[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 14 (Thursday, January 25, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E72]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING A HIDDEN HERO OF THE HOLOCAUST: KADRI CAKRANI

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 25, 2024

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we approach 
International Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember all the lives lost 
in this horrific event so many decades ago, and also to acknowledge the 
efforts of a particular and only more recently recognized hero of this 
period: Kadri Cakrani.
  During World War II, Kadri Cakrani served as Commandant-General in 
the City of Berat, in Albania. Although his nation was occupied by Axis 
forces, Commandant Cakrani was able to utilize his position of relative 
authority to save lives.
  Commandant Cakrani rallied soldiers under his command and the local 
citizenry to help shelter hundreds of Jewish people who would otherwise 
have been killed by Nazi forces. Cakrani repeatedly lied to Nazi 
officials, claiming no knowledge of Jews within his area of authority. 
At the same time, he was coordinating the movement of families from one 
side of Berat to the other to ensure they were not discovered.
  Commandant Cakrani even went so far as to shelter Jews within his own 
home during this period. In 1943, Cakrani successfully sheltered three 
U.S. Army nurses (Wilma Dale Lytle, Ava Ann Maness, and Helen Porter) 
trapped in the area after a plane crash returning them safely to the 
Allied powers.
  The risks that Kadri and those working with him faced while they 
carried out these brave actions were enormous. Eventually, the rise of 
Communist leader Enver Hoxha forced Kadri Cakrani to flee the country 
in November of 1944. Cakrani eventually found his way to the United 
States, where President Harry Truman granted him political asylum and 
where he then settled down for the remainder of his life.
  Kadri Cakrani passed away in 1972, but his efforts to bend the arc of 
history towards justice have been only recently rediscovered. Cakrani 
had safely fled to the United States, but many of the heroes that 
worked beside him remained behind the Iron Curtain in an Albania under 
communist rule. As a result, to protect those who would otherwise still 
be at risk, Kadri did not talk about these accomplishments.
  Today, Albania is a free and democratic society. Scholars have pieced 
together the story of this remarkable man and those who worked beside 
him for good. On behalf of the residents of the 9th Congressional 
District of Illinois, I want to share my deepest gratitude to Kadri 
Cakrani and those who worked with him to save so many lives. These 
efforts and risks deserve recognition and remembrance, and I am so 
pleased to be able to share his story. Our world is better off because 
of the role that Kadri Cakrani played in it while he was here.

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