Kurti: The international community bombed Yugoslavia because of the Holocaust

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti stated today on the International Day of Remembrance of Holocaust Victims, that the Holocaust had given strength and international recognition to the concept of genocide, and that Albanians had a special empathy for it, Koha reports.

"In the dark years of the Second World War, when Jews were persecuted and killed everywhere and when few doors were open for them, several hundred Jews who escaped from various European countries were taken under the protection of Albanians and sheltered them. Being themselves the victims of the genocide, deportation, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity that Serbia committed against them, Albanians have had a special empathy for these types of crimes since the time of the Holocaust," Kurti wrote on Facebook.

Kurti added that, "learning from the Holocaust, the international community bombed Yugoslavia in 1999 to stop the genocide against the Kosovo Albanians."

"Taught by the Holocaust, the US and NATO, which bombed Yugoslavia in 1999, stopped the deepening of Serbia's genocide against the Albanians in Kosovo. Israel then also received and sheltered several dozen Albanian refugees from Kosovo. Israel recognized the Republic of Kosovo 20 years later. The people and institutions of Kosovo will never forget the victims of the Holocaust, the time when the Albanians, by sheltering and rescuing Jewish refugees, gave proof, which is known throughout the world today, that they are noble people," Kurti emphasized.

Let us remind you that in February of last year, the Kosovo Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the European Union Office in Kosovo began restoration work on the house of Xhafer Deva, a prominent Nazi collaborator decorated by Hitler.

That action was soon stopped after the reactions of the Serbian and Israeli public, and the German ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, who reacted with concern after the news about the restoration of Xhafer Deva's house, clarified that Germany did not have a problem with the restoration of historical houses, but with the image of Xhafer Deva, for whom he says with conviction that he was a collaborator of the Nazis and that he was part of the infamous "Skanderbeg" division.

However, in the budget for 2023, the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo again allocated 300,000 euros for the renovation of Xhafer Deva's house in South Mitrovica.