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Ahmet Zog was the "King of the Albanians" from September 1928 until April 1939, when the country was invaded by fascist Italy. During his reign Albania experienced an unprecedented period of relative stability and progress. Zog's government took the first small steps towards the creation of a modern European country. King Zog developed a strong economic dependence on Mussolini's Italy, but he did not implement fascist ideas and policies. Albania welcomed and assisted persecuted Jews since 1933, when Hitler came to power as chancellor of Germany. Zog's attitude towards Jewish immigration was strongly influenced by Herman Bernstein, United States Ambassador to Albania during the years 1930–1933. Prior to Italian occupation, Albania was considered a safe transit point for Jewish refugees seeking to reach prosperous and stable destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first Albanian Righteous Among the Nations was recognized only in 1987, 24 years after the programmme's birth - one of the longest periods before the first recognition by Yad Vashem's database. Rescue took many forms and rescuers came from different social classes, professions and religions. The vast majority of the rescued were refugees arriving in 1940-43, when the country was under fascist occupation. The information about Albanian rescuers during the Holocaust is still incomplete, mostly due to the country's decades-long extreme isolation after World War II. Albania experienced the most severe dictatorship and repression in Europe. After the official recognition of the state of Israel in 1949, the Albanian government froze bilateral relations until the 1990s. During the communist period, several scholars from "enemy countries" requested information regarding the Jewish community and other important issues, but the authorities did never respond. In addition, the exchange of information between the rescuers and the rescued was impossible. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc state that did never establish diplomatic ties with Israel and other so-called revisionist countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Starvation in early life can cause poor bone health and metabolic aberrations in bone minerals, leading to abnormal bone development. Holocaust survivors have been exposed to starvation and malnutrition before and during World War II. This paper aims to provide the current state of knowledge on the osteoporosis risk in Holocaust survivors and their descendants. Methods: The PubMed and Scopus databases were searched. Papers that reported original data on the risk of osteoporosis in Holocaust survivors and in their offspring were included in the study. Results: Ten studies were included in this review. The majority of studies were case-control ones (n=7) versus two self-reported and one longitudinal study. Despite the limited cohort numbers and the small number of studies in the literature, the data showed a potential increased risk of osteoporosis in Holocaust survivors and especially in their descendants. Conclusions: The review of these studies showed a higher prevalence of osteoporosis among Holocaust survivors and their offspring. Knowledge of the trans-generational inheritance of osteoporosis in the descendants of Holocaust survivors should increase the awareness of primary care health workers on osteoporosis screening and early diagnosis and implementation of preventive measures, including adequate vitamin D and calcium supplementation, and pharmacological treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper investigates the main factors of international tourist arrivals to three Mediterranean destinations, namely Greece, Albania and Montenegro. Methods: A gravity model for panel data was used to analyze the number of tourists from twenty of the most important origin countries during the period 2012-2021. Results: Findings show that international tourism is adversely affected by bilateral distance and large-scale crisis such as COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the flow of international visitors is positively related to populations and incomes per capita in origin and destination countries, geographical contiguity and climate similarity. Other pull factors for tourism flows include total investments in infrastructure, and political stability and absence of violence or terrorism. Implications: The results of this research provide some important implications and recommendations for tourism industry policymakers and managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Albania was the only German-occupied country in which the number of Jews increased after World War II. Almost all native Jews of Albania survived the Holocaust, and thousands of Jewish refugees from other European countries were assisted and protected during the years 1933–1945. The rescue was facilitated by a unique mixture of factors, but the main common motivation of Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox rescuers was Besa , the crucial element of Kanun , the Albanian customary law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism sector plays a crucial role in economic growth of developing countries. Tourism increases business and employment opportunities and contributes to the development of local infrastructure. The preservation of cultural heritage and the promotion of peace between nations are other benefits of this sector. The main objective of this study is the investigation of the main demand and supply factors of international tourist arrivals to Albania, given the important role of the tourism sector on the national economy. A gravity-type equation is estimated through three different estimation techniques, controlling for basic and experimental independent variables. The basic assumption of the gravity model states that bilateral flows depend on some factors related to the origin and destination countries and other factors that approximate the bilateral distance. The analysis is based on an annual dataset of international tourist arrivals to Albania from 22 origin countries over the period 2001-2018. Empirical results show a satisfactory explanatory power of the considered equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]