THE BESA PROJECT

Norman Gershman started the BESA PROJECT with a simple question.

'How many people would lay down their lives for a stranger?'

To answer this question 6 years were spent in Albania and Kosovo seeking those who had helped Jews escaping the Holocaust during WW II. Along the way...

TO PURCHASE from Syracuse University Press

BESA: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II

ABOUT THE BOOK

Description

'Through the eyes of Norman H. Gershman, we can see that beyond our individual identities and desires, there is a common core of self, an essential humanity whose nature is peace, whose expression is thought, and whose action is unconditional love.'

Madam Jehan Sadat

The Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development

University of Maryland

'I hope these photos and their stories become widely known. They offer hope for a future in which Muslims and Jews can overcome their conflicts and focus on their common humanit.'

President Jimmy Carter

     There are more than seven million Bektashi in the world. Our sect derives from the Shia. We trace our heritage back to Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed.. .
     ...At the time of the Nazi occupation the prime minister of Albania was Medi Frasheri. He was a member of the Bektashi. He refused to release the names of Jews to the Nazi occupiers. He organized an underground of all Bektashi to shelter all the Jews, both citizens and refugees. At that time nearly half of all Muslims in Albania were Bektashi. Prime Minister Frasheri gave a secret order: "All Jewish children will sleep with your children, all will eat the same food, all will live as one family."
     We Betashi see God everywhere, in everyone. God is in every pore and every cell, therefore all are God's children. There cannot be infidels. There cannot be discrimination. If one sees a good face one is seeing the face of God.'

Baba Haxhi Dede Reshat Bardhi
Head of the Bektashi movement in Albania and Worldwide