Pictured in the front row and identified with numbers are Gavra Mandil (3), Irena Mandil (4), Fatima Veseli (6), and Vesel Veseli (5). Standing behind them are Mosa (1) and Gabriela (2) Mandil. The Mandils were a Jewish Yugoslavian family who survived the Holocaust by hiding with the Veselis, a Muslim Albanian family. Kruje, Albania, circa July 1944.
The Mandil family traveled from Tirana to the Veselis’ home in Kruje under the cover of night. Mosa and Gabriela had to stay hidden in a room above the Veselis’ barn. Gavra and Irena were able to live disguised as Muslim Albanians and could move about town and play with the other children. The Veselis also sheltered another Jewish family who had worked in the clothing shop owned by Refik Veseli’s brother. Their neighbors became aware that the Veselis were hiding Jewish refugees but did not report them to German authorities. The Veselis sheltered and provided for the families until the region was liberated from German control in late 1944.
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