Authored by Ismet Azizi. Translation Petrit Latifi.
DardaniaPress brings a rare historical testimony collected by prof. dr. Smail Čekić in the work “Genocid nad Bošnjacima u Drugom svjetskom ratu – Dokumenti” (Sarajevo, 1996). It is about the confession of imam Zufer Bešlić from Goražde, who describes the horror of the Chetnik massacres in Eastern Bosnia and the rescue of dozens of Bosniaks who took refuge in Albania.
Crimes in Upper Podrinje – the confession of Zufer Bešlić, imam from Goražde, Sarajevo, 1942
“We, the surviving inhabitants of the regions of Eastern Bosnia, are witnesses to the crimes and bloodshed that were committed against Muslims. The perpetrators of these atrocities, unfortunately, were mainly our neighbors of the Orthodox faith and other evil elements, who formed bloody gangs of thieves, such as history does not know.
My goal is to describe, at least briefly and simply, some of the crimes in our peaceful Podrinje, especially in the districts of: Goražde, Foča and Čajniče. I am reminded of the words of the great philosopher Herbert Spencer: “A wolf to a wolf is not a wolf, but a man to a man is a wolf”. This was proven in our beautiful regions, as will be seen below.
On November 30, 1941, after the fall of Srebrenica, Vlasenica, Rogatica and the entire Višegrad district (except the city), Chetnik gangs occupied Goražde, Foča and then Čajniče. The winter of that year was unprecedented, so only a part of the men managed, with great suffering, to escape by fleeing through the Sandzak of Montenegro to Albania, to our Albanian brothers (Arnauts), in a fraternal embrace, where they found refuge.
Among them was me, as someone who had previously known Greater Albania and the Albanian brothers. Their hospitality and fraternal care for each of us emigrants will forever remain indelible in our hearts. So will the kindness and nobility of our Sandzak brothers…
The Chetniks, after the occupation of Goražde, according to the testimonies of many eyewitnesses, took their victims to the main barracks of Goražde, and then, after midnight, sent them to the railway bridge over the Drin in Goražde and to the railway bridge in Kopače. After they had been robbed and stripped naked, they were tied up in groups of 80–100 people, beaten and then slaughtered or shot, to be thrown into the Drina River.
There were many such massacres, from Ustipraca to Foca, over a length of 45 km: in Kopaca, Goražde, Mravinje, Osanica, Ustikolina and Foca.
The bloody rule of the Chetniks lasted from November 30, 1941 to January 29, 1942. From that time until May 4, 1942, the Partisans ruled. According to the testimonies of a surviving kadi and others, over 6,000 Muslims were slaughtered and killed on those bridges alone. In the city of Goražde alone, exactly 100 people were killed, 6 of them women.
Witnesses recounted that bodies tied with wire, mutilated and half-dead, floated down the Drin River, like wooden logs heading for the mills. Some of the victims in their last moments loudly shouted takbirs, gave the call to prayer and the shahadah. Others prayed and asked for help in vain.
Many girls and women were raped, especially in the villages. Old men over 80 years old, old women and small children were killed and tortured.
Example: a blind old man, Osman Kanlić, over 80 years old, was tortured for a long time and then slaughtered.
In Kopače, over 100 people – old men, women and children – were forced into a house, slaughtered, set on fire with bombs and burned down together with the house.
The village of Deževa near Goražde, with 25 houses, was completely burned down.
In the village of Bošino, a blind woman over 90 years old, the widow of Rustembeg Çengić, was massacred and then burned together with other women and children.
In the town of Çajnica, 57 local Muslims were killed. In Foça, 315 people in the town and about 6,000 in the Foça district.
Mainly, religious imams and dignitaries were targeted. Dozens of cases of imams, mudaris and students brutally killed have been recorded (e.g. Sherif ef. Džaka, Muhamed ef. Pašić, Ali ef. Kodžaga, Adem Efendić with his father and younger brother, Adil ef. Pleh, Hadži Hamdi ef. Kauklija, Muhamed ef. Bjelan, Jusuf Hadžić, Salih Bešlija, etc.).
Numerous religious and educational buildings were also burned and destroyed: the Ustikolin mosque (the oldest in Bosnia), many mektebas and imamates, entire vakufor archives.
In these four months of Chetnik rule in Podrinje, the consequences were terrible not only
This document is authentic evidence of the Chetnik genocide against Bosniaks, but also of Albanian solidarity.
– Albania appears as a place of salvation and hospitality for Bosniak refugees.
– The Albanian and Sandzak hospitality remained an indelible memory in the hearts of the survivors.
– This historical evidence shows that Albanian-Bosnian ties are deep deeply rooted in the common experience of survival against genocidal policies.
This article completes the series of authentic documents published in DardaniaPress, bringing another dark page of history, but also a bright example of Albanian-Bosnian brotherhood.
Reference
Prof. dr. Smail Čekić, Genocid nad Bošnjacima u Drugom svjetskom ratu – Dokumenti, Sarajevo, 1996”)
Original article
Balkan Academia 