An Albanian’s house is the dwelling of God and the guest. How best to explain Albanian hospitality than through Ismail Kadare’s words ‘Of God and the guest, you see. So, before it is the house of its master, it is the house of one’s guest. The guest, in an Albanian’s life, represents the supreme ethical category, more important than blood relations. One may pardon the man who spills the blood of one’s father or of one’s son, but never the blood of a guest.’
A remarkable illustration of Albanian hospitality and honour is that almost all Jews in Albania during the Second World War were saved from Hitler’s “Final Solution.” The story of Albanian Jews during the Holocaust is not complete without the story of the Albanians, both Muslim and Christian, who defied the Nazis and hid hundreds of Jews in their homes, preventing them from being murdered. Ultimately, there were more Jews in Albania at the end of the war than before.
