Albania's Golgotha: Indictment of the Exterminators of the Albanian People (German : Albaniens Golgatha:Anklageakten gegen die Vernichter des Albanervolkes), is a German published document of 1913 which was written by the Austrian publicist and politician Leo Freundlich (1875-1953). The document is a compilation of news which he gathered when traveling in the Vilayet of Kosovo during the Serbian invasion of 1912-1913, explaining in detail the full-scale massacres, rape, expulsions, torture and abuse which Albanian civilians suffered under rule by the Serb army and Chetnik paramilitaries. [1] [2] According to the documents of Freundlich, 25,000 Albanians were massacred in the Kosovo Vilayet halfway through the First Balkan War. The document describes the methods of ethnic cleansing which was used to remove the Albanian population of North Macedonia, Northern Albania, and Kosovo. [3] The document was re-translated by Robert Elsie. [4] The reports were confirmed by the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan War. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Freundlich writes of the "thousand of men, women, children and old people who were slain or tortured to death". [9] The report contains information on how entire villages were marauded and burnt to the ground and the women and young girls being raped, and the countryside plundered, ravaged and swimming in blood". He called for an international investigation demanding that Serbian and Montenegrin forces leave Northern Albania and that the atrocities stop. Freundlich was also told by Serbian officials that they were going to wipe out the Albanians, despite protests from the Great Powers. The war crimes were, according to Freundlich, fully supported by the Serbian authorities. [10] He also describes how the Serb regular army, together with Chetniks, attacked unarmed civilians, strangled children and elderly and raped 12-year-old girls. The report gained much attention in Europe with news-bureaus reporting of "appalling atrocities" being committed by the Serb armies. The Kreuzzeitung reported on the "extermination of the Albanian population" and The Daily Chronicle about the massacre of "2,000 Arnauts in Kumanovo" and another "5,000 in Pristina" [11] [12]
The Il Messaggero of Rome reported of "heinous massacres" of the Albanians in the Vilayet of Kosovo. The French " L'Humanité " reported of plundering, massacres and destruction. Freundlich called for the Great Powers help in order to protect the "defenseless population against an army with a state" referring to how the Albanians did not resist the invading Serb forces but were, despite their cooperation, massacred. [13] He mentions how Serb soldiers, in the village of Kumanovo, set fire to houses, and smoked the inhabitants out and then shooting them. [3] [14] The reports include descriptions of how Catholic Albanians and priests were murdered by the Serb armies and how the Serbian Orthodox Church violently converted Albanian Catholics to Orthodoxism. In Albania, many Catholic churches were robbed, including Orthodox ones. Manhunts were carried out by Serb officers who killed many Albanians, and houses and whole villages were burned down with the inhabitants being burned alive or shot down as they fled. Much of the food was stolen by the Serb soldiers from the Albanian villagers, leading to starvation and disease. [15] [16]
Freundlich writes of the boasting from the Serbian officers, explaining how they robbed houses and massacred the Albanian population wherever they went. Other regions were attacked as well, such as Luma region, where the men were burned alive. Serbian officers openly told Freundlich the justification of burning down 80 villages in Luma region. Other reports stated that Serb volunteers traveled from Serbia and joined in with militaries and proceeded with the atrocities. Freundlich described how 36 Albanians were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and were shot. A Serbian officer invited Freundlich to a "manhunt" and boasted that he had murdered nine Albanians. Other reports spoke of Serb soldiers in Skopje who openly spoke of rape and murder that they had committed, intoxicated by victory. One case which bothered Freundlich was when he was told of a Serb soldier who had broken into an Albanian home and forced the father of the house at gun-point to light up the room as the Serb soldier proceeded to rape the wife and girls. [17]
Kachaks is a term used for the Albanian rebels active in the late 19th and early 20th century in northern Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia, and later as a term for the militias of Albanian revolutionary organizations against the Kingdom of Serbia (1910–18) Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–24), called the "Kaçak movement".
Muhaxhir and Muhaxher are Ottoman Albanian communities that left their homes as refugees or were transferred, from Greece, Serbia and Montenegro to Albania, Kosovo and to a lesser extent North Macedonia during and following various wars.
Rexhep Qosja is an Albanian writer, literary critic and Professor at University of Prishtina. He has been considered the first postmodern Albanian novelist and one of the greatest Balkans literary critics.
Zajas is a village in the municipality of Kičevo, North Macedonia. Zajas was the seat of the Zajas Municipality, and is now in Kičevo Municipality.
Mark Krasniqi was an Kosovar Albanian ethnographist, publicist, writer and translator who did most of his work while residing in Yugoslavia.
The massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars were perpetrated on several occasions by the Serbian and Montenegrin armies and paramilitaries during the conflicts that occurred in the region between 1912 and 1913. During the 1912–13 First Balkan War, Serbia and Montenegro committed a number of war crimes against the Albanian population after expelling Ottoman Empire forces from present-day Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, which were reported by the European, American and Serbian opposition press. Most of the crimes occurred between October 1912 and the summer of 1913. The goal of the forced expulsions and massacres was statistical manipulation before the London Ambassadors Conference to determine the new Balkan borders. According to contemporary accounts, around 20,000 to 25,000 Albanians were killed in the Kosovo Vilayet during the first two to four months, before the violence climaxed. The total number of Albanians that were killed in Kosovo and Macedonia or in all Serbian occupied regions during the Balkan Wars is estimated to be at least 120,000. Most of the victims were children, women and the elderly. In addition to the massacres, some civilians had their lips and noses severed. Multiple historians, scholars, and contemporary accounts refer to or characterize the massacres as a genocide of Albanians or the Muslim population in the Balkans as a whole. Further massacres against Albanians occurred during the First World War and continued during the interwar period.
Ferizaj or Uroševac, is a city and a municipality in Kosovo. It is the sixth largest city in Kosovo by population and also the seat of Ferizaj Municipality and the Ferizaj District.
The Black Society for Salvation was a secret Albanian nationalist society established in 1909. Its main task was to organize uprisings in southern Albania and Macedonia struggling for the unification of the four Ottoman vilayets with the substantial Albanian population into one autonomous political unit with its own government and parliament. The members of the society considered the armed rebellions as legitimate means for achieving their aims.
Lumë is a region that extends itself in northeastern Albania and southwest Kosovo whose territory is synonymous with the historic Albanian tribe (fis) of the same name. It includes the village with the same name, Lumë, which is located in Albania. Luma is surrounded by Has region, Fan and Orosh (west), Reçi and M’Ujë e m’Uja, Upper Reka, Gora (east), Opoja and Vërrini of Prizren. The region itself also includes the small Arrëni tribe in the west and the Morina tribe in the east.
The Sanjak of Niš was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire and its county town was Niš. It was composed of the kazas of Niš (Niş), Pirot (Şehirköy), Leskovac (Leskofça), Vranje (İvranye), Kuršumlija (Kurşunlu), Prokuplje (Ürküp) and Tran (Turan).
Classical music in Kosovo refers to the art music cultivated in Kosovo. The roots of classical music in Kosovo are found in the 1940s and include the time period from the times when Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia to this day. It can be said that there is a tradition of classical music in Kosovo, however, compared to other Balkan countries and especially European countries this tradition is younger. Classical music in Kosovo reaches back about 70 years. Even though in a short period of time, this music has evolved, passing through generations of composers and artists. In his book Albanian: Zhvillimi i stileve në veprat e kompozitorëve shqiptarë të Kosovës, Engjëll Berisha comments:
"The diversity of styles in Albanian music [of Kosovo], its national patterns with sound idea-aesthetic foundations are a characteristic of the European musical reality, so many many works are of interest abroad, too, because during this relatively short period Albanian classical music in Kosovo has compensated for the delay in its development."
The Roman heritage sites in Kosovo represent a multitude of monuments of material and spiritual culture, which reflect the Roman period in this region. Among them, a special place is occupied by those that represent the development of art, such as the plastic monuments that are more frequent, and at the same time occupy an important place, because with the presentation of figures in relief and with numerous inscriptions they speak to us enough for this period.
The Bazaar of Prishtina, Kosovo, was the core merchandising center of the Old Prishtina since the 15th century, when it was built. It played a significant role in the physical, economic, and social development of Pristina. The Old Bazaar was destroyed during the 1950s and 1960s, following the modernization slogan of "Destroy the old, build the new". In its place, buildings of Kosovo Assembly, Municipality of Prishtina, PTT, and Brotherhood and Unity socialist square were built. Nowadays, instead of PTT building resides the Government of Kosovo building. Only few historical buildings, such as the Bazaar Mosque and ruins of the Bazaar Hammam have remained from the Bazaar complex. Since then, Prishtina has lost part of its identity, and its cultural heritage has been scattered.
Rugova is a mountain region located to the north-west of the city of Peja, in Kosovo. According to notes of Rugova it has been inhabited since before the 12th century. In 2013, it was designated a national park by the Parliament of Kosovo.
The Battle of Lumë, also referred by the Albanians as the Uprising of Lumë, was a series of clashes between the Albanian locals of the region of Lumë in Ottoman Albania against the invading Serbian army in 1912 during the First Balkan War period. As the Kingdom of Serbia sought to gain access to the Adriatic Sea, the Serbian army met significant resistance from Albanian militia in the Luma region, resulting in the defeat of the Serbian forces. In securing the central Adriatic coast in Albania, Albanian political figureheads were able to disembark in Durrës and proceed with their plans for the eventual Albanian Declaration of Independence.
Gjelosh Gjokaj was an artist from Montenegro. An ethnic Albanian, he was born in the village of Gornji Milješ in Tuzi. After receiving his fine arts degree from the University of Arts in Belgrade in 1963, he proceeded to become part of the faculty until 1969. He later immigrated to Rome, Italy, where he lived and worked until 1983. He was able to leave his mark worldwide with over 45 international solo exhibits and well over 70 group shows. In 1983, he made Augsburg, Germany his primary residence until his death in 2016. He is referred as "father of graphic arts of Kosovo".
Kosovo is characterised by a diverse biodiversity and an abundance of different ecosystems and habitats determined by the climate along with the geology and hydrology. Predominantly mountainous, it is located at the center of the Balkan Peninsula bounded by Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, and Albania to the southwest.
Kosovo during the First World War was initially, for about a year, completely filled with Serbian military forces, which retreated towards Albania to continue further to Corfu. After the occupation of the territories by Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Bulgaria as allies in the First World War, the occupied territories were divided. The years 1915–1918 in the occupied Bulgarian zone are considered the most tragic years of poverty and hunger for the population of this part of Kosovo. The lack of bread was felt not only because of the drought, but also because the invaders confiscated the people's grain. Unlike the Bulgarian occupation zone, the Austro-Hungarians pursued a policy aimed at benefiting the general populace. They began to disregard some national rights, which for Albanians had vital value.
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