The BESA Project
"For over 6 years I have been traveling to Muslim Albania and Kosovo documenting and doing portraits of Muslim families that saved Jews in WW2. Although Besa is a traditional Albanian code of honor many Muslim families have incorporated Besa in their religious beliefs and often were inspired by their faith in saving Jews from the Nazis. The rescue of Jews in Albania was a unique experience in Holocaust history as Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler were welcomed not as refugees but as guests."
Norman H. Gershman
BESA is a long held tradition of the Albanian people which is their code of honor. According to the code of Besa an Albanian will lay down their life for another in need of their assistance, friend or enemy.
The Eye Contact Foundation promotes religious, political, cultural and economic understanding and tolerance among people worldwide through the use of portrait photography.
http://www.eyecontactfoundation.org/node/16
Through its financial support of photographic projects, The Eye Contact Foundation seeks to bring together people of radically diverse backgrounds and beliefs in an effort to advance humanitarianism into the future.
Upcoming Exhibitions at:
http://www.eyecontactfoundation.org/Exhibitions/Upcoming
