Boriçi Shaqir & Qamile ; Daughter: Muça Bahrije (Boriçi)

Boriçi, Shaqir Boriçi, Qamile Boriçi, Bahrije Isak Bivas lived with his wife, Bella, and daughter Rashel (b. 1928) in Priština, Kosovo, in southern Yugoslavia. At the end of 1942, the Bivas family was sent, along with other Jews in the area, to Berat, Albania, which was in the Italian-occupied zone. After the Italian capitulation to the Allies in September 1943, the Germans entered Albania and the Bivases fled to Shkodër in northern Albania, where Bivas found temporary lodging and employment making biscuits. Bivas met Shaqir Boriçi, a merchant, from whom he bought the supplies to make the biscuits. When the Germans and their accomplices arrived in the region, warnings were posted all over, stating that it was expressly prohibited to hide Jews. Bivas appealed for help to Boriçi, who obtained false papers for Bivas and his family and agreed to harbor them in his home in the Perruca quarter of Shkodër. When the Jews arrived at the Boriçi home, Shaqir explained to his wife Qamile and to his three children, 17-year-old Emine, 15-year-old Adem, and 14-year-old Bahrije, that the Bivas family was Jewish and was wanted by the Germans, and that their presence in the home had to be kept secret. Boriçi and his wife welcomed the Bivases into their home, and provided them with clothes in the local traditional style. They registered Rashel at a local religious Muslim school and Bahrije taught Rashel Albanian and became her best friend. The Jewish refugees adopted their hosts’ traditions and way of life and even observed Ramadan with them. In mid-1944, the Germans entered the Perruca quarter accompanied by a local militia and approached Shaqir, who was the local community leader. They asked him if there were any Jews hidden in the quarter, and Shaqir replied: “There are no Jews here.” The Bivas family remained with the Boriçis until March 1945, and the families maintained contact with each other for many years thereafter, especially Rashel (later Kantozi), and Bahrije(later Saiti). On September 8, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Shaqir Boriçi, his wife, Qamile, and their daughter, Bahrije, as Righteous Among the Nations. File 5369