Since the 14th century, there has been a small Jewish community living in Albania, with many Sephardic Jews migrating there following their expulsion from Spain in 1492.

The Holocaust
Albanian Jewry was unharmed by the German invasion of 1944, and not a single Albanian Jew was deported or killed during World War II. When an agreement made between Germany and Italy brought parts of Yugoslavia under Albanian control, many Jews from Serbia and Croatia fled to this annexed territory. These Yugoslav refugees were treated well by the local population and by the Italian occupying forces.

JDC – From the Communist Period Until Today
Albania had one of the Eastern Bloc’s most repressive Communist regimes, and the government allowed no religious freedom whatsoever. Thus, while Jews were not singled out for repression, they were prohibited from participating in organized Jewish life. With no communal organizations, rabbis, or Jewish institutions in place since the end of World War II, the Jews of Albania, like many Jews living elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc, became highly assimilated and alienated from their Jewish heritage.

From the early 1980's until the fall of the Communist regime in 1990-1991, JDC quietly provided limited funds to assist Albanian Jewish families in need. After most of the community made aliyah to Israel in 1991, JDC continued to provide life-sustaining support to the remaining Jewish population, and it regularly sent in matzah for Passover. In 1995, JDC expanded its activities to help Albania’s remaining Jews reclaim their Jewish heritage and regain their identity as a community.

2005