Esheref & Easuere Shpuza

My parents lived in the town of Durres. In 1944 my father befriended the Jewish family of Raphael (Rudi) Abravanel. They were originally from Yugoslavia. He provided the family with false passports for Rudi, his wife and two children, and escorted them to the border. They escaped first back to Yugoslavia, then to Italy. Then our family lost all trace of the Abravanels.

It was through the help of another righteous Albanian, Refik Veseli, that in 1990 we again made contact with Rudi and his family, now living in Israel. We received letters and exchanged telephone calls. It seems strange to ask why my father did what he did for this Jewish family. Besa is a tradition of the entire nation of Albania.