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| The three Albanians who lost their life in the Twin Towers |
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| Roko Camaj while cleaning a window of Twin Towers |
On September 11, Roko Camaj, like every other working day, was in the "South Tower", at the moment when the plane hit the building below him. He had just returned from a holiday in his native Montenegro, where he had gone with his brothers. Camaj had returned to America the day before, on September 10, without knowing what awaited him.
He called Ms. Camaj at 9:14 a.m., urging her not to panic. But he died when the tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. Something Camaj had said in a children's book about his work served as his last words: “It's just me and the sky. I do not bother anyone and no one bothers me."
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| Roko Camaj and his son |
When he died on September 11, 2001, Roko Camaj was hailed as the patron saint of window cleaners.
In an image from the New York Times archive, is seen a wiping in his right hand, a sponge in his left. The wind is messing up his hair. The southern tip of Manhattan lies below it.
Mon Gjonbalaj, also a maintenance worker at ABM Janitorial Industries, wore a uniform every day as he always went to work at the South Tower at the World Trade Center.
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| Mon Gjonbalaj and his ABM service shirt |
He was a devoted and proud member for 30 years of the Service of International Union of Workers (SEIU).
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| Sons of Mon Gjonbalaj holding the picture of their father |
Mon often showed up an hour early for work to consume a cup of coffee with his colleagues, who had also nicknamed him ‘Jambalaya’ because of his complicated Albanian surname.
Near retirement age in 2001, Mon was not yet ready to leave work.
"He would have turned 66 on October 31, 2001, but he wanted to continue working," said Sal, one of his three children. "He was so attached to that building. He did not want to let go. For him, it was his second home. "
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| Mon and his family |
When the plane hit the South Tower on the morning of September 11, Mon was at work on the 86th floor.
The father of four managed to call his family, explaining that he was trapped, and told the boy to be strong and keep the family together.
In the years following the attacks, Mon's children sought various ways to keep alive the memory of their father and to honor his strong connection to the World Trade Center.
In 2016, the Museum received a Facebook message from Sal, Mon's son, who offered to donate to the museum collection, the ABM shirt his father wore while working on September 10, 2001. The museum bought the t-shirt and exhibited it recently in 'In Memoriam'.
Simon Dedvukaj, 26, was the youngest of three Albanians killed in Manhattan. He worked at the World Trade Center as head of maintenance work on the Twin Towers. Today in New York there is the Simon M. Dedvukaj Foundation, whose goal is to educate and educate the younger generations to make the right choice in life, to serve not only themselves but also the families and the community where they live.
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| Simon Dedvukaj |
Born in the Bronx, Simon Dedvukaj was proud of his Albanian heritage from a young age. He liked to hear family stories from Albania, where he would also meet his wife, Elizabeta.
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| Mother of Dedvukaj holding his picture in a 9/11 comemmoration day |
They settled on the outskirts of Lake Mohegan, New York, and were to celebrate their first anniversary in October 2001, a month before he and nearly three thousand innocent people have separated from this life twenty years ago. September 11, 2001.
Simon Marash Dedvukaj was a maintenance manager at ABM Industries, he was working upstairs in the North Tower on September 11th.