The Albanian Righteous: a case of missing information.

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]