Newspaper article from our research archive:

Pride inspired nation to put all its faith in a saint; Mother Teresa has been hailed as one of the great icons of the 20th Century. The following extract from a new book by Birmingham academic Dr Gezim Alpion shows how her native Albania helped create the legend and how its neighbours tried to "usurp" her.(News)

Byline: Dr Gezim Alpion

Many Albanians apparently needed a figure like Mother Teresa during the 1990s. Known to the world mainly as economic migrants fleeing from poverty in Albania and as political refugees escaping from Serbian persecution in Kosova, Albanians found in the person, faith, celebrity status, and charity work of Mother Teresa a source of immense pride and inspiration.

They felt that she had somehow restored their dented dignity. Through her, Albanians could tell the world that they should not be judged only on the basis of their poverty, that poor as some ...

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