Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/The Holocaust in Albania/archive1

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was not promoted by GrahamColm 00:42, 23 July 2013 (UTC) [1].

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The Holocaust in Albania

The Holocaust in Albania (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

• Featured article candidates/The Holocaust in Albania/archive1

Nominator(s): 23 editor (talk) 01:30, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

I am nominating this for featured article because it has passed GAN and I really feel that it is a comprehensive, high-quality article about the subject. 23 editor (talk) 01:30, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

Comment: The term "The Holocaust" is generally taken to refer to the continent-wide extermination of Jews and other minorities. The title of the section in this article, which refers only to the Albanian holocaust, should be amended to "Holocaust". Brianboulton (talk) 14:48, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

Done. 23 editor (talk) 20:54, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

Source review - spotchecks not done

• Ranges should use endashes
• Be consistent in whether you include locations for books. Nikkimaria (talk) 18:58, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

I've put endashes for ranges, and made the locations more consistent. 23 editor (talk) 21:12, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

Comments This is a very interesting article, and I have the following comments:

• The article is strong on the chain of events, but never really steps back and explains the overarching policies towards the Jews which existed under the Italian and German occupation regimes. I'd suggest that these policies should be made clear.
• What's meant by "German sources reported the existence of a Jewish organization which was responsible for smuggling as many as a 1,000 Jews into the region"? - this is unclear (the tense seems a bit off as well)
• "When Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1943, all concentration camps in Albania were dissolved.[17] In September 1943, the Germans occupied the country" - it should be noted that the Italian surrender occurred in September 1943, and the German invasion occurred shortly afterwards
• Why did the Kosovo Albanians take a more hostile attitude towards the Jews than other Albanians?
• "From October to November 1944, the Yugoslav Partisans, supported by both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, and assisted by the forces of the newly anti-fascist Bulgarian regime and two brigades of Albanian Partisans, drove the Germans out of Kosovo" - from memory, the Germans were in the process of leaving of their own accord at this time due to the rapid Soviet advance through the Balkans; the partisans speeded up this process though.
• "In June 1990, former Albanian American Congressman Joseph DioGuardi and Jewish American Congressman Tom Lantos visited Albania and met with President Ramiz Alia, who told of numerous unreported stories of hundreds of Albanians who had rescued Jews during the Second World War." - what's the relevance of this?
• At the risk of getting into a historiographical debate, is it really appropriate to refer to the Holocaust in an area which saw little fighting as a "war crime"? Nick-D (talk) 11:34, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

I've clarified that Italy surrendered in September 1943 and that the Germans invaded and occupied Albania shortly afterwards. Also, I've explained why the Kosovo Albanians were more hostile to Jews than other Albanians. I removed the mention of the two congressmen because it appears to be irrelevant, and addressed the issue of the Germans withdrawing vs. them being driven out. As for the usage of the term "war crime", I believe that any situation in which people are seized by authorities and shipped off to a camp and burned in ovens qualifies as a war crime. I hope I've addressed your concerns. Thanks for your comments. 23 editor (talk) 20:45, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

A 'war crime' is a crime which involves the violation of the laws of warfare, or is closely related to fighting. That doesn't seem to have generally been the case here, so I don't think that the term is appropriate (do your sources use this term?). Something like 'crime against humanity' or 'systematic program of murders' seems more accurate. The article still needs material on the overall policies of the Italian and German authorities towards the Jews. Nick-D (talk) 09:58, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

I've altered the text to "The Holocaust in Albania consisted of crimes against humanity and murders committed against Jews in Albania by German, Italian and collaborationist forces while the country was under Italian and German occupation during the Second World War." What do you think? 23 editor (talk) 20:14, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

That looks fine to me. Nick-D (talk) 10:54, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

I've also added why the Italians treated the Jews differently than the Germans did, and what the German policy was towards Jews when they occupied Albania in 1943. 23 editor (talk) 20:51, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

A minor point: I think the References section should be subtitled Print and Web, or else Books and Websites. It currently mixes Books (a type of resource) with Web (a medium). Feel free to ignore this comment if other FAs do the same thing. Ypnypn (talk) 21:31, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

Yes, other FAs do the same thing. Good point, though. I think I'll change that. If anyone has any objections feel free to speak out. 23 editor (talk) 19:02, 30 June 2013 (UTC)

Delegate's comment - Unfortunately, this nomination has stalled and there is no consensus for promotion. I will be archiving in a few minutes. Incidentally, please see WP:TITLE for compliance. Graham Colm (talk) 17:03, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

• Closing note: This candidate has been archived, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please see WP:FAC/ar, and leave the {{featured article candidates}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. Graham Colm (talk) 17:03, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.