Welcome to......Albania Mr. Franco

Day 1,885, 02:53 • Published in Albania Israel • by Joe Franco



Hello my Albanian friends,

Thank You Albania! Thank you for the warm and friendly welcome. I'm very pleased and honored to be amongst you.

A few days ago, I immigrated to Albania from Israel. Without too much elaboration of the reason why I immigrated, I would like to explain the reason of coming to Albania.

I could have chosen from a list of favorite countries like Greece, Croatia, Romania or even Belgium. But after good consideration I chose this country. Albania.

Based on what, you would ask me?

Allow me to elaborate a bit; I'm a Jew, born in The Netherlands in real life and have read about the relationship between Israel and Albania. What follows has been extracted from wikipedia:

History
Albania was the only European country occupied by the Axis powers of World War II that ended World War II with a larger Jewish population than before the War.[3][4][5]
Only one Jewish family was deported and killed during the Nazi occupation of Albania.[6] Not only did the Albanians protect their own Jews, but they provided refuge for Jews from neighboring countries.[7] The Albanians refused to comply and hand over lists of Jews. Instead they provided the Jewish families with forged documents and helped them disperse in the Albanian population.[8] Some 1,200 Jewish residents and refugees from other Balkan countries were hidden by Albanian families during World War II, according to official records.[9]
In 1999, Israel took in Kosovar Albanian refugees from the Kosovo War, providing them with medical care, food and accommodation.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania%E2%80%93Israel_relations

Till so far real life but much more important eRepublik relationships. During my time as Country President of Israel during summer last year, we had some big battles with the UAE and other minor battles with the Saudi. Of course we had a lot of help of our allies, but also a lot of Albanians who travelled to Israel and fought for Israel and EDEN in general.

While fighting side to side with my Albanians friends, I noticed how friendly, warm and internationally orientated my new friends were. This impressed me deeply and till today I still have contact with those friends. Loyalty and genuine friendship is hard to find!

So based on a bit of personal real-life consideration and a huge chunk of eRepublik experience I have decided to move to your great country and community.

So once again, thank you for your warm welcome, and I'm looking forward in meeting the community inside eRepublik and on IRC.

Regards,
Joe Franco
http://wiki.erepublik.com/index.php/Joe_Franco