Extracted from history book by Serb author Rade Mihaljčič. Painting by Picture: Agim Sulaj.
School textbook for students in the Preševo Valley acknowledges historical fact. Serbian historians and media react: Mihaljčič is a “self-hating Serb”.
Preševo, December 1 (AIP) – In the textbooks for Albanian students in the Preševo Valley, which talk about the history and origin of Albanians in the Balkans, it is clearly explained that they are ancient and autochthonous. While Serbs are said to be newcomers. In fact, if you expect the book to have Albanian authors, you are mistaken, since the compiler of this text is precisely a Serbian historian (Rade Mihaljčič) and the book was printed by the Institute for Textbooks in Belgrade.
This textbook states: “Albanians are an ancient and indigenous people in the Balkans, while Serbs are immigrants from the east…” And this sentence has made some Serbian historians and media nervous, who have considered the book by Serbian author Mihaljčić “scandalous” (“Slandalozno: Srpski udžbeni iz istorije: Albanci su starosedeoci a Srbi došljaci na Balkan!”) and this Serbian history book for sixth graders has aroused fierce reactions and polemics, writes the news agency “Preševa jonë”
History book for the senior class Preševo Valley.
Over time, it seems that even Serbs themselves are gradually coming to terms with historical reality, despite the fact that some still do not agree with the fact that they are an immigrant people in the Balkans. More specifically, author Mihaljčić wrote that Serbs are of eastern origin.
Prof. Slobodan Antonić, with an article entitled “Self-haters”, accuses the author of being both a traitor and a complete lack of knowledge of history. “The Serbian author is more concerned with everyday politics in this textbook than with ‘historical truth’”.
Antonić, criticizing the well-known Serbian author for textbooks, underlines: “After reading this book, I am not sure, since I know Serbian medieval history well. All this is not clear enough for an individual Serbian academic, as is the case with Mihalj. Who cares about the map of Europe from 814, on which it is clear that the Serbian state in the Balkans borders Armenia and Azerbaijan, and now they cannot understand this statement in the textbook for the sixth grade”.
Reference
Balkan Academia 