Discussion on the Reception in Recognition of the 70th Anniversary of the end of the WWII and Albanians saving the Jewish population
First and foremost I want to salute the Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj and Senate majority Coalition Co-Leader Jeffrey D. Klein; Prof. Modecai Paldiel Ph.D Former Director of the Department of the righteous at Yad Vashem, as an Initiators of this very important and meaningful event for in Recognition of the 70th Anniversary of the end of the WWII and the role of the Albanians in saving the Jewish population from the Nazi regime.
I want to salute the presence of H. E President B. Nishani also, all those present and well-wishing of this Discussion on this Issue about the Human Rights
My journey as a rolling stone started from Chameria, where I was born, Albania where I raised as an orphan, in former Czechoslovakia graduated, and least landed in land of opportunities, in Blessed USA.
The Albanian Region of Chameria comprises the Southern part of the Albanian ethnic territories, inhabited by Albanians since the ancient times (Pellasgo-Illyrian times) until today. Even the ancient historians Straboni and Plutarch wrote that the inhabitants of Epir-Chameria spoke a “barbarian” language, because their mother tongue wasn’t Greek. The Cham dialect is one of the oldest of the Albanian language.
In spite of the fact that the Congress of Berlin in 1878 revoked its earlier decision to give the Chameria region to Greece, the London Conference in 1913 decided for the partitioning the Albanian territories leaving outside of the new-born Albanian state more than half of Albanian lands and population; that included Kosova, Chameria, etc
Starting on 27 June 1944, ruthless gangs headed by Greek General Napoleon Zerva , (who collaborated with the German Army and fascist Mihajlloviç of Serbia) massacred and killed more than 2900 innocent Cham women, children and elderly and expelled to inner Albania more than 30000 Chams, of whom more than 2000 died from hunger.
A document of the U. S Department of State Nr. 84/3, Tirana Mission, 1945-1946, reports that: “According to all information I have been able to gather on the Cham Issue, in 1944 and during the first months of 1945, the Greek authorities in north-western Greece perpetrated savage brutality by evicting 25000 Chams, residents of Chameria, from their homes, where they had been living for centuries, chasing them cross the border after having robbed them of their land and properties. Most of the young people were killed because the majority of the refugees were old folk and children”. 　
As we say in Albanian in connection with my coming from a long trip I had the opportunity to obtain three Capital Letters “CH” : Cham, Czech and Chifut. During my study in Bratislava-Slovakia, we were there only 4 Albanians and when we play basketball as team was a necessary to be 5. And I always gratefully trust my friend Arthur to joint and complete our team. So, we Chams, with Jews people, except the we got through great suffering, have a lot of common characteristics: Intelligence, Hardworking, Persevering, Freedom-loving, economical,
Dear Friends, at first I want to be pardoned by you for my long discussion; but to say the true the opportunity that created today our honorable Dear Friends Mr. Gjonaj and Mr. Jeffrey D. Klein to meet and to discuss together; I think that to resolve The Cham Albanian Issue, may be in proper path if
We create a common Commission Jad Vashem with Albanian American Chameria Organization-AACO to discuss with Foreign Political State Commission of State Department and Greek Embassy in Washington
On the Greek reporter is posted on September 04,2011 article:
Greece’s Unwanted Citizens are now Citizens-What about the Chams?!
Jews who left Greece during WWII can have their Citizenship reinstated after the passage of a new law
The Greek government on Sept. 2, passed an amendment to a new foreign resident law which will automatically reinstate Greek citizenship for all Jews that were born in or before 1945. The far-right LAOS Party fought against amendment saying the law will raise many serious issues from other ,ethnic groups ,a thing we of course all deprecate , and maybe even Chams( a subgroup of Albanians, who originally resided in the coastal region of Epirus in NW Greece, an area known among Albanians as Chameria). As expected the communist party was also against the amendment, saying that this was one step closer to forming close ties with Israel in order to further the imperialistic planes regarding the natural gas reserves
In June 1994, the Albanian government passed the law Nr. 7839 in Parliament, proclaiming the 27 June 1944 as “The Day of Greek Chauvinist Genocide Against Albanians of Chameria”.
I feel that the only hope for us Cham Albanians to resolve our issue is USA, that is why I am so lucky and grateful to our common friend Mr. Mark Gjonaj, that creating this opportunity so we as American citizens to discuss together and to find the proper way how to resolve.
I was born in Albanian Chameria in Paramithia, but only in 2010,after 66 years it was a possible to visit my birthplace (thanks to the American Passport).
I was 7 years old on June 27,1944 but I will never get of my mind what happened on these terrible days to my family and to all Albanians families in our Paramithia.
I returned back full of sorrow; there I didn’t find any grave of the 7 beloved members of my family, starting from my grandfather 82 years old, and last my little sister 2 years old; were massacred and killed in June 1944 by the Greek chauvinists gangs.!!
There are no more Albanian graves. There were 9 Albanians Cemeteries until 1944 in my birth place-Paramithi), all are destroyed!
Every human being understands such a deep Sorrow when you don’t have the possibility to put a bunch of flowers on the grave of your dead parents!
While there we met and talked friendly with a lot Christian Cham-Albanians who remembered those terrible chauvinists massacres against us.They remembered the very good and brotherly relations that existed always between us Albanians, regardless religion. They were plenty with Nostalgia for the Chams songs, dances , and national’s customs.
So dear friends, we, together as American Citizens, educated and living together in this Great Country of Freedom and Democracy , had to be helpful for all of us, to use this opportunity offered by our common friends, Mr. M. Gjonaj and Prof. Modecai Paldiel to make sure that discussion with politicians in Albania and Greece to be more comprehensible on the past in manner to build friendly bridges with the spirit of understanding between Albanian in general ,including Chams Albanians, with the Greek people. The sample for such relations, are the relations that created more than 50 years ago, General De Gol with Chancellor Adenaur between France and Germany
As one of the ocular witnesses of the Greek Genocide against the Albanians of Chameria, I will fight for this legitimate issue until
1) The Greek Parliament and the Greek Government to accept the
Historical reality of the Chams Issue;
2) To condemn the Genocide exerted upon innocent Cham population
by the Greeks;
3) The Greek Government, as a member of the European Union and
as a State that signed all International Documents on Human
Rights, to respect National Minorities in Greece, especially
Albanians living in and outside Chameria.
4) Greek Government should recognize the civil and legal rights of
the Albanians expulsed by force from their territories in 1944-
1945, as well as their right as legitimate owners of the properties
they been robbed of.
We are not asking to change borders; we only want to have open borders!
S.Bollati- Albany, New York, May 5, 2015