Greece to the south. It was a One-party state, one-party socialist state and federation governed by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and had six constituent republics: Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odredi Jugoslavije (NOV i POJ), Народноослободилачка војска и партизански одреди Југославије (НОВ и ПОЈ); ; (often shortened as the National Liberation Army sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); ; ) was the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, communist-led Anti-fascism, anti-fascist resistance to the Axis powers (chiefly Nazi Germany) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. Led by Josip Broz Tito, the Partisans are considered to be Europe's most effective anti-Axis powers, Axis Resistance during World War II, resistance movement during World War II. Primarily a Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla force at its ince ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia ( ) is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time; however, it came to be defined as the modern geographical region by the mid-19th century. Today the region is considered to include parts of six Balkan countries: all of North Macedonia, large parts of Greece and Bulgaria, and smaller parts of Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo. It covers approximately and has a population of around five million. Macedonia (Greece), Greek Macedonia comprises about half of Macedonia's area and population. Its oldest known settlements date back approximately to 7,000 BC. From the middle of the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedon became the dominant power on the Balkan Peninsula; since then Macedonia has had a diverse history. Etymology Both proper nouns ''Makedṓn'' and ''Makednós'' are morphologically derived from the Ancient Greek adjective ''makednós'' meaning "tall, slim", and are related t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axis Powers
The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan. The Axis were united in their far-right positions and general opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion. The Axis grew out of successive diplomatic efforts by Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the Italo-German protocol of 23 October 1936, protocol signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, after which Italian leader Benito Mussolini declared that all other European countries would thereafter rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis". The following November saw the ratification of the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (title)#First secretary, First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, a member of its Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania, Politburo, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the Albanian People's Army. He was the twenty-second Prime Minister of Albania, prime minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times was both Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (Albania), foreign minister and Ministry of Defence (Albania), defence minister of the country. Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër near Greece in 1908. He was a grammar school teacher in 1936. After the Italian invasion of Albania, he joined the Party of Labour of Albania at its creation in 1941 in the Soviet Union. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products in society based on need.: "One widespread distinction was that socialism socialised production only while communism socialised production and consumption." A communist society entails the absence of private property and social classes, and ultimately money and the state. Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance but disagree on the means to this end. This reflects a distinction between a libertarian socialist approach of communization, revolutionary spontaneity, and workers' self-management, and an authoritarian socialist, vanguardist, or party-driven approach to establish a socialist state, which is expected to wither away. Communist parties have been described as radi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentration camp. Initially this was an "exchange camp", where Jewish people, Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas. The camp was later expanded to hold Jews from other concentration camps. After 1945, the name was applied to the Bergen-Belsen DP camp, displaced persons camp established nearby, but it is most commonly associated with the concentration camp. From 1941 to 1945, almost 20,000 Soviet Union, Soviet prisoners of war and a further 50,000 inmates died there. Overcrowding, lack of food, and poor sanitary conditions caused outbreaks of typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and dysentery; leading to the deaths of more than 35,000 peopl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
21st Waffen Mountain Division Of The SS Skanderbeg
The 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS ''Skanderbeg'' (1st Albanian) was a German mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the German Nazi Party that served alongside, but was never formally part of, the Wehrmacht during World War II. At the post-war Nuremberg trials, the Waffen-SS was declared to be a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The division was developed around the nucleus of an ethnic Albanian battalion which had briefly seen combat against the Yugoslav Partisans in eastern Bosnia as part of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS ''Handschar'' (1st Croatian). The rank-and-file were mostly Muslim Albanians with a few hundred Catholic Albanians and mostly German and Yugoslav ''Volksdeutsche'' (ethnic German) officers and non-commissioned officers, it was given the title ''Skanderbeg'' after medieval Albanian lord George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, who defended the region of Alban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
