Historia e luftës se katër kaçakëve te Ostecit ne vitin 1927
Written originally by: Hamit Shala.
Dear readers, we introduce you to the untold and forgotten history of four Kachaks from the village of Ostec in the heroic Albanian city of Manastir. This story, dear readers, is almost lost in our historical and folkloric literature, but in the newspapers and the government of that time and in their police reports, it remains as the biggest event and defeat of those times by the Albanian factor.
The event begins in 1925, where now most of the Albanian lands had remained outside the Albanian state in 1912 and most of these lands would remain under the occupation and administration of the Slavic conquerors, namely the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian kings, but the Albanians were doing everything to avoid remaining under the rule and occupation of this kingdom which was now only strengthening its position.
Seferi Ramadani Lumani and Zekmani Vllezer, who bore the surname Stafaj, had difficulties accepting the Serbian Chetniks in their lands. They revolted and worried about what was happening in their ancestral lands. Other collaborators took to the mountain. These brothers became Kaçaks or Albanian freedm fighters. They decided that no soldier should oppress the village of Ostec. The Albanians killed many military and police officers in different parts of the city of Manastir and the village of Ostec.
Serbian newspapers “Nezavisne Dnevne Novine” mentioning the Kachaks killing Serbian paramilitary and police forces
The Serbian newspaper Nezavisne Dnevne Novine in the year In 1927 dedicated an informative telegram in the royal news bulletin with the title: “Mass Grave of Soldiers in Manastir”. They informed the population about these actions of the Stafaja brothers and their friends.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom issue out rewards for anyone who could give information about the brothers location. Yugoslav forces arrived at the village of Ostec, and out of fear, started beating the men, women, amd the young people to give information about where the kachaks are. Someone eventually gave up the brothers location.
Authorities sent 200 soldiers to arrest the 4 Kachaks, who were hiding in their aunt’s house. In the village of Ostec the authorities decide to let 300 Yugoslav female soldiers to guard the village. 200 Slavic soldiers arrived at the house, surrounded it and ordered the owner of the house to hand it over. The guests of the owner of the house went out the window. The owner refused and, the soldiers killed him.
The four brothers united and fough until the morning. They killed 180 soldiers, leaving 20 soldiers who, shocked by the incident, dropped their weapons and ran away screaming. According to Albanian sources, the soldiers believed that in that house, there must have been 400 Kachaks, and not four.
The authorities failure to apprehend the kachaks led to reprisals against the Albanians relatives. Yugoslav Serb commander Ljubomir Marić in Belgrade issued an order not to kill any of the family. Instead, he orderd that they all be expelled to Albania and the graves of the family to be demolished and left as if they never existed. As a result, many Albanian families had to leave to Albania.
Reference
Balkan Academia 