“A man named Filip came to my grandfather…he’d used the words ‘in good faith’ or ‘në besë (besa),’ which is important to us Albanians,” says 58-year-old Naim Behluli.

We’re sitting in one of Prishtinë’s bustling cafes, and although Kosovo is a majority Muslim country, American Christmas classics play in the background. Outside, shoppers flood the pedestrian-friendly Nënë Tereza Boulevard.

Tall and affable, the espresso cup in Behluli’s hand seems especially diminutive as he continues, “This man Filip said to my grandfather: ‘Knowing you have besë, I know you have the possibility to take this on for me, and you will complete it to the end.”

“Sacred promise” is a common translation for besë and, based upon many testimonies, provided the main motivation for ethnic Albanians to risk their own lives, and the lives of their families, to save Jews during World War II.

Nearly all (204) native Jews of Albania survived the Holocaust. Beyond this anomaly, between 1933 and 1945, thousands of Jewish refugees from other European countries were assisted and protected by Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Albania as they transited (then) Yugoslavia. As a result, the number of Jews in post-war Albania increased tenfold its pre-war population, though almost all later emigrated to Israel.

During the war, Prishtinë was a major transit hub for Jewish rescues.........

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