Who was Skanderbeg the legendary hero of Albania who the SS named a division after ?
A Christian by birth, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg (1405-1468), was given as a hostage to the Ottoman Sultan Murat II to be brought up as a Muslim at Adrianople (Edrine) when he was a child. He became an officer in the Ottoman Turkish army and led them in many victories over European armies. The Sultan was impressed with him that he gave him the title Iskander Bey in Turkish, from “Iskander”, (Aleksander the Great, or prince Aleksander), and “Bey”, Master. The name was shortened to Skanderbeg, beg being the local variant of bey. Later Kastrioti renounced Islam and converted back to Christianity. Soon afterwards, he led a revolt against the Ottomans in 1442. Sultan Mohammed II sent Turkish armies to quell the uprising, but they were unable initially to put down the Albanian revolt. However, after Kastrioti died in 1468 the Turks soon occupied Albania and finally established control over the territory. Albania would remain part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912, when it finally won indepen
