Petrit Latifi
In 1913, the “Volkszeitung/Deutsche Volkszeitung” published an article on Serbian atrocities in Tirana, Gjakova, and Ohër. The report states that the Serbs burned women and children with kerosene, forced Albanian men to run into the Serbs bayonets, and shot down Albanians in their homes.
Shqip: Në vitin 1913, “Volkszeitung/Deutsche Volkszeitung” botoi një artikull mbi mizoritë serbe në Tiranë, Gjakovë dhe Ohër. Raporti thotë se serbët dogjën gratë dhe fëmijët me vajguri, i detyruan burrat shqiptarë të përballeshin me bajonetat serbe dhe qëlluan shqiptarët në shtëpitë e tyre.
Cited:
“A number of refugees from Albania have arrived in Vienna and made the following reports about Serbian atrocities to a reporter from the “Neue Freie Presse”:
“The Serbs drove us from the land of our fathers,” they say. They burned our houses and slaughtered our women and children. Three days after the Serbs entered Djakova, they set fire to the bazaar. Women and children were tortured to death. In the small town of Luma, near Prizrend, they burned all the houses.
We men took our weapons and went into the mountains, assuming that the Serbs would spare the lives of defenseless women and children, but they committed the most terrible atrocities against them. So women and children were tied together, doused with kerosene, and set on fire. Approximately 700 people lost their lives this way. The Serbs entered Tirana, and their first task was to erect a gallows.”
Bayoneting naked Albanians
“Another recounts: “In Ohrid, the Serbs tore the men’s clothes off their legs and then made them run the gauntlet between their bayonets. One of the most distinguished men in town, Mustafa Bey, then went to the Serb commander to complain. Laughing, he replied: “That’s how it’s done everywhere.” Then Mustafa Bey went home and shot himself.”
Serbs beat down the Catholic Albanian Gjeta Boka in Durrës and killed Albanians in Trebishtë.
“Yet another reports that the Serbs, in their hatred, did not spare even the Christian Albanians. For example, Geta Boka was beaten down in the street in Durazzo. In the village of Trebinjste near Ohrid, four men were murdered at once, and in Albanians all the houses were shot down.”
The Serbs came under the guise of friendship
“The Serbs came first,” the Albanians continue to tell us, under the guise of friendship. They issued a proclamation announcing that they were entering Albania as inhabitants of the Turks and only as our guests and friends. They would help us, would free us from the Turks. We believed them. And in the first days they remained quiet. But then one began, others followed, and suddenly we saw how dearly we had paid for having believed our sworn enemies. But we will take revenge; in the north and south, all able-bodied men are already gathering. The Serbs may have entered Albania, but they will not get out.”
Reference
Balkan Academia 