History of the Jews in Albania

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The history of the Jews in Albania dates back about 2,000 years. According to historian Apostol Kotani (Albania and the Jews): "Jews may have first arrived in Albania as early as 70 C.E. as captives on Roman ships that washed up on the country's southern shores... descendants of these captives that would build the first synagogue in the southern port city of Sarandë in the fifth century... Little is known about the Jewish community in the area until the 15th century." "According to Jewish Studies scholar Melsen Kafilaj, the claims regarding a first- or second-century Jewish presence in this area lack historical and archaeological documentation. Kafilaj notes that there are no records in contemporary Greek, Latin, or Jewish textual sources, nor any archaeological artifacts from that period to support the hypothesis." In the early 16th century, there were Jewish settlements in most of major cities of Albania such as Berat, Elbasan, Vlorë, Durrës and also they are reported as well in Kosovo...

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