On September 25, 1921, the “La Jeune République” published on page 3, the confession of the Swiss writer on Serbian crimes against Albanians, which, Aurenc Bebja, through the Blog “Dars (Klos), Mat-Albania”, brought to the Albanian public. Titled “Martyrdom of Albania A neutral testimony”:

“In the group of nations of the East, there is a small country which, surrounded by powerful neighbors, is threatened to lose its independence: it is the former fiefdom of Prince Vid: Albania. Its borders, as well as its international status, however, were precisely defined by the agreements of 1913 and 1914, but during the war, Albania was neutral. Is she now paying the price for her neutrality? We can even believe this! It is true that its strategic location on the Adriatic, its isolation, its weakness and especially its proximity to the powerful Serbo-Croatian and Greek kingdoms were likely to draw it into trouble and hostilities.

In the absence of legal reasons, they discovered strategic reasons for occupying its territory. The Serbs especially, in the north of Albania, stood out for the worst atrocities. Entire regions, such as Kosovo, were burned, the population massacred and property looted. With the help of regular troops and the organization known as: Tserna Ruka (black hand), the Serbs “civilized” the occupied surroundings, so much so that, for two months, one could count up to twelve thousand Albanian victims of excessive actions.

The testimony of a neutral person (because there are still such!) is useful here. This is what Ms. Noëlle Roger wrote, when she returned from Durrës, in the Journal de Genève on September 21 “We have participated in the distribution of soup that the American Red Cross donates every evening to women and children of refugees expelled from their villages of ruined, who have escaped the numerous massacres that still continue in the territories occupied by the Serbs in free Albania. Sick newborns, teenage mothers tending to their crippled babies, the exhausted faces of the sick, frail old women, and this sadness that stood out in the grim sights, these hungry eyes of children following the bowls and devouring them those in advance, all these vagrants who were once rich peasants, who lived chiefly by their labor—what a vision of misery and despair impossible to make less painful than our most painful memories of the war.

And in all the cities of Albania, we encounter the same anxiety. Neutral Albania, which seeks only peace, is now threatened by dismemberment that will lead to the death penalty. Even the simplest of peasants knows this. And this small mountain people, zealously devoted to their land and their independence, is ready to die, if Europe, indifferent and ignorant, will play this cruel injustice any longer…” Albanians have unfortunately not yet reached the end of their suffering. Today, we learn that an ultimatum has been sent by the Serbo-Croatians for the evacuation of six strategic areas on the border.

The ultimatum has not been executed by the Albanians, so the outbreak of hostilities is inevitable. What are the Albanians thinking of doing? Against an army of 200,000 men, they should not think of armed resistance. They could only make a new request to the League of Nations asking it to protect them. But shouldn’t we be afraid that the latter will give up this honor, as in last July, because the Albanian issue has already been submitted to the Supreme (High) Council, and the League of Nations has always been careful not to interfere in the affairs of powerful allies. Since the League of Nations is powerless, can’t France and its allies remind the Serbo-Croatians to be more moderate and respect the treaties? Does France’s silence not risk strengthening the thesis of those who assert that secret agreements were made, during the war, between the Allies, to the detriment of vulnerable peoples, and who accuse her of favoring the imperialism of her new allies?”

Reference

“Swiss author about serbian war crimes in Albania”. https://arkiva.kohajone.com/shkrimtarja-zvicerane-deshmonte-per-krimet-serbe-ne-shqiperi/