Hamid Veseli grew up in the Albanian village of Kruja. In 1943 he and his younger brother Refik moved to the capital, Tirana, where Hamid opened a clothing store. He employed Joseph Ben-Josef there, a Jew who had fled from Serbia. Albania was under Italian occupation at this time. In 1943 the Germans took the place of the Italian occupiers and planned to deport all Jews living in the country. Hamid Veseli therefore decided to hide Joseph Ben-Josef, his wife Ruzhica, and Joseph’s sister Finiza in his home village. The Ben-Josefs spent nine months in Hamid’s parents’ house, only venturing outside at night. After Albania’s liberation, the Ben-Josef family returned to Serbia. Hamid Veseli and Joseph Ben-Josef lost contact.
Moshe and Gabriela Mandil with their children Gavra and Irena, with Hamid Veseli (right), in Tirana, the Albanian capital, 1943/44. Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., courtesy of Gavra Mandil 24718
