Persecution of Albanians in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The persecution of Albanians in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia  included mass murders, executions, burning of villages, looting, rape, torture, imprisonment, deportations, and forced expulsions of Albanians by military and paramilitary forces during the rule of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.[1] These crimes followed previous massacres of Albanians in World War I and massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars by Serbian, Montenegrin, and Yugoslav forces.
According to historian Miranda Vickers, between 200,000 and 300,000 Albanians were expelled from Yugoslavia during the interwar period, while Noel Malcolm estimates the number to be between 90,000 and 150,000. Hakif Bajrami [sq] estimated that around 240,000 Albanians were deported from Kosovo from 1918 to 1941.[2]

Tens of thousands of Albanians were killed in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro during the interwar period. Approximately 60,000–77,000 Albanians were killed from 1918 to 1921.[1][3][4] According to Hakki Demoli, 80,000 Albanians were killed by 1940.[5]

Background
Many Albanians in Kosovo and Albania resisted integration into the often changing Yugoslav regimes, knowing that the new Yugoslav forces were the same Serbo-Montenegrin troops that had committed massacres of defenseless civilians. Albanians considered peaceful coexistence unattainable given the terror and violence they had experienced.[6][7]
After World War I, Serbia suffered greatly from the Austro-Hungarian occupation, and Kosovo was the scene of conflict between Albanians and Serbs. In 1918, the Allies in World War I rewarded Serbia for its efforts by forming the Serbian-centralized Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which retained Kosovo as part of Serbia.

Conditions for Kosovo Albanians worsened as Serbian authorities implemented assimilation tactics, such as closing Albanian-language schools, while simultaneously encouraging Albanians to emigrate. The kingdom promoted the settlement of Serbian and Slavic settlers in Kosovo, beginning the Yugoslav colonization of Kosovo.[6]

Parts of the Albanian population resisting Serbian rule in Kosovo began military maneuvers and formed the Kaçak Movement. Under the political leadership of Hasan Priština and Bajram Ćuri, the movement was based in Shkodra and led by the Kosovo National Defense Committee.[8] Among their demands were the reopening of Albanian-language schools, recognition of Albanian as a second official language, and autonomy,[8] with the goal of unifying Kosovo with Albania.[9]

The Kačaks launched an uprising, targeting the Serbian army and administrative formations, but forbade their members from targeting unarmed Serbs and churches.[8][10] The Serbian authorities considered them to be ordinary bandits and in response to their rebellion, retaliated with operations against them, as well as against the civilian population.[8] In 1919, a major uprising in Drenica, led by Azem Galića, involving 10,000 people, was suppressed by the Yugoslav army.[10] By 1924, military conflicts between Albanians and Serbs had ended, and the Kačak movement had been effectively suppressed.[8]

Kosovo massacres ,
Ćipeva.
On 28 May 1919, Serbian forces massacred 22 Albanians and a two-year-old child in the Ćipeva region, in the Damanek and Bubel regions. A young Albanian named Halili and Vogel “Mali Halil” survived.[11]

Gurabardi and Zatrić
In June 1919, Serbian Chetniks led by Colonels Katanić, Babić and Stanko attacked the village of Lapuša, allegedly in pursuit of Kačacs who lived in the Gurabardi mountains. The inhabitants were massacred. The Serbian detachment had just arrived after the massacre in Zatrić where 27 Albanians were bayoneted, one of the village elders was beaten to death, and another had his eyes gouged out.[12][verification needed]

Konjuhi massacre
In 1924, Yugoslav forces entered the village of the Albanian Konjuhi family and massacred the entire family.[13]

Mitrovica
In 1924, two villages were destroyed and 300 families were killed.[14] Between 1919 and 1921, approximately 1,330 Albanians were killed in Mitrovica.[15]

Pristina
According to Albanian newspapers, in the province of Pristina, Serbian troops killed 4,600 people, imprisoned 3,659 people, beat 353 people, destroyed 1,346 houses, and looted 2,190 houses.[16]

Dubnica
By order of Commander Petrović and County Governor Likić, the village of Dubnica was surrounded and burned on February 10, 1924. Yugoslav authorities massacred 25 people: 10 women, 8 children under the age of eight, and 6 men over the age of fifty.[17]

Rugova
In 1919, Yugoslav forces committed many atrocities in Rugova. From 25 December 1918 to early March 1919, approximately 842 Albanians were killed, including women, the elderly, children, and infants.[1][18]

Kečekole
In January 1921, Yugoslav forces committed numerous crimes against the Albanian civilian population of Kečekole and Prapaštica.[19][20]

Duškaja
In 1921, a massacre was committed by Serbo-Montenegrin military and paramilitary Chetniks against the Albanian population in the village of Jablanica in the Duškaja region. The perpetrators were Kosta Pećanac, Milić Krstić, Spire Dobrosavljević, Arseni Ćirković, Gal Milenko, Nikodim Grujići and Nove Gilići. 63 civilians were killed during the day.[21]

Peć
In Peć, 1,563 Albanians were massacred and 714 houses were destroyed from 1919 to 1921.[15]

Prizren
In Prizren, between 1919 and 1921, around 4,600 people were killed and 2,194 houses were burned down.[15]

Ferizaj
From 1919 to 1921, approximately 1,694 people were massacred in the Ferizaj area.[15]

Podgur
On 15 December 1919, a Montenegrin Chetnik detachment attempted to disarm an Albanian merchant in the village of Podgur, resulting in the burning of 138 houses and the looting of 400. In addition, women, children and elderly men were massacred.[22][1]

Montenegro
Hoti
On 25 December 1919, Montenegrin commander Savo Pjetri arrived in Hoti in the Kuše region of Điteka with his army. 72 Albanians were arrested and sent to Prekaljaj, held overnight, and then executed the next morning and thrown into a mass grave, in the hope of hiding the crime.[23][24] On 7 December 2019, relatives of the Hoti in the United States held a memorial service for the victims.[25][26]

Plav and Gusinje
On 25 March 1919, the Kosovo Committee sent a report in French to the British Foreign Office stating that between 17 and 23 February 1919, Serbo-Montenegrin troops massacred the population of Plav and Gusinje.[27] The Yugoslav authorities had massacred 333 women, children and elderly men by March 1919.[1]

Rožaje
In February 1917, Serbo-Montenegrin troops massacred 700 Albanians in Rožaje and 800 in the Đakovica area, and destroyed 15 villages in Rugova with artillery.[1]

Historical data
According to the Albanian newspaper “Dajti” from 7 November 1924 and data from the Archives of the National Defense Committee of Kosovo, between 1918 and 1921, several massacres of the Albanian population occurred.[28][29][30]

The United States Department of State reported widespread massacres in Montenegro in May 1919. The information was obtained by Albanian refugees in Shkodra and collected by Lieutenant Colonel Sherman Miles. The massacre was over and Montenegro was “completely cleansed” of Albanians two months before his visit to the province. According to Albanian refugees, about 30,000 Albanians had been killed in Montenegro by May 1919. The British mission in Shkodra, however, estimated this figure at 18,000–25,000.[1]

In July 1919, the French consul in Skopje reported nine massacres with 30,000–40,000 victims and that Albanian primary schools had been closed again and replaced with Serbian schools.[3]
Around 35,000 Albanians fled to Shkodra as a result of the atrocities.[31] According to Sabrina P. Ramet, approximately 12,000 Albanians were killed in Kosovo between 1918 and 1921, which is consistent with the Albanian claim that 12,346 people were killed.[32][4][33] More than 6,000 Albanians were killed by Yugoslav forces in January and February 1919.[34] Around 2,000 “Albanian patriots” were killed in Kosovo between 1919 and 1924. This number rose to 3,000 between 1924 and 1927.[35] According to the Kosovo Albanian politician Haki Demoli, 80,000 Albanians were “exterminated” in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by 1940.[5]

International reactions
The Swiss newspaper La Jeune République published an article by Louis Rocher on 25 September 1921, which mentioned Yugoslav crimes against the Albanian population.[36]
In June 1919, the Italian commander Piacentini sent a telegram reporting that Serbian troops were “burning villages and massacring women and children”.[37]

References

1. Department of State, United States of America (1947). Papers Relating to Foreign Relations of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 740–741. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
2. Rama, Shinasi (2019). Nation Failure, Ethnic Elites, and the Balance of Power: The International Administration of Kosovo. Springer. p. 107. ISBN 978-3030051921. Accessed March 27, 2020.
3. Correspondence on the aggression against Yugoslavia. Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. 2000. ISBN 978-86-80763-91-0. Accessed August 19, 2023.
4. Ramet, Sabrina Petra (February 19, 2018). Balkan Babylon: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from Tito’s Death to the Fall of Milošević, Fourth Edition (more than 12,000 Kosovo Albanians were killed by Serbian forces between 1918 and 1921, when pacification was more … ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-97503-5. Accessed August 19, 2023.
5. Demoli, Haki (2002). Terrorism. Pristina: Faculty of Law, Pristina. “Based on national secret files, in the period 1918-40, around 80,000 Albanians were exterminated, between 1944 and 1950, 49,000 Albanians were killed by communist Yugoslav forces, and in the period 1981-97, 221 Albanians were killed by Serbian police and army. During these periods, hundreds of thousands of Albanians were forcibly displaced to Turkey and Western European countries.”
6. Geldenhuys, D. (22 April 2009). Disputed States in World Politics. Springer. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-0-230-23418-5. Retrieved 19 August 2023. “[…] the annexation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (meaning the South Slavs) in 1929 brought no respite to the persecuted Albanians. The reprisals to which they were subjected (including massacres) continued the now familiar cycle of hardship.”
7. Bytyci, Enver (1 April 2015). NATO’s Coercive Diplomacy in Kosovo. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4438-7668-1. Accessed 19 August 2023.
8. Lenhard, Hamza (2022). The Politics of Ethnic Adjustment: Decentralization, Local Government and Minorities in Kosovo. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 62. ISBN 9783643912251.
9. Tasić, Dmitar (2020). Paramilitarism in the Balkans: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, 1917-1924. Oxford University Press. p. 161. ISBN 9780198858324.
10. Robert Elsey (15 November 2010), Historical Dictionary of Kosovo, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, vol. 79 (2nd edition), Scarecrow Press, p. 64, ISBN 978-0810872318
11. “Songs of the popular and Turjakes”. DRINI.us (in Albanian). January 25, 2023. Accessed August 21, 2023.
12. Yetish Kadishani “Masakra e Gurbardhit” (Masakr Gurabardhija). Bujku, Pristina. August 28, 1997, p-8.
13. Pllanaj and Emin Kabashi, prof. dr Nusret (2001). Terror of the invasion of Serbia over the Albanians 1844-1999. Pristina: Archives of Terror and Kosovo. ISBN 9951404006. Accessed 21. 8. 2023.
14. The practice of bourgeois class justice in the struggle against the revolutionary movement of workers, national minorities and colonial and semi-colonial peoples. Publishing House Mopr. 1928. Accessed August 19, 2023.
15. Plana, Nusret; Kabashi, Emin (2001). Der Terror der Besatzungsmacht Serbien gegen die Albaner (in Albanian) (1918-1921, sont tues beaucoup d’albanais ainsi que leurs maisons brûlées Dans la prefecture de Peja 1563 personnes tues et 714 personnes tues et 714 Mitrovica et 42 maisons brûlées ed.). Shteteror i Kosoves Archives. p. 33. ISBN 978-9951-404-00-6. Accessed 19 August 2023.
16. (Facsimile taken from the newspaper “Dajti”, the names and tables of the newspapers, which show the atrocities committed by Serbs against Albanians in 1918-1921.) Albanian newspaper “Dajti”. Title: Summary of crimes committed by Serbian forces in Kosovo (October 15, November 18, November 11, number killed 19.19). Pristina: 4,600 victims: 3,569 (taken from the Archives of the Kosovo Committee).
17. Elsey, Robert. “Memorandum on the Position of the Albanian Minority in Yugoslavia Submitted to the League of Nations.” albanianhistory.net.
18. Statistics of the Rugova Massacre”.  http://www.albanianhistory.net  .
19. Sherifi, Remzije (2007). Shadow Behind the Sun. Peshčar. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-905207-13-8. Accessed August 19, 2023.
20. Studia Albanica (in French). L’Institut. 1981. p. 74. Accessed August 19, 2023.
21. Krasniki, Mark (1984). Lugu and Baranit: ethno-geographic monographs (in Albanian). Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. p. 37. Accessed 19 August 2023.
22. Jarman, Robert L. (1997). Yugoslavia: 1918-1926 (A Montenegrin detachment attempted to disarm an Albanian merchant. On December 15, the massacres of Podgur took place. 138 houses were destroyed; 400 houses were looted. Villagers and massacres of children.) ed.). Archive Editions Limited. pp. 165. ISBN 978-1-85207-950-5. Accessed August 19, 2023.
23. Camaj, Albert (December 24, 2019). “MALESIA.ORG – Tuz, Malesi – JUNCAI: 100 WINDS AND MASSACRE IS INTENDED”. MALESIA.ORG – Tuz, Malesi. Accessed August 21, 2023.
24. Hoti Massacre Commemorated; Albanian-American Prosecutor John Juncaj: End of 100 Years of Silence”. Oculus News. December 7, 2019. Accessed August 21, 2023.
25. “Perkujtohet masakra e Hotit/ “I am the victim and the victim”, prosecutors of the Skript-American: Fund hashtjes 100-vecare”.  http://www.balkanweb.com  (in Albanian). Accessed 21 August 2023.
26. K, Zvezda Plus (December 7, 2019). “MASSACRAMENT IS INTENDED, SHKIPTAR AND SHBA PROSECUTORS: EVERYONE IS ANGRY”. STAR PLUS TV – SHKODER. Accessed August 21, 2023.
27. Elsey, Robert; Destani, Bejtullah D. (January 30, 2018). Kosovo, a Documentary History: From the Balkan Wars to the Second World War. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78672-354-3. Accessed August 19, 2023.
28. Šaban Braha, Genocides of Serbs by the Kendras of the Skripta (1844-1990), Lumi-T, Đakovica, 1991, pp. 225-375.
29. Hamit Borici, His Life as a Writer of the Skripta (1848-1997), Tirana, 1997, pp. 84-85.
30. Blendi Fevziu, History of the Shtipit Shkeptar 1848-2005, Onufri, Tirana, 2005, p. 60.
31. Department, Federal Research Library of Congress (1994). Albania: A Country Study. Federal Research Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-8444-0792-0. Accessed 19 August 2023.
32. Biber, Florian; Daskalovski, Zidas (2 August 2004). Understanding the Kosovo War. Routledge. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-135-76155-4. Accessed 19 August 2023.
33. Middle East. 1921. Accessed August 19, 2023.
34. Phillips, David L. (July 20, 2012). The Liberation of Kosovo: Coercive Diplomacy and US Intervention (Serbian troops clashed, killing more than 6,000 Albanians – ed.). MIT Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-262-30512-9. Accessed August 19, 2023.
35. (RSH), Institutes and Histories (Akademia e Shkencave e) (1993). Truth in Kosovo. Encyclopedia Publishing House. Accessed August 19, 2023.
36. Shkrim i vitit 1921, per krimet Serbe ne Kosove: Tokat u dojen, popullata u masakrua, pronat u plackiten!”. Telegrafi (in Albanian). 2. March 2020.
37. Motta, Giuseppe (25 March 2014). Less than Nations: The Minorities of Central and Eastern Europe after the First World War, Volumes 1 and 2. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-4438-5859-5. Retrieved 19 August 2023.

Persecution of Albanians in Yugoslavia (1941-1999)

The persecution of Albanians in Yugoslavia (1941–1999)  refers to the persecution of Albanians in Kosovo from 1941 to 1999 in Yugoslavia. At the beginning of the federation, Partisan, Chetnik, Bulgarian and Yugoslav troops committed a series of massacres and atrocities against Albanians. In the 1950s, Aleksandar Ranković, head of the Yugoslav secret service, expelled, killed or imprisoned thousands of Albanians during the “1955–56 arms roundup”.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Serbian nationalism under Milošević and Albanian protests demanding independence led to repression by Yugoslav authorities and ultimately to war. Many Albanians were killed and expelled during this period. The persecution of Albanians officially ended in 1999 when Yugoslavia was bombed and KFOR forces entered Kosovo.

Background
This was a continuation and part of the Massacre of Albanians in the Balkan Wars, the Massacre of Albanians in World War I, and the Persecution of Albanians in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Before the federation, Albanians in Kosovo were the most marginalized ethnic group and victims of systematic discrimination and various forms of pressure to leave the region.[1] Between 1937 and 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia established a program to expel 200,000 Albanians to Turkey, which was interrupted when World War II began.[2] When World War II began, Albanian nationalists in the Balkan Combatant Army in Kosovo fought alongside Germany and Italy and hoped to reunite Kosovo with Albania, a goal that was achieved when Benito Mussolini secured the establishment of a “territorially and ethnically united Albania”.[3]

The policy towards the Albanian population was initially a copy of the national policy introduced in the USSR. Despite a similar ideology, aimed at eliminating the “class enemy”, a state of emergency was introduced in Kosovo, which lasted until the beginning of 1946. Thus, although the Albanians were guaranteed equal rights with other peoples in Yugoslavia by the constitution, in reality they were denied them. But they did not accept this situation peacefully and expressed their disagreement with various forms of resistance.

Hoping to attract the loyalty of the communist regime in Albania, Josip Broz Tito envisioned the unification of Kosovo with Albania, but this was stopped by Serbian propaganda and fear, although Tito was convinced by Lenin’s doctrine that Serbian nationalism (i.e., the nationalism of larger nations) was more dangerous than smaller ones (i.e., Albanian nationalism).[4] Tito remained an opponent of Serbian hegemony on this issue.
Assimilation policy and discrimination

When Kosovo was handed over to Yugoslavia, Albanians protested. Many Albanian nationalists were killed, imprisoned, or executed, and many were expelled or fled. Although Kosovo was declared autonomous within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the province’s policymaking capabilities remained very limited in reality. Effective legislative power was exercised by Serbia. From 1945, policy goals for Kosovo were aimed at assimilating the Albanian population and changing the cultural characteristics of Kosovo. Attempts at assimilation failed because Kosovo Albanians continued to speak Albanian.[5]

666 centuries of imprisonment
In the 1980s, 80% of all political prisoners were Albanians, illustrating the scale of the persecution.[6][7][8][9]
Between 1945 and 1990, over 8,220 Albanians were sentenced to prison terms totaling 66,672 years and 7 months, or 666 centuries, 72 years and 7 months. The average sentence per person was 7 years and 1 month. In the period 1981–1990, 3,348 people were sentenced to prison, and 23,770 to 8 years. Another 10,000 were sentenced for misdemeanors, or 1,233 years. During this period, another 1,346 Albanian soldiers were sentenced, while 63 were killed in the barracks. From March 1981 to October 1989, 584,373 Albanians were abused by the police. Violence was used, such as threats and beatings to the point of unconsciousness.[10]

In 1945, over 2,086 people were sentenced to prison in Kosovo, totaling 14,810 years and 6 months. In the period 1956–1980, 901 people were imprisoned and sentenced to 6,397.1 years in prison. During the period 1981–1989, one in three Albanians passed through the hands of the Yugoslav police.[11] After the 1981 demonstrations, 3,348 people were sentenced to 25,000 years in prison. Some 1,346 Albanian soldiers were sentenced to 955 years and 6 months in prison, and 63 of them returned home in coffins.

Massacres
According to the Albanian press, around 36,000 Albanians were killed by Tito’s partisan forces after World War II.[12][13]
In early 1945, Yugoslav authorities illegally and without trial shot more than 1,000 Albanians from Kosovo on the territory of the Albanian state.[14] Many Yugoslav crimes were proven by high-ranking officials of the Albanian state such as Nesti Kerendži, a former deputy minister of the interior, Lieutenant Colonel Zoi Temeli, a former high-ranking official of the State Security, and Šefćet Peći. Between 1944 and 1946, in the city of Mitrovica, more than 2,000 Albanians were massacred by the Yugoslav 6th Kosovo Brigade.[15]

Mitrovica Massacre
Between 1944 and 1946, in the city of Mitrovica, more than 2,000 Albanians were massacred by the Yugoslav 6th Kosmet Brigade.[16]

Vushtrri Massacre
400 bodies were found in the town of Vushtrri.[17]

Gostivar massacre
In November 1944, more than 1,000 people were shot between Kosovo and Tetovo. In Gostivar, Yugoslav officers killed 300 Albanians after taking them out of the barracks. In December 1944, 70 people were arrested in this town and shot on a hill called Gradishtan. On November 17, 1944, about 10,000 Albanians gathered at the tobacco monopoly station in Tetovo, and many of them were shot that same night.[18]

Kirčovo massacre
320 Albanians were killed in the village of Kirčovo. Another 300 boys were taken from Skopje under the pretext of being sent to a military unit, but they never returned.[19]

Massacres in Skopje
Many massacres occurred in the Skopje area. In the village of Bojane, 76 men and 30 women and children were killed, while in the village of Blace, all the men (160 people) and 50 children were killed, and the village was burned.[20][21]

Massacres in Drenica
According to the newspaper “Zeri i Populli”, Tito’s men tore up and threw away the Albanian flag and began mass shootings and unprecedented terror in the Drenica region. Children and pregnant women were shot and hanged, people were left hanging on stilts, and many died from torture. Hundreds of Albanian conscripts were shot on the Prizren-Kukeš-Tirana road. In the Gorica region of Trieste, more than 2,000 Albanian boys from Macedonia, mobilized into labor brigades, were killed with poison gas.[22]

Đakovica massacre
Yugoslav forces killed 20 Albanians from the Đakovica plateau.[23]

Bihor massacre of 1943.
With the support of Italian forces, Serbo-Montenegrin forces, under the command of Pavle Đurišić, razed 82 villages in the Bihor province of the Sandžak on 5 and 6 January 1943. Albanian archival documents reveal that 4,628 Albanians were massacred in 2 days.[24] Hundreds of others, mostly women and girls, were captured. 15,000 were forced to flee. The region was under the protectorate of the Italians, who permitted the massacre.[25] Other sources state that 9,200 Albanians were killed.[26][27] There are also Bosnian sources that confirm the crimes.[28][29]

The Albanian delegation investigated the case and concluded that 590 men were killed, 185 were slaughtered, 119 were bayoneted. 340 women were killed, 285 were stabbed, 266 were cut into pieces. 701 children were killed, 705 were burned, and 447 were torn apart. 359 men and 275 women were injured. 250 young women were deported to Chetnik camps under the control of Draža Mihailović, where they were raped. The sources were taken from the Central State Archives in Tirana, in the 1943 archive fund, item number 5, with 57 sheets. Some original documents were sent to Prime Minister Ekrem Bey Libohova at that time.

Gnjilane massacre  in 1942.
In the village of Blace, Kačanik, a Macedonian partisan brigade shot 128 Albanians. Another 128 Albanians were found in a mass grave, several of whom had their throats slit. On 15 November, 109 victims were discovered, and the next day, 8 more. On 25 July 1942, the village headman of Gnjilane reported that the survivors had arrived without clothing, shelter, and were sleeping in open fields. When Bulgarian forces invaded the region, the Albanians took up arms and various battles ensued.

On 15 September 1943, Serbian commander Jagod and his Chetnik forces bombed the Preševo ​​mosque on the night of Ramadan, killing four and wounding 28. They also massacred civilians in Iseuka, Gosponica and Sopot. In the village of Koka, Imer Saćapi was wounded in the direction of the village of Kokaj, where he died and was buried in the cemetery. Several Albanians died of their wounds, among them Ahmet Haziringa Ljovac, Rifat Lipovica on 14 December 1944. The grave is unknown to the victims of Gjilan.

On 28 November 1944, when mobilized Serbian forces of the 3rd Preševo ​​Brigade entered the village of Gosponica, Rustem was killed along with 33 residents of Gosponica and Bukuroča.[30]
In the town of Gnjilane, 1,000 people were shot, and in Skenderaj 250. In the Polish village of Uroševac, 28 people were shot in front of their families. Near Priština, in a place called Tomboce, over 200 people were shot, while 70 people were massacred in Priština in one day. In Peć, 200 Albanian men were killed from December 1944 to early 1946.[31]

Rogovi massacre of 1941
In April 1941, Catholic Albanians from 8 villages in Đakovica were massacred in Rogovi. The crimes were documented in a book titled “Trojet e Arberis” by Dom Viktor Sopi.[32] 64 Albanians were killed from the villages of the Smać parish: Bistažini, Berdosana, Dolji, Fšaj, Kusari, Kušaveći, Marmuli and Smaći. The perpetrators were Serbian commanders Srećko Čemerikić and Brajan Zorić.[33]

Preševo ​​massacres 1941–45.
On 18 April 1941, Bulgarian troops massacred 341 Albanians, imprisoned 790 people, and burned 650 houses in Preševo.[34] In Bujanovac, troops killed 649 civilians and burned 1,180 houses.[35] In Preševo ​​and Kumanovo, during the first half of 1945, about 600 members of the Albanian population were arrested, of whom about 200 were killed on the way to the city of Vranje, while the rest drowned in the prison in Vranje. Many others were also shot in the city of Preševo.

Massacres in Gosponica, Kari and Iseukaj
Most of the crimes committed by the Serbian-Macedonian communists were committed at night, accompanied by music to drown out the screams of the tortured children and women.[36] In Iseukaj, all the men were killed. In Gosponica, 8 people were killed. On 22 December 1944, the brigades massacred 24 Albanians in the village of Kari and burned 50 houses.[37][38][39]

Skopje Massacres
On 6 October 1944, in the village of Blace in Skopje, the 16th Yugoslav Brigade killed 111 Albanian civilians, and the bodies were left unburied for several days.[40] The perpetrator was Gliša Šaranović. Approximately 7,845 people were killed in Gnjilane.

Bar massacre in 1945.
In 1945, Montenegrin communists massacred thousands of Albanian men in Bar.

The 1955–56 arms confiscations, initiated
by Aleksandar Ranković, the head of the Yugoslav secret service, ushered in a period of systemic discrimination. Ranković’s paranoia and racist, fanatical obsession with targeting Albanians in Kosovo led to the so-called “1955–56 arms roundup”, in which thousands of Albanians were imprisoned, exiled, or killed and tortured to death by having their heads placed in ovens until they were burned alive. According to Albanian sources, as early as 1945–46, around 12,000 Albanians were under the surveillance of Ranković, who considered Albanians “informburoists”, a term that means something like “spies”.[41]

Public Executions
Until 1952, the Yugoslav communists continued to hold show trials and carry out public executions of Albanians, in an effort to intimidate small groups that violently resisted Yugoslav rule in Kosovo. Evidence suggests that the police, in collaboration with state security, systematically resorted to reprisals and abuses, thereby violating constitutional and other legal limits during the operation. For example, Budimir Gajić, in his capacity as mayor of Prizren, described the process in an internal report from 1956 as follows:
“…

We showed persistence in calling people and holding them until they surrendered their weapons, 4-5 days. There were also cases where people were held for 4-5 days in the snow and beaten. Similarly, the testimonies of witnesses who participated in the confiscation, both officials and civilians, reveal the use of systematic beatings of those suspected of possessing firearms.”[42]

According to Albanian sources, Ranković’s goal was to increase pressure on Albanians to leave for Turkey.[43] Many Albanians did not own weapons, but were forced to find a rifle and surrender it in order to end the harassment.

The aim of the operation was to spread fear in rural Kosovo. Yugoslav repression of Albanians had led to the deaths of thousands, and many fled to Turkey. According to sources found in the Archives of the Kosovo State University Agency (ASHAK) and the Regional Historical Archives of Đakovica, Ranković was eventually displaced after reports of deformities and abuse of Albanians were published. Another purpose was Ranković’s desire for ethnic chauvinism.[44] There are reports of Ranković’s men using lies to brainwash young Albanian boys that a certain village elder (whom Ranković wanted removed) had killed the boy’s father. Ranković’s men would then arm the boy and he would proceed to kill the target.[45]

Expulsions
Between 1953 and 1967, 408,000 Albanians were expelled as a result of Ranković’s policies. Around 30,000 people were subjected to torture, 103 people lost their lives as a result of this torture, and approximately 10,000 people were left with lifelong disabilities.[46]
Ranković also minimized and downplayed the Bar massacre of 1945.[47]

Yugoslav assassinations of important Albanian officials
In order to destabilize the situation of Albanians, the Yugoslav authorities carried out a series of assassinations and murders during the Ranković era.

Xheladin Hana
Xheladin Hana, an Albanian patriot, was arrested and tortured, then killed on December 15, 1948.[48][49]

Nexhat Agoli
Nexhat Agoli, Deputy Prime Minister of the Macedonian government, originally from Veliki Debar, was arrested on April 15, 1949 and was strangled by Ranković’s men.[50]

Rifat Berisha
Knowing that the Yugoslav secret police, led by Čedo Topalović and Čedo Mijović, were pursuing Rifat Berisha, the Albanian nationalist president, he decided to fight in the Drenica hills on 17 May 1949.[51][52] The village of Gajrak was surrounded and the Albanians fought the Yugoslav troops all night until they were massacred.[53]

Sabaudin Đura
In the winter of 1950, Albanian patriot Sabaudin Đura was killed, as was Isuf Torozi, who had been arrested in 1949 and tortured to death.[54][55]

Cene Shikriu
In March 1949, Cene Shikriu from Gjakova was arrested and disappeared without a trace.[56]

Murders of 1981
In 1981, Albanian students were murdered and poisoned in Mitrovica, Vustrovo, Ferizaj and Pristina by Yugoslav police.
Crisis of 1997

According to author Jane Sharp, after Tito’s death in the 1980s, Slobodan Milošević exploited resentment against Kosovo Serbs to foment hatred. Dr. Mary Kaldor of the London School of Economics has noted that the main conflict of the 1980s and 1990s can be traced to Milošević’s “insisting on the mystical significance of Kosovo”,[57] part of a larger Serbian propaganda developed by Serbian intellectuals. The Kosovo myth was inflated and turned into a tool of oppression.

Massacres of 1998–99.
Serbian-Yugoslav forces committed many massacres against the Albanian civilian population during the 1998–99 Kosovo War.

References

1. Cvić, Christopher (2005). Kosovo 1945-2005. pp. 851–860. Accessed 23 August 2023.
2. Jeta, Loshaj. “Kosovo and Ukraine are more similar than many people think.” Retrieved August 23, 2023.
3. STAMOVA, MARIJANA (2017). THE ALBANIAN FACTOR IN SERBIA/YUGOSLAVIA IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES (What Albania could not achieve as an independent state, namely the unification of the entire Albanian nation in one state, was actually finalized by Benito Mussolini’s decree of June 29, 1941, which envisaged the establishment of a “territorially and ethnically united Albania” under the Italian protectorate. ed.). Institute of Balkanology and Center for Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
4. T. BATAKOVIĆ, DUŠAN. The Case of Kosovo: Separation versus Integration Heritage, Identity, Nationalism. Belgrade: Institute of Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. p. 109. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
5. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Refworld | Assessment of Kosovo Albanians in Yugoslavia”. Refworld.
6. Matas, David (26 July 1996). The End: The Struggle Against Human Rights Violations (Almost half of the political prisoners in Yugoslavia were ethnic Albanians imprisoned for claiming to identify with the Albanian nationalist cause. Albanian nationalism does not appear so much as a desire to join neighboring… ed.). Dandurn. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-4597-1847-0.
7. Dolečki, Jana; Halilbašić, Senad; Hulfeld, Stefan (November 19, 2018). Theatre in the Context of the Yugoslav Wars (As a result, three out of every four ordinary prisoners in Yugoslav prisons at that time were Albanian political prisoners from Kosovo. Sabile KečmeziBaša explains that the Albanians of the former Yugoslavia spent 666 centuries, 72 years and 7 … ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-98893-1. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
8. Pichler, Robert; Grandits, Hannes; Fotiadis, Ruža (September 1, 2021). “Kosovo in the 1980s – Yugoslav Perspectives and Interpretations”. Comparative Studies of Southeast Europe. pp. 171–182. doi:10.1515/soeu-2021-0059.
9. Dragović-Soso, J. 2002. “Saviors of the Nation.” Serbian Intellectual Opposition and the Revival of Nationalism. London: Hearst.
10. Keçmezi-Başa, Sabile (2009). These Burgosurit Politike Shqiptare ne Kosovo 1945-1990: (Gjate Viteve 1945-1990 ne ish-Yugoslav Shqiptaret Kaluan ne Burgje 666 Shekuja, 72 Vjeta Albanian e 7 Muin Albanian). Logos-A. pp. 178, 368, 393. ISBN 978-9989-58-322-3. Accessed 24 August 2023.
11. Organizations, Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress (1987). Persecution of the Albanian Minority in Yugoslavia: Hearing and Briefing before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, Second Session, October 2 and 8, 1986. (There is practically no Albanian family in Kosovo that does not have someone in prison, including minors. The treatment of political prisoners in Yugoslavia is appalling. I will read you just one paragraph of the signed petition… (ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office. Accessed August 24, 2023.
12. “The National-Chauvinist Policy of the Yugoslav Revisionists Against the Albanians of Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro”. Published in the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit”. Date: September 9, 1958, No. 217 (3118), p. 4.
13. Lenhard, Hamza (2022). The Politics of Ethnic Adjustment: Decentralization, Local Government and Minorities in Kosovo. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-643-91225-1. Accessed 19 August 2023.
14. AMPJ. Published 1949, Document No. 191 (B/ V-2), p. 43. “Attitudes of the Serbian authorities towards the treatment of Albanians in Kosovo and Albania.”
15. Sabit Sila, p. 7.
16. Sabit Sila – Institutes and Histories, Pristina. “Vendosja e puštetit yugosllav ne Kosove dhë ne viset e tjera shqiptare (1944 – 1945)”. p-6. (Translation: When the 6th Kosmet Brigade entered Mitrovica, more than 2,000 people from the city and surrounding settlements were shot. 400 dead were found in the city of Vushtrri. In November 1944, more than 1,000 people were shot from Kosovo to Tetovo, leaving the fields and pits.)
17. Sabit Sila – Institutes and Histories, Pristina. “Vendosja is a Yugoslav province in Kosovo that is not under the control of the Albanians (1944 – 1945)”. p-6.
18. Sabit Sila, p. 7.
19. Sabit Sila, p. 8
20. AMPJ, Published 1960, Document No. 530/2, p. 10. Report entitled “The Situation and Problems of the Albanian Population in Yugoslavia”, prepared by Rako Naco and Petro Papi.
21. Sabit Sila, p. 10.
22. Sabit Sila, p. 10.
23. “AMPJ”. Published 1981, document no. 1140/1, pp. 114-115. “Report of the III Corps of the National Liberation Army of Albania”. March 1945.
24. RSH), Institutes and Histories (Akademia e Shkencave e (1993). The Truth about Kosovo. Encyclopedia Publishing House. p. 198. Accessed August 23, 2023).
25. A. Selmani-A. Aliu; Miderriz Haki Efendiu, “Lidhya is the History of Kosovo”. Pristina, 2005. p. 169.
26. Alpion, Gezim (December 30, 2021). Mother Teresa: The Saint and Her People. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-93-89812-46-6. Accessed August 23, 2023.
27. “Massacre of Bihorit in Naten and Bozhikov in 43-tes (I) – Dielli | Sun”. 5 January 2015. Accessed 23 August 2023.
28. “Genocide in Bihor on Christmas Eve and Christmas 1943, according to Albanian archival documents (II)”. Dardania Press (in Bosnian). 5 January 2021.
29. “Genocide in Bihor on Christmas Eve and Christmas 1943”. PRESS OF SANJAK (in Bosnian). 7 January 2016. Accessed 23 August 2023.
30. Niyazi, Ramadani (2020). Shtegtim ne histori – I / Niyazi Ramadani . – Gnjilane : Rrjedha, 2020.–libra ; 21 cm. [Libri] I. – (Gnjilane ne rezistencen kombetare ne juglindje te Kosoves 1941-1951) : (studim documentary monograph. Gnjilane. pp. 277–281. ISBN 978-9951-453-02. August 2. Word. 24-24.
31. Sabit Sila, p. 9.
32. “Trojet e Arbri” – Albanian right wing in defense of ethnic Albania.” Published in 2006 in Prizren, Klina. pages-276-286.
33. “80 years of Serb massacres in Rogovës are unknown and regrettable massacres in the institutions of Kosovo’s political elite.” Bota Sot.
34. Jovan Marsijević, Hranislav Rakić, Chronology 1903-1945, Leskovac 1979, p. 185.
35. Ardian, Emini (October 6, 2016). Botohet libri i autorit Preshevar Ardian Emini “Presheva ne rrjedhat e historisë” (Shek.XX). UNIVERSITIES AND TIRANES FACULTIES OF HISTORY-PHILOLOGY DEPARTMENTS AND HISTORISES. p. 85. Accessed August 23, 2023.
36. Ardian, Emini (October 6, 2016). Botohet libri i autorit Preshevar Ardian Emini “Presheva ne rrjedhat e historisë” (Shek.XX). UNIVERSITIES AND TIRANES FACULTIES OF HISTORY-PHILOLOGY DEPARTMENTS AND HISTORISES. p. 111. Accessed August 23, 2023.
37. S. Latifa. “Rrugetimy neper Luhyne te Preskhev”. p-78
38. Petar Jochev. p. 125.
39. Xhafer Shatri “Veshtrim i pergjithshem mbi politiken serbomadhe ne Kosova”. Geneva: Immigrant sa Kosova. 1987, p.91.
40. Ramadani, Nixazi. Mbrojtja Kombetare e Kosoves Lindore Nga Nixazi RAMADANI. pp. 4–8, 10. Accessed August 23, 2023.
41. “Persecuted and Scythians Not Kohen e Rankovikit (1948-1968) – Epoka e Re”. Accessed August 24, 2023.
42. Strole, Isabel (June 30, 2021). The Yugoslav State Security Service and Physical Violence in Socialist Kosovo. pp. 110–112. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
43. Shefqet Dinaj Napulan. “Action and Mbledhjes Se Armeve Ne Dukagjin (1955 /1956)”. 2011. ISBN 978-1-4478-5197-4. p-43.
44. Shefket Dinaj. “Action for collecting weapons in the territory of Gjakova (1955-1956)”. Faculties and Education, Universities and Prishtina, Prishtina, KOSOVO. AKTET ISSN 2073-2244. Journal of the Alb-Shkenca Institute  http://www.alb-shkenca.org  Reviste Shkencore e Institutit Alb-Shkenca Copyright © Alb-Shkenca Institute. p.553
45. Mithat Begolli. “KRIEZINJTE E GJAKOVES”. 28. 5. 2012. ISBN 978-1-304-12767-9.
46. Rifati, Rexhep (March 4, 2021). “Marreveshya e `53-tes, sforcohet me dhune nday shqiptareve ne “Periudhen e Rankovicit””. Prointegra. Accessed August 23, 2023.
47. Butka, Uran (December 30, 2014). Masakra e Tivarit dhe Pergjegjesija e Shqiptar (in Albanian) (During the sending of a number of Albanians to supplement the units of the 4th Army, an incident occurred, which was not such that it could not be located, so that the consequences could be extinguished. I do not want to go into details. An Albanian jumped off the belt, took out a rifle and killed him. Then another fighter was killed. However, our other leaders, instead of solving the problem without spreading the conflict, wanted to retaliate, they tried to shoot. 40 Albanians for each fighter killed. A riot broke out. Some of the Albanians started throwing bombs. Maybe there were some bombs. And our commanders opened fire and killed 300 Albanians”. ed. note). Booktique.al. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
48. Hetemi, Atde (October 6, 2020). Student Movements for the Republic of Kosovo: 1968, 1981, and 1997 (Rifat Berisha was killed fighting in the Drenica Hills in 1948, and Xheladin Han was killed by the UDBA (Yugoslav State Security Service) in 1948. Rusinov, Yugoslav Experiment, 1948–1974, 25. 13. Literature on Migration in Kosovo … ed.). Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-54952-7. Accessed August 24, 2023.
49. Pavlović, Aleksandar; Draško, Gazela Pudar; Halili, Rigels (June 13, 2019). Reexamining Serbian-Albanian Relations: Uncovering the Enemy (Rifat Berisha died fighting in the Drenica Hills in 1948, and Đeladin Han was killed by the UDBA (Yugoslav State Security Service) in 1948). Denison I. Rusinov, The Yugoslav Experiment, 1948–1974 (Berkeley: University of … ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-27315-2.
50. Heraklid, Alexis (December 31, 2020). The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians: A History (.. where he met his death in 1951.213 This was also the fate of the main Albanian Macedonian, the young lawyer Nexhat Agoli, who was the deputy president of ASNOM and the Minister of Social Affairs.214 On the whole, however (ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-28944-2. Accessed August 24, 2023.
51. Hetemi, Atde (October 6, 2020). Student Movements for the Republic of Kosovo: 1968, 1981, and 1997 (Rifat Berisha Died Fighting in the Hills of Drenica in 1948, ed.). Springer Nature. p. 67. ISBN 978-3-030-54952-7. Accessed August 24, 2023.
52. Keçmezi-Başa, Sabile (2009). These bourgeois policies of the Albanians in Kosovo 1945-1990: (the Yugoslav Albanians in 1945-1990 were not worth 666 shekels, 72 years in 1945-1990) (the Yugoslav Albanians in 1945-1990 were not worth 666 shekels, 72 years in 7 months) (7 months) (only for 10 months) there is information that under the same law for criminal acts against the people… among whom was the 82-year-old Tahir Berisha.110 In this heroic battle, the brave Rifat Berisha fell.. . Logos-A. ISBN 978-9989-58-322-3. Accessed August 24, 2023.
53. US Army Reserve, p. 252/I, 1951, file 340, MF 393, page 36.
54. Šaban Braha. “Genocides of Serbs”. p.497-498.
55. “Persecuted and Shqiptareve ne kohen e Rankovikit (1948-1968)”. PrizrenPress – Portal informativ (in Albanian). June 28, 2021. Accessed August 24, 2023.
56. “Persekeutimi and Shqiptareve ne kohen e Rankovikit (1948-1968)”. DRINI.us (in Albanian). June 28, 2021. Accessed August 24, 2023.
57. KOSOVO TO MAY 1997. The Origins of the Kosovo Crisis to May 1997. (In her written account, Jane Sharpe explained how Milošević came to power in the late 1980s by fomenting and then exploiting Serbian resentment towards Kosovo Albanians.[22] “While it is true that there is a long history of antagonism between the Serbian and Albanian populations,” Dr. Mary Kaldor of the London School of Economics observed that “the current crisis must be traced primarily to Milošević’s mobilization of nationalist sentiments in the late 1980s. The position of the Serbian minority in Kosovo and the insistence on the mystical significance of Kosovo for the Serbian nation were central elements of the nationalist propaganda developed by Serbian intellectuals and exploited by Milošević, using all the modern techniques, especially television, available to him.” The Serbian Information Center informed us that “the current rulers of Serbia, for their own purposes, have inflated the Kosovo myth to all proportions and turned it into a means of oppressing their own people.”[23] ed. note). Fourth Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Accessed 23 August 2023.

The life and death of psychopath, war criminal and mass murderer Milić Krstić

Milić Krstić or Milić Kersta (1878-1938) was a Serbian Chetnik vojvoda (captain) who emigrated during the 1900s to the Peć region of Kosovo. Krstić was responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Albanians during his military campaigns in the Istok region between 1912 and 1938. In 1924, Krstić, together with Kosta Pećanc, massacred 27 Albanians, including 5 women, in the Tutin region. Krstić also committed heinous massacres of Albanians in Llap, Uroševac, Štimlje, Dumnica, Plav and Gusinje in order to force them to leave. The Serbian government allowed the formation of separate terrorist movements such as the “Black Hand” led by Milić Krstić, a well-known criminal at the time.

In 1930, Albanian priests wrote a report on the crimes committed against Albanians, which mentioned that Krstić had killed 60 Albanians in one day in Đakovica. In 1938, Krstić was killed by an Albanian peasant named Selman Kadrija, who shot him near Lake Istok. Selman Kadrija was proclaimed an Albanian hero for executing Krstić, who was known to bayonet Albanian babies in their cradles. According to interviews with the locals of Istok, he may have slaughtered up to 9 boys from an Albanian family during one of his many visits.

Milić Krstić was also accused in 1924 of the murder of an Albanian in Rugova, and in 1927 of the murder of an Albanian from the village of Vrelska.

On June 9, 1938, the newspaper “Politika” wrote that Milić Krstić was killed 2 kilometers from his home and that he was credited with “merit for establishing order and peace in Metohija.” His war crimes were not mentioned.

References

1. Krivača, Safet (28.03.2019).  “Heroes and the Perbuzur Selman Kadri”  . Kosovarja Magazine.
2. Kabashi, Sali (July 13, 2018).  “Organizations that oppose Vojvodes are the Istogut Militsa Kerrsta of Selman Kadri”  . Shekulli Agency.
3. Günter, Vladislav (2003). “Ochlas Valki O Kosovo V Kosovsko-Albanskych Pisnich”.  Český Lid  .  90  (2): 117–18.  JSTOR  42639131  .
4. “Haradinaj’s proposal will make the hero Selman Kadri”  .  RTV21  . June 3, 2019.
5. 1930. Gjon Bisaku, Štjefen Kurti & Luigi Gashi: The Situation of the Albanian Minority in Yugoslavia Memorandum presented to the League of Nations  http://albanianhistory.net/1930_Bisaku-Kurti-Gashi/index.html.
6. “Politics”. 1938. “THE CHETNIK WARRIOR KILLED – MILIC CAPTAIN KRSTIC”.
7. Kosovo per sankhakun.  https://kosovapersankhakun.org/nenprefektura-e-prefektures-se-pejes-tutini/
8. Selman Kadri Hasanaj. Vrasja e Milik Kerstikes.  https://www.zemrashkiptare.net/news/33506/rp-0/act-print/rf-1/printo.html
9. The Truth of Kosovo. “Kristak Prifti”. page 142. 1993.
10. Daily Report for Eastern Europe · Issue 222–231, page 59.  Link  .
11. SERBIAN WARS OF OCCUPATION AND OTHER MEASURES FOR THE EXPULSION OF ALBANIANS (1912-1941).  Link.
12. A MOTHER WOULD NEVER BRING SUCH A CRIMINAL: The infamous Chetnik spread fear in Sandžak and Bosnia, distinguished himself with bloody crimes, and then his own people LIQUIDATED him.  Link  .
13. Ethnic Minorities in the Balkan States, 1860-1971: 1927-1938.  https://www.google.se/books/edition/Ethnic_Minorities_in_the_Balkan_States_1/sgIXAQAAIAAJ?hl=sv&gbpv=1&bsq=Rougovo&dq=Militch%20Rougovo%201927&printsec=frontcover

Names of Serbian war criminals in Kosovo 1998-1999.

The following post lists the names of Serbian war criminals who killed Albanian civilians in various massacres in Kosovo during 1998-1999.

Serbian war criminals in the Djakovica massacre

Momcilo Stanojevic, Sreten Camovic, Milan Stanojevic, Rade Colic, Milan Slavkovic, Sava Stanojevic, Slobodan Kovac, Sava Stojanovic, Milan Dekic, Momcilo Dekic, Dragan Racic, Vuk Mirkovic, Vaso Vujovic, Nikotin Vujovic, Bozhi Stefik Bojan Sim, Darko Stefi Ragik Ljubisa Obradovic, Radovan Pantovic, Milic Pantovic, Aca Jovanovic, Cedomir Bozovic, Sava Jovanovic, Predrag Ristic, Goran Jovanovic, Milos Scepanovic, Srdjan Krstic, Milan Dikic, Momcilo Dikic, Zvezdan Dimic, Godjo Doka Rajkovic, Gojko Djakovic and Ladja Doka Rajkovic Lazarevic.

Serbian war criminals in the Kruše massacre Vogel

Predrag Belošević, (participant in the wars against Bosnia and Croatia), Grujica Belojević, (brother of Lubiša Belojević), Lubiša Belojević, Žarko Belošević, Žika Belošević, Mališa Tijanić, (brother and sister of Ceda Tijanik) (brother and sister of Ceda Tijanik) Ceda Tiranja Tijaniked, V. Tiranja Tijaniked, V. Tijanić, Obrad Tijanić, Živan Vučić, Mirolub Vučik, Dušan Vučik, Rade Ivanošević, (brother of Milisav Ivanošević) Milisav Ivanošević, Igor Šapić, Gradibor Radunović, Ivan Gajin and Zoran Šlanić. Most of these people were from Crkolez, while Dušan Šapić and Žarko Šapić were from Belica, and Dragan Cvetković from Uča and Slobodan Petković from Žakovo.

Serbian war criminals in the Izbica massacre

Mihajlo Tomašević, Veselin Tomašević, Slavko Tomašević, Vujadin Tomašević, Nenad Tomašević, Stojadin Tomašević, Igor Tomašević, Miloje Tomašević, Vladan Tomašević, Radoslav Tomašević, Vasilije Tomašević, Vasilije Tomašević, Tomašević Miloš, Tomašević Tomašević Miloš, Tomašević Tomašević Srgjan Tomaševik, Millorad Tomašević, Mileta Tomašević, Radenko Tomašević, Mile Tomašević, Stojadin Tomašević, Milenko Tomašević, Milan Tomašević, Dragoljub Tomašević, Gjoko Tomašević, Boško Tomašević, Zhivorad Najikidan, Zhivorad Tomaš Tomašević, Nebojša Tomašević, Nenad Tomašević, Branillav Tomašević, Ratko Tomašević, Filip Tomašević, Dejan Tomaševik, Gordan Tomašević, Predrag Tomašević, Despot Tomašević, Tadisa Tomašević, Sinisa Tomašević, Tomislav Tomašević, Zoran Tomašević, Goran Tomašević, Branislav Kragović, Ratko Kragović, (from Sirigana).

Marko Ristic, Marko Damjanovic, Dragoljub Rajkovic, Jovica Rajkovic, Rade Kovacevic-Zec, Dika Kovacevic, Ognjan Kovacevic, Gjorge Mojsic, Radosav Kovacevic-Cule, Mile Jokic, Nebojsa Kovacevic, Sinisa Ri Jokic, Svetozar Kovacfr (Svetozar Kovacfr) Momir Milentijevic, Zoran Jovanovic, Milutin Arisic, Milan Todorovic, Dejan Spasic, Nebojsa Nikcic, Miodrag Komatina, Nicifor Kovacevic, Dragan Dimitrijevic, Vukmic Lazarevic, (from Runik), Todor Deverdzik, Rade Deverdzik, S. Deverdzik, Dragisa Petrovic, Dragisa Deverdzik, Milic S. Drago, S. Ognjan Petrovic, (from Radiševo), Nenad Šmigić, Radoje Šmigić, Cvetko Šmigić, Dragan Šmigić and Golub Šmigić, (from Lečina), Dadoša Ilić, Živoin Ilić and Momčilo Radovanović, (from Kučica), Živko Joković, Radoslav Kandić, (from Kotor), as well as Radivoje Raša-Kalenović with his son Raša-Kalenović, Raša-Kalenović, Ž. Jovanović, Zoran Jovanović, Blagoje Čolaković, Nenad Čolaković, Radoš Lajović, Ilija Trajković, Rajko Rajčić, Vllado Bakracević, Lubisha Ilić, Momo Pelević, Sllagjan (former policeman), Sadudin Redžepagić from Skak, (Skak). Goran Šapić, Rade Šapić and Dušan Šapić (all three from Belica and Burimit. These names were taken from the UNMIK administration.

Serbian war criminals in Drenica

Dragisa Llazarević, Sinisa Gjorgević, Mile Blanusa, Goran Korcag, Predrag Millanović, Nebojša Radulović, Goran Simić, Saša Kostić, Slobodan Danić, Zoran Đorđević, Zvonko Šabić, Nenad Ćaušević, Z Dragih Jovanović, Milivoj Momčilović, Dejan Ivanović Janjušević, Bratislav Nedelković, Bogolub Petković, Slavolub Gjorik, Rasa Vanić, Dušan Dimik, Igor Bajrami, Zoran Alik, Jancik Branko.

Serbian war criminals in Slatina

Zoran Vukdragovic, Toger, Lubisha Simik, rreshter, Zoran Ristovski, Dusan Jevric, Zoran Jovic, Mladen Pesic, Milos Mihajlovic, Marko Zivojinovic, Slavisha Gjorgevic, Miodrag Pejatovic, Dejan Mikic, Igor Gurkovic, Ivan Stanojevic, Mile Range, Radoje Rangat, Zoran Mikic Boskic, Radoslav Ristic, Slobodan Djurdjevic, Darko Milovic, Dragisa Ivanovic, Ivan Stevic, Vladeta Stojanovic, Sasha Aksic, Nenad Jovanovic, Nenad Zivkovic, Dejan Slavic.

Serbian war criminals and their legacy, crimes committed in Kisnica

Ruždi (Bekim) Berisha, Rom, Stalin (Velko) Ilic, Pavli (Siniša) Panić, from Priština, Lubiša (Lan) Cvejić, Nga Hallak and Madh, Lipjan, Jovan (Njegoš) Vukadinović, Kuršumli, Mirko, (Draško, Dibojšk) Prilluzhe, Rade (Svetislav) Krastić, Skullan and Lipjanit, Jelica (Tomislav) Selishnik, Kishnice, Sinisha Jovanović, Kishnice, Jovan Karakhik, Kishnice, Goran Trajković, Kishnice, Boban Trajković, Kishnice, Boban Trajković, Kishnice, (Tomislav) Selishnik, Kishnice, Sinisha Jovanović, Kishnice, Jovan Karakhik, Kishnice, Goran Trajković, Kishnice, Boban Trajković, Kishnice, Boban Trajković, Kishnice, Dejan Trajnicerg, Kirag, Petar G. Trajkovic, Kirag Savelik, Kishnice, Mile Bulajik, Kishnice, Gjorge Bulajic, Kishnica, Zivorad Mitic (Ziko), Kishnica, Dragan Mitic (Burdo), Kishnica, Dragan Milic, Kishnica, Zoran Trajkovic, Kishnica, Mike Ilic, Gracanica, Dusan Ilic, Gracanica.

Serbian war criminals in Klina

Dane Balaj, Zoran Dobrik, Zarko Stepik, Vitomir Savic, Millorad Stepik, Gollub Stashik, Dragomir Stashik, Bado Bogicevik, Vojo Zaik, Sreta Dobishlevik, Vojo Dancik, Zoran Popi, Dragan Pavlovic, Radoslav Zivkovic, Radoslav Zahivkovic, Llazar Zhiv, Llazar, Radok, Shivkovic Kizic, Djoko Kizic, Nevica Dasic, Milan Krstic, Dusan Dobric, Radovan Kizic, Ranko Kizic, Golub Lazarevic, Borko Radojevic.

Serbian war criminals during the “Toges se tmerrit” massacre.

Miodrag Stanisic, Sasha Jerinic, Stanislav Vukic, Sasha Vujic, Miroslav Mihajlovic (Mikica), Millovan Ivkovic, Vidoslav Kojic, Moma Vasovic, Nenad Perzic, Branko Arizonovic, Nebojsa Stanojovic, Zoran Cvetkovic, Slavisa Maksimovic, Ar Dragisa Dinkic, Lukic Novica Sinisa Jovanovic, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Srdjan Ristic, Goran Arsic, Nebojsa Stanisic, Dragan Nojkic, Canko Spasic, Bogoso Krmarevic, Milos Mitrovic, (commander).

Serbian war criminals during the Kosovo Polje massacre

Slavisa Andrijevic, Dragomir Popovic, Boban Mitrovic, Dragan Dabizjevic, Lazar Denic, Radomir Disic, Radovan Petrovic, Dragan Mitrovic, Radojica Mitic, Dragan Ilic, Aca Stankovic, Zika Benjelavic, Mladen Lazic, Slavisa Mihajlovic, Grujic Sasha, Draga Mihajlovic, Sasha Mihajlic, Grujic Sasha Millan Milkovic, Boban Grujic, Sasha Maksimovic, Nebojsa Stefanovic, Vlastimir Jovanovic, Dusan Zarkovic, Dragan Zekic, Dobri Artinovic, Stanko Milankovic, Slobodan Mitrovic, Dobrivoje Gjorgevic, Darko Milosevic, Dragolub Lakocevic, Dragolub Lakocevic, Lubihar.

Source:

Prof. Nusret Plana. “The Terror of the Serbian Occupier over Albanians 1844-1999”.  https://nusretpllana.com/products/the-terror-of-serbian-occupier-over-albanians-1844-1999

German psychologists: Serbian genocidal legacy is deeply rooted.

The Serbs as a people formed their state at the expense of the surrounding peoples, killing them, massacring them and expelling them from their centuries-old settlements. The Serbs are a people who suffered greatly from all those who were indigenous inhabitants, but lived in their vicinity. The Serbian state expanded from the Pashalik of Belgrade 30 times, plundering other people’s lands and killing and expelling the natives, and the Albanians suffered the most in that chaos.

Historically, it has never been recorded that Albanians committed atrocities and massacres against Serbs, there are even known cases when Albanians helped their Serbian neighbors! As for Serbian massacres and genocides against Albanians, they have been known and historically verified since 1887, without systematic cessation until the last war in 1998-1999.

All peoples limited to Serbs suffered massacres and genocides, starting with the Bosniaks (genocide in Srebrenica), Croats (massacre of medical staff and patients in Vukovar), Montenegrins (during the occupation in 1918, killing about 8,000 Montenegrins) who opposed the occupation of Montenegro by Serbia.

The Serbian motto for all these massacres was “the end justifies the means”, simply put, kill and massacre as much as you can to achieve the goal, i.e. the occupation and plunder of foreign territories and the expansion of the territory of Serbia. The Serbian Orthodox Church, together with the Serbian Academy of Sciences (SASA), made detailed memoranda and plans for the disappearance of Albanians from the face of the earth.

Many contemporaries who described the Serbian massacres wrote that the Serbs preferred the bayonet to the bullet for massacres, not sparing the elderly, children, and pregnant women. These inherited Serbian genocidal traits stem from the Serbian clergy, which propagates itself and its people as a divine people, meaning that it has the right to kill and maim whenever the opportunity arises, with impunity from God.

The Serbian genocidal gene has its source in their former settlements in the Carpathians and the Urals in Russia. German psychologists say that this Serbian genocidal legacy has very early roots. They emphasized that in the times when Serbs lived in the Carpathians and the Urals, they lived a difficult life and suffered from the phenomenon of “vampires”. Their relatives who died were buried and after three years were exhumed, and the bones of the head, body and limbs were ground into powder, all with the sole purpose, according to their belief, to prevent them from turning into “vampires”.

This macabre ritual does not exist among almost any other people in the world, and psychologists believe that since then this macabre genocidal trait has remained in the Serbian people. Serbian priests replace this macabre ritual with a ritual called “for the souls”. They go to cemeteries full of food and eat kins there together with the dead in order to alleviate their anger and not harm the living. The passion that this people have for killing is unprecedented. In conclusion, all Serbs who killed and massacred other peoples, instead of being punished, were declared Heroes in Serbia!

Reference

https://www.botasot.info/opinion/1610546/serbet-popull-me-trashegimi-genocidale/

Information taken from “Albanian Kingdom, First Class Commune of Sdrečka No. 254 Sdrečka, 29th VII 1944, PT Prefecture of Prizerend”

“In connection with your order No. 1063, dated 17 July 1943, we have the honor to inform you that the detailed investigations we conducted in the territory of this municipality during the rule of Yugoslavia revealed that the following massacres were committed against the Albanian element:”

In 1923, the late Ćazim Xhemaliju from the village of Gornisele was murdered. The murder took place under the following circumstances: The victim went to visit his wife in the village of Drajčić in this municipality to his tribe, named Bajram Ademi. They went there at night, took him and led him to the Bogoshovc neighborhood in the village of Sdrečka and exactly at the place “PESOK” they massacred him, while he was tied by his hands and feet.

Names of the murderers

“The murderers are Kersto Manduš from the village of Sdrečka and Đorđe Vučković from the village of Gornišelo, together with three Serbian gendarmes. The reason for the murder stems from the fact that the Chetnik society established a headquarters in Sdrečka, headed at that time by the aforementioned Kersto Manduš.”

It is said that for the murder of this village of Sdrečka, the Chetnik society paid a certain amount of money which it handed over to the gendarmes who participated in the massacre of the victim. The victim was an Albanian idealist and was killed for that.

References

Mayor of the municipality, Sejdi Sejdorati d.v. Certified by the Chief Secretary of the Prefecture of Nika Lafe Prizren, 31 October 1944 (AQSH, fund 410, year 1944, file 58, sheet 6)

Murders in Rečan in 1912

Source:  Albanian Kingdom, Municipality of Ljokovica No. 147 Ljokovica, 7.9.1943. PT Prefecture of Prizren

“Response to Order No. 1063, dated 17 July 1943”

“We have the honor to inform you that, in our previous investigations into Slavic barbarities against Albanians, we have determined that in 1912, in the village of Rečan in this municipality, the Serbian military, led by civilians Kersta Mandushi, who is still alive today, Jovan Gadžes and the Velikin family, all from the village of Sterka, forcibly took a certain Bajram Haxhi Hajdari from the village of Rečan and took him between the streets of Ljubinje and Strečka, where they cut off his lips, nose, pulled out his nails, then gouged out his eyes, and finally cut him with knives and scattered his flesh all over the world. His death from torture lasted 24 hours. The reason for his strangulation was that he was a brave and handsome man.”

That year, military forces again, on the instructions of the aforementioned Strečka, committed barbarities in the village of Rečan, taking people away and burning them, and committed several robberies of money, forcing them to pay or they would kill them.

The tortured people were: Hacı Rashit 10 Turkish liras of gold, Mustafa Arslani 25 liras, Hacı Haydar 10 liras. All of these people, after the torture they inflicted on them, were forced to hand over the aforementioned money, in addition to the looting they committed in shops and houses, taking women’s rings and earrings, prayer rugs and other valuable items. Even today, in the house of Kerst Mandushi, there is still a lamp that he stole from Zeqir Sulejman from Rečani.

There are some minor barbarities, but they are old and without facts, but the ones we described above are true, since the participants in those barbarities still live in the municipality of Strečka today.

Reference:  Mayor, Fadil Xabija d.v. Verified, Chief Secretary of the Prefecture Niko Lafe, Prizren, 31. X. 1944. (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 7)

Shocking evidence of Slavic barbarity and plunder of the Albanian population between 1929 and 1930

“In the Central State Archives, folder 58 from 1944, reports sent by municipal leaders to the prefectures to which they administratively belong continue to be published, through which Serbian massacres of the Albanian population in the years from 1912 to 1930 are published. Part of this publication is also a report on the behavior of the Serbian authorities towards Albanians during their rule in the region of the municipality of Beči.”

In the first fateful days when the Serbs and Montenegrins landed in these places, they acted mildly, politely and as if they knew what the Government of Justice was thinking. But, as the old saying goes, “A wolf changes its fur, but never forgets its habit,” the conquerors of Kosovo did not go far without giving a different color to their rule. First of all, the Yugoslavs demanded the surrender of weapons and any land related to military equipment.

The local Albanians, after much animal suffering without any mercy or humanity, carried out the surrender that was demanded. Even today, when they remember this action, they are astonished. Although every weapon and ammunition was surrendered, the Yugoslav gendarmerie never had enough, it demanded new ones in large quantities, using all the means of barbarity that history remembers.

After some time, the unified government under the name “Yugoslavia” organized a group of volunteers with 2000-3000 Serbs and Montenegrins and under the command of Major Sava Lazar began to force the Albanians to change their previous religion and believe in their Orthodoxy. Sava was from Cetina. For this act, Sava beat, spat, cursed, killed, burned, fled and did everything he could to the Albanians of this region, but in vain because his goal was not achieved.

Often, hundreds and hundreds of Albanian men were tied to yard fences so that their feet did not even touch the ground, using sticks and whips, and in winter they were doused with cold water just to prevent them from changing their religion.

On the contrary, based on a clear conscience that they acted contrary to what the Slavs had ordered (that there is no lower law or morality in the world), pushing, contempt, swearing and beatings were common even from the lowest Slavs towards the Albanians, no matter how famous they were for their loyalty and generosity.

When it became apparent that the conquered Albanians were squandering everything and had nothing to give them except the land, they remembered to keep it as their own. Thus, in 1929-1930, they brought out their harsh and cruel agrarianism and began to draw borders between the lands inherited from their ancestors, at the same time impoverishing and depriving all local Albanians.

Fields, meadows, pastures, forests, pastures and every valuable land they had owned until then became the property of others. The Albanians began to become so poor that they could barely even provide themselves with daily bread, so they began to make snowballs on their land. The products were divided according to what they themselves valued before they were collected.

The wood became the property of the Albanians and these, driven by necessary needs, were forced to clear the forests and, after clearing the land of roots and stones, they had the right to take part of the stumps that they dug out of the ground and used for burning. The farmer did not immediately inform them, but this occurred again and again and always burdened the tired Albanians and increased the areas of sequestration until it came to occupying the yards of the houses up to the doorsteps.

The Serbian and Montenegrin colonists called upon the Albanians, and especially the Muslims, that their country was Turkey and that it was better for them to go there in time than to be exterminated by the Government, which, judging by the appearance, was not surprising. They raised their heads and began their brutal acts against us.

Montenegrin criminal Bulatović

Once upon a time, in the municipality of Janos, there lived a Montenegrin policeman named Bulatovic, who had the habit of going to every meeting where Albanians were present and, as soon as he entered the room, he would place his long bayonet on the tip of his rifle and drive it hard into the ceiling of the room, and no one would touch him until Bulatovic wanted to leave.

Often, gendarmerie patrols of that time would enter houses and single out with their fingers all those Albanian boys who were known for their personal abilities and intelligence, and as soon as they left the village, in the first stream or hole they found, our boys would be shot on the spot and thrown into a hole or stream wherever the conquerors wanted.

Even in the barracks, Serbian officers would often call Albanian soldiers by list and, after tying them up, would kill them with machine guns in the most heinous and insidious ways that evil human races can employ.

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, pages 8-9)

Report on murders and arson committed by Serbs and Montenegrins in 1922

This year, a man named “Milić Kersta”, a Serbian guard from Istok and Peć, takes over the security of these places and forms a gang of 200-300 Serbian and Montenegrin civilian volunteers and begins to attack all of Kosovo. Milić Kersta, it turns out, set himself the goal of implementing such strict repression in Kosovo that after his departure, not a single Albanian would remain in these places.

First in this region he went to the village of Jablanica where he found the mayor of the municipality of Cermjan, the late Osman Yahja Aga from the village of Raškoc, together with his policeman named Ibrahim Kokala from Cermjan. After a loud shout, for no reason, Milić Kersta ordered his volunteers to use their rifles against every Albanian they saw in that village.

The locals, grieved by the famous barbarian, began to flee, but since they had no weapons or other means to deal with the situation, the following people were captured and shot:

Osman Yahya Aga, mayor, 40 years old, from the village of Raškoc; Ibrahim Kokala, municipal policeman, 35 years old, from the village of Cermjan.

From the village of Jablanica Qerim Binaku, 16 years old; Sil Islami, 50 years old; Haidar Islami, 60 years old; Haxhi Bajrami, 40 years old; Hysen Bajrami, 34 years old; Hashi Neziri, 38 years old; Hazir Hasani, 30 years old; Zenun Neziri, 30 years old; Ramadan Ademi, 50 years old; Hasan Shabani, 90 years old; Musli Mustafa, 70 years old, drowned in Rehma; Bajram Rama, 30 years old; Jonuz Rama, 25 years old; Ali Rexha, 60 years old; Selman Mirto, 25 years old; Tsuf Kadrija, 18 years old; Sadik Mirto, 18 years old; Ram Hamza, 30 years old; Hasan Kasemi, 70 years old; Selman Kosumi, 50 years old; Sadik Hasani, 30 years old; Sil Hasani, 20 years old; Bek Tahiri, 22 years old; Beqir Hasani, 12 years old; Avdil Zeneli, 50 years old; Isuf Zeneli, 30 years old; Kemal Keli, 40 years old; Sadik Shotani, 70 years old, burned in the fire; Zejnija of Sadik Rama, 29 years old; Ram Ahmeti, 28 years old; Fasli Muslija, 40 years old; Malik Muhajjiri, 40 years old; Yahya Karkagjija, 30 years old; Haxhi Helshani, 60 years old; Rexhep Muhajjiri, 40 years old; son of Rexhep Muhajjiri, 10 years old; Zef Zekiri, 30 years old; Niman Zekiri, 20 years old; Selim Bajrami, 20 years old; Ram Selimi, 20 years old; Ram Sefa, 20 years old; Sadik Koka, 40 years old; Kamer Sila, 40 years old; Mustafa Džema, 40 years old; Mehmet Alija, 35 years old; Haji Bajrami, 30 years old; Selim Kajtazi, 20 years old; Zach Halili, 30 years old; Hasan Redza, 50 years old.

Source:  (AKSH, Fondi 410, year 1944, file 58, sheet 10)

List of persons treacherously killed by Slavs in the Suharek sub-prefecture:

Ram Blaca, from the village of Blaca, was killed by the Yugoslav state in 1927. The perpetrators of the murder were the Kostić family from Prizren and the Načanić family from Suva Reka. Isa Ademi and Fasli Baftija, from the village of Grećevac, were killed in an ambush by Slavs on April 9, 1912.
Halil Velija and Sefer Emini, from the village of Nišnueri, were killed in an ambush by Slavs on April 9, 1912.

Osman Silja, Halit Silja, Ramadan Baftjari, Šaban Silja, from the village of Vranić, were stabbed in 1912. Bajrma Faslina, from the village of Maćitava, was stabbed in Prizren with Osman Silja in 1912.
Xhel Iljazi, from the village of Maćitava, was stabbed in 1919, saying that he was holding Albanian committees.

Rustem Osmani, in 1920, Xhele Esati, in 1925, Rustem Azemi, in 1921, all three from the village of Mushtisht, were killed for no reason. Musli Dema, from the village of Vranić, in 1935, was killed for no reason. Rex Abazi, from the village of Makitava, was killed at night in 1935.

Xem Destanin, from the village of Delok, a forester, was killed in 1924, claiming to have killed Albanians. Sejdi Ram Bayraktari, from Suva Reka, in 1920 and 1927, was persecuted by the Slavs for Albanian reasons. Sadik Mehmeti, from the village of Pecan, in 1927 and 1929, was imprisoned and suffered other hardships for Albanian reasons.

The unit was confirmed by the archivist of the Sub-Prefecture of Suhareka,
Perlat Mema dv Suhareka, on 8. IX. 1944.
Confirmed by the Chief Secretary of the Prefecture
Niko Lafe Prizren, on 31. X. 1944.

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 5)

Robbery through taxes

Part of the Slavic speculation and abuse of the Albanian population was also robbery through fictitious taxes, and their increase in cases of non-payment. These taxes, of course heavy, Albanian taxpayers were forced to pay, in kind, by confiscating their livestock, but also their belongings and furniture, even their homes.

The following report by the mayor of the municipality of Junik for the Prizren Prefecture reveals a “pattern” of Slavic robberies of the Albanian population.

For non-payment of money, the relevant officials at the time prepared this plan:

They would come and ask for money at the most inconvenient times and would not want any delay in paying taxes, so they would take whatever livestock they could find, fodder for the livestock, household clothes and especially the dowries of newly married brides. The Montenegrin colonizers would sign a contract with the official, so when the goods were put up for sale, no Albanian would dare to come and buy the goods that were being sold, but those who were pre-determined would buy them for a tenth of the price.

They would give the officials a certain amount of money, and then they would take it home. Whenever a poor Albanian came with money, he would go to the one who bought the goods, who would sell them to him for ten times more than he had bought them. In this way, the dinar set aside for the tax became ten, and the tax increased every day. It happened that a person was once asked for three hundred dinars, and then when he arrived, they gave him three thousand dinars. In order to be able to get a deadline, they had to give money, a bribe, to those people who the tax collectors kept with them. Therefore, it is understandable that the person who was lucky enough to be with them, even if he was a black man, benefited a lot.

The so-called Ziber Rama, since he had a lot to pay, and there was no other way to pay, took the following things: 22 carts of hay, two boxes of women’s and men’s clothing worth 2,300 dinars. The tax collector was Milena Popoić. Hadž Ziber took a pen and a cow for 1,300 dinars.

Meanwhile, no one escaped without being subjected to such violence, just as no one escaped without being beaten in the most brutal way, so we will not go into further descriptions.

Among the worst and most cruel officials who aimed to exterminate the Albanian race were: Muj Kapiteni, who was the mayor of the municipality and whose evil deeds would require a separate book; the commander of the post, Pjetr Pjetrović, who, in order to properly punish people, said that they had weapons, and so punished them with significant fines; and Mihal Bošković.

During the destruction of Serbia, at matches held by the Montenegrins, the following died:

The wounded were Uk Lushi from the Berisha neighborhood in the village of Junik and Shaban Paleshi, as well as Sadik Jusufi and Mehmet Sahiti from the Gadzafer neighborhood, as well as Muharem Sadiku from the Çok neighborhood.

This is a brief report on the Slavic barbarities committed during the above-mentioned period in the region of this municipality.

We add that this is a hundredth part of those barbarities, but that it was completely impossible to describe all the facts in general.

Mayor of Junik,
Jah Salihi, President
of Prizren, October 31, 1944, Authorized
Chief Secretary of the Prefecture,
Niko Lafe

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 4)

Slavic atrocities in Dečani and Suva Reka and looting in Junik

Shocking evidence of the barbarities and inhumane plundering of the Albanian population by the Slavs. The barbarities in the municipality of Decani, by the Slavic elements, are both unknown and unprecedented and impossible to describe.

This is how the report of the municipality of Dečani sent to the sub-county of Đakovica in 1943 begins. The same report continues by describing Slavic crimes in the years 1912-1913, among which there was no shortage of robberies and murders, which, according to the report, “were common for Slavic monsters…”, the same report further states.

Source:  Albanian State, Municipality of I Class Deçan, No. 355/2 ex 43 Deçan, dated 5. II. 1944. PT N/PREFECTURE OF ĐAKOVICA. Đeđe No. 1467/IV, dated 31. XII. 1943.

The barbarities committed by the Slavic element in the region of this municipality, during the time when cruelty ruled this country, are unknown and so unprecedented that it is impossible to describe. Robberies and murders were a common occurrence for the Slavic conspirators. Among the robberies, the Decani Church occupies the first place, which, when it set its sights on the Albanian wealth, also seized it, so its actions were always to the detriment of the Albanians.

In 1912, a Montenegrin captain, who was given the name Sav Batarja for the crimes he committed, gathered more than a thousand people in the village of Karabreg for no reason in order to frighten them and force them to drink. After the beatings began, the names of Isa Ćori, Ali Šabani, Hasan Mula, Hysen Feta, Mal Loshi, Zimber Loshi, Elez Hasani, Ibish Halili, Dak Arifi, Zek Hyseni, dared to ask about the reason for this massacre, but they all hid, frightening the people.

Those who had previously been hiding were forced to open their graves. On the same day, accused of having smuggled an Albanian, Dik Zeka was taken from Karabreg and hidden by the Montenegrins, an hour before entering Đakovica. Sadik Mehmeti from Karabreg and Azem Bećiri were also taken and hidden. This was done by the Montenegrin captain Dušan Vuković.

These murders were committed in the most barbaric manner, especially the last one in front of women and children. In 1912, simply because they were Albanians with their national feelings, they were killed by Captain Milić Krsta, Him Ahmet Iberhasaj and Rexhe Nak Dobruna from Dečani. In the same year, in the Dečani Mountains, they killed the Montenegrins Raza and Nuh Ramas with their two-year-old daughter Imer Aliu and his mother Sofa, as well as Timen and Tafa Đikoku with his son Ram Tafa and his brother, all from Dečani. There was not the slightest cause or fault in this crime. One Plavnjak was killed here, namely Taf Avdili and Ram Dostani.

In 1913, a Montenegrin named Arseni Ćirki from Belopoj abducted and killed Mr. Ram Đonin from Karabreg for no reason. Then Savo Lazar, with the help of Captain Filip Babović, engaged in robbery to the point that some were taken away alive.

These same people, for no reason, occupied and surrounded the village of Drenoc, killed and tortured people in a completely heartless manner, then the so-called Dem Tahiri, Sali Mustafa and Brahim Mustafa, after beating them, brought them in front of the village of Karabreg, threw them into cold water and left them there all night. From this torture, the above-mentioned died.

In 1922, while returning home, the so-called Mush Brahim Aličaj, from Donji Karabreg, was killed by Montenegrins for no reason. His body was also cruelly mutilated, deformed in such a way that even his family could not identify him until recently.

The behavior of the colonists towards the Albanian population

Since the beginning of this work, we have mentioned and stigmatized the plundering actions of the leaders of the Decani Church, which, insatiable in plundering the fields and meadows of Albanians, as well as their own crops, made life difficult and caused the impoverishment of this people through such actions.

Any Albanian who had the courage to complain to the local authorities received nothing but threats from the mayor Jovan Šabani and a slap in the face from the station commander, the Yugoslav gendarme Simo Čuka. Therefore, they had to accept their fate. The colonists, dissatisfied with the land given to them by the agrarian reforms, plundered the best lands of the Albanians, exploiting them until they were expelled.

In this case, it is worth highlighting the suffering of the village of Drenoc, where the colonists used inhumane means. In this case, the most significant role was played by Dušan Vuković, a pensioner at the time, an influential man and devoid of any human feelings, on behalf of the Albanians.

In the event of defeat, when Yugoslavia capitulated in April 1941, a man named Bećir Ibishi was killed for no reason, at his own door in Drenovo. In Gornji Karabreg, they tied up Uko Isuf, Čelj Šabani and Fasli Šabani and began stabbing them with bayonets, until the fire brigade under the command of Mr. Zećir Đikoka arrived on the scene, which saved the lives of the three mentioned persons.

In the village of Drenoc, they took away, beat, tortured, tied up and tried to kill Sali Hajdari from that village without any mercy.

In the village of Gornji Karabreg, for no reason at all, they killed the sixteen-year-old son of Mula Ademi from that village.

That is enough, because if we were to describe the atrocities and horrors that this people suffered during their slavery under the Serbian-Montenegrin yoke, there would not be enough volumes.

Mayor of the Municipality of Dečani
Prizren, 31 October 1944, Authorized
Chief Secretary of the Prefecture
Niko Lafe

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 3)

Murders, arson and looting during the destruction  of Yugoslavia

The Yugoslavs, as is known, wanted to cross the borders of Albania and when they encountered strong ambushes by Albanian volunteers there, they were forced to turn back. When they invaded this region for the second time, they found a different situation.

The colonists were displaced and their entire country was destroyed.

They then decided to shoot every Albanian they met, and on that occasion, while passing through the village of Marmul, they killed the following people:

Gjertj Marku, 53 years old; Marka Gjini, 50 years old; Nikoll Ndreca, 40 years old; Uk Ndreca, 30 years old; Prek Paloka, 30 years old; Hill Nikola, 55 years old; Ndrec Bardheci, 56 years old; Ndue Preka, 45 years old; Zef Ndou, 18 years old; Ndrec Shehri, 70 years old; Pieter Mhilli, 32 years old, Ded Jaku, 14 years old.

This same army, on the same day that it carried out its cruel actions in Marmula, went to Berdosan and killed the following there:

Prend Biba, 90 years old; Bib ​​Prendi, 40 years old; Djok Prendi, 20 years old; Marka Preka, 30 years old.

As in Berdosan, the army also went to Vienna. In Vienna, some of the people left, while others remained with vain hopes and unfortunately fell victim to their treacherous hand:

Sadiq Majuni, 90 years old, after they ate his bread, in the end, in the end, he was shot in front of his house; Mus Tahiri, 80 years old; Musa’s son, 12 years old; Bayram Avdili, 17 years old; Halil Isufi, 24 years old; Bayram Kamberi, 45 years old; Çel Binaku, 70 years old; Man Halili’s mother with two young women with small children, one of whom was breastfeeding and for two days and two nights the child sucked the mother’s breast; Imer Zimmeri with his wife, Rahman Jet, 30 years old; Mhil Uka, 28 years old; Çak Ibrahimi, 20 years old.

Source:  (AKSH, Fondi 410, year 1944, file 58, sheet 11)

Report on the arson caused by Serbs at the time of their destruction

In the village of Bič:
Their goods and blood and a significant amount of money in Albanian francs were burned and robbed, as follows:
Uk Mirta 10,000, Çel Shabani 12,000, Rexhep Sejdija 10,000, Ali Rama 9,000, Shaban Hajdar 7,0000000. Haydar Alija 7,000, Dervish Bajrushi 10,000, Sil Sadiku 9,000, Isuf Musa 10,000, Sil Smiley 6,000, Zek Isufi 9,000, Mus Zeneli 12,000, Zef Gjoni, Aslan Haydo 9,00 8,000, Rustem Alija 9,000, Cel Deda, 8,000, Bayram Avdili 9,000, Palush Marku 10,000, Demush Shabani 10,000, Man Halili 10,000, Pal Kerimi 9,000, Pjeter Uka 8,000, Ali Ferizi 7,000, Bina00, Rru 7,000, Sokol Tahiri 8,000, Ndue Tzafa 9,000.

In the village of Zdrelle:
Man Alija 14,000, Chun Kola 14,000, Zog Sokoli 14,000, Pjeter Deda 3,000, Ndue Cufa 4,000, Pjeter Uka 2,000, Hysen Leka, 9,000. All these barbarities took place on April 13, 1941, under the command of Mhill Vukotić, who was the main organizer of that army.

In the village of Janos:
Vuksan Djukovic from Andrijevica caused the burning of houses and the seizure of goods in significant quantities from the following persons:

Miftar Dema 12,000 Fr., Mitz Sokoli 10,000 Fr., Mehmet Ndout 11,000 Fr., Binak Kerimi 9,000 Fr., Gjon Hisen 10,000 Fr., Tahir Smiley 8,000 Fr., Prezzo Fr. 9,000 Fr.

Sil Uka was seriously injured by the volunteer gang of Vuksan Gojkovci. Sil Rexhepi was killed by this gang. Nike Çuni burned the house and took the property with him, causing damage of about 10,000 Albanian francs.

In the village of Radonić:
Sadrija Bajramija was killed by Sim Davidović, a gendarmerie captain from Old Serbia (the exact location is unknown). Bajram Mehmetija was killed by Milić Kersta’s squad in 1922. Milić Kersta burned Radonić with all its wealth, causing damage to the entire village worth approximately 10,000,000 Albanian francs. The damage caused by the Serbs in these places is very difficult to summarize, as it would require a long time and extraordinary and measured surveillance.

In the village of Skivjan:
They brought two arrested people from Palabard and killed them there, then searched them and lined them up with the intention of shooting them, but some of them escaped, and the rest were imprisoned in their homes.

Certified:
Chief Secretary of the Prefecture
Niko Lafe
Prizren, 2. XI. 1944.

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 12)

The barbarities committed by the Slavs against the Albanian element in the lands they ruled since 1912 and which are today annexed to our Kingdom.

1. In 1912, Emin Latifija from Prizren, “Mustafa Lita” Street, number 28, was killed by the so-called Dušan Fišići and Andrej Fišići from Prizren, “Hadži Imeri” Street, number 7. The murder was carried out in the following way: brave men, with the help of Serbian Chetniks, in the evening hours, caught the above-mentioned man on the way to his house and took him to the place of Kuričesma (outside the city) and killed him by gouging out his eyes while he was still alive, then cutting off his nose and ears, finally stabbing him with bayonets and playing with him until he died.
2. In 1913, Shaip Hezeri from Prizren, “Kosova” Street, was killed by a certain Petro Pužič from Prizren, “Kosova” Street, number 35, in the following way: the brave man, with the help of Serbian Chetniks, took the above-mentioned man from his house in the evening and took him outside the city, to a place called Vnešta, where they killed him by gouging out his eyes while he was still alive, then cutting off his nose and ears, and finally stabbing him with bayonets until his soul left him.
3. In 1928, Aslan Shabani from Prizren, 38 Ismail Qemali Street, was killed by a certain Dragije Stanojević from Prizren, 14 Doctor Shaflaj Street, in the following manner: the brave man, with the help of Serbian Chetniks, dressed and disguised in gendarmerie uniforms, in the evening hours, took the above-mentioned man from his house and took him outside the city to Vnešte, where he was stabbed to death and dismembered with bayonets.
4. In 1912, Rexhep Ahmeti from Prizren, Ćafa e Duhles Street, number 9, was killed by the so-called Nikola Frankos from Prizren, 36 Dr Šuflaj Street. The murder was committed in the following manner: a brave man, with the help of Serbian Chetniks, in the evening hours, took the above-mentioned man from his house and took him to a place called Tuzus (Vnešte) and caused his death by cutting off his head and then dismembering his body with bayonets.
5. In 1940, Xhezair Rizau from Prizren, Radnička Street number 36, was killed by the so-called Trajko Dimkići, from the village of Zekišt, municipality of Mamuša, sub-settlement of Orahovac, Prizren Prefecture. The murder was committed in the following manner: The aforementioned, while going from Orahovac to Prizren, was ambushed by brave men together with his friends and tied up. At that place, they cut off his head.
6. In 1912, Zilfikar Ramadani from Prizren, Kasem Beg Street, number 30, was murdered by the so-called Ilko Ugari and Andreja Fišić, both from Prizren. They committed the crime in this way: Brave men, with the help of help, took the above-mentioned from his house and took him to a field outside the city, to a place called Yeni Mejteb, and committed the murder.
   
   First and foremost, they gouged out his eyes, then cut off his nose and ears, then stabbed and cut him with bayonets until the next day, when the imam took the body to leave it, he could not take it in his hands and leave it because it was cut into pieces. The funeral was held without washing.
7. In 1917, Isa Karadaklija from Prizren, on the street “Ate Štjefen Đečovi”, was killed by the so-called Dušan Savić. He carried out the murder in the following way: The brave man, with the help of Serbian Chetniks, brought him to the place where he was in March, and without waiting or remembering, they tied him up and killed him. The brave man Dušan, on the same day, forced the Serbian gendarmes to close the shops and wherever they found an Albanian on the streets, they arrested and imprisoned him, working him to the limit.

Police Commissioner
Baki Shaqiri,
Authorized
Chief Secretary of the Prefecture
Niko Lafe
Prizren, 31 October 1944.

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 13)

Sulejman Vokshi’s grandson tells the story of the resistance of Bećir Ređa and his supporters against the Serbs. Shocking evidence of the barbarities and plundering of the Slavs against the Albanian population.

“Through a letter sent by Beqir Vokshi, grandson of Sulejman Vokshi, to the highest leaders of the Albanian Kingdom, we learn about the resistance that Beqir Rexha and his supporters offered for about a week to the Serbian massacres in Bayraun e Gashi, in the villages of Kersnina, Perlimtare, Balapoja, Perdalishta, Tičep, Belica, etc.

Bećir Vokši’s report reveals that the efforts were bloody, with significant damage to the ranks of Serbian soldiers.

Bećir Ređa’s mountain expedition and the fight in Podgora

Excerpts from a letter sent by Bećir Vokši, nephew of Sulejman Vokši from Đakovica, to Hoxha Kadri in Pristina, president of the Kosovo National Defense Committee.

Bećir Ređa from Podgora, Bajrak Gashi, from the village of Kersnine, as the president of Perlimtara in Rakoš, was supposed to serve until now and fulfill all the duties assigned to him, in terms of official affairs, after the lawsuit that some spies, especially Serbs, filed against him, saying that he was hosting Azemu Galica from the Albanian Committee, he was summoned to court in Mitrovica and managed to win the lawsuit. On February 29, 1920, he returned to Istok to become the sub-prefect of the country, to which he had been summoned due to judicial matters.

The sub-prefect of the country ordered Beqir Rexha to go there as soon as possible, as he had done before, and informed him that he was obliged to quickly collect weapons and unite the Albanian boys in order to lead them into war.

On March 1, 1920, early in the morning, Bećir Ređa went to his village of Kersnina, from where he was walking towards Perlimtare, but when he approached his village, he came across Serbian soldiers who had secretly surrounded the village. When the Serbian soldiers saw Bećir Ređa, they started fighting. Then Bećir Ređa had to resist them, and thus the war began, which continued with great ferocity throughout the day.

This war was very fierce and the Albanians with a glorious attitude pushed the prisoners and valuables out of their village and pushed the enemy. That day the Serbs fired more than 600 cannons at the Albanians, and in the evening the Albanians of this Bajrak, after running out of ammunition, were forced to retreat to the high mountains near their families.

In this way, the Serbs managed to burn the village of Kersnina, 20 houses, and even tear them apart and burn the houses of the Ali Demaj brothers in Balapoja, and burn many houses in the village of Perdalishta.

Bećir Ređa with Albanians from Bajrak near Gashi, when they saw that the Albanian villages were covered in smoke and flames, attacked the village of Tičep where they burned 50 houses of local Serbs and burned 16 Serbian houses in the village of Belica.

The Serbs with a strong army occupied strategic places, and the Albanians are in the high mountains with prisoners and valuables, and from 1. 2. 1920 to 8. 2. 1920 the war continues and the cannons and rifles do not come closer for a single hour. That is why they left their homes and fled over the high mountains to these villages: Kersnina and Balapoja, Istok, Verić, Šelmenica, Padalishta and Suhagerla, Rudnik, Šušica, Ufča and many other villages whose names we do not know.

Fire and flames have been burning these miserable regions for 10 days, where no hour can stop this fire, which is visible from our places. After the words we have spoken, it is understood that Šošica, Ufča and many other villages have also burned down.

On this day when the war began, two men, two women and a girl from the village of Kersnina remained dead. Given that the siege of these areas is strong and that no one can approach them, Musa Feka went through the high mountains to the place of the war, who returned this week and we will send you full explanations about these wars.

Because it seems that unknown wars have revived in Kosovo this spring and with the behavior of the Albanians in this internal dispute, the whole of poor Kosovo will burn. Please give me explanations on general issues. Please tell me whether you will allow the Albanians to hand over their weapons and go to war? Please answer the questions that I ask you from time to time, and not not answer me as before.

The Pariah of Reka, and especially the leaders of Vokshi, Mr. Elez Dema, Hasan Bajrami, Sadik Haziri and Hamez Sefa, and all the people of this country, send you our warmest greetings.

Sincerely,
B. Vokshi

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 446, Year 1920, File 54, Sheet 7)

On Slavic barbarisms among Albanian elements in the former Yugoslav regime

“In 1913, Kosta Vojvoda’s volunteers, defending their property from robbery, killed the following people from the village of Beleg: Isuf Rama, Selman Shabani, Ibish Selmani, Ziber Binaku and Sokol Binaku. On the occasion of their murder, their property and livestock were robbed.”

In 1920, Ali Bajrami and Hasan Imeri were killed in the Prilep Mountains. They were also taken by Kosta Vojvoda’s volunteers to inform the Albanian committees and, after not finding them, they killed those who had taken them to accompany them.

In 1913, Hajdar Tahiri, Azem Tahiri and Sil Zeka were killed in the village of Gramaçel for killing a Serb from the Albanian Committee. Therefore, Serbs organized to persecute armed Albanian groups killed the three mentioned.

In 1929, Rexha Alija Pozarija from the village of Pozar was killed by a man named Sheh Bosnjaku, who had been paid by Serbian authorities to kill all men from the northern prefecture of Đakovica whom they suspected of having ties to the old Albanians.

In 1915, Can Meta and Sit Kadrija from the village of Prokoluk were killed by Kosta Vojvoda’s volunteers, who had gone with them to the mountains to plunder their cattle. In order to protect their cattle from plunder, Can Meta and Sit Kadrija were killed, and their cattle were also plundered.

In 1927, the Serbian authorities issued an order for all fugitives to surrender and be pardoned. On that occasion, Idriz Beka and Sadik Arifi from the village of Ratishte e Ulte were surrendered as fugitives. When they surrendered, Serbian gendarmes took them to Đakovica and along the way, the bandits tried to escape, and they killed both of them.

In 1920, Milić Krsto’s volunteer army, which went to help the villages, under the name Juriš vojvoda, went to the village of Maznik, and Bajagi, since they were dressed in komites, killed the people who were with them, Hasan Smajli, Deko Sila, as well as the woman, Cima Sejdi Hasani.

In 1932, in the municipality of Irznic there was a certain Gaja Dragovici, the mayor of the municipality, who committed a great injustice among the Albanians. A certain Ali Hadzija, also from the village of Irznic, went out and organized the people of the municipality to complain to the higher Serbian authorities about the actions of the aforementioned Gaja. Alas, seeing that the people loved Ali Hadzija and thinking that he was taking his place, since at that time mayors were elected by the people, he organized an armed gang of Montenegrins and attacked him from an ambush at the head of the village of Irznic and wounded him.

Regarding agrarian reform, more than two-thirds of the municipality’s region was in the hands of Montenegrin colonists, so they always intended to remove Albanians from Kosovo, but unfortunately they themselves asked to leave.

Mayor Dem A. Pozhari dv
Confirmation of the Chief Secretary of the County
Niko Lafe Prizren, 30. October 1944

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 15)

It was 1912 when the regular Serbian armies were moving towards the Albanian lands, which a small minority of mountaineer bands were ready to defend with blood. A minority of men fled with their families in unknown directions, to save their wives and children from the barbaric well, while the rest remained in the country. The war had begun.

The Albanian troops stood like giants in the ambushes they had set up, but the enemy forces were closing in on them. Meanwhile, our men, running out of ammunition, were forced to abandon that precious land.

“It was not enough just the Serbian-Montenegrin assault on Albanian land, but there was also the horror of shooting at villages and families. The houses burned with all their wealth are unnecessary to mention, because they would never stop, but we commemorate the martyrs of the Banja municipality region, who left us an oath to keep our word, which is: FORGIVE A FRIEND A HEART, A PEER A CENTURY TO AN UNAVAILABLE ONE.”

The martyrs are these:

Banja, 1912: Liman Sahit, Hajrullah Rexhep, Hasan Isufi, Aslan Islami, Bislim Shaban, Becir Shaban, Hasan Haydari, Haji Behrani, Ali Mehmeti, Sadik Alija, Huseyn Hamza, Musli Hamza, Yaşar Hasani, Cili Belibra and Yaşar Hayreddin Demiri, Hamza Haliti, Seydi Rustemi, Islam Rustemi, Zize Feyzullah Bekiri, Zenel Muslija. During the fighting, the following were wounded: Isuf Mehmeti, Rexhep Jashari and Elez Xemeli.

Senik, year 1912: Beçir Rexhepi, Adem Saliti, Imer Alija.

Blenica, 1912: Beçir Abdullahi, Çelebi Abdullahi, Şaçir Abdullahi, Islam Shahsivari, Halit Mustafa, Aslan Sahiti, Riza Mehmeti, Selman Baftyari, Sali Feyza, Sadri Zeca, Halit Rexha, Osman Murseli, Halit Rexha, Osman Murseli, Self Mustafa and Sul Feta Ademi, Hysen Shama, Riza Veseli, Hasan Azemi, Asllan Shasivari, Dem Zenuni, Shakir Aredullah, Bahte Aredullah, Halil Mustafa, Xhemal Harulla, Emin Xhema, Asllan Sahiti, Hysen Destani, Seydi Feka, Xhemal Ibrahim Ibrahimi, Hamail Ibrahimi. The wounded were: Bekir Salihi, Imer Hasani, Hokha Lladrofci.

1912: Ramadan Delia, Dem Bajrami, Rahmon Limoni.

1937: Jetullah Salih, Celadin Jetullah, Behlul Bala, Sali and Xemos.

Ladrović, 1912: Ibrahim Sinani, Shaban Sinani, Shaqir Sadrija, Jetullah Sali, Nuredin Shabani, Xheladin Emini, Friz Meta, Rexhep Sela, Abaz Ahmeti, Marcel Zema, Musli Jakupi.

Weekly, 1912: Sul Delia, Sadri Demiri, Musli Arifi, Liman Sahiti.

Banja, 1912: Ali Tahiri, Rahmon Haydini, Bayram Bekiri, Bayram Silejmani, Ahmet Rahmoni, Emin Ibrahimi, Kerim Zeneli, Halim Mustafa, Hiseyn Murseli, Elmaz Hasani, Shakir Limani, Sefer Limani, Bazih Rese Payali, Bazi Reshe Payai and Liman Halite, Osman Zeqiri.

Guncat, 1912: Sali Uka, Lah Hokha, Kekin Sila.”

P. Deputy Mayor Rexhep Banja (signature not engraved). Certified by the Chief Secretary of the Prefecture of Nika Lafe Prizren, 3. XI. 1944.

Source:  (AQSH, Fund 410, Year 1944, File 58, Sheet 16

FILE: Shocking evidence of Slavic barbarity and plunder of the Albanian population

“Condemnation of the Serbian massacres, at the beginning of the last century, was not only made by Albanians or local leaders of their administrative units. Even periodicals of the time “aligned” with those condemning the Slavic-Montenegrin massacres.”

Battles near Đakovica

In Podrim, near Gjakova, in Bajrak t’Asterzubit (one of the most famous Bajrak for men), a fierce battle took place last week that lasted four days and nights.

The people of Podrimasi, unable to bear the atrocities of the Serbs any longer, who, in addition to attempting to forcefully Serbify them, raped their women and children, rose up together with the people who came from the desert and, having no weapons, seized swords, maces, and sticks. Without rifles, they were joined by about sixty men with rifles who were in the mountains.

The Serbs, although they had five cannons and were in four battalions, were unable to suppress the uprising, which ended bloodily with the arrival of five Montenegrin battalions with four cannons, which attacked ours in the rear.

The people, struck by the enemy’s wrath, fled towards the borders of Albania, but only 860 of them escaped. Most drowned in the Dra River while fleeing. The Serbs were not only condemned to burn the houses of the rebels, but also those of the captured ensigns. At least 1,800 houses were burned. Neither mouth nor pen can express the heartless cases of cruelty! Let us stop the diplomacy of the International Court!

Source:  (Taraboshi Newspaper, April 6-7, 1914)

In Malchija near Pec, and also in Djordjevici, the Montenegrins, after seeing a rebel coming out of their houses, whom they could not see, were led by their own cruel feelings to set fire to a house, in which they burned sixteen slaves alive, mostly women and children. This cruel incident occurred ten days ago. The house belonged to a certain Ahmet Brahimi, who lost his life with his entire family.

Source:  (Taraboshi Newspaper, April 22-23, 1914)

“For no reason at all, 180 brave people, a few days ago, were slaughtered and mercilessly slaughtered by the Montenegrin government in Ponasec, Malesija and Djakovica. Four large houses in this village were burned, while their goods and blood were looted. Three hundred and fifty women and small children, as if they were not needed, were thrown across the border into the Djakovica Highlands, which is close to Albania, where they are dying of cold and water.”

This is happening now, in the days when Montenegro with its brave consuls is begging for friendship with Albania so that their goods can go freely to Montenegro, where the people are suffering because of the war. It is a great shame that in this century, in the middle of Europe, people are being slaughtered and cut up in this way. What do English liberals and French citizens have to say about their Slavic friends?

Source:  (Newspaper “Besa Shqiptare”, April 17, 1915)

“A few days ago, members of the ruling Cetina party sued Sadik Rama from Ponasec for being the leader of the mausoleum. Seeing himself in danger and danger around the tavern, Sadik Rama gave him the weapon he had bought. Because of this, Sadik Rama fled on his own and went to Albanian soil.”

The Montenegrins occupied his house and his belongings and took them with them. When they heard that the house was in ruins, Sadik Rama and some friends set out to get a chisel with which to break down the wall of the house and bring them inside to shoot the guards who were asleep.

Because of this incident, the barbaric and unreasonable government ordered Vešović to besiege Ponashec and half of Morina at night, and every day they tried to kill all males over 10 years old. The remaining women and children were forcibly taken from their homes, leaving their belongings and possessions in Albania.

Source:  (Gazeta “Besa Šćiptare”, April 29, 1915, news that was supposed to be published on April 27, 1915.)

As people come to Albanian places that are not Serbian these days, we learn about the evil that the Albanian people suffer, which we have written about many times. Albanians are not only being robbed, imprisoned, dishonored by Serbian officials, and killed without any guilt, but the Serbian government wants to accuse the outside world that some proud (first note by VH) from free Albania are also participating in these events, which it calls Albanian uprisings.

Source:  (Besa Shqiptare Newspaper, June 3, 1915)

In the village of Ponashec in Reca near Djakovica, the Montenegrins killed and maimed 116 people, including women and children. Many of these innocents were brutally slaughtered. The Montenegrins, after completing this vandalism, expelled the remaining families across the border. This village has 36 houses. Let those who claim to fight for the freedom of the people, support those who mercilessly kill innocent people, hear these crimes.

Source:  (Populli Newspaper, April 14, 1915)

On the eleventh of this month, the Serbian government ordered our people to be captured alive. In a village near Gnjilane, 1,400 cows, goats and sheep were collected without any evidence of their owners. The poor Albanians of Kosovo are suffering from the plunder of the Serbian government.

Source:  (Populli Newspaper, May 30, 1915)

We have been informed that the Serbian government, just as it had previously killed eight bayraktars, who were accused of having an agreement with a Kosovo bey, has now begun to imprison some innocent Albanians because they had connections with Hasan bey of Vučiterna. In this way, they have also imprisoned Muharrem Efendi, Hasan bey’s cousin.

These events are not surprising since the Serbs are accustomed to barbaric acts. They imprison one because he is an Albanian, another to be robbed even more than in the time of Hamit (Sultan Hamit, note VH). I know that the Serbian authorities do not want to know more about our writings, but about you. I write these notes so that they will remain as memories for tomorrow and so that the Albanians of Albania will not be able to freely say that they are slaves and exiles.

Source:  (Populli Newspaper, May 30, 1915)

“According to reliable news we receive from Peja, the people there are suffering under a cruel and predatory rule. There is no security of life. People live their lives without being asked or informed by others. Those who eat in Peja and the surrounding area are fined and robbed of between 5,000 and 500,000 kroner.”

The Albanian leadership is different in the houses where the Serbs have placed them, there is a guard at the door and they are not allowed to talk to anyone. In the Rugova region, which is located between Peja and Plav, the Serbs have brought three thousand soldiers and have given everything this army needs to live to the people of Rugova. And so the people there are starving for bread. It is known that the people of Rugova are so poor that they feed on firewood that they sell in the Peja bazaar…”

Source:  (Populli Newspaper, February 10, 1919)

According to accurate news that arrived in Shkodra yesterday, the Serbian and Montenegrin committees, after

Crimes in Đurđevik

“Thus, according to the author, in the village of Mali Đurđevik, “Ferriz Zeqiri, Hasan Hajzizi and 7 other men were killed, 42 houses were burned, all household property was looted, countless Turkish liras, sheep, goats, cows, bolika, other horses, 6500 pieces, wheat, barley, other corn, 45000 quintals were taken. In the village of Mali Đurđevik, Demir Alija, Zek Abdulahi, Feik Abdulahi were killed, and the entire village was burned. Sheep, goats, cows, other horses, 6000 pieces were looted; wheat, barley, corn and other crops, 2000 quintals.”

In the village of Jašanić, Latif Bajraktari was killed with 15 other friends, 60 houses were burned, 4600 quintals of wheat, barley, other corn were taken, as well as sheep, goats, cows, other horses. 4300 pieces were stolen. ” In the village of Sićena, the same thing happened: three rich men were killed (Bajram Haxhija, Nurat Mehmeti with his son, Mehmet Sadrija) and their houses and 16 other houses were burned, all their property was stolen.

The Serbs committed such barbaric crimes against the village of Glarene, where 41 houses were burned, 21 houses in Perčevo, 60 houses in the village of Šperka e Gashi, 15 houses in Voljak, and all the property in this village was stolen.

“In the village of Ćipeva, the entire village was burned, the men were tied and tied together, they were shot with machine guns, the women and children were thrown into the fire and burned alive, only one boy survived, who is still in Albania today.”

Here too, all property was stolen. “The number of wealthy people who left the village is unknown, because no one was left alive to count how much they lost.” In the village of Damas, Rahman Sila was killed with 5 men from his household, “42 other men were tied with ropes and shot with machine guns; 7 houses were burned, and all their wealth was looted. In the village of Turjak, Ismail Ceba was killed with his brother, and three of his friends who happened to be guests were also killed, Ram Musa Ponorci’s son, Halil Rama, and two other friends, and the entire village was looted.

In the village of Zatrič, Džak Besa was killed with 26 men who were shot with bayonets, as well as a woman with her children of Ahmet Ali. The entire village was looted.” Describing the Serbian massacres of the Albanian spirit in Kosovo, Zek Musa emphasizes the fact that all these villages “which I mentioned above” are located in the region of the Orahovac sub-county, Prizren Prefecture.

On this occasion, he adds the fact that in the village of Drenovč three men were killed and household goods were looted, while in the villages of Vrajak, Postosli, Patok, Kosnik, Petković, Labićevo clothes and other goods were looted, while men and children fled into the forests for fear of cannons, saving themselves only with their lives. Likewise, in the village of Mrasur two men, two boys, two girls and two women were killed, “whom they took hostage in the house of Šaban Mrasur, they also took 100 Turkish liras and burned their houses with all their belongings”.

Source:  Baki Imeri, Bucharest (Bucharest).

List of Serbian crimes:

“According to researcher Shaban Braha, during the years 1946-1999, a series of measures were implemented that led to the implementation of a policy that was not only humiliating and oppressive towards Albanians, but turned into pure genocide.”

Here are some trends in the Serbian genocide in Kosovo during this period:

• Cultural genocide (national symbols and personalities were denied).
• Internment in infamous camps deep in Yugoslavia.
• Arrests and brutal torture in interrogation centers and prisons (1/2 of the prisoners were Albanians from Yugoslavia).
• Incitement to fratricide in Albanian communities.
• Massive and continuous raids.
• Drastic measures to disarm Albanians.
• Recruitment and violent compromises by the UDB.
• Violence against guerrillas.
• Brutality and violence against families of the guerrilla movement.
• Mysterious liquidations of patriotic elements.
• Inhuman torture in prisons and interrogations, in police stations and everywhere, spreading the phenomenon of madness.
• Eliminations and murders of Kosovo boys in military units.
• Agentic and moral compromises of Albanian women.
• Mass layoffs.
• Monopolization of administration in the hands of Serbs.
• Forced expulsion of 380,000 Albanians to Turkey.
• Arbitrary expropriations of Albanians.
• Massacre of over 20,000 Albanians.
• Forced deportation of over 800,000 Albanians from Kosovo.
• Violent national and religious transformations on an unprecedented scale.
• Mass executions of women, children, the elderly and the sick.
• Causing dozens of mass graves.
• Mass burning of houses, property, barns and agricultural products.
• Robbery of property, money, furniture, jewelry, and livestock.

The plan for the extermination of Albanians was drawn up in 1939 by Serbian writer and Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andrić.

Details of Serbian war crimes and atrocities against Albanians in 1912

Petrit Latifi

The German newspaper “Der Elässer” published an article in 1913 that described in detail Serbian crimes and massacres against Albanians.

Serbs burned 150 villages between Novi Pazar and Monastir

“Between Novi Pazar and Monastir, more than 150 villages have so far disappeared in smoke and flames, the population of entire villages killed or expelled, so that even extensive colonization would have been difficult to generate a workforce for even previously sparsely populated areas. In Kosovo alone, 13 villages fell victim to the war of attrition waged here by the Serb invaders.”

The Serbian army filled the Kacanic Gorge with Albanian corpses

“The Albanians in the Ferizaj region could only save their lives by fleeing. In the Kacanik valley there is a gorge where, even now, where the snow has covered the gruesome picture, the remains of several hundred Albanians can still be seen who, surrounded by Serbs, were massacred without warning and fell, dead or alive, into the rocky gorge.”

Albanians would be shot just for wearing plush

“The Albanian consul at the Austro-Hungarian consulate in Uskb was warned by a Serbian officer to remove his white fez, which identified him as Albanian, or risk being shot by Serbian soldiers.”

Serbian soldiers killed Turkish and Albanian prisoners in Belgrade

“95 Albanian and Turkish prisoners were shot in Novi Bazaar, who were promised peace if they convinced their compatriots to lay down their arms and begin negotiations themselves. Among the 800 prisoners brought to Belgrade and interned, not one was from Novi Bazaar.”

Serbian gangs consisted of convicts, arsonists, and robbers

“A month before the invasion of regular troops, Serbian gangs were gathering in the southern part of the country, some of which were composed not only of the regular population, but also of recently amnestied convicts, adventurers, arsonists, and notorious bandits who always made the border unsafe.”

Serbian soldiers captured, tortured and hanged a Bosniak fleeing Pljevlja

“Ter Beh Bajrović from Plevelje, who wanted to flee to Bosnia with his family and therefore certainly no longer posed a threat to Serbian troops, was found on the Bosnian border and hanged after torture. The fact that Albanian cattle were forcibly taken away and the serfs were shot is no longer anything special after all this.”

In Albanian (Shqip):

Serbet dogjen 150 fshatra midis Novi Pazarit and Manastirit

“In the Novi Pazari Monastery, there are 150 people who have been killed in the fighting, the population of the region has already begun to rise, the government has already started to pay the price and the people have already paid the price for the area where the pact was signed, 13 people were injured in the airstrikes by the Serbs and the Pushtu.”

They are a bunch of Serbs, they are Greeks, they are Katsanicut, they are a bunch of shit.

“The Shqiptaret is not a district of Ferizajt, but a place where the Shqiptaret is located. The Katsanikut region is not a place where the Greeks live, but where the people live, and

Skiptaret do te kelloheshin thejesht per mbaytjen e nje plisi

“The Albanian consul at the Austro-Hungarian consulate in Uskub was accompanied by a Serbian officer, who was identified as a Serb by the Serbs, and who was arrested by the Serb authorities.”

Ushtaret Serbs crows and burgosur Turks the shqiptare not Belgrade

“Novibazar, 95 the burgomasters are Turks, the goals of the prime minister are not to bind the Bashkat-Dhetaret with the rubber and the army of the phillons, but to negotiate, in 08 the burgomasters are in Belgrade and the interior, as they are not in Novibazari.”

The Serbian bandit is a thief, he steals everything.

“For the sake of the people, the Serbs are not going to sell their weapons to the south, but to the people who are already in power,

Serbs are being tortured and killed by Bosniaks in Pljevlja.

“Ter Beh Bajrović of Pljevlja, and all the people of Bosnia, who are familiar with the Serbs, are not afraid of the Serbs, and they are not afraid of the Bosnian shepherds, and they are not afraid of the Bosnian shepherds. They are afraid of the Bosnian shepherds, and they

Serbian:

Serbs burned 150 villages between Novi Pazar and Monastir

“Between Novi Pazar and Monastir, more than 150 villages have so far disappeared in smoke and flames, the population of entire villages has been killed or expelled, so that even an extensive colony would be weakly difficult to work for and generate. area In Kosovo alone, 13 villages have become victims of the war for unification that they have launched here.

Serbian troops filled the Kacanic Gorge with Albanian corpses

“The Albanians in the Ferizaj region could only save their lives by fleeing. In the Kacanik valley there is a gorge where, even now, where the snow has covered the eerie picture, the remains of several hundred masses of Albanians can still be seen, without the circle around which there are warnings and who fell, alive or dead, into the rocky gorge.”

Albanians would be shot just for wearing plush

“The Albanian consul at the Austro-Hungarian consulate in Usfib was warned by a Serbian officer to remove his white fez, which identified him as an Albanian, or risk being sent to prison by Serbian soldiers.”

Serbian soldiers killed Turkish and Albanian prisoners in Belgrade

“95 Albanian and Turkish prisoners were shot in Nova Bazi, who were promised peace if they convinced their people to lay down their arms and negotiate themselves. bazaar.”

Serbian gangs consisted of convicts, arsonists, and robbers

“A month before the invasion of regular troops, Serbian gangs gathered in the southern part of the country, some of which were composed not only of the regular population, but also of recently amnestied convicts, palivantusheniki. bandits who always made the border unsafe.”

Serbian soldiers captured, tortured, and hanged a Bosniak who was fleeing Pljevlja.

“Ter Beh Bajrović from Pljevlja, who wanted to flee to Bosnia with his family and therefore certainly no longer posed a threat to Serbian troops, was pursued at the Bosnian-Herzegovinian border. Albanian cattle were forcibly taken away, and the serfs were shot, after all this there is nothing special anymore.”

Reference

https://www.numistral.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6x3014038j/f1.item.r=albanesische.zoom#

Scientific conference: photographs of weapons and objects used by Serbs to murder and rape Albanians (1998-1999)

Petrit Latifi

Abstract

The paper, titled: “Serbian Massacres in Kosovo 1998-1999 – According to Museum Material Evidence,” deals with the topic of Serbian crimes in Kosovo, that is, it will focus on the massacres committed by Serbian occupation forces against Albanian civilians, not sparing even the most sensitive categories of people, such as children, the elderly and women.

Our work will mainly focus on the narration of shocking events through museum material evidence, such as: spears, knives, axes, syringes, ropes, barbed wire, the underwear of raped women and the use of all shells of different calibers of Serbian artillery. So, these are some of the authentic material sources, which were used by the Serbian army and police forces, to massacre the innocent population of Kosovo in the most brutal way, just because they were Albanians.

A significant part of the material evidence relating to the last war in Kosovo, including the Serbian massacres of the Albanian civilian population, has been mainly collected and preserved in the museums of Kosovo, with a special emphasis on the National Museum of Kosovo. Therefore, we have approached this scientific and professional work from a museum perspective, with the aim of reflecting in as much detail as possible this chapter, as painful as it is proud.

Keywords  : massacres, Kosovo, museum, evidence, crimes, material sources, war, Albanians, civilians, Serbian military forces, etc.

The Albanian people in general, and the Kosovar people in particular, have never ceased their efforts for national liberation throughout history. During this long journey, full of great sacrifices, many generations and different categories of our people have made valuable contributions. In the 1840s, Serbian leaders began to think about expansionist plans for the expansion of Serbia, which had their origins even earlier.

On this basis, they began to build the infamous platform of “Načertanije”, which was implemented in 1844, led by the ideologist of this development, Ilija Garašani, around whom all political leaders would gather, as well as those religious who were put at the service of this ideology, with the support of conservative Serbian circles. This plan put the Albanians as the main target, who, in fact, suffered violence, historical injustice, displacement and colonization of their countries accompanied by unprecedented genocide, up to and including attempts at their complete extermination.

The radical turn that worked in Serbia’s favor was the “Peace of St. Stephen” and the fragile situation created by the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, when large-scale displacements of Albanians from their lands began, accompanied by violence and monstrous crimes against them, which did not stop until the last war in 1999.

The use of the most draconian methods, such as continuous state violence and land colonization, made life bitter for Albanians and ultimately forced them to be displaced, assimilated, or killed without trial by Serbian paramilitary phalanxes that operated freely with the permission of state structures.

Thus, the incitement of the most banal interethnic excesses was carried out with the specific aim of having an alibi for the terror that would be carried out against the entire population of an entire region. Unable to face the Albanian resistance, the Serbian army, police and paramilitary units unleashed all their cruelty on the innocent Albanian civilian population, on women and children, the elderly and adults.

In this massacre, there was no more monstrous method that was not used exclusively to exterminate the indigenous Albanian population forever.

The murders and mass massacres caused by the Serbian state apparatus in Kosovo are numerous, throughout Kosovo. In relation to this topic, our focus is mainly on the narration of shocking events through museum material evidence, such as: spears, knives, axes, syringes, ropes, barbed wire, the underwear of raped women, and even the use of all kinds of shells of various calibers by Serbian artillery.

So, these are some of the authentic material sources used by the Serbian military and police forces to massacre the innocent population of Kosovo in the most brutal way, for the sole reason that they were Albanians.

A significant part of the material evidence relating to the last war in Kosovo, including the Serbian massacres of the Albanian civilian population, which has been mainly collected and preserved in the museums of Kosovo, with a special emphasis on the National Museum of Kosovo, represents the most real evidence that can be seen and touched with hands, and which served the Serbian fascist occupier to commit crimes and massacres in Kosovo during 1998-1999.

The material museum evidence mentioned above points to the other dark side of the coin, where Serbian criminals used them to dismember the bodies of Albanian civilians, cutting off their ears, noses, hands, feet, eyes, genitals, heads, and even removing the most vital organs of the human body such as lungs, kidneys, hearts, etc.

The use of these morbid methods by the Serbian state apparatus, in an organized manner, attempted to instill fear in the Albanian civilian population, in order to subjugate them and force them to renounce their goal of freedom and independence. Also, the genocidal Serbian occupation authorities claimed to desecrate cultural and national identity, destroying some of the objects of cultural and historical heritage.

Of this material evidence we possess; two short swords found in the Arbana neighborhood of Prizren; a knife found in the village of Vermica in Prizren; a knife found in the village of Celina, Rahovec; two swords found in the village of Dresnik, Peja; an axe found in the village of Marec, Pristina; a knife handle with Russian inscriptions found in the village of Belacerka (Fortesa) in Rahovec; a wooden stick found in the Feronikel factory in Glogovac; a bloody rope and syringe found in the village of Duhel, Shtime; a traditional Albanian bread basket desecrated and damaged with Serbian nationalist inscriptions, found in the village of Belacerka (Fortesa) in Rahovec, a bloody white plush with Serbian nationalist inscriptions (writing four “S”), found in Kosovo Polje; several dozen shell casings of various calibers used by Serbian military and police artillery forces against the Albanian civilian population, found in all municipalities in Kosovo where there was war; as well as several pairs of underwear from Albanian women who were sexually raped by paramilitaries and soldiers of Serbian forces.

Two short swords: found in the apartment of the criminal Gaddafi Demaj from the Prizren neighborhood of Arbana, educated in Belgrade, Serbia, who was a long-time collaborator of the UDB. He participated in many massacres committed by paramilitary and regular units of the Serbian military police in the Prizren region and throughout Kosovo. So, according to eyewitness sources, it is said that this criminal, known in these areas under the nickname “Gaddafi”, massacred many Albanian civilians with this cold weapon.

The criminal in question managed to escape the war and after the capitulation of Serbia he fled to Serbia, where he still lives today. In order to shed light on and substantiate the crimes committed by this criminal during the war, information was provided to the National Museum of Kosovo on 18.02.2001 by Enver Rexha, a former political activist of the LKČK.

Fig. 1. Two short swords found in the Arbana neighborhood of Prizren

Knife: Found on the body of an unidentified Albanian civilian woman, in early November 1999, in a place called Vermica, a village located between the Albanian-Albanian border, Kosovo and Albania. According to the authentic testimony of witness Xhemsit Krasniqi, who says that Serbian forces killed many Albanian civilians in many places along the border line with Albania, including the case in question.

He further states that: “Wherever we were able to see the murders and massacres committed against Albanian civilians, we came across a wealth of material evidence, mostly cold steel. Aware of the value and argumentative importance of the knife, I took it from the scene to testify in this case.” In the meantime, on June 16, 2001, he donated this exhibit as evidence to the Museum of Kosovo.

Fig.2. Knife found in the village of Vermice, Prizren

Military knife: found in the village of Celina, or rather in the Hasanaj neighborhood in Orahovac, on March 25, 1999. According to the testimony of witness Sadik Hasani, it has been proven that the knife was used by paramilitaries and soldiers of the Serbian forces to kill and massacre Albanian civilians in this village. So, exactly in March 1999, 81 villagers of all ages were massacred.

The witness also emphasizes that the Serbian forces, in addition to killing Albanian civilians, then massacred them by cutting off various body organs, such as: nose, tongue, eyes, head, hands, feet, and finally they removed all their internal organs, so that in many cases it was impossible to identify a family member. To kill people more easily, they usually used firearms, while then they cut and chopped their corpses into the most barbaric shapes possible with cold steel, just to scare the Albanians and make them suffer as much as possible.

According to witness Sadik Hasani, at the time the villagers of Celina were killed, five close members of his family were among them. After the end of the war, with good intentions to contribute to the clarification of Serbian crimes, they handed over the material evidence, including the sword, to the Kosovo Museum, as the most competent institution for the preservation and presentation of war crimes, on December 10, 2000.

Fig. 3. Knife found in the village of Celina, Rahovec/Orahovac

Two swords: found in the house of a Serb in the village of Dresnik, Klina municipality, in October 1999. According to information obtained by Halit Sahitaj, the swords were allegedly used by Serbian paramilitary and military forces in massacres of Albanian civilians in the Peja region.

According to him, the bloody swords are the most authentic and concrete evidence in which traces of the crimes are clearly visible, which the Serbian forces used as the most monstrous methods to show once again that their hatred of Albanians was pathological and well-organized by the state apparatus since the second half of the 19th century, and continuously manifested until the end of the 20th century.

We say this because in order for such weapons to be used in war to cut and dismember innocent victims, a person must be very corrupt in spirit, to the point of cannibalism or a mad savage, all the more so in this century when the consciousness of man and the civilized world in general has reached a different level, while the mentality of the Serbian occupier has remained below the medieval level.

Both swords were brought to the Kosovo Museum on December 6, 1999, as evidence to argue for the Serbian genocide against Albanians and to inform and educate younger generations about what happened in Kosovo during the 1998-1999 war.

Fig. 4. Two swords found in the village of Dresnik in Klina

The axe found in the village of Marec in the municipality of Pristina, with which Albanian Faik Vitija was massacred by Serbian police forces in April 1999. According to his close relative, Bexhet Vitija, who says that the Serbian forces, in addition to being armed and pre-organized with cold weapons, also killed and massacred with their work tools, whether agricultural or household, such as axes, sickles, scythes, saws, etc., when entering the houses of Albanian villages.

And in this particular case, Faik Vitija was massacred with our axes that the villagers mostly used for family needs, namely for cutting trees in the forest or at home. After the end of the war, this exhibit was brought to the museum by Bexhet Vitija, who served as material evidence to present Serbian crimes to the local, and especially international, public through thematic exhibitions in the museum.

Fig. 5. Axe found in the village of Marec, Pristina

Knife handle with Russian inscription called “DUMA”: found in the house of Avdurakhman Kelmendi’s family in the village of Fortesa, Orahovac. According to his testimony, on April 24, 1999, Serbian and Russian paramilitary forces, who came voluntarily and as mercenaries from Russia, were stationed in his house from where they sexually raped, killed and massacred many Albanians, including Nadie Spau from Orahovac, Shaipi with her son from the village of Brestovac, Orahovac and many others.

These crimes are also evidenced by numerous material evidence, including a knife with Russian inscriptions, which was used by Russian paramilitary units against Albanian civilians, many of whom participated in the 1998-1999 Kosovo war as part of Serbian forces. The handle of the knife is concrete evidence that clearly speaks of participation in and the commission of crimes in Kosovo.

It is important to emphasize the fact that during this period in the village of Belačerk (Tvrđava) in Orahovac, dozens of Albanians from this village were killed and massacred by Serbian and Russian paramilitary forces. The handle of the knife with the Russian name “Duma” was donated to the Museum of Kosovo after the war on January 13, 2001 as historical material evidence confirming the participation and massacres that were also caused by Russian paramilitary forces.

Fig. 6. Knife handle with Russian inscriptions found in the village of Belacerka (Fortesa) in Rahovec

Wooden stick: found in the Feronikel factory in Drenas, as a result of research conducted by scientific and expert associates of the History Department of the Museum of Kosovo, during the months of November-December 1999, during which, along with many other material evidence, this wooden stick was found. According to eyewitness accounts obtained from the Albanian community living near this location, they recounted the events that took place during the war in this town.

Among other things, they told us what the Serbian forces used the wooden stick for. The wooden stick, or as it is popularly known as the “baseball bat,” was used by the Serbian forces for mass group and individual beatings of all Albanians who were forcibly gathered in the city and in the Feronikel factory in Drenas, exactly where the main Serbian forces were stationed.

As a result of the brutal beatings, many Albanian civilians died, while a small number were permanently disabled. The brutality was so great that, in addition to killing, Serbian criminals then mutilated and disposed of their corpses by changing their clothes before burying them en masse. The exhibition in question is an integral part of the war collections, which serve as historical evidence to argue the crimes of Serbian forces against Albanian civilians.

Fig. 7. Wooden stick found at the Feronikel factory in Drenas

Bloody rope: found in the village of Duhel in Shtime, on July 10, 1999. According to sources obtained from the Paštrik operational zone, the information sector, under the leadership of superior Halil Čadraku, which confirms that all this material evidence, including the rope in question, was used by Serbian paramilitary and military forces to commit violence and murder against the Albanian civilian population, not sparing even the most vulnerable categories, namely children, women, the elderly and the disabled.

As for the rope, on which the traces of the crime are clearly visible, it was used specifically for strangling civilians. Thus, the Serbian barbarians did not leave any method or other means that they did not use to rape and kill Albanians in the most brutal forms. The choice of murders using rope, barbed wire and other objects was well thought out by the Serbian criminals.

They did this by claiming that Albanians should suffer as much as possible during the murder process, in order to intimidate them into leaving their homeland and for Kosovo to be populated by Serbs. The exhibit in question was donated to the Museum of Kosovo as historical evidence on December 9, 1999.

Fig. 8. Bloody rope found in the village of Duhel, Shtime

Syringe: According to sources obtained from the Paštrik Operational Zone, Directorate for Information, under the leadership of KLA superior Halil Čadraku, the syringe was found in the village of Duhel, Shtime, on July 10, 1999. According to him, the syringes were used by Serbian paramilitary and military units to drug them so that their actions would be as unbridled and serious as possible in committing crimes against Albanian civilians.

This form was mainly used by Serbian paramilitary units organized by the Serbian state and mobilizing criminals from Serbian prisons, criminals with experience from the wars fought in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as criminals coming from the criminal world in Serbia and abroad. In other words, all these criminal groups, using drugs and other narcotic substances, tried to eliminate the feeling of spiritual pain and under its influence to rape, kill and massacre the Albanian population of Kosovo.

Fig. 9. Syringe, found in the village of Duhel in Shtime

Albanian traditional breadboard: damaged and desecrated with Serbian and Russian nationalist inscriptions, found in the house of Avdurahman Kelmendi’s family in the village of Belacerka (Fortesa) in Orahovac. According to his testimony, on April 24, 1999, Serbian and Russian paramilitary forces who came voluntarily and as mercenaries from Russia were stationed in his house, from where they killed and massacred dozens of Albanian civilians of this village. Numerous testimonies and available materials confirm serious criminal facts, including the breadboard with Serbian and Russian Cyrillic inscriptions.

As Avdurahman Kelmendi testifies, the breadboard was initially used for ordinary eating purposes. After consuming alcohol, the board was misused for mockery, showing disrespect for the ethnocultural heritage of the Albanians. They wrote nationalist symbols on it, drawings of naked female figures, and eventually, they performed shameful acts, even performing physiological needs.

Such acts against Albanian culture and historical heritage occurred in all municipalities in Kosovo, which also testifies to cultural crimes or, as it is known in international terminology, culturocide.

It is important to emphasize the fact that the breadboard, with all its characteristic appearance reflecting Serbian and Russian barbarity, was used as evidence against the settlement of Russians in Orahovac in July 1999, after NATO entered Kosovo, in addition to many other crimes committed in this region. In the meantime, on January 13, 2001, the breadboard was donated to the Museum of Kosovo, as historical material evidence to prove cultural crimes in Kosovo.

Fig. 10. Traditional Albanian bread sofra desecrated and damaged with Serbian nationalist inscriptions, found in the village of Belacerka (Fortesa) in Rahovec.

A white, bloody shirt with Serbian nationalist inscriptions (four letters “S”) belonging to Shefki Halil Dedince from the village of Lajtište (Leškošić), found in his apartment in Bresje, Kosovo Polje. According to Naim Buelnica, Shefki disappeared during the Kosovo War by Serbian paramilitary forces on March 7, 1999, and has still not been found.

Such cases of killing Albanian civilians with white plis on their heads were numerous, which is a consequence of the fact that Serbian forces were prevented from using any cultural and national symbol related to Albanians, and even in the case of the white plis of Shefki Dedince, four letters S were written on it, in order to show their chauvinistic ambition for a greater Serbia. After the end of the war, this relic was brought to the museum by Naim Buelnica, which served as material evidence for the display of Serbian crimes.

Fig. 11. White plush covered in blood with Serbian nationalist inscriptions

(writing with four “S”), found in Kosovo Polje

Dozens of shell casings of various calibers used by Serbian military and police forces against the Albanian civilian population in Kosovo, found as a result of research conducted by scientific and expert associates of the historical sector at the Museum of Kosovo during 2000-2015.

According to eyewitness accounts from the Albanian community living near these locations, they recounted the events that occurred during the war in their settlements. Among other things, they told us what various Serbian artillery shells were used for and by whom.

According to them, in every military base where the Serbian army operated in Kosovo, heavy artillery was used to bombard settlements from a distance where the Albanian civilian population had gathered and taken refuge; in the fields, in the mountains, in the gorges, in the villages, and even in the cities. As a result of these shells, thousands of Albanian civilians were killed and maimed throughout Kosovo.

The number of deaths from Serbian artillery was largely due to the size of the shells and their volume when fired. Shells from the aforementioned shells of all calibers, from the smallest to the largest, are factual evidence reflecting Serbian crimes in Kosovo on a genocidal scale.

Various shell casings, now turned into museum exhibits within the National Museum of Kosovo, are an integral part of the collections of the 1998-1999 war, which serve as historical facts to argue for the crimes committed by Serbian forces against Albanian civilians.

Fig. 12. Dozens of shell casings of various calibers used by the artillery forces of the Serbian army and police against the Albanian civilian population, found in all municipalities in Kosovo where the war took place in 1998-1999.

Within the framework of Serbian crimes against Kosovo Albanians, a very sensitive segment that occurred in Kosovo during the 1998-1999 war was the rape of an Albanian woman. According to international law and the Statute of the Hague Tribunal, rapes are criminal acts classified as crimes against humanity. Therefore, the terrorist force of Serbia, led by the criminal Milošević, did not spare the mass rapes of Albanian women in Kosovo.

20,000 Albanian women were raped

These forms of action by Serbian criminals were aimed at politically, psychologically, morally and spiritually discrediting Albanians in general, and women in particular. Based on information from the field obtained from various witnesses and victims, it turns out that there were more than twenty thousand (20,000) Albanian women raped during the last war in Kosovo. For this dimension of the crime, we have several photographs, as well as three pairs of underwear of raped women found in the village of Duhel between the municipalities of Shtime and Suva Reka.

Underwear of sexually raped Albanian women:

According to sources obtained from the Paštrik Operational Zone, Directorate for Information, the underwear of sexually raped Albanian women was found in the village of Duhel in Shtime, which borders the municipality of Suhareka, on July 10, 1999. According to the information, the women’s underwear is authentic evidence that proves that during the war in Kosovo, the Serbian army and police sexually raped Albanian civilian women.

In order to shed light on and substantiate the sexual crimes committed by Serbian criminals, Halil Cadraku, a former senior KLA commander in the Paštrik operational zone, donated it to the Museum of Kosovo as museum material evidence on February 9, 1999.

Fig. 13. Underwear of Albanian women who were sexually raped
by Serbian military and police forces in 1998-1999.

Conclusions

The material developed above leads us to the conclusion that the work is a serious attempt to faithfully reflect the struggle of the Albanian people for freedom and independence. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to sacrifice many citizens of Kosovo over the years, focusing on crimes committed on a genocidal scale by the Serbian criminal occupying forces, such as: destruction, arson, murder, deportation, rape, and even going to extreme situations where even the most sensitive categories of our people were killed and massacred, such as children, women, the elderly and the disabled.

Also, below we present a general summary of murders, massacres, rapes, deportations, missing persons and missing patriae, which are listed as follows:

-The number of Albanian civilians killed by Serbian forces in Kosovo is: 9,525

-The number of martyrs in the KLA war organization is: 2,800

The number of Albanians who disappeared during the war and are still missing today is around 1,600.

-Therefore, the total number of Albanians killed during the war in Kosovo reaches around 14,000.

-More than 800,000 Kosovo Albanians were forcibly expelled from their homeland.

-Number of municipalities, villages, houses damaged and burned by Serbian forces during the war

in Kosovo in 1998-1999, are: 29 municipalities, 100 villages, 99,362 houses.

-The number of damaged educational, cultural, health and public facilities is:

Educational and training institutions 534, number of health institutions 240, number of cultural (heritage) facilities 869, number of public service facilities 407.

Thus, thanks to the resistance of the Albanian people in Kosovo over the years, the KLA war and the US-led NATO intervention made it possible to stop the more than 100-year-old Serbian crimes and massacres against Albanians in Kosovo and for Kosovo to move forward on its historical course.

Sources and literature:

Archives of the National Museum of Kosovo, Pristina
Albanian Academy of Sciences – Institute of History, “History of the Albanian People II”, Toena Publications, Tirana, 2002.
Doctorate. Besnik Rraci & Dr. Sadik Krasniki, “Patriotic Actions of the Hero Salija Cekaj”, publisher, National Museum of Kosovo, Pristina, 2022
Nisret Pllana, “Terror of the Invasion of Serbia against the Albanians 1844-1999”, Pristina, 2001
. (1912-1999)”, Pristina, 2001
Sadik V. Krasniki, “War for the Liberation of Kosovo (1997-1999)”, Pristina, 2009
Ljuljeta Selimi, “Shocking Confessions (Women Raped During the Kosovo War)”, Pristina,
Mo3išić, historian Pristina, 2009. 2011
Catalogue of the thematic exhibition entitled: “Kosovo Drama”, officially opened on June 12, 2000 in the premises of the Museum of Kosovo in Pristina.
Newspaper “Koha Ditore”, June, 1999, Pristina
Museum Collection of Evidence of War Crimes in
Field Reports of the MZP, During Research in Collecting Material Evidence of the War Between 2000-2015, History Department, Museum of Kosovo, Pristina.
Working report, “List of material evidence on the 1998/99 war”, History Department of the Museum of Kosovo, Pristina.
Oral statement of Enver Rexha, Prizren.
Oral statement of Kshemshit Krasniki, Prizren
Oral statement of Sadik Hasani, Celine-Rahovec. Oral
statement of Halit Sahitaj, Cifllak-Rahovec
Oral statement of Behkhet Vitia, Marec-Prishtina
Oral statement of Avdurrahman Kelmendi, Bellacerka (Fortress), Orahovac
Oral statement of Halil Cadraqua, Prizren
Oral statement of Naim Buelnica, Fushe Kosova

Original article

https://gazetadelli.com/masakrat-serbe-ne-kosove-1998-1999-sipas-deshmive-materiale-muzeore/

Analysis of the theoretical, ideological and practical genocide carried out by the Serbian state, police and clergy against Albanian civilians (1877-1999)

by academician Prof. Dr. Hakif Bajrami. Translated and edited by Petrit Latifi.

Summary

This policy brief examines historical patterns of systematic violence, persecution, and state campaigns directed against the Albanian population in Kosovo between 1877 and 1999. Drawing on archival evidence, eyewitness accounts, and secondary research, the study identifies recurring patterns of mass violence and displacement carried out under the political, military, police, and religious institutions of the Serbian state.

The findings indicate that from the late nineteenth century until the Kosovo War of 1998–1999, a consistent framework of demographic engineering and cultural repression was implemented against Albanians. This policy framework included forced expulsions, the destruction of villages, religious coercion, and the suppression of national identity.

Although international attention peaked during the 1998–1999 conflict, the roots of the violence stretch back over two centuries. The report calls for renewed efforts to establish accountability, institutional transparency, and the establishment of comprehensive mechanisms to document crimes committed before and during the war in Kosovo.

Abstract

Archival research and multiple human rights investigations indicate that the persecution of Albanians in Kosovo represents a continuum of state-organized violence stretching from 1877 to 1999. The evidence includes systematic killings, forced displacement, and the destruction of cultural heritage. This report contextualizes these actions within the framework of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The study identifies three key patterns of genocidal policies: (1) ideological and theoretical justification of ethnic superiority; (2) institutional implementation through administrative and legal discrimination; and (3) practical execution through military and police operations. The cumulative effect of these policies led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and the displacement of nearly a million Albanians during the 1998–1999 war.

Quoted from the publication

Three types of genocide against Albanians

The scientific definition of genocide includes these categories of crimes:

1. Planned killing of group members;

2. Destruction and serious bodily harm to members of the group;

3. Deliberately imposing living conditions;

4. Introduction of birth control measures;

5. Forcibly transferring children from one group to another;

6. Prohibition of education and conversion so that victims change their religion – “human tyranny”;

7. Transporting bodies from crime scenes to different locations with the aim of covering up traces of genocide.

These operations, based on documents, have been implemented by the Serbian government against Albanians for two centuries. In this sense, while in 1877 Serbia exterminated 714 Albanian villages and 6 towns, without stopping this ugly phenomenon, in the last war of 1998/99 Serbia destroyed 1007 Albanian villages and 

7 cities in Kosovo.

In this planned war, it was envisaged that by June 28, 1999, not a single Albanian would remain in Kosovo.

It is planned to relocate 7 cities in two phases.

The first phase included:

Pristina, Mitrovica, Peja and Djakovica.

The second phase included Gjilan, Ferizaj and Prizren.

In this sense, from historical studies we can distinguish three types of genocide, which is always planned and documented.

Based on historical facts, we can conclude that, based on the Pan-Slavic program: “Concentration of Balkan Slavs in one empire” over two centuries, the extermination of Albanians occurred in phases from which three types of genocide can be deduced.

1. Theoretical genocide

Serbian politics have created racist theories that the state then implements in practice, such as: “Albanians are a nameless people living in a nameless country, without history, without literature, without a literary language, without tradition, without poetry, without all the attributes that distinguish humans from animals.”

These Tosks and these Ghegs, these hybrids of different anthropological traits, this gang divided into fifty dialects, completely unintelligible, shout and call out to each other in exhausting anarchy.

Some of them have ponytails, and others have goattails.

“Their reality goes to the point where they don’t know what salt is and what sugar is.”

This article was translated into all European languages, in order to create the belief that Serbia was performing a “humanitarian duty” in its war.

(Taken from an article in DASIPB entitled: “How Albanians Should Not Be Treated for Diplomatic Purposes, 1953).

2. Ideological genocide

We find ideas about the genocide that the state should undertake against Albanians in this plan of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 1913.

“In order to exterminate Albanians, the state apparatus must use the laws to the fullest extent, in order to further poison the position of Albanians in our country.”

And the types of poisoning are: fines, arrests, police orders that condemn everyone, accuse them of the crime of logging, let their dogs loose, imprison them, do not accept their ownership papers, impose huge taxes, rob their pastures, tear down the walls of their houses, prohibit the sale of their livestock, increase their taxes, destroy their graves, force children to be baptized, arm colonists on the other side, authorize colonists to play the role of police, infiltrate family and tribal intrigues, burn down city walls at night, and accuse other regions of killing Albanians in war among themselves, as happened in 1877.

The Serbs created this description to make planning easier for officers and police officers.

3. Practical genocide

In Serbian archival documentation, the two-century-long practical genocide from 1877 to 1999 can be documented without any time break, as Serbian circles created 37 programs for this anti-human act. In this sense, only in the last war of 1998/99 Belgrade had three active programs for the extermination of Albanians, such as:

1. Scorched Earth

2. Collision corridors,

3, Operation Horseshoe.

To thwart these Serbian plans, the KLA war was imposed, which required NATO to bomb Serbia for 78 days, from March 24 to June 10, 1999, which essentially amounted to World War III. In the 78-day war, in addition to the KLA, which was a ground army, they also bombed from the air:

1058 aircraft,

Of these, 731 were from the United States, while other countries also participated:

France in 1984,

Italy, I am 58 years old,

England, 39 years old,

Germany with 33,

Netherlands, I am 22 years old,

Turkey with 21,

Canada is 18,

Belgium with 14,

Denmark is 8,

For 7 people,

Norway with 6,

Hungary and 4,

Portugal with 3 aircraft.

Therefore, the participation ratio is 731 aircraft from the USA or 69.9%, while all other countries have 327 aircraft, or 30.9%.

This quota should also include a quantity of 10 NATO aircraft as a “common good”.

4. Serbian Albanophobia has a two-century history

Albanophobia, Serbian institutions have expressed, has to do with: “an inferior race because Albanians are a river that has overflowed its bed”; these are the main expressions of 37 Serbian programs for their extermination.

Here is the oath taken by Serbian officers to massacre Albanians in a Kosovo monastery in 1998.

The text of the oath is as follows:

“I swear by the honor of my blood and the glorious Serbian name that I will fight against the enemies of my people until we achieve our sacred goal – the liberation of Kosovo, choosing neither means nor means against the Albanians.” Without any reaction, I will carry out all the tasks I receive from the movement, even at the cost of my life, because my life from today belongs to the Serbian movement, the War and the Serbian people.

I swear by this holy CHURCH before Serbian souls and brave heroes, and may the Serbian drum curse me if I betray or break this oath, may God and the eternal trail judge me. Freedom or death!

(From the publication: H. R. Wah, p. 89).

The Albanian ethnic territories were planned to be divided, not because their history is unknown, but simply because the majority of Albanians accepted ISLAM as their religion in the Middle Ages.

Here is the main bazaar, which has left tragic traces to this day, not taking into account the fact that two world wars took place.

This agreement is a secret agreement between Austria-Hungary and Russia dated May 17, 1897. (…)

Point 3.b. which states: “The part encompassed between Ioannina in the south and Lake Skadar in the north, with a sufficient extension to the east, shall form an independent state with the name of the Principality of Albania, excluding any foreign authority. c).

The rest of the available territory will be DIVIDED equitably between the various small Balkan states that exist today.

In this division, Austria-Hungary and Russia reserve the right to reach an agreement at a convenient time. “1. (1..AF Pribram, Les traites politiques secrete de l` Autriche-Hongaris, I. Paris 1923, p. 109; Knowing these agreements, the Montenegrin politician Vlada Dapčević will write in 1989: I quote in the original – “Probably no country, with the interests of any nation, has been so ruthlessly traded at peace conferences after the Second World War, as is the case with the Albanian people.”

And he continues: “What is happening in Serbia is a purely fascist scenario and populist politics. Everyone is talking about the rights of those Serbs and Montenegrins, who are in the vast majority colonists, who were colonized by the former Greater Serbia government with the intention of changing the national structure of the population.

They did this by taking the land away from the Albanians and giving it to the colonists.

Today (1989) he trumpets about counter-revolution. It is a simple fraud. Because the Albanians in Kosovo are not fighting for the restoration of capitalist Kosovo, but for national equality, independence… And there is no force that would prevent the Albanian people from realizing their will. If Slobodan Milosevic continues with such a policy of pressure, it will undoubtedly provoke a civil war in Yugoslavia.

Only a man who plays with the fate of the country could want such a situation.

Serbs cannot accept the fact that Albanians have created their own intelligence, their own national consciousness, and that it is no longer possible to return them to the level they were at before the war, when every Serb could kill an Albanian without being held responsible for it, at a time when the Serbs robbed, destroyed and humiliated them in the most cruel way…” Vlada Dapčević, “Mladina”, 20 January 1989, p. 61. Translation not intended.)

In the war against the Albanian people in Kosovo in 1998/99, the Serbian government employed complex special forces, such as regular military forces, combinations of police and special forces, paramilitary forces, local militia, and a multitude of forces acting as mercenaries from various countries, the global media outlet HR Watch reported.2. (2. “War Crimes in Kosovo, Special Report” for 1998.

5. Command structure in crimes

In this sense, the Federal Army of Yugoslavia (Žabljak) (Serbia, Montenegro) had a horizontal and vertical command structure.

At the top of the command pyramid was Slobodan Milošević.

In this regard, the army was under the control of the Supreme Defense Council.

This Council included:

President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, President of Serbia Ivan Milutinović and President of Montenegro Momir Bulatović.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Army was General Dragoljub Ojdanić, and the Deputy Commander of the General Staff was Colonel General Svetozar Marjanović.

In Kosovo, the fighter aviation and air defense, ground units of the Third Army for special operations commanded by Lieutenant General Spasoje Smilanić were on an aggressive offensive. 3. (3. HR Watch, Under Orders, N. York 2001, p. 67).

Since the Yugoslav Army (VJ) was structured into three armies, the so-called Third Army was stationed in the territory of Kosovo. This army, whose reach extended to part of southern Serbia, was commanded by Colonel Nebojša Pavković.

Under the command of the Third Army headquarters was the so-called Pristina Corps. This corps was commanded by Major General Vladimir Lazarević.

Under the command of this high-ranking Serbian officer were five assassination brigades.

The Fifteenth Infantry Brigade, headquartered in Pristina, was commanded by Colonel Mladen Ćirković.

The 125th Motorized Brigade with a combat operational focus was commanded by Colonel Dragan Živanović. This brigade operated in the areas of Mitrovica and Peć.

Meanwhile, the 549th Motorized Brigade was under central command in Prizren and Gjakova.

This brigade, which committed crimes especially in Gjakova, was commanded by Colonel Božidar Delić. In the regions of Gnjilane and Ferizaj, the 243rd brigade operated, commanded by Colonel Krsman Jelik. These murderous units were assisted by the 52nd Combined Artillery Brigade, whose command was in Gnjilane.

This brigade was commanded by Colonel Radojko Stefanović.

In cooperation with these murderous brigades was also the SPECIAL Military Police Brigade No. 52.

This brigade was commanded from Pristina by Major Željko Petković.

But not only these units, none of which have been INVESTIGATED, TRIED AND CONVICTED by any special court in Kosovo, Serbia or The Hague, but also acted in active coordination in MONSTRUE CRIMES against Albanians: 83rd Aviation Regiment; 311th Anti-Aircraft Regiment based in Gjakova;

Infantry Battalion No. 55 with headquarters in Prizren and Battalion No. 57 with command in Ferizaj.4 (4. Source: HR Watch, Under Orders, New York, 2001, p. 67).

Units of the 21st Corps from Niš participated against the Albanian civilian population, with the aim of displacement and extermination, as evidenced by archival documents;

211th Armored Brigade from Niš with 1258 soldiers,

75 tanks, 13 guns;

150th Vranje Brigade with 1316 soldiers, with 31 tanks;

2nd Niš Brigade with 1600 soldiers and 18 cannons;

Pirot Motorized Brigade with 1600 soldiers, 31 tanks and 18 cannons.

In operations against Albanian civilians with the aim of displacing and removing them from Kosovo, an engineering unit based in Prekupa and 1,000 soldiers operated, while the logistics unit No. 85 based in Niš, with 1,000 soldiers, was in every corner of Kosovo.

But, not only this. In Kosovo, the Užice Corps with the 37th Motorized Brigade from Raška was also involved in criminal actions against the Albanian civilian population.

This unit had 1695 soldiers, 31 tanks, 18 cannons.

In Kosovo, with the task of expelling the Albanian population from their lands or killing them if they did not move towards Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, there was the Požega Brigade with 1,600 soldiers and 18 cannons for bombarding villages.

The 24th Kragujevac Corps with Brigade No. 80, which had 1,600 soldiers and officers, was also involved in criminal activities and property theft.

This unit had 18 cannons and enough ammunition to bombard the village.

This murderous terrorist armada also included the 12th Corps of Novi Sad with Brigade No. 18 with 1,600 soldiers and officers, who had light combat weapons at their disposal, as well as 18 cannons for long-range bombing.5. (5. Kosovo Archives, Serbian Crimes 1998/99, placed by UNMIK in 21 trucks of unsystematized material;

The author of these lines did not allow this material to be thrown in the trash, as was proven by some foreign officials in September 1999.

It has been proven so far that in Kosovo, regular units of the First Army, commanded by Colonel General Srboljub Trajković, were also tasked with killing Albanian civilians.

This senior officer brought the 252nd Armored Brigade from Kraljevo to Kosovo to commit the crimes. This brigade had 1,121 soldiers under its command, who were authorized to “recruit” local Serbian civilians, with specific tasks, such as determining which Albanians were “suitable” for killing, who should be displaced, and which families should be massacred.

The brigade had 82 tanks and 12 guns.

The brigade also gathered private buses and armored vehicles throughout Kosovo to transport soldiers from one municipality to another.

In Kosovo, the Belgrade headquarters sent Special Brigade No. 72 with 1,189 soldiers to carry out murderous missions against Albanian civilians.

This special brigade was assisted in the liquidation of Albanian civilians in groups by the Belgrade Corps with the First Armored Brigade with 1,184 soldiers, 112 tanks and 12 cannons and mortars of various calibers and 12 cannons, in order to massacre the fleeing people.

Meanwhile, the 72nd Special Brigade and the 63rd Parachute Brigade, with 460 soldiers, attacked the Albanians in columns fleeing towards Albania and Macedonia.

The Second Pogorica Corps with the First B-4 Mountaineer Brigade, headquartered in Kolašin, dealt with roadkill.

This unit consisted of 350 soldiers.

Within this murderous force was the 4th Military Police Brigade of Podgorica with 359 soldiers.

In Kosovo, the unit commanded by Ratko Mladić also acted by mass killing the population. That unit also had monstrous murderers in its ranks:

“White Eagles”, commanded by Vojislav Šešelj and Aleksandar Vučić;

a firing squad called “Tiger” commanded by Željko Ržanatović-Arkan.

Alongside them, the “Volunteers” unit from Bosnia and Herzegovina also operated, as well as mercenaries, especially Russians and Romanians, with special tasks.

And within these actions, local Serbs from Kosovo were also involved, as mobilized, who distinguished themselves by sending units into special operations for mass murders on the streets, in houses, and of civilians who had taken refuge in the mountains.

On this occasion, the soldier gives a statement to the Hamburg newspaper “Die Zeit”.

He says, among other things, that:

“…I didn’t kill any children in Kosovo.”

“Next time I leave, I won’t make any distinctions, I won’t leave anything alive.”

6. Auxiliary units in crimes

With special tasks authorized by the Supreme State Council headed by Slobodan Milošević were also: Nikola Šainović, Milan Milutinović (President of Serbia), Mirko Marjanović (Prime Minister), Vljajko Stoilković (Minister of the Interior, known by the nickname “Deda” – “grandfather”).

This criminal, who kills himself at the gates of the Parliament, had these officers as his assistants: the entire Serbian police service, led by Vlastimir Đorđević, known by the nickname “Rodža”, who was also the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia.

His place was taken after some time by the criminal Sreten Lukić. He commanded all the massacres in Kosovo in 1998/99, without taking any responsibility.

But in the crimes, this military establishment was assisted by Colonel General Radomir Marković (arrested on February 23, 2001).

This criminal held a command position until January 25, 2001. Nikola Kurčik, a high-ranking State Security official and director of the Institute, was also involved in the crimes in Kosovo. This criminal had as his assistants:

Stojan Mišić, responsible for Serbia; General Petar Zeković responsible for Vojvodina and General Obrad Stevanović responsible for Kosovo.

The head of state security, David Gajić, was also subordinate to them.

Meanwhile, Obrad Stevanović hired professional anti-terrorist forces commanded by Živko Trajković. In coordination with special units from Btajnica, Novi Sad, and Priština, Živko Trajković committed crimes in Kosovo villages and, in late May 1999, in Peć and Đakovica, crimes directed by Sreten Lukić.

In the municipalities, the crimes were led by: in Pristina, Miško Laković (a drug dealer of several Albanian speakers); in Gnjilane, criminal gangs were led by Dušan Gavranović; in Mitrovica, the murders of Albanian civilians were organized by Ljubinko Cvetinić; in Uroševo, the murders of Albanians in houses and on the streets were organized by Bogoljub Jnaićijević; in Prizren, Gradimir Zeković commanded the cruel murders; in Peć and the surrounding area, Bora Vlahović commanded with cruelty; in Đakovica, civilians were liquidated on the orders of his superior, Dragutin Adamović, who was from Niš. This criminal also drove a special vehicle for the robbery of Albanian property.

7. Serbian secret police in Kosovo 1998-1999

With the Serbian secret police in Kosovo in 1998-1999, he led the terrorist organization “JSO”.

Within this organization were: the “Red Berets” led by Frenki Simatović and the “LEGIA” unit.

There is evidence that the terrorist units were led by: Frenki Simatović, Vijislav Šešelj, Aleksandar Vučić, Živorad Igić, Duško Ristić, Ivica Dačić.

This gang was led by Zoran Andjelković.

The units were secured by the army and police.

The origins of the mercenaries were from: Russia, Romania, Austria, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Germany, France and Italy. These units were assisted in the field of logistics by regional leaders, but were in a position to contact them:

Zoran Angjelković, Boško Drobnjak, Zejnelabedin Qurejš, Dragutin Marković from Priština, Gjilbehar Šabović from Prizren, Vesko Perić as the murderer of children from Kosovo Polje.

In the Kosovo region, those responsible for all crimes were: Velko Odalović, for the entire region. For the municipalities of the region, these were the following:

for Pristina Dušan Simić, for the municipality of Lipljan Lubinko Božić, for the municipality of Podujerva Milovan Tomić, for the municipality of Glogovac Dobrosav Radović, for the municipality of Obilić Zoran Milošević, for the municipality of Kosovo Polje Dobrica Llazić-“Ciga”, Nebojša Petković for the municipality of Ferizaj, the municipality of Kašanović, Radosav O. for the municipality of Štrpce and Svetislav Zekić for the municipality of Štimlje.

At the district and municipal levels, these individuals, who are not covered by any law for investigation, are responsible for the massacre of 2,315 Albanian civilians, 239 of whom were children. In the Mitrovica district, those responsible for crimes against Albanians are:

Zdravko Trajkovic.

The following were responsible for the municipalities: Nikola Radović for Mitrovica, Dragan Jablanović for Leposavić, Sima Simić for Srbica, Srđan Vukotic for Zubin Potok, Desimir Petković for Zvečan, Slobodan Donkić for Vučitrn.

For the Peja region, those responsible for crimes against Albanian civilians were:

Jovan Popović (district chief). While his staff included:

Mayor of the Municipality of Peć Milan Ivanovic,

President of the Municipality of Istok Miladin Perović,

President of the Municipality of Klina Svetozar Dabisevic,

Mayor of the Municipality of Decani Milivoje Đurković,

Mayor of the municipality of Đakovica Momčilo Stanojević (he was in Meja as a leader and was not convicted of the murder of 311 civilians in one day).

In the Prizren District, Brankica Turnjaković was in charge of crimes,

Ljubisa Stefanovic, Mayor of Prizren Municipality,

Nedelko Kollshinac, Mayor of Orahovac,

Stanimir Radić, President of the Municipality of Teranda,

Destan Skenderi, Mayor of the Municipality of Dragash.

In the Morava (Gnjilane) region, Predrag Kovačević commanded.

The group of pensioners was led by Duško Ristić, known as the main proponent of “creating a national balance between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, i.e. 50 to 50 percent.”

Meanwhile, the following mayors were in Predrag Kovačević’s headquarters:

For Gnjilane, Bogdan Peric, for Kamenica, Branimir Simic, for Vita, Vesko Peric,

for Novo Berd Petar Vasić. In this area there were also some criminals from Lika, Knin and Slavonia in Croatia.

8. Who provided security for the criminals in the genocide campaign against Albanians in Kosovo?

In 1998/99, Kosovo was the most militarized country in Europe after World War II.

Just study how many special units were concentrated in Pristina in early November 1998.

That night, it was predicted that Pristina and its streets would bleed and that Albanians would realize Serbian strength, wrote Vojislav Šešelj and Aleksandar Vučić, the radical duo known for: “We will occupy Albanian land through the hunting association,” meaning that we would “kill Albanians, as if they were mountain savages.”

But the genocide against Albanians in Kosovo was not possible, nor could it be imagined, without the direct participation of local Serbian leaders. In reality, the monstrous crimes against Albanians would not have been possible without the help of authorized persons of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. And those people who were participants in the crimes, abuses, rapes, robberies and theft of Albanian property, they are the ones who opened the DOSSIERS of the genocide and in that process were participants in it.

According to the discovered documents, they were:

Vesko Perić, Petrit Kostari, Ratomir Jončić, Džafer Đuka, Milorad Samardžić, Muharem Ibro, Mihajlo Nedić, Refik Senadović, Zoran Bratić, Adem Koči, Fuad Hoxha and others with special tasks to identify persons who were to be killed or raped. (See: Government of the Republic of Serbia, Municipal Orders, strictly confidential/1999.).

9. The most organized genocide that attempted the complete extermination of Albanians

In connection with the above, the chain of INFORMATION and command links in the regions and municipalities of Kosovo was fully covered by the region:

In the Prizren district, Zoran Anđelković’s command authorized the following for security (of Serbs) and crimes (against Albanians): Momćil Stefanović, Refik Senadović, Adem Koci, with two unidentified assistants;

In the Gnjilane district, Zoran Andjelković’s headquarters were presented with security (against Serbs) and crimes (against Albanians) directly linked to military, police and church circles:

Milorad Samardzic, Vesko Peric and Fuad Hoxha, Dusko Ristic;

In the Mitrovica district, the instigators of crimes against Albanians and the full security of the Serbs, who were fully armed: Ratko Jocić, Mihajlo Nedić, Zoran Bratić and two Albanian speakers who do not reveal the names of their superiors.

All these criminals were subsidized by Novak Bjelic, who allowed them to settle on the corpses of Albanians in the Zvecan foundry. There were 12 high-ranking officers in the Kosovo region, whose names were not legible in the document. But the brothels organized by some people who were members of Mira Markovic’s party were legible and were published in the newspapers, but to this day no indictment has been filed against them in any court, because the Kosovo Chief Prosecutor’s Office is “asleep”.

In fact, international centers rushed to establish a Special Court to prosecute KLA commanders, solely with the aim of ensuring that Serbian crimes were not mentioned at all.

And so it seems that those who defended the threshold of their homes are being investigated and tried, while those who organized the genocide are not only at large, but are being threatened again: “We will turn Kosovo into ruins at the right moment.”

The names of those who ordered the crimes throughout Kosovo remain in the municipalities. Those in the municipalities were:

In Peja, the order-givers were Tomoslav Lakićević;

in Klina it was Ranko Dončić, in Kamenica it was Nikita Marković, in Teranda it was Stanislav Anđelković, in Decani it was Branislav Laban, in Ferizaj the person who ordered the crimes against Albanians was Predrag Radivojević, in Mitrovica the instigator of the crimes against Albanians was Šerafedin Ajeti, in Vitina the crimes were commanded by Pe Zoran Kojić, and the commander was Ve Brdo Kojić. Slavoljub Maksiomović, in Leposavic it was Blagoje Nedelković, in Srbica the crimes against Albanians were planned with a team of two police officers and two priests from Niš by Sima Simić, in Đakovica the crimes and rapes were organized by Zoran Nikić, with two Orthodox priests from Decani.

In Kačanik, the crimes were organized by Dragan Cvejić, in Štrpce, the crimes were led by Svetislav Drulović, and in Štimlje, the crimes were organized by Pavle Živić. Meanwhile, in the Lipljani region, the crimes were organized by Slaviša Dukić with two Albanian speakers.

In Kosovo Polje, the crimes were orchestrated by Čedomir Bojković with two Roma. In Gnjilane and the surrounding area, the crimes were organized by Božidar Mitrović. He also had two Albanian udbas (Yugoslav secret service) as assistants, who were sometimes detained.

In Dragash, the crimes were orchestrated by Dimitrije Đorđević, in Orahovac, the crimes were organized, with a list, by Jovan Đuričić and two local Serbs, whose names HRW does not publish in “By Order”; For diplomatic and political-military problems, see also: Blerim Šalja, Godine Kosova 1998-1999, Priština 2000). The transport of Albanian corpses should be investigated as a specific Serbian crime.

In Prizren and its surroundings, the crimes and genocide against Albanians were planned by Dragan Stanković with three assistants who held the rank of reserve colonels, one of whom was a “Turk”. In Besijana (Podujevo), the crimes were orchestrated by Miloš Đurić with two Montenegrin reserve officers (their parents were colonists in Peran). In Vučitrn, the crimes were led by Slobodan Doknić, and in Burim (Istok), the crimes were led by the headquarters stationed in Vrela, Molorad Komatović.

This criminal had an advisor from Baja and one from Peja (former UDBASH).

In Oblić, he also directed crimes for Milorad Spasić’s Drenaš.

In Zubinpotok, crimes were usually organized at night by Mirko Trifunović.

In relation to these criminals, a report found in Peć under number 612/1, dated March 30, 1999, notes that all state bodies in the entire region were placed under the command of the Peć Military Section.

This section was commanded by Colonel Duško. D. Antik. This senior army officer had assistants: Jovo Popović, Simeon Radović, Toma Bjelić, Dr. Dragutin Vujošević, Slobodan Vlahović (authorized for the TRANSPORTATION OF ALBANIAN CORPSES, the transport of corpses to Batajnica near Belgrade), Slobodan Jokić, Danilo Medenica, Ndelko, Knežević Ndelko, Dragan Zečević, Goković Dragan, Radojša Lazar, Radojović, Branko, Radojović. Radullović, Tomislav Lakičević and three priests, who took care of their shelter in Bitola during the NATO bombing. Based on the documents, the whole of Kosovo was under the jurisdiction of the Pristina Corps (military establishment) commanded by General Vladimir Lazarević.

At the disposal of this murderous corps were special units of these officers:

1. The 252nd Armored Brigade was commanded by Colonel Miloš Mandić;

2. The 15th Armored Brigade was commanded by Colonel Mladen Ćirković;

3. The 125th Motorized Brigade was commanded by Colonel Dragan Živadinović;

4. The 243rd Mechanized Brigade was commanded by Colonel Krsman Dželikin;

5. The 549th Infantry Brigade was commanded by Colonel Božidar Delić;

The 6th Airborne Artillery Brigade was commanded by Colonel Miloš Ćosan;

7. The military police with the special tasks of raping people and forcing them to migrate was led by Major Željko Petković.

This unit was known as the number 52. 

According to archival documents, these leaders of the KILLER units are accountable to the Kosovo state justice system (which has clearly been either incompetent or irresponsible for 25 years, primarily the prosecution).

Responsibility before the Albanian people in particular and before history in general, is of all apstrophists for: Cruel murders, for mass rapes (HR W says that about 20,000 women were raped. The responsibility of the officers and executioners in Kosovo is also for the burning, looting and theft of Albanian property.5. 

(5. The documents collected by HR W researchers in “On Order” are categorized into 3 types:

1. Violence committed by soldiers, police, paramilitary units and officers in the home;

2. Punishments during street evictions, where they were publicly robbed and taken to separate houses, and then the victims were doused with gasoline or their bodies were decomposed with dynamite;

3. Carrying corpses and losing their traces by masking in Serbia.

The Serbian government organized the bombing of 1007 villages in Kosovo, out of a total of 1392.

Serbian state terror was specifically carried out against several families, which we present here as facts, of which the now defunct TRIBUNAL was aware, but of which the Special Court, which was supposedly established by the Assembly of Kosovo, but which does not answer to it or report to it for anything, is also aware.

11. Milosevic’s staff’s attempt to provoke a civil war among Albanians

It was fueled by the killing of famous Albanians, and then by propagandizing that “Albanians kill each other” is an old Serbian reality that was repeated through petty propaganda, which foreigners believed, because there were also Albanians who sabotaged the liberation war in every way.

In this regard, Adem Demaci repeatedly had problems with European and American envoys, even showing them photographs of a Serbian officer in Albanian national costume in front of Albanian and Serbian corpses, with the aim of blaming the Albanians.

And here all the diplomatic paths and tricks, which we have documented over time, ended, but bureaucrats and ignorant people seem to be experimenting with a national tragedy.

I named the criminals.

The task of the investigation and courts of the Republic of Kosovo is to act and show that we know how to create and maintain a democratic state, it seems that there is neither the knowledge nor the will to objectify the crime with an adequate punishment. 

(Note: I published this sentence in September 1999).

12. Albanian families massacred in Kosovo by Serbian troops

The massacred Albanian families are:

The Berisha family with 53 members from Teranada;

The Mučoli family with 52 members from Poklek and Drenaš;

The Krasnići family with 36 members from Postaseli in Rahovec;

The Krasnići family with 25 members from Caraluka, Mališevo;

The Gashi family with 23 members from Zhuniki, Belaerka, Rahovec;

The Deliu family with 23 members from Upper Aberia in Drenas;

The Popaj family with 22 members from Belacerka, Orahovac;

The JASHARI family with 22 members from Prekaz, Serb;

The Vejsa family with 20 members from Gjakova;

The Imeraj family with 19 members from Padalishta e Burimit;

The Zećiraj family with 16 members from Celina, Rahovec;

The Zekiri family with 15 members from Kruše e Madhe, Rahovec;

The Višesela family with 14 members from Ribarije, Lipljan;

The Haliti family with 14 members from Donji Studim in Vushtrri;

The Kelmendi family with 13 members from Ljutoglava, Peja;

The Berisha family with 13 members from Lezi, Prizren;

The Rexhepi family with 13 members from Celina, Rahovec;

The Gerkhaliu family with 12 members. Vushtrri studio;

The Hoti family with 11 members from Madha Kruša, Rahovec;

The Elshani family with 11 members from Teranda;

The Spahiu family with 11 members from Opteruša, Rahovec;

The Ahmetaj family with 10 members from Likošan, Grogovec;

The Dina family with 10 members from Celina, Orahovac;

The Isufi family with 10 members from Gjakova;

The Rama family with 10 members from Škabaj (Orlovići), Pristina;

Hamza family with 9 members from Lubenić, Peć;

The Kastrati family with 9 members from Zatrić, Orahovac;

The Rašica family with 9 members, a study from Donji Vučitrn;

The Salihaj family with 9 members from Susica e Poshtme e Burimit;

The Ujkani family with 9 members from Reznik, Vushtrri; The Bogujevci family with 8 members from Besijana;

The Gerbeši family with 8 members from the Lipjan region;

The Salihu family with 8 members from Celina, Rahovec;

The Tafaj family with 8 members from Gjakova;

The Osmani family with 8 members from Godeni, Gjakova;

The Miftari family with 8 members from Kciki and Madh in Mitrovica;

The Gerguri family with 8 members from Vushtrri Forest;

The Durići family with 7 members from Besiana;

The Nuraj family with 7 members from Gjakova;

The Reka family with 7 members from Gornja Bernica, Pristina;

The Spahiu family with 7 members from Prroi and Belas, Rahovec;

The Šuka family with 7 members from Koriša, Prizren;

The Šarku family with 7 members from Orahovac;

The Vejsa family with 7 members from Gjakova;

A family of 7 members from the Old Village of Ferizaj;

The Bobi family with 7 members from Deva, Gjakova;

The Zeka family with 7 members from the Old Village, Ferizaj;

The Dinaj family with 6 members from Hereć, Đakovica;

The Jakupi family with 6 members from Besiana;

The Jemini family with 6 members from Celina, Orahovac;

The Morina family with 6 members from Demjan, Gjakova;

The Nurčaj family with 6 members from Košice and Peć;

The Pajazitaj family with 6 members from Gjakova;

The Krjeziu family with 6 members from the Orahovac region;

The Nali family with 6 members from Velika Kruša, Orahovac.

(6. Ibrahim Koci, Serbian Genocide in Kosovo on the Threshold of the 21st Century, Pristina 2002). (Note: The Kosovo governments have established the INSTITUTE for Crimes three times, but each time it starts from scratch and has neither beginning nor end because the chain of organization is missing).

(Taken from: Mass graves of Albanians by the neo-fascist phalanx of Serbia 1988/1999, HR Watch reports, Under the Power of Order, Tirana 2002.)

Here are some incomplete facts about Kosovo:

The escalation of the Serbian genocide in Kosovo was most brutal in these locations: Prekaz, Izbica, Rezalle, Cikatovo, Verbofc, Baksi, Cirez, Aberi, Shevarine, Klina e Poshtme, Poklek, Racak, Gornje Studime, Zhabar, Kikish, Lubeni Koronica, MEJE, Rogove te Hasit, Goden, Batushe, Krushe e Madhe, Xerke, Theranda, Bellanica, City of Đakovica, Kolić, Celine, Belacerke, Krushe e Vogel, Pastasele, Tusus, Korishe, Besiane, Studeno, Studeroshane Kačanik, Llukaj i Mramuer, Sllovi, Ribar i Vogel, Halac, City of Peć, Dečani, Mitrovica, Srbica, Glogovac, Klina, Pristina near Kurriz in Dardania in a concrete bunker on the left side of the road to Kosovo Polje, near today’s “Gallaxia” outpatient clinic.

13. Deportation is genocide

Regarding Serbian crimes, we also note the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the expulsion of Albanians from Kosovo and their resettlement throughout the world: In Albania, 507,800 people were forcibly deported;

360,000 people were deported to Macedonia;

70,000 people were deported to Montenegro;

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 21,000 people;

4,000 people were deported to Croatia;

3,450 people were deported to Slovenia;

6,300 people were deported to France;

10,000 people were deported to Italy;

14,000 people were deported to Germany;

3,300 people were deported to Great Britain;

7,000 people were deported to Sweden;

8,000 people were deported to Norway;

In Finland 1000 people;

In Denmark 2800 people;

In Belgium 9000 people;

In Turkey, 18,000 people;

In the USA 6100 people;

In Canada, 3200 people;

In Australia, 3500 people;

In Switzerland, 4,100 people were deported; in New Zealand, 600 people; in Israel, 450 people.

A total of 993,588 people were deported from Kosovo by June 10, 1999.

Sources

(7 KLDMNJ/1998; 1999/2000; research by the expert team of the LDK, publication of the Sector for Emigration and Refugees, author: Sanije ALIJAJ, Consequences of the War in Kosovo, 28 February 1998- 10 June 1999, Pristina 2002;

HR Watch, Under the Power of Orders, Tirana 2002;

Ibrahim Koci, Serbian Genocide in Kosovo on the Eve of the 21st Century, Pristina 2002;

Prof. Dr. Nusret Plana, Terror of the Occupation of Serbia 1844-1999, Pristina 2001, (published so far (2021) in 9 world languages).

Academic Prof. Dr. Hakif Bajrami, Serbian Atrocities in Kosovo, Pristina 2020;

Prof. Dr. Hakif Bajrami, Conspiracies and Crimes of the UDB in Kosovo until 1966, Pristina 2007;

Prof. Dr. Hakif Bajrami, Nachertanija, 2004 Pristina;

Prof. Dr. Hakif Bajrami, The Politics of Extermination of Albanians and the Serbian Colonization of Kosovo 1844-1995, Pristina 1995, publication: QIK;

Prof. Dr. Hakif Bajrami, Albanians and Kosovo in the Tragic Events of History 1878-1999, Pristina 2019, Publishing House “Faik Konica”.

Hakif Bajrami, Anti-Memorandum, Pristina 2006, p. 226;

Academician Prof. Dr. Hakif Bajrami, Genocide of Serbs against Albanians 1877-1999, Pristina 2025;

Prof. Dr. Jusuf Osamni, Serbian Genocide in Kosovo, books I and II, Albanian and English edition, Pristina 2009, 1237 pages with a chronology of crimes for the years 1989-1999;

J. Martinsen, Wells of Death in Kosovo 1998/99, Pristina 2007.

Mullah Ademi Emerlahu and his family massacred by Serbian troops in 1921.

Mula Ademi Emerlahu   (born 1850, Prapaštica – died Kečekola, 1921) was an Albanian writer, scholar, and imam who, along with nine other family members, was massacred by Serbian troops of the Third Army in the Galapi region, in the village of Kečekola, Kosovo, on 10 January 1921.  ^[1][2]   The locals later called that month “Black January”.  ^[3]   The youngest survivor was a boy who was not present at the time.

Born and raised in Prapaštica, he studied in Pristina, Skopje, and Istanbul, and was elected imam in Keçekol.  ^[4]   In 1912, he continued to serve as imam despite massacres committed by invading Serbian troops. Having close ties to Idris Seferi during the anti-Ottoman uprisings, Ademi became associated with Mulla Sinan Madžer from Karadag, who was hanged by the Young Turks in 1911 in Kačanik. Earlier, the Ottomans had imprisoned Ademi for 6 weeks for his association with Madžer. Ademi was released by order of the Sultan. Ademi swore to remain in his homeland despite Serbian atrocities. In 1921, a few days before his assassination, he reportedly declared that “the Kačačs are our salvation”.

The battalions were led by commanders Radovan Radonić and Božidar Paunović, who had committed other crimes in the villages of Popova, Majac, Lupc, Belopoje, Ternava, Šarban, Kolić, Kečekole, Balaban and Prapaštica before the massacre. Serbian soldiers forced Mullah Adem Emerlahu to watch as 9 members were beheaded  ^[5]  : his wife Mihrije Emerlahu (68), his son Mehmet Emerlahu (30), Hasima Emerlahu (his son’s wife), Selima Adem Emerlahu, Tahira Adem Emerlahu, Mustafa Adem Emerlahu and a baby in a cradle.  ^[6]   Afterwards, Mullah Adem was also beheaded, and the bodies were cut into pieces and burned.

After the massacre, Serbian troops rounded up all boys and men aged 15 to 70 from the villages of Kurtaj, Ćoraj, Čeljaj, Miftaraj, Spahijaj, Balaj, in the town square where they were massacred, numbering 1,020 Albanians.  ^[7]   A family from Đaka was forced to wait outside while Serbian soldiers filled their house with hay and set it on fire. The mother of the family tried to save the baby by throwing it out the window. The soldiers continued to throw it back into the house. After the baby was thrown out, the Serbian soldiers shot and bayoneted her in the street.

References

1.  “Massacre in Prapaštica and Kecekolle, January, 1921”. (Massacre in Prapaštica and Kecekolle, 1996, VOL. II, 2011)
2. ^   Remzije Sherifi (1955), Ibrahim Rugova.   La Question Du Kosovo (Shadow Behind the Sun.  Pristina. p. 54. Accessed March 27, 2020).
3. ^   Šaban, Čakoli, Demir Krasnići.   “Kenga e tij eshte pasuri e pergjithshme kombetare”  .   http://www.filolet.com  . No. It was Black January 1921, when the occupier used all his savagery on the Albanians, where the Golak villages were burned and terrorized by Serbian expeditions led by Colonel Radovan Radović, who had a strong hand in Božidar’s gendarmerie. Paunović, known as Božidar Balofci. The campaign of terror began in the villages of Lap, Lupc, Majac, Luzhan, Batllava, Sharban, and from there the campaign took on dimensions in Gollak including Koliki, Kekekolla and Prapashtica. Philosophers of letters __historical kombetare, weshtrime, debate. Accessed March 27, 2020.
4. ^   “January and the Months” and Mula Ademit  .   Kosova Sot  . No. “In January 1921, this family was killed and massacred by Serbian occupiers who had settled in the villages of Golak. The story of this tragic event is still known today as “Black January”, which followed the occupation of Kosovo by Serbia and Montenegro, and after Serbian and Montenegrin military forces settled on this side. From November 1912 to June 1914, Kosovo was the target of Serbian military violence, facing daily unprecedented barbarity against the defenseless Albanian population.” Kosova Sot. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
5. ^   Mani, Kadri (1999).   Shiptaret jane atje!   (in Albanian) (Thus in 1921 in the mountain village of Kećekole / Pri komtina, municipality of Priština / Pri komtina, Chetniks secretly entered the house of Mula Ademi at night and killed nine members of the family: Mula Adam was killed with an axe in front of the house. ed.). Koha. p. 236. Accessed 27 March 2020.
6. ^   R., Rexhepi, Masakra e Prapaštices, prof. dr Hysen Matoshi (2012).   Takvimi 2012. “Masakr u Prapaštica”   (Pjesa e shkrimeve te takvimit per 2012 ed.). Pristina. pp. 315–322. Accessed 27 March 2020.
7. ^   Šaban, Čakoli (2008).   „AlbaniaPress.com / ShqiperiaPress.com – WE BURNT THESE HIDHURA KUJTESE”  .   http://www.albaniapress.com  . No. After the murder of Mula Ademi, the Serbian army gathered men from 15 to 70 years old in the settlements of Kečekola, such as: Kurtaj, Ćoradž, Čelaj, Miftaraj, Spahijaj, Balaj, Govorde and the entire population of this era of Prapaštica and Kečekola was gathered in a meadow in Prapaštica, where they handcuffed and killed 1020 Albanians from the Golak tribe. January and the cold weather, as well as heavy snow falling on the Golak plateau, made it difficult for the highlanders to move, where the captured inhabitants killed, burned, bayoneted and burned their homes. Elders who survived those events say they feared every terror in the field and that the number of wolves was reduced for several days. Accessed March 27, 2020.

Hungarian Holocaust – 50,000 Hungarians massacred by Serbs and partisans in Vajdasag (Vojvodina) in Yugoslavia 1940-1945.

Originally written by Istvan Nyarady, Zsuzsanna Kubinyi and Andras Porffy. Retrieved from  https://www.hunsor.se/dosszie/fiftithousandhungarianmartyrs.pdf

“From 1944 to 1992, fifty thousand Hungarians fell victim to Tito’s blood feud. After the collapse of communist Yugoslavia, post-Bolshevik Serbian leaders have slaughtered Hungarians and expelled them from their homeland to this day in order to establish a homogeneous national state. Their houses were either razed to the ground or given away along with their land and property to Serbs emigrating from Bosnia.”

The free nations, the UN and the countries united in them forgive the sacrifice and ruin of the Hungarians. They do nothing so that the Hungarians who suffer enormous losses in human lives can remain in the land of their ancestors. The number of Hungarian martyrs is growing day by day. How long will the democratic public opinion of the world have patience?

This report refers to the massacre and expulsion of the Hungarian minority in Serbia.

History  and background

The Republic of Hungary is located along the middle reaches of the Danube and Tisza rivers, between 45’45′-48′ north latitude and 16’5′-22’55′ east latitude in the center of the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe, surrounded by parts of the Alps, the Carpathians, and the Dinaric Mountains.

More than half of its entire area is a plain that is no higher than 200 m above sea level, that is, it is a lowland. Its highest peak is Kékestéto with 1015 m. The exact determination of the original homeland of the Hungarians is a subject of debate even today. Some people consider the Finno-Ugric origin to be the true origin and determine the land of origin on the eastern tributaries of the Volga River, while other researchers vote for the Sumerian origin of the Hungarians and place the origin of the Hungarian people in Mesopotamia.

In the first centuries of our era, the nomadic Hungarians lived in a confederation of tribes north of the Black Sea, in the steppe territory along the Don River. In the 8th-9th centuries, they moved into the provinces of the Khazar Empire. They were pushed out by the Pecheneg tribes, who threatened the Khazar lands in the territory between the Dnieper River and the Lower Danube west of the Don River.

Under pressure from further attacks, under the leadership of their prince Árpád, they overran the country through the Carpathian passes in 895–896 and occupied the entire Carpathian Basin. The establishment of a kingdom on the Western model is associated with the name of Stephen (Saint) I (997–1038), who converted to Roman Christianity and was crowned king with a crown given to him by the Pope. During the thousand years spent in the Carpathian Basin, offensive armies, moving from east to west, attacking Europe, were crushed by the resistance of the Hungarians.

The basic laws of feudal rights, the Hungarian Golden Bull, are of the same age as the English Magna Carta. The attack of the Comans who threatened the West was repelled by King Lasio (the Saint) I in 1085. In 2240-41, King Béla IV protected Western Europe from the Mongol hordes. From 1440, the Hungarian army under the command of János Hunyadi repelled Turkish attacks.

In 1456, Hunyadi won  such a great victory over the Turks at Nandorfehérvár that it took a century for them to move their armies westward. The Holy See in Rome ordered that the noon bells be rung to commemorate this victory. During the reign of King Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490), the population of Hungary was equal to that of the Kingdom of England.

In 1526, at Mohács  , a city in southern Hungary, Sultan Suleiman II destroyed the armies of the Hungarian king. The ruler, Louis II, lost his life on the battlefield. In 1541, the Turks occupied Buda, beginning the Turkish subjugation of the country, which then lasted about 150 years. In the constant defensive battles of the 150-year occupation, most of the Hungarian population died out.

In 1686, with the help  of the Habsburgs, they managed to expel the invaders from Hungary. Therefore, it could not regain its independence, but came under the oppression of the foreign house of the Habsburgs. Although the Turks did not want to penetrate Western Europe, a significant part of the Hungarian population was exterminated in Hungary.

In place of the exterminated population – Slovaks in the north, Romanians in the east, Serbs in the south – were settled by nobles of foreign nationality and Habsburg rulers. Therefore, Hungary could no longer be a homogeneous nation-state. The Habsburg despotism lasted for 180 years.

This was a period of constantly recurring Hungarian national struggles for freedom. The two largest were the war led by Ferenc Rákóczi, which lasted 8 years (1703-1711), then the bourgeois revolution and the war of independence between 1848-1849. The Habsburgs could not defeat the Hungarian armies alone, so they asked for help from the “gendarme of Europe”, the Russian Tsar Nicholas I.

The overwhelming Russian force forced the Hungarian army to surrender on August 10, 1849. The Habsburg Emperor, Franz Joseph I, and the Chancellery took bloody revenge on the Hungarians. They executed 13 commanding generals of the Hungarian army on the gallows. Hungarian patriots who had participated in the war of independence were shot, hanged, and sent to prison.

This period of revenge is called the first Hungarian Age of Rope. A compromise with a foreign dynasty only occurred in 1867, when Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, was also crowned King of Hungary. This established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Hungary entered World War I (1914-1918) precisely because of this disastrous confederation.

20th century

On various battlefields, 661,000 Hungarian soldiers died a heroic death. The armistice, concluded on November 3, 1918 in Padua, left the thousand-year-old borders of Hungary intact. But the so-called “National Council”, which was created as a result of the war defeat, demobilized and disbanded the army returning from the front. Therefore, it did not have the military forces to repel the attacks of Slovak, Romanian and Serbian troops on the ground. The anarchy that spread throughout the country made it possible to proclaim the Hungarian (Soviet) Republic on March 21, 1919, modeled on Russian Bolshevism.

The communist regime, which lasted 133 days, completely destroyed Hungary. During this period, the Red Terror executed about 5,917 people. This was the second era of terror. After the overthrow of the communist dictatorship, Admiral Miklós Horthy took power on August 1, 1919. He was elected governor of the country. On June 4, 1920, the Trianon Peace Treaty was signed in Versailles, according to which Hungary was punished with the most unjust peace terms among the former losing parties to the war.

The country’s territory was reduced from 283,000 square kilometers to 93,000 square kilometers, the population from 18.2 million to 7.6 million. Considering only the inhabitants whose mother tongue was Hungarian, 26,000 people were annexed to Austria, 1,072,000 people to Czechoslovakia, 465,000 people to Yugoslavia, and 1,664,000 people to Romania.

This harsh restriction of the country was one of the reasons why Hungary joined Germany in World War II, which supported its revisionist efforts, while the Allies continuously rejected Hungarian demands. Another reason for joining was that Hungary knew from empirical facts what the Bolshevik social order meant.

Since 1938, the country has continuously returned Upper Northern Hungary, Transylvania (eastern Hungary) and the Hungarian-populated parts of Vajdasag (southern Hungary). In 1942, Tito’s communist partisans raided Vajdasag, which had been returned to Hungary, i.e. the territory of Bačka. Hungarian soldiers, even entire battalions, were often the victims of the attacks.

On January 4, an entire battalion was attacked in Žablja and Čurog. 6 Hungarian soldiers were killed. A military operation was ordered to find partisans in the city of Novi Sad and the surrounding area. Due to individual actions by Hungarian commanders, 4,000 people were killed. The Hungarian government was the first in the world to establish the war crimes of the commanders.

On December 14, 1943, the responsible persons were tried before a military court. Among them were two generals. Before the verdict, the Habsburg Archduke Albrecht helped the accused to escape to Germany. Only after the end of the war were they brought before a Hungarian court, where they were sentenced to the harshest sentences. In the fall of 1944, Tito’s communist partisans and units of the Soviet army marched into the Hungarian regions of Bačka and Novi Sad behind the retreating Hungarian troops.

On October 20, the Serbian revenge began, which continues to this day, and whose victims have so far been 50,000 Hungarians. * Marton Suceava, a retired village dean, and Jožef Kováč, a retired parish priest, both born in Bačka, examined the history of Roman Catholic parishes. They asked priests in the villages. After that, secretly, due to the threat of the communist regime, they wrote their own memoir entitled “Silence of the Dead” about the 40,000 Hungarians innocently executed in Bačka, Vajdašag.

It was reckless to record the number of murders and their authentic history, but since they lived in the Yugoslav communist state, they did not have the courage to publish the records. Only after their death did the documents come into the possession of Tibor Čeres, a Hungarian writer who wrote his book “Blood Revenge in Bačka”, which was published in 1991 based on the documents. In October-November 1944 – write the pious fathers – a storm of blood swept the tame fields of Bačka.

When the Hungarian army withdrew from Bačka in October 1944, the Soviet army crossed the Tisza River. Under the shadow of the Soviet troops, quasi-under their protection, Tito’s communist partisans marched into the territories that remained unprotected. They called themselves the “People’s Liberation Army”, which was an ally of England, France and the United States.

Brigadier General Ivan Rukovina was appointed commander of the military administration in Bačka and Vajdašag (Vojvodina). He was in constant and direct contact with Tito, the marshal, and the generalissimo. Already in his first imperative warning, on October 22, Rukovina asked his troops to “preserve the South Slavic character of the national future and territory.” This gave a covert command to change the existing ethnic situation, that is, to exterminate Hungarians and Germans.

The communist partisans, allies of the Atlantic powers, fully fulfilled this warning. They killed 40,000 people among the Hungarians alone. In the “Free Vojvodina of Novi Sad”, the newspaper of the Communist United Front in Vajdašag, an article entitled “Historical Decision” was published on October 28, 1944. Among other things, it says:

“Although we destroyed the German and Hungarian conquering hordes (how could the Hungarians be conquerors when they marched into their thousand-year-old territories occupied by the Serbs in 1941…), that is, we drove them to the West, we did not radically eradicate the poisonous weed they spread… People consider this definitive step to be necessary and to ensure the Yugoslav character of Bačka.”

The blood feud against the Hungarians, the vendetta, originally concerned the partisan commanders and their political officers who were in constant contact with their leader, General Rukovina. On the other hand, the general advised Tito, the marshal, on all his decisions and on all the “military” actions of his subordinates. From mid-October 1944, death stormed Bačka for two months.

The unlawful killings were indeed a well-organized genocide (Holocaust) carried out in cold blood. It was nothing more than the beheading of indigenous Hungarians. The existing death lists also indicate the nationality of those killed. Hungarian residents of entire villages were taken to the place of execution. Innocent people were on these lists.

Nothing else could be applied to them if they were Hungarians. The death officials kept surprisingly accurate records, a terrible statement. They listed not only the names of the victims, but also their nationality, place of birth, family status; religion and financial situation were also indicated. Although the official lists have been hidden in well-guarded safes to this day, two Catholic fathers managed to identify 40,000 Hungarian martyrs, as the registers of Hungarian villages testify incriminatingly.

The Generalissimo of the communist partisan army, Marshal Tito, did not issue a written order to exterminate the Hungarians in Bačka, but he tolerated it, and undoubtedly also verbally ordered that his partisans avenge all the injuries inflicted on them during the four years of war throughout the entire territory of conquered Yugoslavia, including Bačka. Something like this: “Where a stream of blood flowed, rivers of blood were to be shed!”

HOLOCAUST METHODS

While the Germans and Hungarians shot the partisans one by one in accordance with international war articles, attacking Hungarian and German soldiers from an ambush in the attic, the Serbian partisans interrupted the long procedures, so the number of people to be shot was ten times greater. Their victims were tied with wire in dozens or twenty pieces.

The Hungarians were lined up in front of a pre-dug mass grave. They were then shot from behind with an automatic pistol or machine gun. It was an easier solution for the Hungarians – with fatal wounds to the back of their heads – to immediately fall into their final grave. Then all that was needed was to cover them with earth. It seems that the Serbs had plenty of wire.

They were saving ammunition. 15-20 Hungarian men were tied up. They were lined up around a stack of straw, the last two men on the right and left of the line were tied tightly with wire. When the circle was secured, the stack of straw was set on fire. The tied men hindered each other in their escape. They were all burned. Where they had enough time, the Serbian communist partisans took all twenty nails from the selected Hungarian victims with pliers.

Their thirst for revenge was better satisfied if they had previously heated the tongs in a nearby blacksmith shop. It also happened that in the blacksmith shops, Serbian farriers drove horseshoes into the bare soles of Hungarians. Not all Serbs could bear these terrible scenes. Some of them vomited during the forced execution of orders. Partisan women participated in these crimes in large numbers.

Hungarian Roman Catholic priests and friars who fell into their hands received special attention! In most cases, they were stripped. First, a cross-shaped belt was cut from the skin of their backs. For the benefit of the more hardened partisans, the priests’ genitals were taken care of. Usually their testicles were torn off with pliers. There was such a woman in those partisan units who trampled on these naked Catholic priests, crushing their loins.

In one of the villages, in  Bezdan  , Hungarian men, brought to a sports field, were searched for weapons. A blank bullet was found in the pocket of an 11-year-old boy. The “guilty” boy was placed in the middle of an empty field. A landmine was attached to his leg. An explosive bullet attached to the child’s leg was fired until it exploded and tore apart the owner’s leg and the bullet.

The sawmills also made it possible to use new methods of killing Hungarians. Hands and feet were cut off with a saw – a machine, and the tortured Hungarians died like martyrs in severe and prolonged pain! It also happened that chopping a tree trunk into firewood provided a model for execution. It happened that the entire family of a Hungarian sawmill owner was tied in front of a saw, and the family members were torn in two by the moving saw. Impalement (palo inponere) was used not only in the Roman Empire, but also appeared in penal practice in the 17th century.

It was reintroduced during the extermination of Hungarians by Serbian partisans in Vajdasag and Bačka under the protection of the Soviet army. To clearly see the inhuman and brutal revenge, let us study the impalement method used by Serbian partisans: The bark was stripped from a 3-meter-long oak tree. If there was enough time, sharp iron would be attached to its pointed tip by blacksmiths. The bare oak was greased with oil.

A narrow hole was dug well in advance into which the “Set” stake would be placed. A short-half stick was also part of the preparations. The Hungarian to be executed was placed in a prone position. A rope noose was placed around both of his ankles, and two partisans pulled his feet in two directions. The executioner stuck the tip of the iron stake into the unfortunate young man’s anus, then grabbed the stake and began to strike the end of the stake in the desired direction, first with gentle blows, then harder and harder.

The Hungarian’s initial scream turned into a creak as the stake reached the height of his shoulder blades. At that moment, the executioner pointed the stake slightly to the right so that the tip would emerge from the unfortunate man’s body, piercing the skin on his collarbone. At that moment, the thick bottom of the stake was inserted into the hole.

It was a triumph for the Serbian crowd of spectators who enjoyed the execution if the poor man was left to sigh for hours, and the desperate beating of his heart could be seen on his chest as the dug-up earth absorbed the blood flowing from his body. According to the memoirs of the knight Ferenc Szombathely, this was the way the Chief of Staff of the Hungarian Royal Army was executed, who had been handed over to the Yugoslav communist government under communist pressure by Zoltan Tildy, a reformed priest who was prime minister, collaborating with the communists from the Small Farmers’ Party, and whom the Hungarian people called the “murderer in a cloak”.

Places and times of some massacres in Vajdaszág, along with the number of Hungarian victims:

ABYSS November 3, 1944  .

Hungarian male villagers, aged between 16 and 50, were herded onto a sports field. 118 men were shot with automatic pistols into the Danube. The 2,830 Serbian communist partisans who committed the murder belonged to the 12th Assault Brigade of the 51st Division. Strangely enough, even the Soviet officers were horrified by the massacre, as they stopped cursing and demanding further executions. ZOMBOR (Sombor) December 6, 1944.

The Serbian Partisans first had some of their prisoners buried up to their necks in the ground by other prisoners, and then they were run over by tanks to death. The first impalement also took place here. The executions in the villages of Bačka Vajdašaga were led by a Serbian communist partisan named Julka, who was later mortally wounded in the fighting.

Currently, there is a thirty-meter-high granite monument on Batina Hill, and on top of that monument is a statue of this female executioner.

UJVIDEK (Novi Sad) October 23, 1944  .

In the early morning hours, Serbian partisans under the leadership of Todor Gavrilović Rilca, the political commissar, marched into the ancient Hungarian city of Novi Sad (Ujvidek).

From the first day, they were already taking the Hungarian population to the former winter port on the Danube. It was the center of the massacre. Until the executioners were kept in prison for weeks. Among the captured and executed were many boys aged 14-15 as “dangerous fascists”. The executions began on October 25.

A drunken partisan officer read out 300 names. For a short time, only the rattle of an automatic pistol could be heard. The farewell cries of the executed Hungarians were drowned out by the noise of truck engines. The Hungarian prisoners were given water and bread only on the fifth day. During the first week, about 1,500 Hungarians were shot into the Danube:

Some of the bodies were either burned or placed in mass graves in several rows. Around 1970, a new highway was built, but due to the mass graves in the Feketić forest, the highway route was diverted. All Hungarian students captured in Novi Sad and the surrounding area were shot.

SZENTAMAŞ (Serbobran Turja) In October 1944

3,000 residents of Hungarian nationality were executed by Serbian communist partisans from a village of 18,000 inhabitants.

In the old Serbian cemetery, a grave was dug by people who were to be shot, and the Hungarians were shot in groups of 150-200 people. An eight-year-old girl accidentally and unnoticed witnessed the massacre. Serbs from the neighborhood heard her story and reported the girl. The next day, Serbian partisans took the innocent girl and executed her.

SZIVAČ (Sivac) November 1, 1944  .

Seventy-five completely naked Hungarian men were taken to a cemetery where they were executed on the orders of Bran Bikičkić, the chief Serbian communist from Sivac  .

ADORJAN (Nadrjan) On December 3, 1944.

56 Hungarian citizens were executed on the banks of the Tisza River.

KANIŽA (St. Kanjiža) Date 7.10.1944

Serbian partisan executioners arrived following the Soviet troops. In this village, the names of the criminals have been fully preserved. First of all, all the Hungarian women were raped. 300 Hungarians were gathered in the village and locked in the basement of the town hall, most of them were beaten to death there. The corpses were taken by car at night to the island of the Tisza, where they lay covered with lime for days. Let the names of the Serbian communist partisan murderers be listed here:

“Niklo Radović, Svetozar Knežević, Aleksandar Oluski, Dušan Ugranov. OBEČEJ (Stari Bečej) The killing of Hungarians began on October 9, 1944. First, Ferenc Petranji, a 65-year-old Catholic abbot, was arrested by several young communist Serbian partisans. They crushed 11 parts of his face and body. A partisan from Zombor, called Zorka, was the most brutal. She tied him to a board, and then jumped from the table onto his stomach, chest, and genitals. Zorka and her partisan comrades in lace-up boots practically arranged his internal organs. When he died on October 14, they threw him out of a window into a courtyard of stone blocks to make his death look like a suicide.”

SENTFILOP (Boži Gračac)  was a purely Hungarian village dating back to the Árpád era. On November 25, 1944, the entire male population between the ages of 18 and 60 was exterminated. A total of 212 men were killed.

TEMERIN (Temerin) October 1944  .

Several hundred people fell victim to the Serbian massacre. A Soviet officer prevented the extermination of the entire Hungarian population of the village. Hungarian casualties in the village amounted to 480 people.

In MOHOL since October 1944.

The extermination of Hungarians was carried out systematically. More than 800 Hungarians were rounded up, and of that number, 760 were executed. Not only men were killed, but also girls from 16 to 20 years old. It is strange that in this village the communist Serbian partisans briefly mowed down people who were going to their deaths. Then they were taken to the banks of the Tisa and shot from machine guns down to the river.

In ČUROG (Curog), the Hungarian population was continuously exterminated since October 23.  In 1941, Serbian partisans in Čurog killed the entire gendarme patrol, and some of them were impaled. For this, in revenge, 765 Serbian residents were executed in 1944. 2,000 people, the entire Hungarian population of the village, were exterminated.

ŽABLJA (Žabalj) killed 11 Hungarian soldiers in the village in 1942.  For this, 581 Serbs were executed. Due to extreme revenge, just as happened in Čurog, the responsible Hungarian commanders were tried by a special court. Tito’s Serbian partisans began to take revenge immediately after entering, in October 1944. The wealthier Hungarians were drowned in the manure of the back houses. Even thirteen-year-old Hungarian boys were killed. In total, 2,000 Hungarian citizens were killed.

In the city of Zombor, in October 1944,  the killings of Hungarians began immediately, based on a previously drawn up death list. First, two Hungarian Carmelites, Friar Geller Štančič and Friar Iles Holos, were captured and executed. The Hungarians were taken to the Kronić Palace. Mass graves were dug next to the hippodrome, in which 2,500 Hungarians were buried.

Several other mass graves can be found in the outer parts of the city. The Hungarian population of the city was completely exterminated. A total of 5,650 Hungarians were executed. * According to data collected by Roman Catholic pastors, Márton Sích and József Kovács, in the strictest confidence; during October, November and December 1944, 34,491 Hungarians were killed in southern Hungary in the territory of Bačka and Vajdaszág.

As statistics were compiled a few years ago, according to data that has been discovered since then, the number of victims exceeds 40,000 people. Thanks to the continuity of research work, this number is growing day by day. It is complemented by the number of Hungarian martyrs who lost their lives due to crimes against Serbs after the collapse of the Yugoslav communist regime.

According to data collected by Roman Catholic pastors Marton Sić and Jožef Kováč, in the strictest confidence; during October, November and December 1944, 34,491 Hungarians were killed in southern Hungary, in the territories of Bačka and Vajdaszág. As statistics were compiled a few years ago, according to data discovered since then, the number of victims exceeds 40,000 people. Thanks to the continuity of research work, this number is growing day by day. It is also complemented by the number of Hungarian martyrs who lost their lives due to crimes against Serbs after the collapse of the Yugoslav communist regime  .

References

http://www.hunsor.se/dosszie/fiftythousandhungarianmartyrs.pdf

Study on the crimes of Serbs and Montenegrins against Albanians (1912-1924)

Summary:

The text describes the systematic violence and persecution of Albanian Muslims in the Balkans between 1912 and 1939. Starting with the Balkan Wars, it describes massacres such as that in Ravenna (Gostivar), where villagers were allegedly forced to convert to Orthodoxy under threat of death. It also examines the ideological role of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which, through nationalist publications, encouraged or justified the violence committed by Chetnik militias.

During World War I and the interwar years, expulsions, the destruction of mosques, and large-scale demographic engineering intensified. Reports indicate thousands of Albanians killed, hundreds of villages destroyed, and plans for mass deportations to Turkey involving up to 400,000 Muslims. Further atrocities, including the massacres of Šahović and Pavino Polje in 1924, exemplified the continued targeting of Muslim communities under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The report places these events within the legacy of the peace treaties of 1913 and 1919, arguing that the resulting political order legitimized Orthodox expansionism and led to a demographic and cultural catastrophe for Balkan Muslims, who lost an estimated quarter of their population by the mid-1920s.

Crimes against Albanians from the village of Raven in Gostivar during the Balkan War (1912-1913)

“The magazine “Makedonski glas” published a letter describing the massacre carried out in the village of Raven in Gostivar, in order to force the Albanian population of Muslim faith to accept the Orthodox faith. The letter states, among other things: “The population was subjected to a general massacre, and the houses were completely burned. In response to prayers for mercy, the Serbs suggested to the surviving Albanians that they accept the “Serbian faith” or else they would be slaughtered to the last man.” Toma Murzaku: “Measures of a sociocultural character for the denationalization of Albanians in the affected areas”, “Fjala”, year XXIV, no. 1/1991, p.”

Burned houses

The role of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the crimes against Albanians in 1912-1913.

“In the organs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, such as the “Vesnik SPC”, not only was the expansionist policy of the Kingdom of Serbia supported, but the masses of the people, especially the Chetniks, were also inspired for war. Under the guise of “liberating the Holy Land of Dušan”, the crimes of the “volunteers” (Chetniks), led by priests, were not mentioned.”

In this sense, it is worth mentioning the massacre of “volunteers” of the Serbian army, led by Orthodox priests, in which 500 women, children and elderly people were massacred. In the Serbian Orthodox Church press, by various authors, such as in the articles of priest Panta Dragojević: “Clergy in the Service of the Fatherland”, “On the People’s Prophecy”, “Kosovo is Sanctified”, not only are the crimes not tried, but religious and moral justifications are cited and offered. The Serbian campaign was not only accompanied by massacres, but also by forced conversion, and when they refused to convert, both Muslims and Catholics were shot.”

World War I

“During World War I, the massacre of the Albanian population continued unabated; according to a letter from the “Kosovo Committee for National Defense” to the US government and the Paris Peace Conference, 6,040 people were killed and 3,873 houses were destroyed in Kosovo.”

Ethnic Albanian regions, especially Kosovo, were exposed to Serbian colonial policies, the war against the Albanian language, the conversion of mosques into stables and ammunition depots, which resulted in the expulsion of an estimated 90,000 to 150,000 Muslims. The government in Belgrade was not satisfied with the number of deported Albanians, and during the year it officially requested the Republic of Turkey to accept 300,000–400,000 Muslim Albanians.

Negotiations began during the year and ended on 11 July 1938, and the result was that Turkey was ready to accept 40,000, or up to 400,000 people, since families had an average of ten members. The general plan for the deportation of Albanians was to begin in 1939 and last for six years.

Crimes against Albanians during the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (SKS) by Herzegovinian gangs led by Maja Vujović and Petar Rogan.

“With the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, the policy of extermination of Muslims continued in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sandžak and Macedonia. It is estimated that in the first years after the establishment of the unified kingdom, over 3,000 Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina were illegally and without trial expelled from Bosnia and Herzegovina by the gangs of Maja Vujović and Petar Rogan.”

The extremely difficult position of Muslims at that time, namely the state violence perpetrated against Albanians in Kosovo, Sandžak and Macedonia, is most convincingly seen in the reports of the then reis-ul-ulema Ibrahim ef. Maglajlić (an exponent of the Belgrade regime), sent to the Belgrade government in 1933, after an inspection trip to these regions (Inspection Trip to Southern Serbia).

These submissions presented in detail examples of the destruction of Muslim cemeteries, the demolition of a significant number of mosques, and the lack of religious teachers for Muslim students in areas where the majority of the population was Muslim, especially in the Vardar, Zeta, and Moravian Banovinas.

As a special pressure of a material nature, there was expropriation of Muslim property and unfair compensation, which caused a wave of displacement; insulting the religious feelings of Muslim children in mandatory school literature, forcing children to participate in Orthodox and St. Sava religious holidays, etc.

The 1924 massacres in Šahović and Pavino Polje near Bijelo Polje by Montenegrin criminals Laza Bogićević

“These were complementary means of a long-term political strategy. One of the most serious massacres of Muslims in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia occurred in early November 1924 in the villages of Šahovići and Pavino Polje, near Bijelo Polje.”

After the murder of the Kolasin elder Boško Bošković on November 7, 1924, for which the court decision unfoundedly accused Muslims, at the instigation of Nikodim Cemović, the elder of the Bijolo Polje district, and the “chief” Laz Bogićević, an armed Montenegrin mob of more than 2,000 “people” slaughtered and killed almost 600 innocent Muslims, men, women and children, in these two villages during the night between November 9 and 10, 1924.

The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and its consequences for Albanians

“The secret Treaty of London (1913) and the Versailles Peace Treaty (1919)191 had serious consequences for the Albanians, Serbian, Montenegrin, Bulgarian and Greek occupation armies in Albanian territories occupied during the Balkan Wars (1912-13) and during World War I razed more than 800 Albanian towns, killed or permanently disappeared around 350,000 Albanians and expelled over 500,000 others from their ethnic homes.”

In addition to territorial invasions, all Balkan peoples of Muslim faith experienced great human losses, which were the result of genocidal wars, forced expulsions and displacements. To what extent were the human losses, here is just an illustrative example: during the years 1912-1926, in the final phase of resolving the “Eastern Question”, the Muslims of the Balkans lost 27% of their own population, which is considered a demographic catastrophe by all international parameters.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the major European powers developed and defended the thesis of the “legitimate heirs” of the Balkan peoples, a principle that legitimized the wars of conquest of Orthodox states.

Source

“i pjesa e pare – Shokata Kulturore.”  https://www.iumpu.com/kk/document/view/4652197/i-pjesa-e-pare-shokata-kulturore

Serbian crimes against Albanians according to international reports 1912-1913.

This article is a collection of various publications documenting Serbian crimes against Albanians in 1912 and 1913. The documented crimes include theft, robbery, rape, massacres, and torture.

Crimes reported to the Pesterloyd newspaper in London:

“Massacres and crimes of Serbs”

Today, 20 to 40 people were killed in northern Albania, including Macedonian Muslims, and the number of victims has been determined. (Blurred) 1,000 of them are aggressors.

The London newspaper Pesterloyd, on October 12, published the following:

According to information received by the Daily Front, Serbs committed massacres in Albania and killed thousands of unjust Albanians. Two thousand Albanians were massacred near Skopje, and five thousand near Pirizren. Many Albanian villages were looted by Serbs, and their inhabitants were massacred.

Esliha Tahrisi – “The Liberation of the Albanians”

“Under the pretext of ‘Esliha Tahrisi’ (liberation of the Albanians), the Serbs entered Albanian houses and massacred the Albanians inside, regardless of whether they had weapons or not. In order to take control of Albania, the Serbs committed a massacre of Muslim Albanians. They declare that they have no other choice but to destroy it.”

After citing many more documents, Dr. Jak says;

“Are there no lovers of humanity in Europe who will raise their voices in the name of civilization against these savages?”

Documents and photographs depicting these crimes are available for review!

Crimes in Monastir and Bitola

“Plunder and massacre”

When I spoke with the Monastir Medical Committee that came from Monastir to Thessaloniki (p. 35), they said that they had not seen the village on the railway route and that many of the inhabitants had been massacred by the Serbian army that had invaded the Perlepe district, which was located next to Monastir.

Only three people were killed by the Serbs in Bitola, and ten by the Greeks in Filorina. In short, Macedonia was exposed to such a military catastrophe that it was forced to live in poverty and nothingness for fifty years.”

Serbian theft under Lieutenant Aleksandar Gorkević

“The people, deprived of the protection of their soldiers, preferred to remain in their cities rather than emigrate, in agreement with the Greek metropolitan governor, and surrendered to a Serbian detachment of 28 men under the command of Serbian cavalry lieutenant Aleksandar Gerkevich on Wednesday, October 24, 1912.”

However, the committees immediately entered the city and formed a band of thieves in which Ichko Todorof, Achkof, Arkir, committee members Kökili and a doctor named Kusta, who still claimed to be a Serb and had a previous case of being a messenger, and by including the lieutenant among them, they committed theft and theft of goods from twenty houses.

It was also reported that a lieutenant from the village of Bugdanja, which is part of this district, took thirty-eight liras from the people and killed 65 Muslims, and beat the prominent men of the town, Alija and Sezai Beg, to force them to pay a thousand liras each, and that he beat and imprisoned the district governor Tikos, who had remained in Kokili due to Kokili’s previous silence, demanding from Tikos to Kokili.

Serbs are convinced that the more cruel they are, the more rewards they will receive.

The crimes committed by Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians against the Muslim population in the Balkans are described. One of the most important sources cited in the work is the work on this topic by the German Dr. Ernest Jeck.  ¹

Serbian soldiers stole 700,000 sheep in Albania, leading to famine

“For example, Lamb, the British consul in Thessaloniki, reported that in Albania alone the Serbs had confiscated 700,000 sheep belonging to Muslims, condemning the population to starvation.”

For example, the Serbian governor of Strumica, in Macedonia, personally sent 80 truckloads of looted Muslim property to Belgrade.

Montenegrin soldiers burned and destroyed Catholic villages, as well as Muslim villages in Albania, which they invaded (McCarthy, 1995, 163).”  ²

Serbs killed over 100,000 Albanians by January 2, 1913.

“The number of people massacred in Albania is estimated at over 100,000 as of January 2, 1913, and the number of Muslims, mostly Turks, exterminated by the Bulgarian and Greek-occupied parts of Macedonia is also estimated at the same date.”  ³

“Manhunt” by Serbs in Albania

“The manhunt carried out by the Serbs in Albania, which had been forgotten in recent weeks under the influence and pressure of the possibility and probability of a Great War in Europe, has now resurfaced. All information about the crimes and injustices committed by Serbian soldiers was collected by Austro-Hungarian officials.”  ⁴

References

1. Rumeli Mezalimi and Bulgar Vahsetleri by Doc. Dr. Oktay BOZAN, 2020 
2. Research, Iontem and Analysis in Social and Social Sciences-2024 
3. Бурсанıн зенгинлиги гоцменлер од Zeinep Dortok Abaci, Ozer Ergenc, Таииар Арı, Юсуф Огузоглу. 2009 
4. The Thessaloniki Years of the New Century: The Lands of the Fatihs, “1895-1924” by Turkmen Parlak. 1986 

Crimes of Chetnik Serbs in Croatia during World War II (1941-1945)

Chetnik associations in Croatia have their roots in the 1930s, with the first association being founded in Belgrade in 1921. They were part of a unified movement in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, both in terms of organizational structure and programmatic goals. The basic programmatic position of the Chetnik associations in the 1930s was advocacy for the idea of ​​“Yugoslav nationalism”, i.e. “uncompromising integral Yugoslavism and unitarism”, advocacy for the rulers of the Karađorđević dynasty, which is vividly expressed in the motto “for the king and the fatherland”.

However, a Greater Serbian line was also noticeable in the movement from the beginning, especially among extreme Serbian nationalists. Namely, they identified most of the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with the Serbian ethnic area and advocated the creation of a Greater Serbia.

In this sense, Chetnik associations mercilessly dealt with all their political opponents, and especially in Croatia with supporters of Croatian national parties, calling them “tribal” and “separatist movements” that were tearing down and destroying the foundations of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Chetnik associations brought together people of dubious moral qualities from different social classes, primarily interested in personal gain and political influence in certain circles. The membership of Chetnik associations was mainly Serbs, and only a small number of Croats, and those from the ranks of “Yugoslav nationalists” (the so-called “national Croats”), mainly Croats from the area of ​​Croatian Adriatic cities. Namely, part of the public was convinced that these parts of Croatia were liberated from Italian occupation after World War I precisely thanks to the efforts of the Karađorđević dynasty and that they could be preserved only with the help of the military forces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Chetnik associations were paramilitary organizations. Their members took an oath, wore uniforms with caps and cockades, a Chetnik badge on their chests, and were armed.

Chetnik flags were consecrated in Orthodox churches. The flags consisted of a black field, on which was a white skull and crossbones and the inscription “For the King and the Fatherland”. Under this symbol, members of the Chetnik movement committed a series of acts of violence and murders of Croats in the 1930s. However, the activities of Chetnik associations in Croatia were met with unanimous condemnation by broad sections of the Croatian population and a part of the Serbian population that advocated coexistence with the Croats.

As a result, Chetnik terrorist activities brought unrest and discord to areas where the population was mixed. Therefore, the administrative authorities of the Sava Banovina took a series of actions in 1935 and 1936 to ban the work of the most extreme Chetnik associations. These measures had limited impact, as many Chetnik organizations continued to operate after the ban.

This was possible because they had the support of the royal court and various Yugoslav political parties (Yugoslav Radical Community, Yugoslav National Party, Dimitrije Ljotić’s “Zbor”), as well as national parties of Greater Serbia (e.g. Serbian National Youth – SRNAO).

The first Chetnik associations in Croatia were founded in Zagreb in 1927 (action committees), namely the “Association of Chetniks for Honor and Freedom for the King and the Fatherland “Petar Mrkonjić” and the “Association of Chetniks for Honor and Freedom for the Fatherland”, but they were dispersed with the introduction of the dictatorship of King Alexander on January 6, 1929.

Since the leaders of the Chetnik associations gave their unreserved support to the dictatorship of King Alexander, the previous associations were soon revived and numerous new ones were founded. In 1930, the work of the “Association of Chetniks for the Honor and Freedom of the Fatherland” by Kosta Pećanac was revived in Zagreb. K. Pećanac visited the areas of the Sava and Primorje Banovina on several occasions, promoting the establishment of Chetnik associations and giving them instructions for their work.

Without going into more detail about the time of the establishment of individual Chetnik associations in Croatia, it should be noted that by the beginning of 1935, there were 114 Chetnik associations in the Sava Banovina region. This process continued in 1936, and by May of that year alone, 63 Chetnik subcommittees with more than two thousand members had been established in the same region.

However, from 1933 to 1936, 51 Chetnik subcommittees were banned in the same area. Thus, in the area of ​​the Sava Banovina, Chetnik organizations were established and operated in Zagreb, Jasenovac, Varaždin, Slavo (only some larger places are mentioned). Brod, Pakrac, Duga Resa, Vrginmost, Topusko, Vinkovci, Vukovar, Srpske Moravice, Karlovac, Đurđevac, Dalje, Vojnić, Sušak, Plaško, Virovitica, Ogulin, Gomirje, Samobor, Bjelovar, Koprivnica, Gospić, Medko, Borovo and Nova Gradiška. Also, Chetnik associations operated in Strmica, Vrlica, Otrić, Knin, Drniš, Kistanje, Šibenik, Split, Dubrovnik and other places in the area of ​​the Primorje Banovina.

Numerous Chetnik organizations on the territory of Croatia in the 1930s caused unrest among the Croatian population with their terrorist activities and violence. On the occasion of their various celebrations, the Chetniks dressed in Chetnik uniforms, issued identity cards to citizens, forcibly collected donations for their associations, got drunk and were the perpetrators of many incidents.

Chetnik terror intensified especially after the assassination of King Alexander in Marseille in 1934. They considered themselves the guardians of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its state order, and they threatened Croats that “some of them will not even have a lamp burning,” i.e. that they would be killed.

The President of the Main Board of the Chetnik Association in the Sava Banovina, K. Pećanac, reacted particularly harshly against the ban on certain Chetnik associations in his petition to the Royal Banovina Administration in Zagreb on March 21, 1935. In his petition, Pećanac points out that there are about 500 Chetnik subcommittees operating in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, that this organization is “nationally patriotic and chivalrous”, that its goal is to gather within its ranks “a healthy national element and to raise national pride, awareness of the state, patriotism and chivalry among citizens through organizations, as well as to fight against anyone who undermines the foundations of our state and hinders progress”.

Serbs killed Nikola Kosanović in Drežnik Grad on August 27, 1935.

Local authorities sent numerous complaints about the terror and negative activities of Chetnik associations. A characteristic complaint was the one from the District Office in Slunj sent on September 12, 1935, to the Royal Banate Administration in Zagreb, demanding the dissolution of the Chetnik association in Bogovolja. Namely, it was believed that Chetniks from this association had killed the municipal notary Nikola Kosanović in Drežnik Grad on August 27, 1935.

The complaint also states the following: “The establishment of this Chetnik subcommittee disrupts the spirit of the Croatian national cause, and this is because the founders of this subcommittee have very poor moral qualifications, and in addition, they spread disturbing news such as, for example, that they will receive military rifles, bombs and other weapons, all because of the current political position of the Croatian national cause. The subcommittee itself has about 30 members, all of whom are Serbs, and therefore the subcommittee itself has a purely tribal character…”.

Therefore, it is demanded that the Croatian people be given weapons in order to protect themselves from the arbitrariness and terror of the Chetniks.

Members of Chetnik associations committed various violent acts: beating and killing Croats, causing riots during Catholic religious holidays, disturbing the population in Croatian villages by shooting from weapons, breaking windows in Catholic churches and chapels, etc.

Armed conflict between Croatian peasants and Chetniks in Kerestinec in 1936

The climax of the confrontation with Chetnik violence occurred on April 14, 1936, during the commemoration in Samobor of the Chetnik murder of Karlo Brkljačić. On that occasion, an armed conflict broke out between Croatian peasants and Chetniks in Kerestinec, in which six Chetniks and three people in Rakitje were killed.

The constant violence of certain Chetnik groups against members of the Croatian Peasants’ Party also caused the establishment of a self-defense mechanism for this party in the form of the Civil and Peasants’ Protection.

The agreement between D. Cvetković and V. Maček of August 26, 1939, on the formation of a joint government, with the aim of constituting the Banovina of Croatia and its autonomous and territorial determination, met with resistance from extreme and nationalist forces among the Serbian population, both in the territory of the Banovina of Croatia and in other parts of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

This opposition to the constitution of the Banovina of Croatia was reflected in the creation of the Greater Serbian movement “Serbs to Gather” and the establishment of various committees for the alleged protection of the Serbian people, including the secret association “Serbian Defense”. All of these groups acted politically from a Greater Serbian position, opposing the establishment and constitution of the Banovina of Croatia because for them it meant the splitting of Serbian forces in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the separation of “Serbian regions” from Serbia.

These views were set out in detail in the regulations of the secret association “Serbian Defense” and the Letters to the Serbs of the Banovina of Croatia in 1940 (No. I). In these Greater Serbian intentions, figuratively speaking, Serbia is marked by a hen that needs to gather all its chickens, that is, the Serbs from the Banovina of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to defend its national interests and preserve “national and state unity”.

The establishment of the Banovina of Croatia gave groups gathered around the “Serbian Club” and others who were engaged in Greater Serbia ideas a reason to start a campaign for the creation of the so-called “Serbian Banovina”. It was to include all the remaining banovinas, except for Drava, and “separate Serbian areas from the Banovina of Croatia” under the common name of “Serbian Lands” with headquarters in Skopje.

With this goal in mind, many public meetings were held during the summer and autumn of 1940. We will mention only those in Knin, Kistanje and Benkovac, and several places in the vicinity, where a special “Commission for the Salvation of the Serbs of Northern Dalmatia” was established, which collected signatures from the population and sent delegations and petitions to the governors and the National Assembly in Belgrade with requests to annex the Benkovac and Knin districts to the Vrba Banovina, or the “Serbian Lands”. However, due to internal and external political factors, this idea was not implemented.

All these processes favored the creation of new Chetnik associations (in 1938 there were about a thousand in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and the activity of extreme nationalist currents in them that were carried away by the ideas of Greater Serbia. At the same time, efforts were made to revive the Chetnik units. Thus, in the second half of 1940, with the help of the army, the work of the Chetnik “Fifth Komita Detachment” was restored in Knin, led by Duke Vlado Novaković, a year later the commander of the Bukovica Chetnik Detachment.

Although the unit was officially banned on November 11, 1940, it continued its work as a police paramilitary organization with the help of Sokol officers and attempted to establish platoons in Strmica, Kosovo, Kistanje, Tepljuh, and Đevrske. Some of its members, as well as members of other Greater Serbian organizations and societies in the area, would become “the germ of the Chetnik movement that emerged in the second half of 1941 under conditions of occupation.”

The war plans of the Ministry of the Army and Navy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia also envisaged the creation of Chetnik battalions on a voluntary basis, to be used for guerrilla warfare. In April 1940, the Yugoslav government established a Chetnik command (six battalions and one partially manned), and each army was assigned one Chetnik battalion (one was also in Karlovac).

Serbian Chetniks killed 27 Croatian civilians in Bjelovar in 1941

There is no reliable information about the combat use of these Chetnik battalions in the April War of 1941. Most likely, they were disbanded like other units of the Yugoslav army, and Duke K. Pećanac and his Chetniks immediately placed themselves in the service of the German occupation army. However, it is known that from 9 to 29 April 1941, Chetniks in the Yugoslav army killed 27 Croatian civilians in the Bjelovar area (11 of whom on 10 April near D. Mosti) and on 11 April in Siverić they killed 3 Croatian women, 1 of whom was a girl.

Serb crimes in Derventa, Čapljina and Mostar

There were similar cases in other places in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially near Derventa, Čapljina, and Mostar, where about 50 Croat and Muslim civilians were killed.

These roots of the Chetnik movement in the interwar period should be kept in mind, as some of its members emerged and were the revivers of the Chetnik movement in World War II. Of course, they would not have been the only ones in that movement at that time, because from the political and military standpoint of the Chetnik movement, its ranks would also include members of the South-nationalist and Greater Serbian political parties and societies. The leading military structure of the Chetnik movement in World War II would consist of officers and non-commissioned officers of the former Yugoslav army.

The Chetnik movement started from the understanding that the Serbs had lost their state in the April War of 1941, but that they had not lost their state and legal capacities. They blamed all other peoples for the loss of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and especially the Croats, as if the structure of that state and the system of government in it were not based on the dominance of the Serbian population.

However, the Chetnik movement, both as a whole and on the territory of Croatia during World War II, did not have a single state-building concept. These concepts would constantly develop during the war and could essentially be reduced to the two most frequently mentioned concepts: Greater Serbia within Greater Yugoslavia or Greater Serbia alone.

In certain periods and in certain areas, certain Chetnik groups will try to resolve the status of the Serbian population within the framework of a special autonomy or by unification with other countries (Italy, Montenegro, Nedić’s Serbia). Therefore, it is important to present the basic state-building aspirations of the Chetnik movement, because they resulted in planned terror against all who opposed Chetnik ideas.

From the Chetnik aspirations for the scope and character of the future state, other projects of ethnic cleansing of non-Serb peoples and genocide, mainly against Croats and Muslims, emerged. The Chetnik movement in World War II shaped its state-building and general political aspirations in numerous documents.

The first in this series of program documents is undoubtedly the project of Dr. Stevan Moljević “HOMOGENEOUS SERBIA” of June 30, 1941. S. Moljević wrote this project in Nikšić at a time when he was not yet in direct contact with the leader of the Ravno Gora Chetnik movement, Draža Mihailović (two months later he would become a member of the Chetnik Central National Council). Challenged by the “trials of the Serbian people” in the April War of 1941, and in accordance with his pre-war Greater Serbian views, S. Moljević wrote the aforementioned project on Greater Serbia in the restored Yugoslavia.

The project is based on the demands for the creation and organization of a homogeneous Serbia “which should encompass the entire ethnic area where Serbs live”. S. Moljević points out that Serbia’s main mistake in 1918 was that it did not determine its borders in the new state (the Kingdom of SHS), and that this must be done now. Therefore, these borders must encompass the entire ethnic area where Serbs live “with free access to the sea for all Serbian areas that are close to the sea”.

From a territorial point of view, this meant the following areas: Serbia, “Southern Serbia” (Macedonia) – reinforced by Vidin and Ćustendil, Montenegro, Herzegovina, Dubrovnik with a special status, and the northern part of Albania, if it did not receive autonomy. The Western Serbian region of the future Greater Serbia would include, in addition to the Vrbas Banovina, Northern Dalmatia, the Serbian part of Lika, Kordun and Banija, and part of Slavonia.

This area was to include the Lika Railway from Plaško to Šibenik and the northern railway from Okučani via Sunja to Hrvatska Kostajnica. Furthermore, this western Serbian region was to include: the Bugojno district, except for Gornji Vakuf; from the Livno district – Livno and Donje Polje; from the Šibenik district – Šibenik and Skradin; from the Knin district, the municipality of Knin and the part of the Drniš municipality inhabited by Serbs with the entire territory crossed by the Knin – Šibenik railway and possibly the part of the Vrlika municipality inhabited by Serbs, and the entire districts of Benkovac, Biograd na Moru and Preko.

The borders of the Western Serbian region were to run along the Velebit Channel and include Zadar with all the islands in front of it, and the municipalities of Gospić, Lički Osik and Medak, the eastern part of the Perušićan district, the municipalities of Dabar, Škare, Vrhovine, Drežnica, Gomirje, Gornje Dubrava and Plaški, (the municipality of Barske, the district of Vojinić, the municipality of Glošak, the district of G. The municipalities of Bučice and Stankovac), the municipalities of Blinja, Graduša, Jabukovac and Sunja (the Petrinja district), Hrvatska Kostajnica (except the municipality of Bobovac), the municipalities of Jasenovac and Vanjska Novska (the Novski district), the Okučani district, Pakrac (except the municipalities of Antunovac, Gaj and Poljana), the municipality of Daručebiga, the district of Vilić, Selo Polje and Slatina and the Bosnian districts of Derventa and Gradačac.

He further proposed that the northern Serbian region, in addition to the territory of the Danube Banovina, also include the districts of Vukovar, Šid, Ilok, the entire district and the city of Osijek, and parts of the Vinkovci district (municipalities of Vinkovci, Laze, Mirkovci, and Novi Jankovci). The central Serbian region – the Drina Banovina – was to be given back the districts of Brcko, Travnik, and Fojnica (which had become part of the Banovina of Croatia in 1939).

Moljević’s Greater Serbia also included Dalmatia from Ploce to below Šibenik, and would also include the Herzegovina districts (Prozor, Ljubuški and Duvno), the western parts of the Mostar and Liban districts, and parts of the Knin and Šibenik districts in the north. A special autonomous status was planned for the area of ​​such Dalmatia.

Moljević attributes a first-class role to the Serbs and Greater Serbia in the future restored Yugoslavia and the Balkans, all because of Serbian “historical merits”. The restored Yugoslavia was to be organized on a federal basis and with three federal units (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia). The creation of an ethnically pure and homogeneous Greater Serbia was intended to be carried out by the method of ethnic cleansing, resettlement and population exchange, especially of Croats from Serbian territory and Serbs from Croatian territory.

According to Moljević’s Greater Serbia project in a restored Yugoslavia, the Croatian federal unit would be territorially reduced to the “remnants of remnants”, and in this the Greater Serbian possessiveness for Croatian historical and national territories was brought to the peak of its two-century aspirations and plans. This aspiration of the Greater Serbian policy for Croatian territories has remained constant to this day, when efforts were again made to reduce the Croatian state territorially through the Greater Serbian aggression of 1991 and the bloody five-year war.

The emphasis on the thesis that all Serbs should live in one and the same state, that Greater Serbia should extend to all those territories where even one Serb lives, opened the processes of genocide or “ethnic cleansing” of non-Serb peoples and national minorities from those territories. As early as the summer of 1941, such proposals were formulated by the Belgrade Chetnik Committee, and these proposals were also submitted to the Yugoslav government in exile in September of the same year.

Therefore, about 2,675,000 inhabitants were to be forcibly expelled from the imagined Greater Serbia, of whom about a million Croats and half a million Germans. About 1,310,000 inhabitants were also to be resettled in Greater Serbia, of whom about 300,000 Serbs from Croatia. Only about 200,000 Croats were to be allowed to remain in the new Greater Serbia. The Belgrade Chetnik Committee advocated methods of forcibly liberating the non-Serb population from the area of ​​the future Greater Serbia, both through emigration and liquidation during the war.

Moljević later elaborated on some of his views on Homogeneous Serbia, especially in relation to the Croats. In this regard, his letter from December 1941 to Dragiša Vasić, then a member of Draža Mihailović’s Staff, is characteristic. Moljević emphasizes that the borders with neighboring countries should be resolved through peace negotiations, but first to create a “fait accompli”, but that at that time there were no strong Chetnik forces for that option.

However, as far as the demarcation with the Croats is concerned, he proposes that the aforementioned territories in Homogeneous Serbia be occupied as soon as the opportunity arises and “cleansed before anyone recovers”. Namely, it was planned that the occupation of the Croatian territories would be carried out by capturing the larger Croatian cities (Osijek, Vinkovci, Slav. Brod, Sunja, Karlovac, Knin, Šibenik, Metković and Mostar), and then the “cleansing of the country of all non-Serb elements” would be initiated.

In this sense, the “culprits” (it is not specified who is meant by this) would be punished on the spot (meaning liquidations), and the remaining Croats from these areas would be expelled to Croatia, and Muslims to Turkey or Albania.

All these projects and proposals became an integral part of the Ravno Gora Chetnik movement of D. Mihailović. This is best seen from his instructions of December 20, 1941, sent to the commanders of the Chetnik detachments in Montenegro and to the commander of the Lim Chetnik detachments.

Draža Mihajlović dreams of a Greater Serbia

In these instructions, D. Mihailović linked the activities of the Chetnik units in the country with the diplomatic activity of King Peter II in exile and with the Western allies. These were to be military forces that would expel the “enemy from our dear Fatherland” and fight for these goals: 1. for the freedom of the entire people under the scepter of King Peter II; 2. for the creation of a greater Yugoslavia and within it a greater Serbia, an ethnically pure greater Serbia within the borders of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srem, Banat and Bačka; 3. for the inclusion in “our state life” of all still unliberated Slavic territories under Italy and Germany (Trieste, Gorizia, Istria and Carinthia), as well as Bulgaria and northern Albania (with Shkodra); 4. to cleanse the state territory of all national minorities and non-national elements; 5. for the creation of direct borders between Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia by cleansing the Sandžak from the Muslim point of view and Bosnia from the Muslim and Croat population; 6. for the punishment of all those responsible for the April catastrophe; 7. for the punishment of all Ustashas and Muslims who destroyed “our people” and 8. for the settlement of Montenegrins in areas cleansed of national minorities and non-national elements.

In this Chetnik document, as in the documents already mentioned, the state-forming idea of ​​Greater Serbia (regardless of whether it was within or outside the restored Yugoslavia) and Greater Serbian hegemonism and chauvinism were primarily formulated. It is not at all clear from Draža Mihailović’s instructions which territories should remain with Croatia, or which territories should be inhabited by Croats, because he imagined a direct border between Greater Serbia and Slovenia.

He also considered Istria to be Slovenian territory, as well as Međimurje. In this regard, it is quite obvious that he intended for the Croatian and Muslim people to fight until their extermination, and for the crimes committed by the Ustashi against the Serbs in the territory of the Independent State of Croatia, he attributed the blame to the entire Croatian and Muslim people.

The Chetnik concept of Greater Serbia, inside or outside Yugoslavia, was always built on the foundation and restoration of the monarchy of the Karađorđević dynasty. The struggle for the return of the monarchy and the social order in it, as it was before the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia, also influenced the Chetnik attitude towards the anti-fascist struggle led by the communists. In this regard, D. Mihailović emphasized that there could be no cooperation with the “communist-partisans” because they were fighting against the monarchy and for the “achievement of a social revolution”.

The prominent concept of the future state and its social order was also supported by the circles surrounding the émigré government, and especially by the Serbian politicians who were in the majority. Moreover, the constant complaints of Serbian politicians in the émigré government to Croatian politicians in it about the crimes of the Ustasha against the Serbian population in the territory of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) fueled anti-Croatian propaganda from the position of Greater Serbian tendencies.

Serbian politicians in the émigré government (and they were in the majority compared to the Croatian and Slovenian ones) increasingly formed the concept of such a restored Yugoslavia in which Greater Serbian hegemony should be ensured. This was also a challenge to the policy of the representatives of the Croatian Peasant Party, who primarily defended the positions obtained by the agreement between Cvetković and Maček, i.e. the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia.

Similar Greater Serbian and nationalist programs were formed in the Chetnik movement and at certain regional levels, but they had their source in the basic political and military programs of the Chetnik movement of D. Mihailović and were only supplemented by certain regional specificities. In this regard, and especially for this work, the Elaborate on the formation, role and tasks of the Dinaric Chetnik Division, prepared from 8 to 12 March 1942 in Mostar, is of particular importance.

However, before pointing out the essential features of this Elaborate, it is necessary to highlight some earlier intentions of the Greater Serbian elements from the area of ​​Knin Krajina and Dalmatia. First of all, it is worth highlighting the request of Niko Novaković-Long (before the war, a non-member representative, minister in the government of Milan Stojadinović and one of the leaders of the Yugoslav Radical Community) from May 1941, on behalf of “10,000,000 Orthodox Serbs from Northern Dalmatia”, that the Knin Krajina with Lika secede from the NDH and unite with the surveyed area of ​​Dalmatia.

During July of the same year, this request was supplemented by a proposal to create a separate “Roman dominion”, that is, a separate autonomous unit, legally independent in administrative affairs, but without autonomy in legislation. In this regard, it was proposed that until the peace conference, the nominal authority of the NDH could remain in that area, and the royal authority in Rome would be represented through its delegate, authorized to pass and approve all regulations according to which people would work and live in northern Dalmatia.

However, these proposals by Greater Serbian elements regarding the amputation of the aforementioned parts of Croatia in favor of Italy, or the establishment of a Serbian autonomous region, did not meet with the approval of the Italian occupation authorities. The authorities only promised them protection of the Serbian population, and the same rights in religion and education as they had in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The failure of the Greater Serbian autonomous movement in northern Dalmatia in 1941 forced the Chetnik leadership in that region to accept the state-building program of the Ravno Gora Chetnik Movement of D. Mihailović. Therefore, in the Elaboration on the Formation, Role and Tasks of the Dinaric Chetnik Division, the creation of a “Serbian national state” was insisted on.

The main task of this division was to fight for these goals, and to achieve this, it was to be composed of a distinctly Serbian national element. Therefore, it was to fight for the establishment of a “purely national order in all countries where Serbs live, including those to which Serbs aspire.” The Dinaric Chetnik Division was primarily intended for the political task of fighting for Greater Serbian ideas in parts of Lika, northern Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Montenegro and Bosnia.

The entire process was to be directed towards the creation of a Greater Serbia that would encompass Serbia, Vojvodina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Dalmatia to Šibenik and Lika. According to this study, the main task was to strengthen Greater Serbia, and only then would the possibility of creating an alliance with other states, or the creation of a Balkan Confederation, be considered.

Greater Serbia was supposed to be an ethnically pure area inhabited only by Orthodox Christians. Without going into other details of the study on the Dinaric Chetnik Division, I would only highlight the planned attitude towards Croats. For tactical reasons, and in an effort to strengthen the military potential of the Chetnik movement, the study advocates cooperation with “Croatian nationalists” (Yugoslav nationalists), in order to prevent some Croats from joining the Partisans.

It is claimed that the Ustashas found protection among the Partisans (the thesis that the Partisans were Ustashas in disguise), so that under this new name they could continue the destruction of the Serbian population on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. The Dinaric Chetnik Division declared war “without mercy, pity and scruples” against the Ustashas and the Croatian army (home guards), and “war to the last limits of life” against the Partisans.

Although this study did not specify the fate of the remaining Croatian population, practice has shown that the Chetnik movement was determined from the very beginning to be strongly anti-Croatian, both against the Croatian state and against the Croatian population. Biological destruction was intended for the Croatian people, but these planned intentions could not be realized for several reasons, primarily because the Chetnik movement in Croatia did not have such military potential, and on the other hand because of the self-defense of the Croatian population, both against the military structures of the NDH and against the partisan military forces.

Depending on the military-political position of the Chetnik movement, the situation on the battlefields, the position of the émigré government, its attitude towards the forces of the Western anti-fascist coalition and its attitude towards the occupation forces in the country (the degree of collaboration achieved), this movement also declared itself in favor of the restoration of Yugoslavia.

However, it was always about such a state in which Greater Serbia would have hegemony and all Serbs would live in the same state. All other peoples were denied the right to advocate for the restoration of Yugoslavia due to their previous hostility towards that state, and the Croats were directly accused of the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the April War of 1941.

The peak of the Chetnik movement’s vengeful mood towards the Croats, when it came to the restoration of pre-war Yugoslavia, was expressed in the Chetnik newspaper “Glas Cera” from November 1943. In this newspaper, advocating for Yugoslavia, they emphasized that it should be such that as few Croats as possible live in it. First of all, they demanded that 700,000 Croats be “repatriated” (allegedly, that many Serbs were killed on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia), and then that equal negotiations with the Croats begin.

The Chetnik movement only nominally declared itself in favor of the restoration of Yugoslavia, given its acceptance by the international community (Western Allied powers). Internally, the Chetniks almost always spoke of Greater Serbia, its leading role and hegemony. Thus, in relations with the Western Allies, the Chetniks advocated a program of restoration of Yugoslavia and criticized the quisling formations established on the ruins of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In this regard, they agreed with the Yugoslav government in exile, which, despite the Serb majority in it, expressed the Yugoslav line. In this emphasis on Yugoslavism, the main focus was on the Serbs, their historical merits, their suffering and misery, and that in this regard they must be given a special position in the restored Yugoslavia.

In both cases, i.e. when the Chetnik movement advocated for a Greater Serbia or for the restoration of Yugoslavia, it always had a chauvinistic attitude towards all non-Serb peoples and national minorities, and Serbs, regardless of their number, could not be a minority in any part of the country.

How extreme and chauvinistic the Chetnik policy was is perhaps best demonstrated by the statements made in a letter from the commander of the Ozren Chetnik Detachment dated January 13, 1943, addressed to the commander of the Zenica Military Chetnik Detachment. It emphasizes that no Muslim will be able to survive among the Serbs, and that they have already achieved this in some parts of the supposed Greater Serbia.

Such is the case in the area of ​​Foča, Čajnič, Višegrad, where Muslim “settlements and houses are no longer recognizable,” and it is similar in the area of ​​Stoč, where, “except for a few families in Stoč itself and the entire district, there is not a single Catholic or Muslim. It started well and successfully, we just need to continue.”

For the Croats, extermination measures were proposed. First, it was necessary to deal with those who had “sinned” against Serbian interests, that is, against the Serbian people in their “tragic days”, and then to “destroy and kill” all Croatian intellectuals and those who were economically stronger. Furthermore, it was emphasized that only the peasantry and the smaller working class should be spared, but that they should be made “real Serbs, whom we will convert to Orthodoxy by will or force”.

In addition to all the previously highlighted repressive measures of the Chetnik movement against the Croats, this proposal introduces measures for the denationalization of part of the Croatian population and its conversion to Orthodox Christianity. The Chetnik efforts for a Greater Serbia did not hesitate to resort to the most brutal methods in achieving this goal. Consequently, the genocide against the Croatian people was planned, not revengeful (the Chetnik documentation is flooded with the terminology of revenge, and behind it the real reasons for the crimes committed against the Croats were hidden).

In addition to the above documents, there are other Chetnik documents that reveal Chetnik political and military efforts, but they are essentially no different from those already mentioned. Here we will only point out the conclusions of the Chetnik congress held in the village of Ba, near Valjevo, at the end of January 1944, which show a certain deviation from the already highlighted Chetnik positions.

This congress declared itself in favor of a trialist federation, believing that it did not accept the dismemberment of Serbian lands or the concentration of Croats. By holding this congress, D. Mihailović sought to give the Chetnik movement a seemingly general Yugoslav characteristic, in order, on the one hand, to strengthen the military and political foundations of the Chetnik movement in the country, and on the other hand, to make it known to the Western Allied powers that the Chetnik movement was not exclusively Greater Serbian and dictatorial.

Namely, this was the time when the British were putting pressure on Purić’s government-in-exile to remove D. Mihailović from the government due to his collaboration with the occupation forces. These and similar concepts of the Chetnik movement had a decreasing resonance, especially among non-Serb peoples, because by mid-1944 the process of change of power in the state-building efforts of the national liberation movement was already noticeably evident after its recognition by the forces of the anti-Hitler coalition.

The Chetnik movement in Croatia during World War II constantly emphasized its commitment to the state structure of Greater Serbia, and considered its members exclusively fighters for the Serbian cause. Thus, in a letter from Mano Pešut, commander of the Chetnik detachment in Josipdol, sent on July 1, 1943 to Gaja Bunjevac, then commander of the Plaščan NOP detachment, in an unsuccessful attempt to win him over to the Chetnik movement, it is stated, among other things, that the Chetniks are not fighting for “the old and corrupt Yugoslavia, but for the new Greater Serbia.”

Such claims were most often made by the main organizer of the Chetnik movement in Croatia, Duke Momčilo Đujić. In his letter of July 16, 1943, addressed to the commander of the Bosnian Krajina Chetnik Corps, Uroš Drenović, he specifically emphasized: “We are lagging behind in world events, so we must hurry so that events do not find us unprepared and unable to achieve our political goal, which is the creation of an ethnically pure Serbian state.”

A Chetnik report from late 1943, describing the political situation in northern Dalmatia, assumes that Yugoslavia will be restored if the British win World War II. It also states that none of the Serbs want Yugoslavia, but only Serbia within its “ethnic borders, without unification with the Croats.”

The achievement of the state-building and generally political goals of the Chetnik movement was not possible without the simultaneous organization of the Chetnik military forces. They were shaped by the traditions of the Chetnik movement from the past, and by the traditions of the army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Chetnik military obedience to leaders was motivated by myths about Serbian freedom, loyalty to the homeland, Serbianness, the monarchy, the king, and the defense of Orthodoxy. All command positions in the Chetnik military organization were occupied by former officers and non-commissioned officers of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, gendarmes, priests, various clerical and intellectual structures, wealthy individuals, village lords, and members of former Chetnik associations and various Yugo-nationalist and extremist Serbian parties and associations.

The fighting corps was traditionally composed of peasants, and their patriarchal consciousness was largely exploited. The leadership of the Chetnik movement feared the collapse of Serbdom if some other political and state-building option were to win in World War II. In terms of national composition, the Chetnik ranks were mainly composed of Serbs and Montenegrins, with a negligible number of members of other nations (Croats, Slovenes and Muslims).

Immediately after the capitulation of Yugoslavia in the April War of 1941, D. Mihailović called his small group of officers and soldiers the “Chetnik detachments of the Yugoslav Army”, and soon after simply the “military-Chetnik detachments”. In October 1941, he issued a proclamation to all Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, inviting them to join the “people’s army” that he led according to the oath “to the king and the fatherland”. D. Mihailović also founded the “Guards of His Majesty the King”.

When D. Mihailović was appointed Minister of the Army, Navy and Air Force in the government-in-exile in January 1942 by the émigré government, his task in the country was completely legalized. In connection with this, a new name was adopted for the Chetnik military units – the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland. When in mid-1942 the Supreme Command of the Yugoslav Army was transferred from Cairo to the country, D. Mihailović was given the position of Chief of the General Staff, which further strengthened his influence. Thus, King Peter II and the government-in-exile assigned him the role of leading military operations in the country, but also leading the possible landing of Western allies in the Balkans.

D. Mihailović established a more detailed military organization of the Chetnik movement in his instructions of 14 February 1942. According to these instructions, the Chetnik military organization consisted of three categories of military units: operational units (composed of fighters aged 20 to 30), military-sabotage units (composed of fighters aged 30 to 40) and local units (composed of fighters aged 41 to 50). The basic military unit was the company, two to three companies made up a battalion, and two to five battalions made up a brigade.

The reorganization of Chetnik units in January 1943 was aimed at increasing their mobility. Namely, until then they had been mostly limited to certain narrow territories and were not capable of major military operations. According to this reorganization, the basic unit was the troika, which represented a revival of the traditional Serbian guerrilla unit. Fifteen to thirty troikas made up a company, three companies a battalion, three battalions a brigade, and three to five brigades a corps. The Chetnik elite units, composed of the youngest and best fighters, were the so-called “flying brigades”.

The structures of Chetnik units in practice very often differed from the prescribed organizational scheme, and various other formation units appeared (fives, tens, detachments, “flying battalions”, “flying companies”, divisions, etc.). Legalized Chetnik units as part of cooperative relations with the Italian or German army were adapted to these units and under their direct command.

The first Chetnik units were mostly volunteers and consisted of people whose political and military interests coincided with the Chetnik ideology. The open split between the Chetnik movement of D. Mihailović and the Partisan movement in the fall of 1941 and the proclamation of the communists as the main opponents of the Chetnik movement caused a split and disintegration in many Partisan units (numerous Chetnik coups in Partisan units) and the transition of part of the Partisans (by will or force) to the Chetnik ranks.

In this way, in many regions, and especially in Croatia, the military core of the Chetnik movement was established. In those regions where the Chetnik movement prevailed, it established its military and civil authority and introduced the recruitment of new fighters. These were those areas where the Serbian population lived in its entirety or in its majority. For tactical reasons alone, they tried to include individual Yugoslav nationalists from among the non-Serb people in the Chetnik units, but they did not have much success in this.

Despite all the efforts of the Chetnik Supreme Command and personally D. Mihailović to create a unified structure of the “Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland” throughout the territory of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, this was not achieved due to various factors. Namely, in certain areas there were Chetnik factions that tried to be as little dependent on D. Mihailović as possible, having their own special interests (territorial or concluding agreements with the occupation forces or with the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia).

In this sense, one should also bear in mind the constant rivalries between individual Chetnik dukes and commanders who tried to govern the areas they controlled militarily and politically as independently as possible. In this sense, there were also various Chetnik commands: for Serbia with “Southern Serbia” (Macedonia), for Bosnia and Herzegovina, for Montenegro and Boka Kotorska, for Sandžak (“Old Ras”), Dalmatia and Lika, Slavonia and Vojvodina, and Slovenia.

Given all this, it is very difficult to assess the actual Chetnik military forces in certain periods. On the one hand, in Chetnik documents these forces were glorified for propaganda reasons, and sometimes in lists they stated that they could get as much rations and money as possible from the occupying military forces with which they collaborated for a longer or shorter period of time.

Regardless of the varied statements about the military strength of the Chetnik movement and the diverse knowledge about the combat capability of the Chetnik units, it must be stated that it was an important factor in the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. This is demonstrated by the numerous conflicts that the Chetnik units waged, both independently and in cooperation, both against the national liberation movement and against the military forces of the Independent State of Croatia.

These facts are often downplayed and disputed in historiography. They were particularly “prominent” in the numerous individual and mass crimes against the Croat and Muslim population, and against those Serbs who belonged to the national liberation movement or were loyal to the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia.

It is generally estimated that by the end of 1943, the Chetnik military forces numbered around 100,000 armed fighters, and during 1944 this number increased with the unification of D. Mihailović’s Chetniks with Ljotić’s volunteer corps and Nedić’s military formations.

Chetnik units were supplied with weapons, food and other equipment in various ways: by exploiting local conditions, by capturing, by looting, by receiving supplies from the occupying forces, occasionally from the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia, by delivering aid from the British (until the beginning of 1944), etc.

Without going into more detail on this general issue of the Chetnik movement from the perspective of its military component, for the purposes of this paper it is necessary to point out the military strength of the Chetnik movement in Croatia during World War II, as this was directly related to the multitude of victims and crimes committed by this movement in Croatia. Of course, here we will not specifically deal with its emergence and development in individual environments, as there is significant historical literature on this, but will only point out related facts about its military strength in individual periods.

Chetnik military groups in Croatia during World War II began to form gradually and at different times, and already in the summer of 1941 in the Knin region and southern Lika. This was a process of separating Greater Serbian and pro-Chetnik elements from the rebel Serbian groups, which had previously expressed their generally anti-Croatian intentions and goals.

These Greater Serbian and pro-Chetnik groups openly placed themselves under the protection of the Italian army and gradually placed themselves at their service in a joint fight against the partisan forces. They justified this act by preserving the “biological substance of Serbdom”, the policy of “economy of Serbian blood”, saving Orthodoxy, etc., and the armed Chetnik groups (marked with cockades and Chetnik symbols) were supposed to be the military force for the defense of these interests.

Placing the Chetnik movement in Croatia under the auspices of the Italian occupying army only accelerated the growth of Chetnik military units and improved their supply of war material. Towards the end of 1941 and in the first half of 1942, the Chetnik movement in Croatia was militarily strengthened by the tactic of breaking up from within, mainly those partisan units that were predominantly Serbian partisans.

These were the so-called Chetnik coups, very often called “bloodless revolutions”, although they usually ended with Chetnik crimes against prominent partisan leaders (commanders and political commissars). The Chetnik movement in Croatia would become more closely linked to the mother movement of D. Mihailović only from the beginning of 1942.

The first major Chetnik units in Croatia were formed in October 1941 in the Knin region, and these were the Chetnik regiments “Petar Mrkonjić” and “Onisim Popović”, and the Chetnik detachment from the Bukovica area. All of these Chetnik units were established on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. In mid-November 1941, a Chetnik regiment was also formed in southern Lika, which was named after King Peter II.

Although these Chetnik units were not filled with formations, and had a territorial reach, they would still be a significant core in the further massification of the Chetnik military forces in Croatia, especially when they were united in March or April 1942 into the newly established Dinaric Chetnik Division. All these military Chetnik forces would soon be placed under the direct command of the Headquarters of the Western Bosnian, Lika-Dalmatian and Herzegovina Military Chetnik Detachments.

From the report of this Headquarters dated July 16, 1942, a complete picture of the military strength of the Chetnik movement in Croatia can be obtained. The following Chetnik units were operating in Croatia at that time: the “Petar Mrkonjić” regiment with headquarters in Strmica and about 700 fighters (commander Momčilo Đujić); the “King Petar II” regiment with headquarters in Srb and about 500 fighters (commander Mirko Marić); the “Onisim Popović” regiment with headquarters in Biskupija and about 600 fighters (commander Pajo Popović until June 18, 1942, when he was killed, and then Vlado Novaković); the Bukovica Chetnik detachment with headquarters in Pađeni with about 200 fighters (first commander Vlado Novaković, then captain 2nd class Marko Crljenica); Lika Chetnik Detachment (commander Lieutenant Colonel Ilija Mihić) and the unification of the Chetnik group from the area of ​​Gračac, Medak and Plitvice Lakes with about 1,500 fighters.

This last group of Chetniks was gathered by Major Radojlović (Mihajlo Jovanović). At that time, the Chetnik military forces in Croatia had around 3,500 armed Chetniks. The numerical situation of the Chetniks in Croatia would be quite variable, but despite all the defeats they suffered in clashes with Partisan units, their numbers would gradually grow.

However, the basic measure of the later numerical status of the Chetniks in Croatia would be based on the strength of the Dinaric Chetnik District, which was tasked with uniting the Chetnik military forces in other areas of Croatia, with the exception of Slavonia. The bulk of the Chetnik fighters were quite vacillating and susceptible to changing sides in the opposing camps of the civil war, and usually sided with the stronger factor at the time.

There are a number of examples of individual Chetniks who repeatedly defected to the Partisans, sometimes to the Partisans, and then returned to the Chetnik ranks, depending on the current military and political situation. Such Chetniks were called “wanderers”, and in the Plaščanska Valley “sakavci”. When Chetniks defected to the Partisans, those who were found to have participated in crimes were sentenced to death.

However, defectors from the Chetnik ranks to the Partisans, who would return from the Partisans to the Chetnik ranks, were also punished by the Chetnik military authorities with beatings, imprisonment, hard physical labor, for betraying the Chetnik movement, and death, and they usually sided with the stronger factor at that moment.

There are a number of examples of individual Chetniks who repeatedly defected, sometimes to the Partisan side, and then returned to the Chetnik ranks, depending on the current military and political situation. Such Chetniks were called “wanderers”, and in the Plaščanska Valley “sakavci”. When Chetniks defected to the Partisan ranks, those who were found to have participated in crimes were sentenced to death.

However, defectors from the Chetnik ranks to the Partisans, who would return from the Partisans to the Chetnik ranks, were also punished by the Chetnik military authorities with beatings, imprisonment, hard physical labor, for betraying the Chetnik movement, and death. They usually sided with the stronger factor at the time. There are a number of examples of individual Chetniks who repeatedly defected, sometimes to the Partisan side, and then returned to the Chetnik ranks, depending on the current military and political relations.

Such Chetniks were called “wanderers”, and in the Plaščanska Valley “sakavci”. When Chetniks crossed over to the Partisan ranks, those who were found to have participated in crimes were sentenced to death. However, defectors from the Chetnik ranks to the Partisans, who returned from the Partisans to the Chetnik ranks, were also punished by the Chetnik military authorities with beatings, imprisonment, hard physical labor, for betraying the Chetnik movement, and death.

In order to strengthen the weakened Chetnik positions in Croatia, at the end of 1942, around 3,200 Herzegovinian and eastern Bosnian Chetniks were transferred to the Knin Krajina and southern Lika. These were Chetniks of the Trebinje and Nevesinje Corps (Nevesinje, Rogatic, Independent British, Bilješka and Trebinje, Ljubljačka and Trebinje). Zlatibor Chetnik Detachment of Radomir Đekić Đedo).

These Chetnik units remained in the area until March 1943, and the Zlatibor Chetnik Detachment remained there even later. Together with the “local” Chetniks, they committed a series of cruel crimes, primarily against the Croatian population, and destroyed its material base and cultural heritage.

The capitulation of Italy led to a certain disorganization of some Chetnik formations because they were left without the material support provided by the Italian occupation authorities. This was largely contributed to by the partisan units that were reinforced with men and weapons during the capitulation of Italy, and their combat activities in the area of ​​Lika, parts of Dalmatia, Gorski Kotar and the Croatian Littoral decimated individual Chetnik units.

The Chetnik movement in Croatia would recover from these defeats by the end of 1943, after strengthening its cooperation with the German occupation units. For their merits in various operations as part of the German army, they received appropriate assistance in the form of weapons, money and food supplies. In early February 1944, the Dinaric Chetnik District reorganized its armed units, dividing the district into six corps (I. and II. Bosnian, I. and II. Lika, I. and II. Dalmatian Corps).

The First Lika Chetnik Corps covered the area of ​​the Gračac, Lapac and Udbina districts, and the Second the remaining part of Lika, all the way to Sušak. The First Dalmatian Chetnik Corps covered the area between the Cetina and Krka rivers, and the Second between the Krka and Zrmanja rivers.

For 1944, there are a number of archival sources on the military strength of the Chetnik movement in Croatia. At the end of February 1944, the First Dalmatian Chetnik Corps had seven brigades (Kosovo, Vrlička, Mosecka, Prominska, Dinarica, Svilajska and “Leteća”) and 2,700 armed Chetniks, and the Second Dalmatian Corps had about 1,600 armed Chetniks (organized about 4,000). The Second Bosnian Corps included the Banija Chetnik Brigade with about 260 armed Chetniks, and the Lika Corps about 3,200 armed Chetniks. At that time, there were about 7,760 Chetniks in Croatia, which was not a negligible military force, especially in their criminal activities against the Croatian population and its property.

By the end of 1944, only the motherland of the Chetnik movement in Croatia – the Dinaric Chetnik Division – maintained its human resources in military terms. In other parts of Croatia (Kordun, Banija, Gorski Kotar, Croatian Littoral), Chetnik forces were reduced to small groups, and they were not given special attention in further Chetnik plans. At the beginning of May 1944, the Dinaric Chetnik Division had 6,240 fighters, 51 officers and 157 non-commissioned officers, and was armed with 5,678 rifles, 196 machine guns, 84 machine guns and 18 launchers.

The bulk of these forces, under the command of Momčilo Đujić, withdrew across Lika and the Croatian Littoral to the Rijeka-Opatija and Slovenian regions in December 1944, awaiting further developments in political and military events in the final military operations of World War II. This was the final collapse of their hopes that their military and political plans would be resolved with the help of the Western Allies.

Chetnik propaganda gave the Chetniks almost mythical characteristics in their “historical role in the defense of Serbdom, Orthodoxy and the establishment of an ethnically pure and homogeneous Greater Serbia”. The “characteristics” of the Chetniks are most extensively listed in the newspaper “Vijesti” (the newspaper of the Velebit Chetnik Brigade), and here we highlight only some of them: 1. a Chetnik is “apostolically honest and dedicated to working for the king and the fatherland”; 2. for a Chetnik, only “freedom or death” is the answer; 3. in battle he is always the first, “invincible and fearless”; 4. an irreconcilable fighter against “all enemies of Serbdom”; 5. always the protector of “the suffering and enslaved”, a fighter against all “violence and robbery”; 6. The Chetnik is the only one who knows only “love for freedom, people, and homeland”, and only the “Serb who carries all these virtues in his heart” can be called “the honorable name of a Serbian Chetnik”.

The crimes committed by the Chetnik movement in Croatia during World War II, primarily against members of the Croatian people, but also against Serbs who participated in the anti-fascist movement, truly confirm these Chetnik “traits”.

The motives and forms of cooperation of the Chetnik movement with other military forces and movements on the territory of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II were not identical in all areas, but were established at different times and in a number of specific ways. D. Mihailović’s indirect cooperation with the German military forces in Serbia began in the fall of 1941 through the mediation of his proxies Milan Aćimović and Milan Nedić, and after unsuccessful negotiations between D. Mihailović and the Supreme Commander of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, Josip Broz Tito, the anti-occupation front was weakened, which facilitated the action of the German army in destroying the partisan forces in Serbia.

The leadership of the Chetnik movement believed, taking into account the situation on the battlefields of World War II, that the current superiority of the Axis powers allowed them to deal with the partisan movement as the main opponent in the civil war with as little resistance as possible and away from the attention of Western anti-fascist coalitions.

However, the Chetnik movement was not then, nor later, ready to fight on two fronts, against the occupation and the partisan forces. Admittedly, there was cooperation between the Chetnik movement and the national liberation movement (in Serbia in 1941, and in Bosnia in 1941 and the first half of 1942), but from the very beginning of this cooperation, D. Mihailović’s Chetniks were not ready to equate the goals and means of a joint struggle with the anti-fascist movement.

The Chetnik movement postponed active struggle against the occupying forces for a possible future period, explaining this by the fact that the occupying forces were at the peak of their power, and the country was ruled by brutal occupation regimes. According to the Chetnik movement, any commitment to active struggle, either independently or together with the communists, would pose a physical threat to the survival of the Serbian people.

Therefore, this movement advocated avoiding active fighting against the occupying forces until the moment when the Allied forces attacked the Balkan Peninsula, marking that moment as “decisive”, “given moment”, “moment of favorable conditions”, “decisive moment”, etc. The Chetnik movement, passive towards the occupying forces, advocated fighting against the Ustashi (meaning Croats and Muslims), accusing them of the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the crimes committed against the Serbian people on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia.

On the other hand, the Chetnik movement directed its combat activities towards the partisan movement as its main opponent on the internal political level and the main obstacle to the realization of the Greater Serbian Chetnik program. The open struggle of the Chetnik forces against the partisan movement and the communists would be a decisive factor in the gradual establishment of cooperation between the occupying military forces and the Chetnik movement. Of course, the Chetnik movement also had its own interests in this cooperation, in addition to the joint struggle with the occupying forces against the partisan movement. This cooperation enabled its survival and gradual growth, as well as sources of all kinds of supplies.

The Chetnik movement in Croatia during World War II, both covertly and openly, of course, at certain times, established cooperative relations with the Italian and German occupation forces. and in certain areas also with the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia. By establishing such cooperation with the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia, the Chetniks had to recognize its sovereignty and their loyalty to the authorities.

Even before the formation of their comprehensive political and military program, Greater Serbian and Chetnik elements saw in the Italian occupier a factor that could be used for Greater Serbian interests, especially because the Italian authorities received Serbian exiles from the Knin Krajina and Lika to the territories surveyed by the NDH and provided them with appropriate assistance in accommodation and food.

Consequently, the Greater Serbian elements did not see the Italians as merely a temporary protector of a part of the Serbs, but rather sought to exploit this fact to obtain appropriate territorial autonomy and the separation of a part of the Serbian population from the NDH. In this process of convergence of interests between the Greater Serbian nationalist and pro-Chetnik elements and the interests of the Italian occupation authorities, and especially after the outbreak of an armed uprising on the tri-border of Bosnia, Lika and Dalmatia at the end of July 1941, which was directed against the military and civilian institutions of the NDH, the Italian occupier sought to neutralize and separate these insurgent forces, i.e. the Greater Serbian nationalist forces from the forces led by the communists, and to direct them to the defense of their goals.

Namely, the insurrection process threatened the interests of fascist Italy in the examined Croatian territories because an insurrection movement could have broken out there as well. The Italian authorities considered the examined territory an integral part of the Italian state and were very sensitive to its destabilization. Consequently, they sought to defend it in its hinterland, that is, in the area of ​​their second and third zones of interest.

Therefore, the Italian military authorities reoccupied these zones in September 1941, and saw in the Greater Serbian and pro-Chetnik movements a shield for the retaken parts of Croatian territory. On the one hand, they sought to weaken the positions of the NDH in the second and third zones, and on the other hand, they sought to use the Greater Serbian nationalist elements in the fight against the partisan movement.

In an effort to calm the rebel area, the Italian authorities demanded that the NDH authorities stop the persecution of Serbs, return the exiles to their homes, return the confiscated property, open Orthodox churches, and form a government of Serbian representatives in the settlements where they were in the majority. In this way, according to the Italians, those elements in the rebel ranks who had not yet become communists would stop fighting, railway traffic along the Split-Karlovac line would be ensured, and Dalmatian communists from the surveyed areas would be prevented from connecting with communists from Lika, Bosnia, and the Knin region.

The contacts and mutual non-aggression between the Italian army and part of the rebel forces in the Knin region and southern Lika were also noticed by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia during the summer of 1941. They noticed that the Italian occupier was allowing Greater Serbian elements to celebrate the birthday of King Peter II, hold events in favor of Serbia, display Italian and Serbian flags, and use the most derogatory terms towards the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia and its leaders.

The Ustasha authorities were even more concerned about this situation because Chetnik groups under the protection of the Italian army were also carrying out minor combat activities against the armed forces and military units of the Independent State of Croatia, and especially because they were endangering the lives and property of the Croatian population.

From all this, it could be concluded that the Italian military forces were in some kind of agreement with the Chetnik groups in the Knin Region and southern Lika, and the use of the military forces of the Independent State of Croatia against these groups would lead to a deterioration in relations with the Italian authorities. In an effort to resolve the misunderstandings between the authorities of the NDH and the Italian Second Army and to establish “allied cooperation”, on 29 August 1941 the General Administrative Commission of the NDH was established under the Second Italian Army.

Based on this agreement, in the coastal belt (which is the area west, southwest and south of the line Resnik-Generalski Stol-Babina Gora-Slunj-Plješevica-Donji Lapac-Šator mountain-Livno-Vran mountain-Čvrsnica-Prenj), public order was maintained by Italian military forces, and the authorities of the NDH were to cooperate with them in this. All armed forces of the NDH were to be disarmed, and Italian units were to disarm the “rebels” and Chetniks. Of the armed forces, only the guards at the guard stations remained.

During the demilitarization of the second zone, the Italian army actually disarmed only the armed forces of the NDH (except for the artillerymen), and tied the Chetnik forces even more tightly to its interests. The Chetniks pledged to participate together with the Italian army in the fight against the partisan movement, and then they were to be an important factor in the disintegration of the territory of the NDH in the second and third Italian occupation zones and thus expand the imperial claims of fascist Italy towards the Croatian territories.

Although the NDH government remained active in the second zone, the Italian military authorities sought to break it up by creating a Chetnik civilian government, especially in settlements with a Serbian and mixed population. Such circumstances forced the NDH authorities, despite the fact that they were aware of the ultimate goals of the Chetnik movement, to cooperate with the Chetnik movement, and the Italians encouraged them to do so.

The essence of this process was to create unity in the fight against the partisan movement, because this opponent was the main opponent of all of them, collectively and individually. In doing so, each side in the alliance also had its own tactical options. The goal of the NDH in negotiations with the Chetniks in the spring of 1942 in the area of ​​Knin Krajina and southern Lika was to use the Chetniks to fight against the communists, but also to destroy them among themselves. Thus, the report of the Great Parish of Bribir and Sidra dated June 27, 1942, emphasizes the following when it comes to cooperation with the Chetniks: “Destroying the partisans together with the Chetniks means destroying the Serbs – their majority with their help” (it is based on the view that the majority of the partisans in these areas were Serbs).

The NDH authorities made it clear that both the Partisan and Chetnik movements were their equal opponents. Cooperation with the Partisan movement was not possible, and the Chetniks were considered better off with them than against them. However, the Chetnik movement had no illusions that cooperation with the NDH could be more permanent. The Chetnik movement saw immediate benefits (food, weapons, money, medical treatment) in cooperation with the NDH authorities. The general decision of the Home Guard Main Staff was (order of 2 June 1942) to establish equal relations with the Chetniks collaborating with the Italians, as well as with the Italians, i.e. as allies.

A new period in the development of relations between the NDH and Italy towards the Chetniks began in the second half of 1942. Namely, the Italian Supreme Military Command decided to gradually withdraw its army from the areas of the second and third occupation zones and return it to the annexed area.

The reasons for this were the fact that Italian military units controlled a large area in the NDH with over 140 garrisons that were not sufficiently connected to be able to defend them successfully. These units were significantly weakened in the battles with partisan forces, which significantly undermined their fighting morale and belief in victory, and at the same time there were no possibilities for their significant replacement with new, stronger units.

This withdrawal of the Italian army from the areas of the second and third occupation zones was agreed upon between the command of the Italian armed forces “Slovenia-Dalmatia” (Supersloda) and the government of the NDH (Zagreb Agreement of 19 June 1942, which entered into force on 11 July of the same year).

This agreement, among other things, enabled the organization of the Chetnik movement under the name of “armed anti-communist groups”. These were Chetnik military formations of the Voluntary Anti-Communist Militia (Milizia volontaria anticommunista-MVAC), which the Italians began to organize in the annexed area of ​​northern Dalmatia (they had organized it in Montenegro and eastern Herzegovina a little earlier), and according to the Zagreb Agreement, it was to be organized outside that area as well. The anti-communist volunteer militia was organized not only by Serbs, but also by Croats.

There were a number of ambiguities in the implementation of the Zagreb Agreement, and each side interpreted them in a way that suited it. Therefore, on June 26, 1942, the General Staff issued instructions for negotiations with the Chetniks, which emphasized that as long as there was a danger from partisan forces, it was necessary to cooperate with the Chetniks, but that the Chetniks could only have weapons under the control of the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia.

According to these instructions, the collaborating Chetnik units would be issued with weapons and ammunition, awarded with awards, the wounded would be provided with treatment in NDH hospitals, and Chetnik families would be supplied with food. According to the order of the Supreme Artillery Command of 16 July 1942, all Chetnik detachments must be called the “Volunteer Anti-Communist Militia” in official communications, i.e. the same as they were called in the territory annexed by Italy.

Hitler did not look favorably on the cooperation of the Italians and the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia with the Chetnik movement, although German units were also involved in such cooperation. During the conversation between Hitler and A. Pavelic at Hitler’s headquarters “Werwolf” near Vinica in Ukraine (conversations held on September 23, 1942), and after Pavelic informed him about the situation on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia and that the Chetnik forces were fighting together with the Italian units, Hitler noticed that this was dangerous. Because “these Serbian patriots, after all, represent Greater Serbian ideas. This is the breeding of a snake which, although small now, may one day become dangerous.”

The cooperation of the Italian army with the Chetnik movement in Croatia continued until the capitulation of Italy in September 1943. Two types of units of the Volunteer Anti-Communist Militia were organized from registered persons in the annexed territories: 1. armed mobile units to fight against the communists in the area of ​​”Italian Dalmatia” and 2. armed peasant-civilians who would participate in the defense of their villages.

These units were initially dressed in peasant uniforms, and the armed mobile units wore a metal emblem (a skull with a dagger between its teeth). They were armed by the Italian army, supplied with food (and their families), and received daily allowances and awards for their activities (for captured partisans, confiscated weapons, and various special tasks).

To establish these units, about 250 Chetniks and a group of 60 members of the Volunteer Anti-Communist Militia from the Bay of Kotor were sent to the territory of the annexed part of Dalmatia. By November 1942, the Italians had managed to organize only five companies of the Volunteer Anti-Communist Militia (about 690 fighters), of which three companies were composed of Croats and two of Serbs.

These units, in cooperation with the Italian army, failed to prevent the development of the national liberation struggle in the annexed areas of Dalmatia and only “distinguished themselves” in the looting and murder of the civilian population in Croatian and Serbian villages.

The Italian authorities had abundant facts about the cooperation of Chetnik units in Croatia with D. Mihailović’s Ravnogorski movement, but they tolerated all of it, considering their benefit in the fight against partisan forces.

Italian officers and soldiers in particular attended Chetnik Greater Serbian events where people drank and Serbed and called for revenge against Croats. They were not prevented from wearing their uniforms, Chetnik symbols and flags (a skull and crossbones).

Serbian crimes against Croatian elderly people, women and children

Moreover, they only occasionally, and then formally, intervened when the Chetniks committed mass murders of Croats and looted their property. On several occasions, they themselves facilitated and encouraged Chetnik crimes, blocking individual Croatian villages with their troops, which the Chetniks then entered, slaughtering and killing helpless old people, women and children.

Therefore, Vjekoslav Vrančić, a minister in the government of the NDH, rightly wrote in 1943 that the Second Italian Army in Dalmatia had betrayed the alliance with the NDH from the very beginning and entered into an undeclared war against it, and the Chetnik movement and its assistance from the Italians were only prominent detachments in that war.

After the capitulation of Italy, the Chetnik movement in Croatia quickly entered into cooperative relations with the German occupying army, similar to those with the Italian army. Thus, individual Chetnik units assisted the German army in disarming parts of the Italian army in Dalmatia, their former allies.

The geostrategic importance of Dalmatia during World War II, and especially after the capitulation of Italy, when the possibility of landing Allied troops on the Croatian Adriatic coast became a real possibility, and the strengthened partisan movement at the time of Italy’s capitulation, also influenced German military forces in the area to cooperate with the Chetnik movement.

Throughout this cooperation, the Germans considered the Chetnik element in Croatia to be a more reliable and combative factor than the military forces of the Independent State of Croatia in the Dalmatian region. However, the German forces, in joining forces with the Chetnik forces against the national liberation movement, had a clear understanding of the ultimate goals of the Chetnik movement and intended to use it only as long as it served German military and strategic goals.

The NDH authorities did not look favorably on German-Chetnik cooperation, but they were powerless to prevent it. Moreover, they argued that this cooperation was even more dangerous for the survival of the NDH because, during this period of World War II, they considered the Chetnik movement to be the number one enemy of the NDH.

In this regard, the authorities of the NDH sent constant protests to the German authorities regarding the behavior of the Chetnik movement in Croatia towards the Croatian population and the institutions of the NDH authorities, but these protests were not heeded. Thus, in the study on the organization and activities of the 7th Ustasha Permanent Group from October 5, 1943 to November 23, 1944, it was stated that the German policy towards the Chetnik movement did not differ from the policy of the previous “false ally” (Italy) and that it had been surpassed in many elements. In this regard, the following is also emphasized: “All Chetnik atrocities are skillfully justified and covered up. The Chetniks, under the protection of the Germans, plunder Croatian villages, slaughter, rob and kill.”

Serbian massacre in Bičine near Skradin where 36 Croatian women, children and elderly people were killed

A characteristic case is the village of Bičine near Skradin, where 36 Croats were killed, mostly women, children and the elderly. To the protests of our authorities, the Germans, as usual, replied that they were killed by partisans. Is it possible that the six-month-old child who was killed on that occasion was already a partisan?

The German army also benefited from an alliance with the Chetnik movement in Croatia. The Chetniks supplied the German army with meat from cattle they plundered from Croatian peasants, and in addition, some Chetnik leaders, ingratiating themselves with them, generously rewarded some German officers with expensive gifts (gold, carpets, etc.).

It should be emphasized here that the German military forces in Croatia collaborated with all Chetnik groups, from Dubrovnik to Opatija. These were not small military forces, because in the fall of 1944 there were about 10,000 Chetniks under arms. In this sense, the military authorities of the Independent State of Croatia, regardless of German-Chetnik cooperation, constantly had in mind the destruction of the Chetnik movement in Croatia.

This is particularly clear from the instructions of the Ministry of Armed Forces of the NDH (General Staff) of September 11, 1944, which emphasized: “The Chetniks are our enemies just as much as the Partisans. The homeland of the Chetniks is Serbia. Let them go where they came from. And the Partisans were ultimately created by the Serbs, so that they could achieve Greater Serbia. The turn of the Chetniks will come.”

Therefore, the NDH authorities intended to disarm the Chetnik units at a convenient time, but still believed that they should be tolerated as long as they fought against the communists.

The cooperation of the Chetniks in Croatia with the Italian and German occupation forces, and occasionally with the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia, was widely used by the national liberation movement, both in domestic and foreign policy. In its propaganda, this movement influenced the disintegration of individual Chetnik groups, and on this basis amnesties were declared and their partial inclusion in partisan units. In this regard, the national liberation movement reached its peak when, in mid-1944, it managed to achieve that the allies of the anti-fascist coalition and the Yugoslav government in exile in London simultaneously renounced their “service” to the Chetnik movement. This was the military and political defeat of the Chetnik movement and their overall goals long before the end of World War II.

From the previous text it is clear that the Chetnik terror and crimes were planned and an integral part of their military and political goals. It was not a matter of any spontaneity and arbitrariness of individuals and individual Chetnik groups, but of such an ideology that used all methods and forms of terror and crimes to achieve its goals, both against the Croatian people as a whole, and against its ideological opponents in the civil war. In this regard, it is necessary to distinguish between real causes and formal reasons.

The Chetnik movement only wanted to justify its crimes with formal reasons, and even to cover them up with “legal” regulations. Therefore, the essence of the criminal activity of the Chetnik movement is not to be found in religious and national differences in the “thousand-year antagonism of Orthodoxy and Catholicism”, as J. Tomašević believes, nor in terror and counter-terror (the thesis that the Chetnik crimes against Croats were revenge for the Ustasha crimes against Serbs), but in the fact that this movement always advocated the establishment of a Greater Serbia and an ethnically pure state.

The establishment of the planned Greater Serbia at the expense of the historical and national territories of the Croatian people (and some others) was the main cause of Chetnik terror and crimes. Of course, Chetnik terror and crimes were almost simultaneously directed at all other ideological factors that in any way opposed the realization of this Greater Serbia ideology.

Chetnik terror and crimes in Croatia depended on a number of factors, from the arrangement and strength of military camps in the conflict in certain areas, but above all from the strength and stability of the Chetnik military forces. Looking at this issue globally, it can be concluded that the terror and crimes of this movement were directed against three groups of people.

First of all, it was directed against the Croatian people as a whole, that is, for their biological extermination. Therefore, wherever they had the opportunity, the Chetniks committed crimes against all Croats, regardless of their political orientation and covering all age groups (from children in the cradle to the elderly). Furthermore, the terror and crimes of the Chetnik movement were directed against participants in the anti-fascist movement and their families, regardless of the national structure of the participants.

Within this group, the Chetnik movement was also directed against the Serbian population who participated in the anti-fascist movement, and such Serbs were classified as traitors to the Serbian people and Orthodoxy. It should be emphasized that the Chetniks tried to spare the lives of some arrested Serbian partisans and gave instructions to do so.

Finally, Chetnik terror and crimes were also directed against that group of Serbs and their families who showed loyalty to the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia, worked in its companies and institutions, were members of the Home Guard, or supported the Croatian Orthodox Church.

They did not mind that some Chetnik commanders also swore an oath to the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia. Responsibility for the Chetnik terror and crimes committed against the Croatian people also lies with other factors, primarily the Italian and German occupation forces.

They not only supplied the Chetnik military units with weapons, ammunition and food, but also provided cover for the largest number of mass crimes against Croats. The government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in exile in London and those circles in the countries of the Western Allied powers that supported D. Mihailović and his Chetnik movement cannot be amnestied from this responsibility.

Among other things, these factors enabled the Chetnik movement to announce, via Radio London, the names of those whom the Chetnik movement had sentenced to death, or put under the letter “Z”, which meant slaughter. They had a well-developed strategy and repressive instruments for carrying out terror and crimes against all their opponents.

All Chetnik military units participated in the implementation of terror and crimes, but within them or separately there were such units that had special tasks (black threes, fives, tens, flying battalions and brigades). Terror and crimes were carried out in the field and within the institutions of repression (prisons and camps).

The methods and forms of Chetnik terror and crimes were diverse and can be classified into two basic groups: indirect methods of destroying people (threats, physical and psychological abuse, rape of girls and women) and direct methods (various ways of physically destroying people). Chetnik propaganda, with its threats of massacre of Croats and calls for revenge, satanization of the Croatian people, robbery and destruction of their material and cultural heritage, hinted at crimes and encouraged the emigration of the Croatian population from the areas ruled by the Chetniks.

The Chetnik terror in Croatia during World War II was reflected in numerous ways. They massively used psychological pressure on people during their deprivation of liberty. The goal was to achieve moral destruction of a person, to force them to betray their friends and neighbors against their conscience or to admit their “guilt” (“break someone’s spine”).

Confession through violence was generally the most common form of Chetnik terror, and was also used to achieve (collective and individual) Chetnik pleasures. As a rule, they were accompanied by laughter and mockery of the victims. In this regard, the Chetniks inflicted physical pain on their opponents. Physical violence was carried out in various ways and means: hitting the victim (with a wooden stick, a special rope, steel chains, wet ropes), trampling the victim, tearing off certain parts of the body (nails, ears, fingers, hands and feet), stabbing the body with a knife, stoning, carving Chetnik symbols on the victim’s forehead, etc.

Opponents of the Chetniks were punished in other ways as well: by cutting girls’ hair, punishing them with hard forced labor, the “bread and water” punishment (mainly applied to prisoners), torture by hunger and thirst, etc. All of this was aimed at completely physically exhausting the tortured persons, until they became incapable of controlling their body and spirit (“breaking a man”).

Chetnik methods of killing used against Croatian civilians

In the physical destruction of people, the Chetniks used the most brutal methods, and the most common methods were the liquidation of victims by slaughter (“to finish them all off without shooting – with a knife”), shooting, hanging, cutting off their heads, burning, stoning, throwing them into karst pits, killing with a sledgehammer, rifle butt, smashing their heads with various objects, and some victims also died from the consequences of torture.

Very often, Chetnik victims were disfigured by stab wounds, broken limbs, smashed heads, broken jaws (victims had their gold teeth pulled out), gouged out eyes, slit bellies, and women had their breasts cut off. The majority of Chetnik crimes were committed against individual victims and smaller groups, but there were also a few mass crimes (against Croats, wounded, and captured partisans).

Chetniks of Prisavje looted and killed Croats

Terror and crimes in Croatia were not carried out only by “domestic” Chetniks, but Chetniks from eastern Bosnia and eastern Herzegovina, Montenegro, and even Serbia (the Zlatibor Chetnik Detachment) also came to their “aid”. Chetniks from northern Bosnia very often raided the Croatian Prisavlje, looting and killing Croats.

These Chetniks specialized in finding and looting gold ducats, which were owned by many Slavic families. When committing these crimes, in order to leave no trace, the Chetniks disguised themselves in Partisan, Italian, German, and Ustasha uniforms and marked themselves with the military insignia of those armies.

During World War II, Chetniks burned hundreds of Croatian villages and hamlets to the ground, not sparing even some settlements with Serb populations. They looted and desecrated dozens of Catholic churches, parish offices and apartments, and burned down numerous Croatian school buildings. This issue has not yet been explored in Croatian historiography.

Serbian Chetniks bragged about their crimes and terror

The Chetniks often boasted about their terror and crimes, especially if the crimes were committed against the Croatian people. Thus, in the report of the commander of the Western Bosnian, Lika-Dalmatia and Herzegovina military Chetnik detachments of 16 July 1942, it is emphasized that the Dinaric Chetnik Division alone, in battles with the Partisans from 25 May to 15 June 1942, counted “over 500 Partisan corpses, mostly Croats”.

Serbian crimes in the Vrgorac region in 1942

The same Chetnik commander (Ilija Trifunović Birčanin) boasted in his report to Draža Mihailović on 5 September 1942 that the Chetniks in the Vrgorac area “killed three Catholic priests alive. Our Chetniks killed all men over 15 years of age…” Moreover, in a dispatch from M. Đujić on 15 December 1943 to D. Mihailović, the duke boasted that his Chetniks had arrested 140 communists, including seven Serbs. The Serbs were released, and all the others were “slaughtered and thrown into pits”.

In an effort to better shed light on the important statements made, we point out individual groups of Chetnik crimes.

1. Chetnik threats to massacre Croats

During World War II, the Chetniks in Croatia constantly exerted psychological pressure on the Croats with their threats of massacres of Croats. These threats were expressed in written and oral form. They were messages that they would be physically destroyed if they did not move out of the areas under Chetnik rule in a timely manner. However, these threats were not aimed solely at intimidating the Croatian people, but were actually carried out.

Threats to Croats appeared very early, even during the period of political undifferentiation of the insurgent movement. Thus, in the report of the Command of the 2nd Croatian Rifle Regiment in Knin dated July 12, 1941, the following is emphasized, among other things: “Serbs in the occupied territory of northern Dalmatia (meaning the area annexed by Italy – author’s note) and Serbian refugees from the territory of the Independent State of Croatia are gathering and arming themselves in Bukovica and the vicinity of Benkovac, and are threatening to massacre the Croatian population there and carry out attacks across a certain state border.”

The threats to generations of Croats increased particularly in the late summer of 1941 and onwards, when the Chetnik movement began to take political and military form in the Knin region and southern Lika by what had previously been pro-Chetnik groups. In late August 1941, Chetniks from Kosovo sent a message to the Croats in Knin that they would “soon attack Knin with a larger force and kill the Croats”.

Croatian officials of the NDH who still survived in Gračac in the fall of 1942 (the place was held by Italian and Chetnik forces, and there were about 50 Croats there) wrote on November 1, 1942, to the Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs in Zagreb that the Chetniks were threatening “that we Croats in Gračac should all be slaughtered and killed.”

Radovan Ivanišević, Chief of Staff of the Command of the Western Bosnian, Lika-Dalmatian and Herzegovina Military Chetnik Detachments, in a letter to Major Zaharije Ostojić dated February 26, 1943, requested that D. Mihailović send new reinforcements of about 2,000 Chetniks, but preferably Montenegrins, to the area of ​​Knin Krajina and Lika. They should complete the Chetnik “historical mission” in the aforementioned areas, and for this purpose an “elite army” should be sent, ready to “liquidate everything and everyone”.

After members of the anti-fascist movement attacked three Chetniks in Split in January 1943, the Split Chetniks gathered around the newspaper “Cry from the Pit” told them that they accepted the “totalitarian struggle with the communists” and concluded their message: “But we, who know how to die without immense misery, also know how to kill without any misery…”

When the Josipdol Chetniks occupied the Croatian village of Turkalje in mid-February 1943, in addition to looting, they threatened the villagers with the words “that the Italians told them to slaughter some of the soldiers, just so they wouldn’t see” and that “no Croatian child should be left in a cradle.”

During Chetnik recruitment drives in Serbian settlements, Serbs were threatened with being shot and their property confiscated if they did not respond, and that those Serbs who helped the Partisans would be punished with imprisonment, beatings, and execution.

The Chetniks made such and similar threats to individual families, villages and groups of people. Individual Chetnik commanders and people’s commissioners made lists of persons who should be punished for collaborating with the partisan movement. As an example, I cite a list compiled by the people’s commissioner of the 2nd battalion of the Cetinje Chetnik Brigade, Bogdan Kovačević, and sent it to the people’s commissioner of the same brigade on April 8, 1944. The list included 57 persons, the names and surnames of those who were to be liquidated were underlined (there were 11 of them), and the others were to be punished with beatings and part of their property was to be confiscated.

One of the most terrifying threats was the one that the commander of the Promin Chetnik Brigade, Simo Rodić, sent to the Promin NOP detachment on September 14, 1944, accusing the partisans of the alleged arrest of several Serbian Chetnik families. The threat stated, among other things, that “if the above-mentioned families do not return to their homes, I will personally go down to those Ustasha partisan villages and slaughter them, starting from a child in his bladder to an old man and up to 100 years old, so that the Ustasha vermin will no longer think of slaughtering the innocent Serbian people.”

And then it is stated that it is difficult for every region “where the Serbian Chetnik army passes, because it has sworn to God and the Serbian king that the Serbian boot must trample all those who dare or attempt to harm the innocent Serbian people.”

All forms of Chetnik threats to the Croatian people were fully reflected in Chetnik songs. They most often expressed the following Chetnik goals: the creation of a Greater Serbia, possessiveness over Croatian territories, the physical destruction of Croats, the desire to plunder Croatian property, the desire for revenge, etc. In most Chetnik songs, the central figure was the leader of the Independent State of Croatia, Dr. Ante Pavelić, and he was attributed the attributes of bloodthirsty animals.

Moreover, in threatening songs, the Chetniks equated the Ustashas with the Croats and emphasized that the Partisans were disguised Ustashas. The Chetniks sang their songs filled with threats to the Croatian people on various occasions, most often when they were staying in or passing through settlements with a Croatian population.

We will only highlight a few that the Chetniks sang in Croatia, which contained a threat: “Here is the mother who gave birth to a brother who will kill 500 Croats”. “My dear brother, when will we attack the Croats”. “Now that the Turks and Croats are coming, the Serbs will also slaughter you, God willing”. “On the top of the Romanija hill the Chetnik flag flies, and in black letters it is written that there are no more Croats”. “We, the Chetniks of Serbia and Lika, will slaughter all Catholics”. “Oh Todor, my dear brother, the time has come to slaughter the Croats”. “Oh Croat, we will slaughter you when Peter returns from London”.

The Chetniks constantly intensified their threats against the Croatian people, blaming the Croats for all the evils that allegedly befell them in World War II. In this sense, they constantly multiplied the number of Serbian victims caused by the Ustashi, or “Croats.” It started with the figure of 300,000 (summer 1941), and ended with the figure of more than a million killed Serbs.

The goal of inventing large figures about the suffering of the Serbian people on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia was to constantly motivate the Chetniks to commit crimes against the Croatian people. These threats were accompanied by the Chetniks’ satanization of the Croatian people, and the Chetniks denied them all national and civilizational achievements (that they did not have their own “pure language”, that they had lost “their racial and Slavic characteristics”, that they had been “destroyed by Catholicism”, that Croatian soldiers were so brave that they could be attacked with their bare hands, etc.).

The goal of these lies of the Chetnik movement towards the Croatian people was more than clear, namely to use all means of genocide against them.

2. Chetnik justice

The Chetniks in Croatia organized their judiciary quite late in relation to the political and military formation of the Chetnik movement. However, it was a formal-legal institution, and the rest was an institution of the will of individuals or small groups. In the Elaboration on the Formation, Role and Tasks of the Dinaric Chetnik Division from March 1942, the Chetnik judiciary is discussed in general terms.

It is only emphasized that for each Chetnik regiment there is a military court, consisting of the regiment commander, his assistant and one Chetnik, and that this court only pronounces the death penalty for “various enemies”.

This court could not pronounce sentences on members of the Dinaric Chetnik Division, but referred them to the Division Headquarters for trial. Until then and thereafter, from June 1943, verdicts against arrested opponents of the Chetnik movement were pronounced by individual Chetnik commanders, who were often only the executioners. With the formation of the Dinaric Chetnik District in the second half of 1942 and the establishment of Chetnik civil authority, the intelligence department also carried out judicial work, and a “court investigator” was appointed to the headquarters of this district.

The main task of these court investigators was to obtain as much intelligence as possible from the arrested partisans with the aim of revealing partisan political organizations, military forces and partisan collaborators who had infiltrated the Chetnik ranks. The judgments against these detainees were passed by the Dinaric Chetnik District Headquarters. At the beginning of 1943, the duty of investigator was also introduced into the Chetnik Corps Headquarters. However, the establishment of Chetnik military courts was under the direct influence of the Supreme Command of D. Mihailović and his order of 2 January 1943. Based on this order and previous Chetnik judicial practice, M. Đujić issued a decree on military-Chetnik courts for the Dinaric Chetnik District on 24 June 1943. Based on this decree, the “military-Chetnik court” is an extraordinary court, and can be established in a mobile and warlike state, and in exceptional circumstances in the preparatory period. It could be formed by a military officer in the position of regiment or brigade commander. This court pronounced only the death penalty, and there was no legal remedy against the verdict. However, this “direct military-Chetnik court” had the initial task of trying Chetniks for the following offenses: failure to perform duties on the battlefield, desertion of the unit, surrender to the enemy, failure to carry out orders, disclosure of secrets, shredding of enemy propaganda material, appropriation of other people’s property, etc. This court consisted of five members and a recorder, but did not have a prosecutor, but judged according to the “opinion of a free judge”. However, the powers of this court quickly outgrew its initial intentions, and arrested partisans and their collaborators were tried on its basis.

The judiciary in the Dinaric Chetnik region was a political instrument in the hands of Duke M. Đujić in his confrontation with the participants of the partisan movement, and only in his confrontation with individual disobedient Chetnik leaders and traitorous Chetniks. This court rarely convicted Chetniks who committed numerous robberies and murders of innocent Croatian civilians, and as a rule it tried only those Chetniks who robbed the families of members of their own movement.

On 1 January 1944, M. Đujić issued a new decree on the Military-Chetnik Criminal Court and the Direct Military-Chetnik Court, which was based on the military criminal law of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the law on the “protection of public order and state security”. This decree expanded the number of sentences in accordance with the gravity of the offense committed, and could impose the death penalty, a suspended death sentence with strict imprisonment, strict imprisonment, imprisonment, and as an additional fine. However, this decree established the “direct military-Chetnik courts” only when necessary, so they were in a one-time function, and they only imposed death sentences.

With this decree, as with previous decrees, the Chetnik judicial bodies were only formal institutions, they judged based on assumptions and beliefs, without any legal protection for the persons being tried, and they were only a formal cover for Chetnik arbitrariness and crimes.

3. Central Chetnik Prison – a camp in Kosovo, near Knin, called the “second Jasenovac”

The Chetnik movement in Croatia began establishing more permanent prisons and camps in early 1943. Until then, it had been handing over arrested partisans and other prisoners to Italian military authorities for further processing, and until their surrender, they were held in makeshift prisons.

In early 1943, M. Đujić issued an order to subordinate units not to hand over captured partisans to the Italian army, but to establish a central camp for them in Kosovo. Since some Chetnik commanders did not comply with these orders because they received monetary rewards from the Italians for captured partisans, M. Đujić issued a new order on April 8, 1943, in which he warned subordinate units not to obey his orders. In this regard, he reiterated that the prisoners must be “taken to the central prison in Kosovo”. The task of the Chetnik military units was only to interrogate the prisoners and hand them over, together with the captured documents and archives, to the Dinaric Chetnik District Headquarters.

Although it is not possible to determine the exact time of the establishment of the central prison or camp in Kosovo, it received its first inmates in March 1943. Because of the life of the inmates there and the terror that the Chetniks carried out over the inmates, the people of the Knin region nicknamed it the “second Jasenovac.” Not only inmates were brought to this camp, but also numerous civilians (children, women, elderly people) of Croatian and Serbian nationality.

The camp commander was gendarmerie sergeant Dušan (Stevana) Ilić, originally from Pađen, who, according to M. Đujić, performed this job with “excellent success”. The camp inmates were guarded by gendarmes, and the Gendarmerie Brigade Headquarters was located in Kosovo (commanded by former weapons sergeant Miloš Smilanić). “Thousands of mostly innocent people, often children and women”, passed through that camp, and “hundreds were taken straight to the shooting range in the Markovačka and Topoljska ravines”. The camp inmates were most often tortured by hunger, beatings and rolling in the so-called “priest’s barrel”.

The torture device “the priest’s barrel” was named after M. Đujić and was his invention – it was a large barrel, chained with steel hoops and studded with long nails on all sides so that the nail blades were inside. The prisoner would be locked in the barrel and then rolled down the slope near the Lazarica church. In this way, the nails pierced the camp inmates from all sides, and some of them bled out during the rolling.

Although there is a modest amount of preserved original and other material about this Chetnik camp, there are still original traces about it. For example, the District Committee of the KPH for Knin, in its report of October 18, 1943, sent to the Provincial Committee of the KPH for Dalmatia, among other things, points out the following: “Đujić in the famous Jasenovac (Kosovo) does not stop killing. In the last few days he has killed 15 people. But that does not help either.”

On April 10, 1944, the police station in Oklaj reported to the command of the police regiment in Split about the deportation of the civilian population to that camp, emphasizing that the Chetniks had taken 35 people from Bobodol to the camp in Kosovo because they had family members among the Partisans.

In addition to the camps in Kosovo, the Chetniks also had a number of corps and other prisons, and one of the most difficult was the prison of the Chetnik Corps “Velebit” in Gračac. Due to the unsanitary conditions that prevailed in the prison during 1943-1944, several prisoners died of typhus.

4. Rape of women and girls

The rape of women and girls was not new to World War II, and such atrocities had been characteristic of many previous wars. However, the rape of women and girls carried out by certain actors in this war was primarily a method of terror because the victims were people from the opposing and enemy camp.

This issue and this form of Chetnik terror is one of the most under-researched topics in Croatian historiography of World War II. This issue can be discussed from various perspectives, medical, legal, moral, etc., but we are interested here as a form of terror. Relatively limited original documentation has been preserved about the Chetnik rape of girls and women, especially Croatian women, and no additional documentation has been collected.

Raped women rarely reported rapes to government institutions because they were mostly from rural areas with patriarchal morals, so any public disclosure would have serious consequences for the woman’s future and her psychophysical condition in general. The Chetnik rapes of Croatian women were aimed at national and religious humiliation of women, and very often at political humiliation (it was also applied to Serbian women who participated in the anti-fascist struggle).

The rape of women was also an underestimation of women as individuals, which was characteristic of the backward civilizational environments from which the Chetniks were recruited. The armed forces at the Chetniks’ disposal also contributed to their collective power and the belief that they could do whatever they wanted with their opponents and victims.

Although it is not possible to fully quantify this issue based on the available archival material, several examples of rape of women can be pointed out, which sufficiently indicate this form of Chetnik terror. We cite some of these examples. For example, Chetniks in the Omiš area at the beginning of October 1942, among other things, as stated in the report of the District Committee of the Croatian People’s Army for Central Dalmatia of October 4, 1942, committed the following crimes: “Women and girls raped, breasts and other body parts cut off.”

Chetniks raped and killed Croatian women

This example shows that the Chetnik rape of girls and women was also connected to their torture and liquidation of the victims. This claim is also confirmed by this example. When the Chetniks of the priest M. Đujić arrested the girl Milka Turudić on October 26, 1942, who was returning from Zagreb, via Vrlika to Knin, they not only raped her between Štikovo and Miočić, but also killed her.

After the attack by the Herzegovinian Chetniks and the Chetniks of M. Đujić on Vrlika, Maovice and Kijevo at the end of January 1943, the Chetniks also raped girls. The Political Department of the 3rd Dalmatian NOB Brigade reported their crime on February 3, 1943, to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, stating: “Two girls were raped. In Vrlika, one girl was raped, in Kijevo they stripped several girls naked, but they managed to avoid rape.”

Although the Chetniks carried out these crimes under the auspices of the Italian occupying army, it did not take any measures to prevent them. Sometimes they simply stated the facts. Thus, in the report of the 107th Italian Black Shirt Legion of 19 March 1943 to the Governorate of Dalmatia in Zadar, they only listed the forms of Chetnik terror, especially during their passage through the Imotski region on 3 and 4 March 1943.

This report emphasizes that the Chetniks, having entered the town of Imotski, “began wild looting, threatening everyone regardless of whether they were Italians, Croats or Serbs, respecting no one or anything. They forcibly broke into houses, tearing the clothes off women and men, robbing them of jewelry, money and everything they found, raping women and girls in the villages. To intensify the terror, they sharpened knives in front of the eyes of the bare-armed and frightened women and men, threatening to slaughter them on the spot.”

During February 1944, Chetniks from Kašić, Bilice and Žitnić committed a series of crimes in the surrounding Croatian villages, and on February 20 of that year they attempted to rape girls and women in the village of Goriš. This was reported by the Kotor district in Drniš, the head of the civil administration in Split, on February 29, 1944: “On the aforementioned day, Radak Luča Marija, the wife of Antina from Goriš, was in the house of Mandić Marija.

The Chetniks forcibly dragged her out of the house and took her about 500 meters, and Sekulić (Luka, a Chetnik from Bilice – author’s note) tried to rape her, and when Sekulić did not do so, they beat and abused her. It is recorded that Radak Luca was pregnant. While Radak Luca was fighting these Chetnik bandits, Mandić Marta, daughter of Lukin, a 22-year-old girl from the village of Goriša, came from Šibenik. When the Chetniks noticed her, they released Radak Luca and Sekulić Luka.

The Chetnik, with the help of two other Chetniks (Mileta Nikola from Kašić and Marko Lukin from Žitnić – author’s note), tried to rape Marta, but she resisted, and when they dared, they failed, and she was beaten and abused, so it is doubtful that she will survive. The beaten Mandić Marta needed medical help, but the Chetniks forbade her and threatened that she would not be allowed to see a doctor either in Drniš or Šibenik.

In June 1944, Chetniks from the “Conard-Einheit” group arrested a young woman from Šibenik, a collaborator in the anti-fascist struggle, Leposava Šarić, and in Zablac she was “raped by the entire group” and then brutally murdered. The Chetniks’ frequent rapes of women and girls could not be hidden even by the Chetnik side, and their atrocities are mentioned in a number of documents.

Chetnik crimes in 1944 in Skradin

Here we highlight only a letter from Chetnik Ante Kovač dated February 23, 1944, addressed to Captain Franc Kovač, then commander of the Skradin Chetnik Brigade, in which he points out that Chetniks in the surrounding Skradin villages “raped a girl, killed her boyfriend and another man who was present, who opposed the rape on the spot.”

5. Chetnik crimes against the wounded

The Chetnik movement, as one of the factors in the civil war, did not adhere to any international conventions on the treatment of the civilian population, prisoners and wounded. In fact, the weaker and more helpless the opponent was, the more brutal the Chetnik crimes were. Numerous archival sources have been preserved on the treatment of individual partisan wounded in Croatia, but here we will point out two of their crimes against larger groups of wounded.

Serbian Chetniks killed even the wounded

After the unsuccessful attack of the 2nd Brigade of the 6th Lika Division of the People’s Liberation Army on the Chetnik stronghold in Gračac on 14/15 January 1943, the Partisans failed to extract 41 wounded from the Chetnik encirclement in Gračac. The Chetniks slaughtered and killed all of these wounded in the most brutal way. Among these wounded Serbian Partisans was a Croatian Partisan – Stipe Špehar. As a Croat, the Chetniks took special care of him. Seriously wounded, they dragged him through Gračac, mocking him and stabbing him with knives until he died.

Chetniks kill wounded people in the hospital in Krčani

A similar crime against the wounded was committed by the Chetniks on June 2, 1944, when they attacked the Partisan hospital in Krčani (a hamlet southeast of Udbina). The attack on the hospital and the wounded was carried out by the Chetnik “Flying Detachment” of Lukica Popović Luna, who began the massacre of Croats in Lika at the end of July 1941. There were about 90 wounded in the hospital, and the Chetniks slaughtered and killed 36 wounded and hospital staff. At that time, the Chetniks also slaughtered two doctors, Dr. Josip Kajfeš from Delnice and Dr. Antonio Supa (who had defected from the Italian army to the Partisans).

6. Beheading victims

The Italian occupation forces were convinced that the anti-fascist movement in the area of ​​their sphere of interest could be destroyed by the liquidation of certain prominent figures of the anti-fascist movement. Therefore, they issued arrest warrants and blackmails for them, and the Chetniks were supposed to carry out these Italian demands. If they failed to capture the blackmailed person alive and hand him over to the Italians, they would cut off his head, take it to the Italian command, and then receive the promised reward.

For example, after the Chetnik coup carried out on November 21, 1941, at the headquarters of the 3rd Battalion of the NOP detachment “Velebit”, the Medak Chetniks cut off the head of Pekisa Vuksan, the commander of this battalion, and took it to the Italian command in Medak. There they threw it on the ground, “trampled on it, rolled it like a ball across the field, spat on it, in order to show their devotion and loyalty to the Italian occupiers.”

The same fate befell Bića Kvesić, political commissar in the “Gavrilo Princip” battalion after the Chetnik coup there (April 12/13, 1942). Namely, the Italians put a 100,000 lire bounty on his head, and a group of Chetniks constantly followed him until, with the help of guards, they arrested him in Grab while he was sleeping. What they did with him next is evident from the confession of the Chetnik Đuro Kesić, who was arrested by members of the OZN on March 27, 1945 on Velebit.

About the murder of Bića Kesić, among other things, he stated the following: “We captured Bića and took him to a pirate’s den (sitnogorica) in the Kokirna forest. We cut off his head and threw his body into a pit. His head was taken in a bag by Đuro Radusin – Arambašica, Tomo Radusin and Mićo Senader to Gračac. They sold it to the Italians. They left Grab in the morning and returned from Gračac only in the afternoon. They brought 100,000 liras from the Italians as a salary. We divided the money in Nikica Senader’s house. Each of us received ten thousand liras.”

The Italians, by publicly revealing the blackmails for individual participants in the anti-fascist struggle, constantly encouraged this type of Chetnik crime. Thus, the command of the Italian sector in Zadar sent a letter on October 29, 1942 to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th companies of the Volunteer Anti-Communist Militia (Chetniks), in which the amounts of blackmail for 62 people (from 10,000 to 50,000 lire) were listed.

The Chetniks did not receive monetary and other rewards only for the blackmailed persons, but also for other participants in the anti-fascist movement, if they were captured alive or killed, and their bodies or heads were brought to the Italian command. When the Chetniks from the Gračac Military Chetnik Detachment and the Krupa Chetnik Detachment arrested 23 Croatian partisans from the “Bude Borjan” battalion near the village of Rujište in 1942, among whom was the Šibenik communist Dano Rončević, they shot them all, and received 10,000 lire from the Italians as a reward.

For reward or without reward, the Chetniks beheaded many other victims. In the Vrgorac region at the end of August 1942, during the mass slaughter of the Croatian population, the Chetniks beheaded the priest of the Biokovo parish, Don Jozo Breanović.

The Chetniks carried out a cruel method of beheading their victims in early October 1942 in the village of Gatima, when they cut off the heads of murdered children and impaled them on stakes.

Serbs burned Croatian children alive

7. Burning people alive

This method of Chetnik crimes was mainly directed against the Croatian civilian population, but also against other national groups (Muslims and Roma). The Chetniks mainly used this method of torture and killing in mass pogroms that included the burning of residential and business buildings. People were thrown into the fire, either alive or already killed. By throwing living people into the fire, they tried to inflict as much pain as possible on their victims, and by throwing already killed people into the fire, they tried to cover up their crimes.

One of the most brutal examples of burning a group of people alive was carried out by the Moravian Chetniks (Gorski Kotar) on the night of 17/18 November 1942 in the village of Radigojni (near Vrbovsko). In that village, they arrested two Roma families (14 members in total, six of whom were children), tied them up with wire, locked them in their wooden house and set them on fire.

This book, in the archival material we are publishing, contains many examples of burning victims, so we will not list them here. However, we will highlight one example of impaling a living person on a stake and then roasting him on fire. Thus, Đujić’s Chetniks killed the old man Nikola Blažević (68 years old) from Maovići on January 26, 1943. They roasted him on fire in the blacksmith shop of Ivan Herceg, also from Maovići.

8. Mass crimes committed by Chetniks against the Croatian population

Mass crimes by the Chetniks against the Croatian population were committed throughout the war years, but the most significant were during 1942 and 1943, when the Chetnik movement in Croatia was militarily strongest, and had the support of the Chetniks of eastern Herzegovina and eastern Bosnia, as well as the Italian and German military occupation authorities.

The Chetniks justified the mass crimes against the Croatian people with various motives (previous Ustasha crimes against Serbs, partisan attacks on the Chetniks, cooperation of individuals or entire villages with the partisan or Ustasha movement, destruction of communications, etc.), but the essence of these crimes lay in the genocidal nature of the Chetnik movement towards the Croatian people, which has already been shown in a number of examples.

Serbian crimes against the Ivezić family

The first mass crime committed by pro-Cetani elements against members of the Croatian people in Croatia was committed in Lika at the end of July 1941. Then, pro-Cetani elements from Brotanj (near Srbija) killed 16 Croats from the Ivezić family and robbed their property.

The remaining Chetnik massacres of Croats in Lika at that time were smaller in terms of the number of people killed, as most Croats fled and emigrated from the settlements that came under Chetnik rule. A wave of mass Chetnik crimes against Croats began in the Knin region in the fall of 1941 and lasted throughout the war, spreading to other areas of Dalmatia.

During the days of the uprising in late July and early August 1941, in an effort to protect the Croats of the Knin region from possible atrocities by the insurgents, they retreated to Knin and placed themselves under the protection of the military forces of the Independent State of Croatia (about two thousand Croats). Such caution proved to be correct, as pro-Chetnik elements soon began to terrorize the remaining Croats, killing them and looting their property.

Serbian crimes in the village of Štikovo

Đujić’s Chetniks committed the first mass massacre of Croats on 7/8 October 1941, when they slaughtered seven people in Donji Ervenik and threw their bodies into a karst pit. The Italian army dug up these victims and then buried them. Chetniks from the Onisim Popović Regiment in the village of Štikovo slaughtered and killed 9 Croats. These two Chetnik crimes encouraged further migration of the Croat population from the Knin region and the concentration of Croat refugees in Knin (by the end of 1941, there were about 3,000 Croat refugees in Knin).

The Chetniks constantly committed crimes against individuals and small groups of people in the areas they temporarily or permanently held and in the areas where they stayed during military operations. It was during the military operations of the Chetnik forces with the Italian army in Dalmatia that the Chetniks committed the greatest crimes. In the Italian military operation “Albia” in the Biokovo area, the Italians also engaged about a thousand Chetniks from East Herzegovina.

They were killed at the end of August 1942. In 1942, they were transferred from Nevesinje via Ljubuški and Vrgorac and, together with the Italian Bergamo Division, participated in military operations in the Biokovo area against the Jozo Jurčević Partisan Battalion. However, the Chetniks focused their main activities on the Croatian population and the looting of their property.

Serbian crimes in Dragljane, Rašćani, Kozice

Namely, while Italian units surrounded the villages of Dragljane, Rašćani, Kozice and some other hamlets in the area, the Chetniks entered these villages and “slaughtered every male”. The victims were also killed in other ways, and many were thrown into burning houses. On 29 and 30 August 1942, the Chetniks killed 137 Croats in various ways, including three priests (Josip Braenović, Ivan Čondić and Ladislav Ivanković).

Serbian Chetnik massacre of Croatian civilians in 1942

At the end of September 1942, the Italian division “Sassari” sent Mano Rokvić’s Chetniks (120 to 150 Chetniks) to the Split-Omiš region. From October 1 to 5, 1942, they massacred the Croatian population in the villages of Dugopolje, Kotlenice, Dubrava, Gata, Donji Dolac, Gornji Dolac, Ostrovica, Čisla, Zvečanje, Srijane and brutally killed 120 women, children and elderly people.

The Chetniks also killed Fran Babić, the parish priest from Srijan, and burned more than 1,500 residential and agricultural buildings, looting livestock and various movable property. The Chetniks were prevented from continuing the crime by a platoon of the Solin Partisan Company, which managed to recover some of the looted property and bury some of the victims.

All the horrors of Chetnik atrocities in this area can be seen from numerous reports, and here we will cite just one small excerpt from the report of the District Committee of the Croatian People’s Army for Central Dalmatia, sent on October 4, 1942, to the Provincial Committee of the Croatian People’s Army for Dalmatia, which speaks of the Chetnik massacre in the village of Gatima. In this regard, it states: “On the first day (meaning October 1, 1942 – author’s note), during the day about 150-200 Chetniks led by Italians arrived with trucks.

The Chetniks began to burn, loot and slaughter everything that came their way. The exact number of those killed is still unknown, although our people buried them, but there were over 100 of them. The horrors are indescribable. Everything that could not have an impact in the highest way was killed.

Women and girls are raped, their breasts are cut off. There are many elderly people who are tortured, and the children are all fine. A child in the arms of its mother. In some places, large crowds of people are killed, 10-15 people. The world is hidden everywhere, but whoever is caught, where, is slaughtered.

All protests by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia, and personally by the commander-in-chief Dr. A. Pavelic, were met with a response from the Italian military authorities. The perpetrators of these crimes against the Croatian population were not even held accountable, let alone punished. For the Chetniks, this was only a sign that they could continue with such atrocities.

The Italian army soon sent a new punitive unit of about 360 of Đujudić’s Chetniks, which on October 21, 1942, invaded the village of Bitelić, which had a majority Croat population. In this village, the Chetniks slaughtered 29 Croats, burned more than 200 houses, and thoroughly looted the movable property of the Croats.

Mass massacres of Croats were carried out by Chetniks of the Dinaric Chetnik Division and the Herzegovinian Chetniks in the Vrlika region at the end of January 1943. It was a Chetnik “bloody campaign towards Vrlika”, under the slogan “burn and slaughter everything Catholic”.

The goal of these Chetnik forces was, with the help of the Italian Bergamo Division, to clear the area of ​​Vrlica Krajina and Podinarje of partisan forces (two partisan battalions of the 3rd Dalmatian Brigade and the Knin partisan battalion were operating in that area at the time). The Chetnik-Italian forces encountered only minor resistance from the partisans, and from 25 to 27 January 1943, Chetnik units directed their activities towards the Croatian population in Vrlica, Maovici, Kosori and Kijevo, killing around 60 people in the most brutal manner. The killings of the Croatian population were accompanied by the burning of houses and the looting of property. The remaining Croats from these villages fled to Ribarići, and then to Sinj.

In connection with this Chetnik crime, the report of the Great Cetinje Parish of February 4, 1943, sent to the Ministry of the Interior of the NDH, is significant, which states, among other things, the following: “The Chetniks did not enter purely Orthodox villages at all, and in Catholic villages they slaughtered and burned mainly according to the testimony of local Serbs.”

Chetniks from Herzegovina and their massacre in the Imotski region

The Herzegovinian Chetniks (about 2,500), retreating from the Knin region via Split, Dicma and Trilj, arrived on 3 and 4 March 1943 in the Imotski district, and from there they moved across western Herzegovina to eastern Herzegovina. During the aforementioned days, in the Imotski region (Imotski, Grabovac, Zagvozd, Vinjani, etc.), they killed and slaughtered 32 Croats, looted property, burned houses, spilled wine and brandy in taverns, polluted wells with excrement (“they defecated heavily, then threw the excrement into the wells”), raped girls and women and stripped women of their clothes and jewelry.

The massacres of 1944.

Later, the Chetniks committed a series of mass massacres, including against Serbs and Croatian partisans, and here we will highlight only three more examples. In February 1944, Chetniks of the Dinaric Chetnik Division killed 30 people in the villages of Dubrava, Danilo Kraljica, Radonići and Goriša, and on April 4 of the same year, Chetniks of the Kosovo Chetnik Brigade killed nine Croats in the village of Nečmen. One of the last major Chetnik crimes was committed on September 12, 1944, in the Skradin region, when 27 Croats were killed.

Research into the human losses in Croatia caused by the Chetnik movement in World War II shows that about 3,000 people have been killed so far (about two-thirds of whom are Croats). See a separate section in the third part of the book on this. Moreover, research shows that these were not the criminal tendencies of individuals, but a planned policy of the Chetnik movement to deal with all its opponents in the most brutal way for its planned goals (the establishment of a Greater Serbia).

In this context, the Croatian people in general were destined to fight until extermination. But the Chetnik movement could not carry out this intention for several reasons, first of all because the Chetnik movement did not have such a military potential that would threaten the physical survival of the Croatian people, and secondly because the Croatian people self-organized their defense and thus protected themselves from even more tragic Chetnik atrocities.

Reference

This is a work written by historian Dr. Michael Sobolevski, and you can read more about this topic in the book by Dr. Zdravko Dizdar and M. Sobolevski, “The Silenced Chetnik Crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina 1941-1945”, published in Zagreb in 1999 by the Croatian Institute of History.

Serbian crimes in Sandzak in 1942-1943, the killing of small babies and women

Article by Petar Horvatić. Translated by Petrit Latifi.

Although Kozara stood out as the greatest crime against children in World War II, and even the massacres committed by nuns were fabricated, by far the most crimes against children were committed by the Yugoslav People’s Army – the official army of Yugoslavia known as the Chetniks. They even slaughtered children en masse in their cradles. This was the work of the Chetniks, the dirtiest and most cruel army of World War II in Europe.

The Chetniks (JVO) were the official army of Yugoslavia and the exiled government in London during World War II, which has been in hiding since 1945 until today. The leader of the Serbian Chetniks, Draža Mihajlović, was a general in the Yugoslav Army and a minister in the Yugoslav government.

A large proportion of the Chetnik victims of these massacres in the NDH and Sandžak were innocent children, just as in Rama (NDH) in 1942, where the Chetniks killed more children than an Italian 128 cm short rifle.

The Chetniks particularly slaughtered and killed along the border of the Independent State of Croatia with Serbia and Montenegro, on both sides of the border during World War II. The largest massacres were near the tri-border of the Independent State of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, where a veritable genocide was committed against the non-Serb population.

The Chetnik massacre in the east of the NDH and Sandžak in February 1943 was the most massive war crime against children in World War II. The massacre was carried out in the territories of Bijelo Polje, Pljevlja, Priboj, Čajnič and Foča in the NDH. This operation of ethnic cleansing and genocide was led by the Supreme Commander of the JVO, General Dragoljub Mihailović, whose headquarters was then located near the killing zone, through his commanders Pavle Đurišić, Vojislav Lukačević and Petar Baćović.

During this operation, several thousand people were killed in Pljevlja, Priboj, Foča and Čajnić, with a particular Chetnik hatred towards Muslims. According to Đurišić’s report, around 9,200 Muslims were killed, of whom around 1,200 were men and up to 8,000 were women, elderly people and children. Among them was an exceptionally high proportion of the youngest children.

Based on the available list of victims from   the municipality of Pljevlja (Sandžak, Montenegro)   ,   we see that in that municipality alone, 1,370 people were killed at that time, mostly small children.   The youngest victims were newborns, babies up to a month old, 13 of whom were killed in their cribs. More than half of those killed by the Yugoslav Chetnik army were children under 14 years old.

A large number of those killed were not even recorded, because no one had any information about them and because Chetnik victims and refugees were fleeing in all directions. At least 349 people were killed in the municipality of Sočice, 261 in Meljak, 236 in Bukovica, 235 in Bučje, 191 in Boljanići, 56 in Gotovuša, 14 in Kosanica, eight in Ilin Brdo and one each in Hoćevina and Otilovići.

About 638 victims were slaughtered, 286 burned, 231 shot, 106 butchered, and 91 drowned. About 160 women were raped. The worst atrocities occurred in Prehari, Goleši, and Milunići. In Prehari, 52 children were thrown into the Ćehotina pit, and over 20 women were raped. In Doli, 42 women and children were gathered in a house that was then set on fire. Only 245 of those killed were adult men, the rest were elderly people, women, and children.

You can find the list of civilians killed in Sandzak  here

Click to access LIST_OF_VICTIMS_OF_THE_FEBRUARY_MASSACRATION_1943.pdf

Pljevlja – every fourth victim of the massacre is a child under the age of 4, and more than half of those killed are children under the age of 14

More than a quarter of all those killed (around 26%) are children under the age of four. More than half of the total number of victims (around 53.5%) are children under the age of 14,   bosnjaci.net reports.

They threw children, women and old people into houses, filled the houses with straw or hay, and then set them on fire; they tied women to oak trees, put straw in their pyres, and then burned them while singing:

“On Christmas ’43’
for the Chetniks, here’s luck,
instead of wood and a Christmas tree,
a log of Turks’ heads.”

Records of Chetnik crimes have been preserved:

“   …In the village of Korita, in the house of Novčić, 16 people were killed and burned, and Bega Ličina filled the houses with smoke and set them on fire. Chetniks rushed through the village on horses and shot at children who were running away. Murat Mehović, a blind old man of 70 years, was slaughtered and thrown into the fire. Mahmut Beganović was cut into pieces.”

Selmo Dervović was cut into pieces, and his two daughters were slaughtered. 20 mutilated corpses remained in Aziz Šabanović’s yard. Little Hasim, six months old, when he asked for his dead mother’s breast, was grabbed by the legs, thrown to the ground and thrown into the fire.

They threw Dzemo, four years old, Šabanović Šaćir, six years old, Erma Muharemova and Ragib’s three children alive into the fire. Then Dzemo’s three children and Halit’s daughters and Raif, two years old. And so the rest of the villages passed. Along the muddy roads, through the bushes and forests, poor crowds fled, barefoot and naked, with frightened and frantic looks, some towards Bijelo Polje, others towards Rožaje…

The horrific Chetnik crimes in the Bijelo Polje region were an ominous prelude a month later to even more massive suffering of Muslims in the Priboj and Pljevlja regions in Sandžak and the Čajnički and Foča regions in Bosnia…”    (Safet Bandžović: “Emigrated Muslims from Sandžak”).

The districts of Čajniče and Foča, where these massacres were committed, were parts of the Independent State of Croatia, and the other places where the bloody massacres of the Yugoslav Chetnik army were committed were located on the very border with Montenegro and Serbia.

These areas are now part of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina and have been almost completely cleared of Muslim population, with almost only Serbs living there now. What the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland (JVO, Chetniks) failed to do in 1941-1945, the Yugoslav Army, JNA, completed in 1992.

The army that Josip Broz Tito created in that very year, 1945. In the last war, the JNA and Serbian Chetniks expelled and killed almost all non-Serbs from the area in 1992. Without the JNA, the genocide against Croats in Croatia, and Croats and Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, would not have been possible.

Based on the available list of victims of the Pljevlja district, we see that 1,370 people were killed in that municipality alone, mostly small children, and a large number of the children were babies aged one year, one month or less.

The youngest victims were newborns, babies up to one month old, of whom 13 were killed.

More   than a quarter of all those killed (about 26%) are children under the age of four.

More than   half of the total number of victims (about 53.5%) are children under the age of 14.

Some of the names of babies in cradles killed by Yugoslav Chetniks Pavle Đurišić in Pljevlja in 1943:

HASOVIĆ A. JUSUF, born in 1942    (one year old)

MUSIC M. BEGIJA, born 1943    (baby)

SHLJIVO M. HAJRIJA, born 1943    (baby)

SNAIL S. EMA, born 1943    (baby)

MOĆEVIĆ J. SIMBULA, born 1943    (baby)

MOĆEVIĆ M. ĐUZIDA, born 1943    (baby)

CHORBO L. LATIFA, born 1943    (baby)

MUSIC S. HAJRO, born 1943    (baby)

MAŠOVIĆ A. ELMASA, born 1943    (baby)

KELEMIS J. RASHID, born 1943    (baby)

SIJAMIC R. ZUMRA, born 1943    (baby)

MAŠOVIĆ D. HAZBIJA, born 1943    (baby)

SHATARA M. NURA, born 1943    (baby)

HEKALO M. MURADIF, born 1943    (baby)

KUBUR M. HAMDO, born 1942    (one year old)

ŠLJUKA M. ZADA, born in 1942    .

PLAKALO R. NURA, born in 1942    (one year old)

SIJAMIC A. ZIZO, born in 1942    (one year old)

GEC P. RABIJA, born 1942    (one year old)

PRLJAČA R. ADILA, born in 1942    (age one year)

MOĆEVIĆ A. ZLATIJA, born in 1942    (one year old)

DRKENDA DZH. RASIM, born in 1942    .

KORORA R. SAFIJA, born 1942    (one year old)

KLAPUH S. FATIMA, born in 1942    (one year old)

RIFLE M. NAZA, born in 1942    (one year old)

KADRIĆ D. MEVLA, born 1942    (one year old)

KISELICA M. HASHIM, born in 1942    .

KISELICA M. SABIT, born in 1942    (one year old)

PUCAR J. HAJIRA, born 1942    (one year old)

Reference

https://narod.hr/eu-svijet/svijet/najveci-zlocin-ii-svetskog-rata-srpski chetnici-zakalali-stotine-male-djecje-i-beba

Official consulate reports on Serbian, Greek and Bulgarian crimes from 1912 and 1913

Author: Petrit Latifi

The following are reports from consulates in the Balkans from 1912 about Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian crimes.

“The British ambassador in Vienna, Fairfax Cartwright, was the first to report to Grey about the crimes committed against the Albanian population. In this report he wrote about the actions against the Albanians in connection with the Prohaska affair: “[…] the envoy is allegedly hated by the Serbian authorities, due to the fact that he witnessed the crimes committed by the Serbian troops against the Albanian population. News is reaching Austria of the terrible acts committed against Albanian men, women and children.”  ¹

“In Edward Grey’s telegram to the British ambassador in Rome, René Rode, dated November 19, 1912, we can read that, according to the report of the Italian envoy in Skopje, Serbian troops committed numerous crimes, the obvious aim of which was to exterminate as many Albanians as possible.”  ²

“The Balkan Wars were the first time in modern history that ethnic cleansing had emerged and was used as a means of asserting territorial claims. In his report of 7 March 1913, Ralph Paget, the British ambassador in Belgrade, told Grey that there was talk in the Balkans that the Great Powers were allocating to a future Albania any territory with at least 75% Albanian population. He concluded that the massacres were “for statistical purposes”.  ³

“The first mention of the previous incident can be found in Ralph Paget’s report of 21 November 1912, according to which “500 Albanian corpses were seen floating” in the river.”  ⁴

Dietmar Müller, in the book “Staatsburger aus Wiederruf Juden und Muslime als Alteritatspartner im romanischen und serbischen Nationcode: ethnonationale Staatsburgerschaftskonzepte 1878-1941” writes:

“There are numerous reports by Serbian social democrats, as well as by Austrian, German and British diplomats, some of which have already been dealt with by N. Malcolm and K. Beck. For the social democrats, see Ostali Balkanski ratovi, p. 149; Tucović, Srbija i Albanija, p. 73 ff., and some articles from the social democrat newspaper Radničke novine from 1913 in: Srbija i Albanianci.”  ⁵

“On the reports of English diplomats to their Foreign Office, see British Official Documents on the Origins of the World War 1898–1914, vol. 10/1. The Near and Middle East on the Eve of the War, ed. G. P. Gooch/Harold Temperley, Leipzig 1936, pp. 3–90. See also Malcolm, Kosovo, pp. 255 ff.; Catherine Beck: From the Balkan Wars to the First World War: Small State Politics and Ethnic Self-Determination in the Balkans (Southeast European Studies 97), Munich 1996, pp. 167 ff.”  ⁶

“The assessment of Belgrade’s aims, sent to London by the British Ambassador in Vienna, F. Cartwright, on 27 September 1913, appears to be inaccurate: “According to reliable reports received here, the Serbian authorities have acted with indescribable cruelty towards the Albanian population and have done everything in their power to prevent the Albanians in Albania from continuing their trade with places now situated in Serbian territory.”

Serbia undoubtedly hopes that by making their lives unbearable, it will gradually force these people to launch a movement for unification with Serbia. The pressure that Serbia exerted on the Albanian population must have been very drastic, otherwise such a widespread insurrectionary movement would not have broken out so suddenly. This movement seems to be of a spontaneous local nature and not to have been instigated by the Provisional Government in Wallonia or Esad Pasha.” In: British Official Documents 10/1, pp. 31f.“  ⁷

“Usually complaints about attacks on Muslim villages, among other acts of violence, include general information that ‘women and young girls were abused.’”

OeStA, HHStA PA XII 390, von Pazel an Berchtold, No. 14, Prizren, March 9, 1913:  Statement on some crimes mentioned in the memorandum of the Catholic Archbishop of Prizren; ibid., from Heimroth von Ugron in Belgrade, No. 22/po.

Uskib, March 18, 1913:  Protest of the French ambassador regarding Serbian attacks on Kaza Gilan in early March; ibid.:

Austro-Hungarian military attaché in Cetinje, March 17, 1913, No. 1324: Crimes of Montenegrin troops;  ibid., 391,

Report from Kavala; ibid., 389, Heimrot to Berchtold, No. 26 strictly rep., Iskib, February 9, 1913:  Cruelty to Serbs against Albanians, ibid., 413, SMS Kaiser. u. König. Maria Theresia. Res. No. 410. rres; ibid.,

PA XXXVIII Consulate 397. Monastir 1912-1914, 1916:  Vice-Consul Žitkovski to Berchtold: Serbische Greuel, No. 142.

OeStA, HHSŁA PA XII. 389. Liasse XLV/3: Balkankrieg 389, Mensdorff an Berchtold, no. 19, London  :

“If isolated cases of crime occurred,” as the Serbian government wrote in response to the British government’s intervention, “the offenders were punished in the same way as all offenses committed by members of the Komite gangs, which the military authorities could not control.”

February 28, 1913: Beilage Memorandum des Foreign Office. Similarly, for the Bulgarian position, Radev, Ot triumf do tragedieia, 67; see also Bulgarian Foreign Minister Stanchoff in conversation with the Austrian Consul General in Salonika, OeStA, HHStA PA XII 387. Liasse XLV/3: Balkankrieg 387, Kral an Berchtold, No. 197, Salon, December 5, 1912:  Gespräch mit Minister Stanchoff:

“The Greek government dismissed all complaints of acts of violence against the civilian (Albanian) population, explaining the few it could not deny as pure ‘revenge’ for many ‘Turkish crimes’: ibid., 388: Baron Brown’s Telegram, No. 1275, Athens, 7 January 1913.”

215 OeStA, HHSŁA PA XII 386. King to Berchtold, no. 188, confidential, Thessaloniki, 22 November 1912: Events in Serres; ibid., 390, Secretary of Legation Bilinski to His Excellency Leopold Count von Berchtold, no. 24, Ioannina, 27 March 1913:

“Situation in Ioannina; ibid., 414 PA XII Turkey Liasse XLV/5: Balkan War, Kral to Berchtold Z1 213/confidential: Conditions in Kavala”

See, for example, Andrija Jovicević, Diary of the Balkan Wars (Belgrade: Official Gazette of the Socialist Federative Socialist Republic, 1996), 125; Azmanov, Myata Epoch, 95; Dodov, Diary, 32; Stefan Hristov Kamburov, A Very Long Journey: The Diary of Stoyan Khristov Kamburov [A Very Long Journey: The Diary of Stoyan Khristov Kamburov] (Sofia: Press Publishing House, 2003)  :

“… who writes about paramilitary volunteers (opalčenci) burning down Muslim houses and ‘taking away what they could carry’ from what the fleeing Turkish population had left behind; similarly, see Nikolov, Treća odjelna armija, 129.”

220 OeStA, HHSŁA PA XII 385. Consul Halla ann von Berchtold, no. 130 confidential, Monastir, 30 October 1912: Defense of Monastir; ibid., 386, Consul General Kral ann von Berchtold, no. 189, Thessaloniki, 26 November 1912:  “Report of the Austro-Hungarian consular agency in Kavala of the 8th of this month, ZI: 343, on the events in Drama and Kavala.”

Compare the fighting around Ioannina in November 1912, where Austrian observers reported that “the Andarti and the rural population” committed crimes against the local Muslim (Albanian) and Vlach population. OeStA, HHSŁA PA XII 385. Bilinski an Berchtold, No. 89, Ioannina, 17 November 1912: Zur Situation:

“It is reported here that paramilitary units and ‘the local population committed terrible crimes against soldiers and the unarmed Muslim population’. See also the report of the German Major of the Ottoman Army Günther to the German Foreign Office in PA AA, R 14 225 Akten betr. den Balkan-Krieg, Bd. 10: 22/23. October 1912. On the violence committed by the Greek andarti, see also the diary of the French consul Guy Chantepleur (pseudonym Jean-Caroline Violet-Dissap), who was in the city during the siege: Guy Chantepleur, The Captured City: Ioannina October 1912-March 1913 (Paris: Calment-Lévy, 1913), 230.”

Kamburov, One long long time ago, 23 years, Albanian lands in Mitrovica given to the Serbs:

“Reports that the local Serbian population of Mitrovica divided the land of their Muslim neighbors among themselves can be found in OeStA, HHStA PA XII 391. v. Uron an Berchtold, no. 82 aB, Belgrade, 15 April 1913: Militarische und politische Berichte aus Nisch und Mitrovit.”

PA XII 389. Crimes and robberies of Bulgarian gangs during the war; similarly, for Monastir and Uskib, ibid., 386, Halla to Berchtold, no. 137, Monastir, 25 November 1912:

The surrender of Monastir to the Serbs; ibid., 386, Dr. Haymrot’s Political Report, No. 125, Uskib, 18 November 1912; ibid., 388, Hala Berchtoldu, No. 6, confidential Monastir, 17 January 1913: Destruction of the Muslim districts of the Monastir vilayet. Under the pretext of collecting weapons, as reported from the Greek and Bulgarian conquest of Thessaloniki, soldiers “led by local vagabonds” entered houses in the Turkish and Jewish quarters of the city, looting everything they could find. Ibid.

Kral an Berchtold, No. 183, Thessaloniki, November 17, 1912:

“Excesses of Bulgarian and Greek troops. The Austrian consul in Adrianople reported his own observations that after the Bulgarian conquest of the city, the ‘mob’ together with the soldiers and the comitadists plundered houses, beds, other furniture and ‘even a piano’.”

Ibid., 391, Tarnowski and Berchtold, No. 27, E, Sofia, 14 April 1913; addendum by Dr. Max von Herzfeld, No. 1/re Adrianople, 9 April 1913:  “Events after the capture of the city. For the city of Kavala, see the report based on first-hand observations after the Bulgarians had abandoned the city, given by Captain Boyle of the British Navy, TNA, RN: ADM 116/1193, Captain Boyle to Sir F. Elliot, Athens, 5 August 1913. [3751], confidential.”

226 PA AA, R 14 230, Akten betr. den Balkan-Krieg, vol. 15: Report of the Austrian consul in Ioannina, 11 March 1913. See the more detailed original report on the conquest of Ioannina, in OeStA, HHSŁA PA XII 390. Liasse XLV/3: Balkankrieg, Bilinski an Berchtold, no. 12, Ioannina, 11 March 1913:

“The fall of the fortress of Ioannina. His colleague Hala from Monastir/Bitola spoke in a similar way about the ‘unlimited Christian population’ when Greek soldiers entered the city of Korčula. Ibid., 388, Hala in Berchtold, No. 1, Monastir, 4 January 1913: Entry of the Greeks into Korčula”

No. 136 E, Belgrade, November 15, 1912: News from Iskib; ibid., 387, Kral Berchtholdu, No. 203, Salonika, December 9, 1912:

“Atrocities in Strumica; ibid., PA XII 438. Liasse XLV/15: Balkan War, Count Tarnowski to Berchtold, No. 48 D, Sofia, 17 August 1913: Massacre of Bulgarian prisoners of war; on the alleged murder of prisoners by Serbian soldiers in Prizren”

On the poor food supply for prisoners in Montenegro, see OeStA, HHSŁA PA XII 385. Giesl an Berchtold, No. 89, vertr., Cetinje, October 28, 1912: Interview with King Nikola.

“The Carnegie Commission also reported on starvation among prisoners in Greek-controlled Macedonia. Ibid., 438, Prince Emil Fürstenberg in Berchtold No. 41 D, Athens, 6 September 1913: Carnegie Mission to Greece.”

200 Cf., for example, PA AA, R 14 222, Dt. Botschaft Pera an Reichskanzler Bethmann-Hollweg, 24 October 1912; OeStA, HHSIA PA XII 388. Prochaska an Berchtold, no. 5, Prizren, 30 January 1913:

“Fighting in Luma, claiming that the situation makes it almost impossible to obtain impartial information.”

201 OeStA, HHSŁA PA XII 388. Count Mensdorf to Berchtold No. 11 G, London, 31 January 1913: Interpellation in the English House of Commons on atrocities in the Balkans; ibid., 389, Count Mensdorf to Berchtold, No. 16 F, London, 15 February 1913; ibid., 390, Mensdorf to Berchtold, No. 21, London, 3 March 1913:  “Massacres of Albanians by Serbian Troops”

Official documents about Serbian crimes:

Freundlich, Leo. Albanian Golgotha: Indictments against the exterminators of the Albanian people. Vienna: J. Roller, 1913.

Albanian Correspondence: Agency Reports from the Crisis, June 1913–August 1914, ed. Robert Elsey. Munich: Oldenburg, 2012.

References

Yesterday’s Wars The Balkan Wars and the Emergence of Modern Military Conflict, 1912-13, 2018. Katrin Boeckh, Sabine Rutar.

1. https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10831/34808/Ingenia_Hungarica_II_Balatoni_Balazs_p_81-114.pdf ?sequence=1&  ;isAllowed=i ↩︎
2. imbid.  ↩︎
3. imbid.  ↩︎
4. imbid.  ↩︎
5. Staatsburger aus Wiederruf Juden und Muslime als Alteritatspartner im Rumanischen und Serbischen Nationscode : ethnonationale Staatsburgerschaftskonzepte 1878-1941 Author Dietmar Müller · 2005  https://www.google.se/books/edition/Staatsb%C3%BCrger_aus_Widerruf/0UckOb6n71cC ?hl=sr&gbpv=1&dk=albanische+Ortschaften+zerst%C3%  B6rt&pg=PA199&printsec=frontcover 
6. imbid.  ↩︎
7. imbid.  ↩︎

The Bistajin massacre of 1941

The parish church “Zoja Ruzare” in the village of Bishtažin, Gjakova, and a monument to the martyrs of this Albanian religious community.

In April 1941, more precisely on April 13, 14 and 15, on Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter, a barbaric killing and massacre of Albanian Catholics from the village of Bishtajin in the church municipality of Đakovica took place.

Martyrs are a sign of the greatest love for God and humanity; they are witnesses who voluntarily followed in the footsteps of Christ to the point of giving their lives to confirm the truth of the Gospel, preserve national identity, and defend their homeland.

The murders and massacres of 72 Albanian Catholic believers, especially in the parish of “Zoja Ruzare” in Bishtajine, were well organized and planned by opponents of Albanian Catholics and those who opposed interfaith coexistence of believers of different faiths in those areas, driven by hatred of the Catholic Christian faith “in odium fidei”, and with the aim of destabilizing social coexistence in Đakovica and Kosovo. In addition to the villages in the parish of “Zoja Ruzare”, there were also murders in other villages in the municipality of Đakovica.

The announcement and condemnation of the murder of Albanian Catholic believers from the parish of “Zoja Ruzare” in the village of Bishtažin, especially at that time, was made by the parish priest of that community, Pastor Dom Luka Filići. The contribution of this dedicated priest on God’s path and in the service of his people and country, in shedding light on the truth about this terrible event, is exceptional, even decisive.

The few testimonies about this tragedy should perhaps be kept in the archives of the parish office “Zoja Ruzare” in the village of Bishtajin, municipality of Đakovica, in the Book of the Dead for 1941, numbers 28-78, pages 94-100. The names of the murdered and massacred Albanian Catholic believers are recorded here, but according to the valuable testimonies of the inhabitants who witnessed these murders and massacres, the number of victims is much higher. In the village of Rugova alone, 67 people were killed in the mosque. Unfortunately, other valuable testimonies have not been preserved by those who inherited the data and statements. Similarly, it should be noted that the state archives of that time have not been researched.

On November 6, 2016, in the village of Smak, Đakovica, a small church dedicated to the Holy and Blessed Martyrs was solemnly opened, with a mass being celebrated. Also in 2016, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the parish of “Zoja Ruzare” in Bishtajin and the massacre of 72 believers of this Albanian Catholic church community in 1941, at the initiative of the parish committee of “Zoja Ruzare” in Bishtajin, Father Marjan Demaj, and with the generous cooperation of many members of this church community, a Memorial was erected in the yard of the parish of “Zoja Ruzare” in the village of Bishtajin. Thus, the above-mentioned martyrs have a sign of public remembrance and honor, at least by the community of the parish of “Zoja Ruzare”. It would be valuable if the testimony and blood of these martyrs, who gave their lives for faith and homeland, were also considered at the level of the Prizren-Pristina Diocese.

Here is a list of 72 martyrs who died in 1941.

1. Ton Luši,  elder of the Holy Eucharist Society, son of Ndua Nikola, was born in 1904 in Bistajin, where he lived. At the age of 37, on Good Friday, April 11, 1941, he was brutally murdered by Serbian terrorists for his Catholic faith. They used bayonets on him in the mosque in Rogova. He confessed and received Holy Communion on Sunday, April 6, 1941. His birth is recorded in the Civil Registry Book No. 659 for 1904. He was buried in Talek on April 18, 1941, by the below-mentioned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
2. Djoni, son of Marko Noka  , Catholic, born in 1889 in Bistazin, residing in Bistazin, was brutally killed with bayonets in the mosque in Rogova on Good Friday, April 11, 1941, due to hatred of the faith “in odium fidei” by Serbian terrorists. His birth is recorded in the Civil Registry Book No. 545 for 1889. He was buried in Talek on April 18, 1941, by the below-mentioned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
3. Marko, son of Čup Hil  , Catholic, born in Smak in 1891, residing in Bistazin, was brutally killed with bayonets in the mosque in Rogova on Good Friday, April 11, 1941, due to hatred of the faith “in odium fidei” by Serbian terrorists. His birth is recorded in the Civil Registry Book No. 615 for 1891. He was buried in Talek on April 18, 1941, by the parish priest of Dom Luka Filić.
4. Mikeli, son of Čup Hili  , Catholic, born in Fšaj in 1906, residing in Bistajin, on Good Friday, April 11, 1941, due to hatred of the faith “in odium fidei” by Serbian terrorists, was brutally mutilated with bayonets in the mosque in Rogova. His birth is recorded in the Civil Registry Book No. 615 for 1906. He was buried in Talek on April 18, 1941, by the below-mentioned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
5. Lješi, son of Đino Prenći  , of the Catholic faith, born in Romaja in 1885, residing in Smak, on Good Friday, April 11, 1941, because of his faith “in odium fidei”, was brutally killed by Serbian terrorists in the mosque in Rogova with bayonets. He was recorded in the birth register, number 485, for 1885. He was buried on April 18, 1941 in Talek, and the service was served by the undersigned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
6. Nou, son of Marko Vorfi  , a Catholic, born in Marmul in 1906, residing in Fšaj, was brutally murdered by Serbian terrorists in the mosque in Rogova with bayonets on Good Friday, April 11, 1941, because of his faith “in odium fidei”. He confessed and received the Holy Mysteries on Cveta, April 6, 1941. He was recorded in the birth registry under number 465 for 1906. He was buried on April 18, 1941 in Talek, and the service was conducted by the undersigned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
7. Zefi, son of Gega Pjeter Radij  , Catholic, born in 1900 in Smak, residing in Bistazin, on Good Friday, April 11, 1941, because of his faith “in odium fidei”, was brutally killed by Serbian terrorists in the mosque in Rogova with bayonets, with his head cut off. He was recorded in the birth register, number 573, for the year 1900. He was buried on April 18, 1941 in Talek, and the service was served by the undersigned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
8. Marko, son of Zef Ndut  , of the Catholic faith, born on March 2, 1910 in Bishtažin, where he lived, on Good Friday, April 11, because of his faith “in odium fidei”, was brutally killed by Serbian terrorists in the mosque in Rogova, tied hand and foot, with bayonets. He was recorded in the birth register, number 561, for 1910. He was buried on April 18, 1941 in Talek, and the funeral was performed by the undersigned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
9. Pali, son of Zef Nut, Catholic, born in 1913 in Donji Novosel, residing in Bistazin, on Good Friday, April 11, because of his faith “in odium fidei”, was brutally killed by Serbian terrorists in the mosque in Rogova, tied hand and foot, with bayonets. He was recorded in the birth registry, number 561, for 1913. He was buried on April 18, 1941 in Talek, and the funeral was performed by the undersigned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
10. Nou, son of Marko Čupij  , Catholic, born in Smak in 1895, residing in Bistazin, on Good Friday, April 11, because of his faith “in odium fidei”, was brutally killed by Serbian terrorists in the mosque in Rogova, with bayonets. He was recorded in the birth register, number 603, for 1895. He was buried on April 18, 1941 in Talek, and the service was served by the undersigned Dom Luka Filić, parish priest.
11. Lles Mark Djoka (Fšaj),  killed on April 11, 1941 in Koder in Gradishte, Catholic.

These people were killed and brutally massacred in the most heinous manner in the mosque in Rogova on Good Friday, April 11, 1941.

On April 12, 13 and 14, 53 more Albanians were killed. Here are their names:

• George Mark Ciupi (Bistazhin)
• Binak Nikolle Gjoka (Lushi), Bishtazhin
• Pren Binak Lasku (Bishtajin)
• Zef Kole Djoka (Smak)
• Pask Kole Djoka (Smak)
• Prank Frrok Cola (Weasel), Flavor
• Nue Gjin Cola (Caress), Taste
• John Gin Cola (Lascu), Smack
• Tun Gyin Kola (Lasku), Bishtazhin
• Nicole Gjin Cola (Lascu), Taste
• Muse Gin Cola (Lascu), Smak
• Palush Uke Nochi (Begone), Dol
• Nue Frock Preni, Kushavec
• Dede Nue Preni, Kusavec
• Nikolle Pren Nicola (Bicy), Dol
• Martin Zeff Mark Leka (Dol)
• Prenke Gin Bardoku (Dol)
• Nue Prenka Museum (Dol)
• Nicola Mark Biba (Dol)
• Leke Mark Biba (Dol)
• Tome Night Runs (Down)
• Nue Prenke Tahiri (Dol)
• Nrece Prenke Tahiri (Dol)
• Tome Nreke Gini (Dol)
• Tune Prenke Gini (Dol)
• Djoke Nikola Leka (Dol)
• Djoke Prenke Lesi (Dol)
• Nrece Dede Bardheci (Marmull)
• Mark Gjin Markou (Marmul)
• George Mark Nikolle Rrasi (Marmull)
• Uke Nreche Marku (Marmul)
• Nikolle Nrece Marku (Marmull)
• Prenke Palok Lleshi (Marmull)
• Hill Nikola Deda (Marmul)
• Nue Prenke Nikola (Marmul)
• Zef Nue Prenke Nikola (Marmull)
• Peter Lesz Now (Marmul)
• Nrexhe Mark Sherry (Marmul)
• Mark Pren Nretsa (Berdosane)
• Pren Bibe Pren Karaki (Berdosane)
• Bibe Pren Biba (Berdosane)
• Гјоке Прен Бибе Караки (Бердосане)
• Grandpa Yak Nrece Kola (Marmull)
• Zef Pashk Mark Nou (Troshan), infant
• Paschke Gjon Prenk Kola, a child from Ujzij.

These individuals were victims of violence during this period.

The passage describes the tragic events of Easter 1941, when a large number of Albanians, especially Catholics, were brutally murdered in various villages around Gjakova. The narrator, Peter Domdjoni, recounts the horrors he witnessed during those days.

During these three days of Easter in 1941, all Catholics in the Gjakova district experienced immense suffering, as they were exposed to violence, bloodshed and tears. Pjeter’s mother, who was only 13 years old at the time, shared her harrowing memories. A man named Petki forcibly removed the crucifix from her chest, demanding to know where the men were. She began to cry in fear, and Petki, raising his voice even louder, threatened to kill her. Another soldier arrived and ordered Petki to remove the crucifix, telling him not to hurt the child. However, the soldiers, along with others, captured Pjeter’s father and 15 other men, including the father with his sixteen-year-old son. They took them to the Kabashi Bridge, lined them up and killed first the sixteen-year-old boy, and then the others. The bodies were left there, and the women from Markadzhini were buried in the Codernež cemetery.

Other men, along with their wives, children and livestock, tried to escape and find refuge with Muslim neighbours, who were their blood brothers. These massacres, carried out with firearms, took place in the village of Marmul on Easter, 15 April 1941. In the village of Bistajin, according to archival records, a group of men, but according to the locals, many more, were taken to the Rugova Mosque. First they were forced to pray, and then they were bayoneted and dismembered. Another group was similarly taken to the Rugova Mosque, forced to pray, and then shot with a hail of bullets. Of this group, Marko Čupi survived and returned to his birthplace, Bistajin.

These mass killings and massacres took place on Good Friday, 13 April 1941, in various villages, including NOUN, ĐONI, TUNĆA, NICOLE, MUSE and PALUSHI. All the sons of GINO KOLE LASQUA from the village of Smac, along with other men from the family, were killed on Good Saturday, 14 April 1941. There were reports that a pregnant woman in the family later gave birth to a son, essentially reviving the family. In the village of Ujze, after killing all the members of the family of Gjon Prenke Kola, they also killed PAŠKA, a six-day-old baby. Similarly, in the village of Pjetrašan, after killing all the members of the communist family of Pask Mark Ndou, they killed ZEFIJA, a one-day-old baby. Massacres and murders also occurred in other villages, including Kusar, Dol, Fshaje, Kushavec, Race, Brdoasane, Trrava, Moglice, Dujake, and others.

The reason for these killings and massacres during those three Easter days was that the communist forces from Gjakova wanted to drive us off the face of the earth. That was the reason. I don’t know any other reason. When I returned to my home from the war, I found three men killed by the communists from Gjakova. My questions were answered by an elderly 96-year-old man, Toma from the village of Marmul.

We remember these murders so that we never forget faithful and true people like Hilje and Nikola Deda, as well as dozens and dozens of other Albanian believers who were killed and massacred by the Đakovo communists during those Bloody Easters, simply because they were Albanian Catholic believers. As a sign of respect and honor to these martyrs of faith and nation, may their memory be eternal.

It is unfortunate that no one has ever written about these mass murders and massacres organized by the Đakovo communists in collaboration with the Serbian Chetniks against the Catholic believers of that region. However, it is wonderful that the Muslim Albanian believers came to the aid of their compatriots of another faith, the Christians, and saved them from imminent danger. The Đakovo communists may have aimed to sow hatred between the two faiths among the Albanians, but their efforts were in vain.

During the recent war in Kosovo, the inhabitants of Gedža, Radosta and other villages along the Drin River, together with their men, women and children, crossed the Drin River and sought refuge in the village of Marmul. In Marmul, there are families and homes that provided shelter and food to their Muslim Albanian brothers and sisters, sometimes numbering up to sixty people, even for days on end, until the Serbian Chetniks forced them to leave.

The Drin River separated or united the Catholic Albanian believers with the Muslim Albanian believers from the aforementioned villages, and while the fields in certain areas were divided, it is never remembered that any incident, no matter how minor, ever occurred between these inhabitants, let alone any fighting among these inhabitants.

Source:  Martyrdom of the Catholic Shqiptare and the Community of Kishtar and Bishtazhinit and Gjakovës – Vatican News

“Ujzit te Hasit” or “Ujzit Massacre” of 1913 – Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers burn Albanian women and children alive

Written by Besim Muhadri and Nekhat Cocaj.

Ujzit te Hasit or Ujz massacre  (Alb: Masakra e Ujzit te Hasit).

In November 1913, the Serbian army in Ujza near Hasi killed and burned 72 Albanians, members of the family of the patriot Avdil Zeća, a participant in the Albanian League of Prizren. Among those massacred and burned were ten children and infants in cradles and the same number of women. This was one of the most horrific massacres of the time, which was also written about in the press of the time.

On November 28, 1912, the independence of Albania was proclaimed, in the meantime, a large part of the Albanian lands remained under foreign occupation, namely neighboring countries, which continued to terrorize the undefended and forgotten Albanian population. The year 1913 also marks the establishment of borders, which was met with great dissatisfaction by the Albanian population, due to the further fragmentation of Albanian villages and the division of the population into many parts.

The annexation of the areas inhabited by the Albanian majority (which remained outside the administrative borders of Albania), sanctioned by the Conference of Ambassadors in London, was accompanied by the establishment of a brutal, repressive and criminal Serbian regime. At this time, in Kosovo, Serbian and Montenegrin terror was unbearable, due to Serbia’s dissatisfaction with the decisions of the London Conference for the failure to realize its hegemonic appetites, and the failure to fulfill the old dream of seizing privileged parts from it and securing a corridor for access to the sea, arbitrarily establishing a “strategic border”, which ran along the Drim valley.

During this time, especially during the summer months of 1913, there were many persecutions and murders of the Albanian population. During this time, executions of Albanians were carried out without any trials, while the resistance of Albanians continued by Kachak groups in many parts of Kosovo, where preparations were made for a major uprising against the Serbian military-police regime, which massacred and terrorized the vulnerable Albanian population.

Meanwhile, in late August and early September of that year (1913), the Albanian National Movement, led by Isa Boletini, Bajram Curii, Elez Isufi, Qazim Lika, Sadik Rama, etc., was making final preparations to launch an armed uprising. The Serbian government, meanwhile, when the uprising broke out, officially declared that it would suppress these uprisings by any means, even using unprecedented methods.

When the Ujzit Hasit massacre (Alb. Ujzit te Hasit) took place, 72 Albanians from the Gashi family from Ujzi were killed and burned alive, as documented by the press of the time. Thus, the researcher Xheladin Shala, in his book “Albanian-Serbian Relations 1912-1918”, citing the Belgrade newspaper “Politika” from 3 and 16 November 1913, writes, among other things, that in a house near Đakovica, the army massacred 72 people and burned them.

While another researcher, Šaban Braha, in the book “Serbian Genocide and Albanian Resistance (1844-1990)”, published in 1991 in Tirana, based on reports from consuls of the great powers sent from Prizren-Vienna, 18.09.1913. and from Shkodra-Paris, 21.09.1913., among other things, says that 35 members of one family died in Ujz.

The same author, in the same book, referring to the data of the newspaper “Përlindja Albanian” No. 14 from 1913, says that “In Ujz, near the Drina, 32 people were imprisoned and burned in one house”. These data are sufficient facts to learn the truth about this terrible event, of genocidal and criminal proportions against humanity in general and the Albanian people in particular, which was committed by the Serbian army 91 years ago.

The dates of this event recorded by the aforementioned scholars, and mentioned in the annals of newspapers of the time, seem to coincide with the testimony of an eyewitness, the elder Ćufa Sadik Gashi from Ujzij (1903–1997), who eleven years ago, at our request, agreed to tell how the event occurred, what he saw and experienced as a child, as well as his close family who managed to escape.

Kufe Gashi, who was a ten-year-old child at the time, not only remembered well what he saw, but also spoke in a certain way about the circumstances and the cause of it. Those who were massacred were not only neighbors, but also people from the tribe, of blood and flesh, as he put it at the time. Now that we are republishing this (because part of the text was published eleven years ago in the local magazine “Etja te Hasit”), the witness Kufe Sadiku is no longer with us, but his authentic words and confessions remain.

The murder of two gendarmes or an excuse for committing a crime

At a time when Albanian uprisings against brutal Serbian violence broke out in many parts of Kosovo, the Serbian regime took all measures to suppress them. Thus, many gendarmerie and military stations were built during that period, which were also turned into graves for undefended Albanians. Such a Serbian gendarmerie station was also established in Fšaj near Has.

“It was the autumn of 1913, during the corn harvest, which means the time between September and November. At that time, Serbian gendarmes in a house in the village of Fšaj were investigating two Albanian criminals. There were three gendarmes in the gendarmerie station, while one of them went to seek reinforcements in pursuit of the criminals, while the other two surrounded the house where the criminals were. But in the meantime, someone from the house informed the Kačaks that they were surrounded by gendarmes. Then he raised his rifle, where both gendarmes were killed. Among the dead was the chief’s secretary (secretary).”

This is how Cufe Sadik Gashi from Ujzi and Has told about the beginning of that event, which would have serious consequences for his family and wider relatives. Cufe was no more than nine years old at the time. “When reinforcements arrived,” he continues the story, “the Kacaci had already fled, while the gendarmerie, seeing their comrades dead, terrified and full of cruelty and madness, called the commander of the gendarmerie in Fshaj, Tome Markou (always according to Cufe Gashi’s confessions).”

On that occasion, they decided to burn Tun Četa’s house, where the Kačacs had taken refuge. The decision was made and, as a sign of revenge, they burned Tun’s house, and with it Tun himself, along with his wife. They burned them alive. The revenge continued. After the burning of Tun’s house, Tun himself, and his wife, reinforcements of the gendarmerie forces constantly arrived and increased.

In addition to the gendarmerie, the Serbian army has now joined the action. In the evening, they learned from Fšaj about the town of Ujzi, where they suspected that the Kačacs, who had killed two gendarmerie officers, might have taken refuge.

After burning Tun Ceta with all the women, the Serbs travel to Gashi’s towers in Ujzi.

In Ujz at that time, the families and towers of the Albanian Gashi were in fashion, who were known for their patriotism and courage, as well as for their generosity, hospitality and wealth. In the towers of Avdil Zeka, Ali Tafa, Jusuf Selman and Daut Sadik, all of whom belonged to the Gashi tribe, the Albanian rebels had their dormitories. All this patriotism and this incomparable generosity were not accidental. They had their roots much earlier.

The eldest of this family, Avdil Zeka (Gashi), was not only a participant in the Albanian League of Prizren, but together with Dervish Salihu from Lugište, he was also the organizer of the Assembly of the League. As a man with a school education (he graduated from a madrasa), Avdil Zeka was also an organizer and participant in the Kachak movement of that time. His closest friends, by the way, were Sulejman Vokshi, Bajram Curi, Šaban Manžoli, Azem Bejta, etc., who found in Avdili and his family a solid home and strong support for organizing uprisings and for developing wars against the invading Serbian hordes, which at that time were unleashing the Albanian population.

“Before the Serbian and Montenegrin army and gendarmerie arrived in Ujz,” said the old man Cufe Sadiku, “Hazir Makoli, who was a policeman at the time, came to our house and told my grandfather, Dauti, to remove the families from the house, because, he told his grandfather, they intend to call you the Cleaner. After this warning, my grandfather went out and told Avdil Zeka to take all measures and remove the families from the house, but Avdil, being the man with fiery feelings that he was, did not agree to such a thing.”

“A job that cannot be done,” he said, also saying that anyone who tries to do such a thing, or who leaves the house, has no place here. I remember what the old man of Kufa, Sadik Gashi, said today, when his grandfather came and told us to leave the house and go to the mountains with the whole family, since he had failed to convince Avdil to do such a thing.

“We took with us what we could take. Halil Sadik’s family went with us to the mountains, but on the way, Halil’s son, Bajram, was told by his wife that he had forgotten his ducats (jewelry) and he returned to get them. In the meantime, the Serbian-Montenegrin army and gendarmerie entered Ujz and caught him leaving his house and immediately killed him at the door.”

Serbian-Montenegrin troops barricaded women and children and burned them alive.

According to the confessions of Cufe Sadik, the families who left without fleeing were surrounded by Serbian-Montenegrin soldiers, initially allegedly to control them, because they suspected that the communists who had killed the gendarmes were there.

First, they told Avdil Zeka to take all his relatives out of the house into the yard (45 in total), and then to place them in Avdirahim Halil’s house, which was built of boards. In the meantime, Serbian soldiers and gendarmes brought 14 members of Ali Tafa’s family, 12 members of Jusuf Selmani’s family, and two guests from Patačani, who were there, to that house. A total of 73 people.

The gendarmerie and Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers searched for the fugitives, but since they could not find them, they separated only Avdili, to whom they said: “We will leave you and the ducats you have alive, otherwise we will skin you and your entire family alive.” In the meantime, old man Avdili, hoping that the cats, after receiving the ducats, would go back to where they came from, decided to give them some of the ducats he had.

However, the Serbian war criminals and terrorists did not stop there. After taking the ducats from Avdili, they ordered him to enter the wooden house, where the other 72 members of three families were. As soon as Avdili entered, the criminals closed the door of the house and began shooting at the people locked inside, among whom were ten children in cradles and many women.

After a while, the guns stopped, which we, who were on the mountain above the village, could hear very well. There were also many children and women with us, including myself, who watched the event with sadness. The criminals, after stopping the guns, began to cut down the oak trees that we had cut down for the cattle, with which they surrounded the house, and then set it on fire.

The flames kept coming and growing between the Gashi towers. At first we only saw the flames, but it wasn’t long before we started hearing the screams of people being burned alive inside. That they were all our people of flesh and blood. There, in that flame, which kept coming and growing, I also had many peers, with whom we were born and grew up together. “They were screaming, they were dying painfully, oh my god,” admitted Uncle Ćufa, whose eyes were full of sadness, remembering that distant day.

According to the confessions of the elder Ćufe Sadik Gashi, Binak Avdili (Avdili’s son and Etem Tafa, Ali’s brother) managed to escape when the fire broke out. But they were also injured. Binak died after only a few days, while Etemi after two or three years. As Ćufe Sadik Gashi told it, Etemi, who managed to survive for another three years, saw people burning and how he saw a Montenegrin soldier pulling a child out of the fire, but on orders from his superiors that if he did something like that (that is, if he did not allow the child to burn), he would be burned instead of the child, so he threw him back into the fire. According to Ćufe, this child was called Uke and was the same age as his.

Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers burned alive the children and women  of the Avdil Zeća family.

And so, on that autumn day in 1913, Serbian and Montenegrin criminals killed, and even burned alive, 45 members of Avdil Zeka’s family, of whom only two survived, Smajli, Avdil’s son, who was not at home, and his wife Shaha, who was at home in Ramok. Then 13 members of Ali Tafa’s family were killed and burned, and then the fourteenth, Etemi, also died of his wounds.

From the family of Jusuf Selman, all twelve were burned, not one remained. Not even from Avdil’s family would anyone have remained, if Smajli’s wife, Shaha, had not been shot in the groin, who was also pregnant and only three months later gave birth to a son, who was baptized with the name of the first in the family. , Avdilit. which today has 60 members. The gendarmes will kill Smajli upon his return to Kosovo, with the sole aim of losing traces of this crime and extinguishing the family of the patriot Avdil Zeća.

Serbian and Montenegrin war criminals stole animals and livestock

After committing the barbaric and inhumane act of massacre and burning of 72 Albanians, the Serbian and Montenegrin criminal army and gendarmerie completely burned down the Gashi towers, taking with them 1,500 sheep, about 100 cows and some horses and selling them at the market. Before burning the towers, the Serbs looted everything that was worth looting.

Only the tower of Daut Sadik remained unburned, also Gashi’s. “They left it with the intention of turning against us and killing us alive inside,” said the elder of Cufe Sadik Gashi. But we, knowing the insidious intention of the criminals, did not return home for almost two years, during which time we stayed in Albania. When the Serbs saw that we had no intention of returning, they burned our tower as well, so by burning our tower, the entire homeland of the Gashans from Ujzij was razed to the ground, said the elder of Cufe.

Two years after the Serbian and Montenegrin army and gendarmerie burned 72 members of the Gashi family from Ujzij and all their property, the military-police authorities declared the victims innocent by decree. But even after all this time, Daut Sadik Gashi, who was in Albania with his family, did not believe that he would return to his country, because what happened two years ago was difficult to forget and he feared that the Serbs would do the same to him.

But, finally, he decided to return to Uyz, a troll reduced to ashes and ashes, where for two years in a row no man dared to set foot. There were signs of slaughter, almost frenzied. There were burned and charred memories. Flames, smoke, the smell of burning human flesh and the screams of people in its bowels as they burned alive. “It was hard for us to return,” Kufe admitted, remembering the moment of return.

He was now twelve years old. Now he missed all his childhood friends, he also missed Uka, whom the Serbian soldier wanted to save, but, under pressure from his superiors, threw into the fire again. “The day of our return was the saddest day in my life,” said the old man of Cufe Sadik Gashi. He began to cry.

In the place where Avdirahim Gashi’s house stood two years ago, there were traces of crime, traces of death and barbarity. There, instead of a house, was a pile of bones of my people, which looked as if someone had carefully stacked them one on top of the other. But the worst thing was that many of the bones were missing, scattered all over the mountain by wild animals. Many of them we found far from the scene of the crime.

I remember like it was today when Grandpa Daut, Father Sadiku, Grandma and we children spent the whole day searching and collecting the remains of our people who were scattered in many places. And after we had collected what we could find, at the place where they were burned, Grandpa opened a large pit in the shape of a grave and with tears in his eyes he began to fold them one by one.

We covered them together in this way to preserve the memory and the painful history that happened then, so that one day someone would remember that a massacre took place here, a crime committed by a foreign army against a vulnerable and almost parentless people. This is the story of the Gashi tribe from Ujza, which happened eighty years ago, said Cufe Sadik Gashi, a direct witness to that event, which was later followed by many others like it, eleven years ago.

“This is the story of that tragic event, as far as I remember, Cufe Sadik Gashi, born a hundred years ago,” said the old man, alluding to all those experiences and sufferings he carried on his ninety-year-old back. “Maybe I forgot something, but forgive me for saying that I am old and tired. But know that what happened here was no accident.”

“Skije” (Slavs) never do it out of spite, because they have everything written down, and I bet such things can happen again, so be careful, said the old man in 1993, five years before the war in Kosovo began. Horrific events like the one in 1913 are happening, which he himself saw and experienced. But what the old man Cufa said and what he feared might happen, he did not manage to repeat, because just a year before the war for the liberation of these countries began, by those who committed all these massacres and crimes and are committing them, he left this world and went to meet the people of his blood and womb, whose cries he felt and saw when they were being killed and burned alive.

Reference

https://www.zemraskiptare.net/news/16370/besim-muhadri-nexhat-cocaj-masakra-e-ujzit-e-vitit-1913-šprehje-e-cmendurise-hegjemonizmit-dhe-antiskiptarizmit-te-pustuesve-serbo-malazez.html

History of Albanians from Pešter, Sandžak and Serbian crimes (1875-1945)

Translated and edited by Petrit Latifi. Written by Ali N. Daci.

Albanian history owes a lot to this patriot and his homeland, as it owes a lot to many of his comrades, the brave men of Sandzak who refused to accept slavery until death. The Albanian people must replace the blood of young patriots for the freedom of the nation and people like Šaban Poluža, Mehmet Gradica, Azem e Bejte and Shota Galica, as well as the blood and national labor of patriots like Feriz Saluk, Isuf Mehović, Mehmet Kalići, Mehmet Spahi, Nexib and Ferhat Draga, Galan Keršići, Acif Blita, Ahmet Daci, Zaim Smail Huka, Murat Lotina and many other patriots who did not spare their lives for freedom and national unity, etc.

The life of Feriz Salku

Feriz Salku is known as the leader of the Sandžak Kačaks during the creation of the Kingdom of the Serbian Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Born in Crniš near Tutin in 1875, he grew up in a bloody period of our history. Due to the terror that the Serbian gendarmerie of Kosta Pećanc applied to the Albanian population in the vicinity of Tutin and Rožaj, Feriz organized Kačak detachments in order to take control of his birthplace and homeland. In 1922, we note mutual cooperation between the Sandžak Committee and the Kosovo Kačaks, where both sides had the same goal, the fight for liberation from the Serbian-Montenegrin occupiers.

Serbian-Montenegrin criminals Kosta Pećanac and General Tomic and their atrocities

In 1923, Kosta Pećanac, under the directive of Nikola Pašić and General Tomić, came to the Tutina district. His arrival was malicious, the destruction of Feriz Salku and his detachment, which numbered 70 selected people from this region, was sought. Hearing about the arrival of Serbian forces, Feriz joined his friends, who happened to leave only the road leading to the village where the main committee, Kosta, was located.

As soon as Kosta arrived in Crniš with his Chetniks, Feriz Salku came out to him and said: “What good has brought you here today? If you came for fear, you will be sent away, but if there is not a grain of sheep missing, or if there is not a hair on my head missing in the ranks of my friends, none of you will dare to leave Crniš.” Kosta smiled shyly at Feriz, not believing that anyone could threaten him.

While the latter, to show the main Chetnik that he was serious, raised his hand in one direction, when suddenly a rifle cracked, and Feriz, Kosta Pećanci pointed to the four corners of the world with the shooting of rifles coming from ambushes all around. The Albanian Martins convinced the Serb that he was completely surrounded. Kosta Pećanac wagged his tail at this point and returned to Tutin in shame.

Serbian massacres of the Rizvanaj family in 1919

These Chetnik forces had previously, in 1919, in the Ribarić district, killed and massacred 28 members of the Rizvanaj family, including five girls and a woman. Chetnik forces had also killed the three Džekaj brothers in Mojstir near the village of Feriz. In order to take revenge, Feriz Salu organized an attack on the Chetnik forces stationed in Ribarić in 1923.

In the unexpected and well-organized attack, over 200 Chetniks lost their lives. Feriz Salku was known among the people as a loyal and brave fighter. Under his command were the Mokra, Hum, Hajla mountains and the Ribarić valley, known as the gate of the Sandžak. The Chetniks said about Feriz that he could not be hit by an ordinary bullet, but that a golden one had to be found, alluding to betrayal, since he had broken through Chetnik sieges many times without even being wounded.

The government of the Serbian Communist Party declared Feriz Salku, Bajram Curij and Isuf Mehin the most dangerous persons for the kingdom. World War II caught this patriot in his late years. Feriz never got rid of Serbian spies, but he never surrendered to the enemy. Taking refuge with relatives and friends, he escaped from Serbian prisons, but he could not escape the insidious murderous hand.

Since the Serbian gendarmerie followed him at every step, Feriz, together with his wife and children, took refuge in Albania. He settled in the city of Fier. The Serbian gendarmerie paid the traitor Abdirahim Brunčević from Melaja e Bihor to liquidate the patriot from Tutin. After the traitor found him in 1943, in an ambush, near his house in Fier, Feriz Saljku was killed.

His death was painful for his comrades and ideals. Even after his death, his sons Ismeti, Kadriya and Esadi were followed by the Yugoslav UDB and emigrated to Albania, and from there they were followed by the communists of Enver Hoxha, as sons of anti-communists and emigrated to Australia where they still live today. With the fall of the dictatorship in Albania and the establishment of democracy in 1996, Ismeti returned to Albania.

Albanian history owes much to this patriot and homeland, just as it owes much to his comrades, the brave men of Sandzak who refused to accept slavery until death.

Murat Lotina, martyr of ethnic Albania

Murat Lotina was born in 1891 in the village of Kruševo, to father Hasani and mother Hata. The Lotina family was respected for their generosity and patriotism in the Sandžak and beyond. Seeing that the Serbian forces had not intimidated the Lotinas, they had long targeted the hearth of this tribe. The government that emerged from the partisan war declared him an enemy of the people and the entire partisan unit rebelled against him.

In a hand-to-hand battle with partisan forces in May 1946 in Turjak, Rožaja, commander and patriot Murat Lotina heroically fell on the field of honor. The fight to protect Albanian lands from Chetnik forces was one of the vital tasks of many Albanian patriots of the Sandžak on the eve of and after World War II.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the military forces of Austria-Hungary briefly occupied Serbia and Montenegro. The Albanians, having been brutally ruled by the Serbs and Montenegrins, welcomed these forces in Pazar and Rijeka on November 20, 1915, as a liberating force after they had grown tired of the rule and occupation of Serbia and Montenegro.

This Slavic government, which only in the bloody period of 1913-1914. implemented genocide and an exodus unprecedented until then against the Albanians of the Sandžak. Being unprotected at that time, the Albanians experienced the fate of small peoples who fought at the expense of great powers such as the Austro-Hungarian forces. After six years of service in the Turkish army (1916-1921) Murat Lotina returned to his homeland with a group of compatriots who had escaped the Turkish-English wars.

He found his birthplace, Kruševo i Pazari i Ri (Novi Pazar), in a miserable and devastated state due to the siege of the Chetnik forces, who had set themselves the task of thoroughly cleansing this part of the Sandžak of the indigenous Albanian population by killing and forcibly deporting them to Turkey and across the ocean. In 1939, we find Murat Lotina in Germany, where he went on a specific mission.

There he was supposed to buy weapons and arm his ideal friends. However, he was imprisoned there and spent a year in German trenches. He returned to Sandzak when the Chetnik forces were defeated by Albanian volunteer forces. When he arrived there, he took up a rifle to defend Albanian territorial integrity. Açif Blita immediately called him and entrusted him with the defense of a very large area, starting from the village of Lukar to the town of Tregovishte (Rožaje).

Upon receiving orders from the prefect of Pazar and Ri, Acif Blita, Murat Lotina mobilized volunteers to fight under the Albanian flag. Under his command, over 300 men from the Tutina district would line up with weapons in their hands and defend this region with dedication and dignity for four consecutive years.

Murat Lotina successfully led wars to liberate the Sandžak from the Chetnik hordes, such as the War of Maja e Zeza, the War of Gil, the Battle of Golija, and the Battle of Rogoz. Chetnik companies were stationed in the village of Maja e Zeza near the Rogozna and Golija mountains. These forces were led by Chetnik commanders such as Radomir Cvetić and Mašan Đurović.

Serb massacres in Berberishte where 70 Albanians were killed

The ultimatum that Cvetić sent to Murat Lotina referred to the serious preparations of these forces for a well-prepared attack, which expressed the Chetnik anger over the murders and looting of villages and areas where Murat Lotina commanded and which covered a large area from Ribarić to Tregovište, that is, on both sides of the Ibar River. In the sudden attacks of the Chetnik forces, the villages of Berberište, Trnava, Kalini and many other villages were severely damaged, where over seventy people died, while in the village of Lokva e Ujkut the Chetniks nailed and massacred the body of a minor Albanian who was no more than sixteen years old and left him nailed like that for several days in a row.

Albanian volunteers, having seen the horror and genocide with their own eyes, organized themselves to defend the city of Tutin. Chetnik threats were increasing. Murat Lotina at this time went to Pazar and Ri and asked for help from Acif Blita, help with weapons and ammunition, and especially asked for a cannon of the largest caliber that the Albanian army had at that time.

Acif Blita will fulfill Lotina’s request and begin a larger collection of shells that he had on the front line. Murat Lotina organizes a retreat to 16 fenced points to Kruševo. Under his command, a cannon was placed on the top of Dubla, which was as high as a mountain opposite Maja e Zeza, where the Chetnik forces headquarters were located.

The cannon, which, on Murat’s command, fired towards this point and successfully hit the Chetnik targets set there several times. On this occasion, it inflicted significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower. After three hours of continuous attack, Murat Lotina conquered Maja e Zeza and took a certain number of Chetniks alive. In order to free the war hostages, Todor Dobrići gave up the occupation of over 70 villages in the Tutina district. Murat released the hostages and the ceasefire was respected for a short time. In the battle to defend Kruševo, Murat was seriously wounded.

After the capitulation of German forces in several European countries, partisan units in the Sandžak launched successful offensives. Murat did not agree with the idea of ​​Slavic communism and returned the rifle to this army. This man never agreed to the rule of foreigners, so in addition to the wars waged against the Serbian-Montenegrin Chetniks, he never stopped firing his rifle against the partisans, against whom he fought two wars, one in the village of Hazan near Berane towards the end of 1943, and the war of September 30, 1944, which took place on Mount Jaruta near Tutin.

However, the battles fought near Berane and on Mount Jaruta near Tutin also proved the patriotism and love of country. Being poorly armed and without ammunition, the Albanian volunteer forces were defeated by partisan units and forced to retreat. Thus, at the end of October 1944, Peshteri fell into the hands of the partisans and was occupied by the 7th Montenegrin Brigade.

Murat Lotina organized another attack on the partisan units in the village of Gurdiel at the end of October 1944, inflicting significant losses on them, but failing to completely defeat them. Of all the commanders in this area, he never surrendered his weapons to the partisans. He took refuge in the dense mountains of Tutina and Tregovište (Rožaje) for two years.

The government that emerged from the partisan war declared him an enemy of the people and the entire partisan unit rose to search for him. In an unequal battle, one against one hundred and fifty, face to face with partisan forces in May 1946 in Turjak, Rožaja, the Albanian commander and patriot Murat Lotina heroically fell on the field of honor. There were many such warriors and patriots in the Pećinska Ravnica Plain. It seems that Albanian history has forgotten them and they are not remembered as they should be. Now is the time for these brave men to be rehabilitated by the nation to which they belong. We must in no way forget their blood, let their name and work be extinguished.

Reference

FUSHA E PESHTERIT (III) GJURMEVE AND ITS HISTORY AND HARRUAR

https://kosovapersanxhakun.org/fusha-e-peshterit-iii-gjurmeve-te-nje-historie-te-harruar/embed/#?secret=7ZJCHUKlcY#?secret=o6NtXKAfeR

Serbian violence, murders and massacres in the village of Rubok near Dardana (1878-1915)

Author: Halit S. Maliki. Translated by Petrit Latif.

After 1878, several Albanian immigrant families settled in the Serbian-populated village of Rubok in Dardana, who had been forcibly expelled from their ancestral homes by the Serbs, such as the Vlachs, Gajtans, Kopras, Retkocers, and Lazanis. But here too, the same fate befell them: violence, murders, and massacres.

Serbian crimes committed by Stojan Silkić against Albanians from Ruboc and Busavata during the Serbian retreat in 1915

In the autumn of 1915, from Ruboc to Busavata, the front between the retreating Serbian army and the attacking Bulgarian army lasted for more than three weeks. This difficult situation was exploited by several Serbian gangs to rob, kill and massacre the families of immigrants from Ruboc.
A gang of Serbian criminals, led by the duke of Domaroc, Stojan Silkić, and several Serbs from Dardana and Rboca, surrounded Albanian families with the aim of robbing, torturing and killing innocent people.

First they surrounded the Vlas family. On the steps of the house, criminal Stojan Silkići shot and killed Zika, Alija Vlasa’s mother, after she recognized him and mentioned his name. Then they tied up the men from the house: Alija Vlasa, Rasna Vlasa, Zimer Vlasa and two emigrant guests from Dobronjanci. They were all stabbed and buried with their clothes in a hole near a stream in a meadow, about 30-40 meters from the houses.

Crimes against the Retkovčeri and Gaitani families

Another group of criminals surrounded the Retkoceri and Gaitani families, tying up the men: Avdil Gaitani, Zenel Retkoceri and two guests from Koretin, whom they killed and buried in a hole about 20 meters from the house of the sons of the current Avdil Gaitani. From the house of Sliha Vlasa, they took and tied up the brothers: Šaban Vlasa and Fetih Vlasa. They also slaughtered them and put them in the same hole with the others.

A total of 12 people were slaughtered and massacred, and some claim there were 16. A great crime and massacre against humanity was committed. Their only crime was that they were Albanians and that they escaped alive when they were expelled from their ancestral homes in 1878!

In early December 1944, Serbian paramilitary forces and local Serbs from Ruboc surrounded the Retkoceri house. At that moment, the brothers Zeća and Metuši offered resistance with weapons. Trying to break through the siege, Zeća Retkoceri was killed near the house, while his brother Metuši was seriously wounded. He was sent alive to Dardana. They say that he was massacred and that his grave is unknown.

Serbian massacres of 1944

In December 1944, a Serbian partisan brigade surrounded the Lazani neighborhood. They killed Hajr Lazana and Malik Lazana, who disappeared without a trace.

On the occasion of the massacre in Gnjilane, on December 23, 1944, Zenel Rashit Vlasa, over 70 years old, and his son Abdula Vlasa, who had been displaced from Ruboc in Gnjilane, were also killed in their yard. Since they could not be buried in the city cemetery, they were buried in the yard of their house. The reburial took place later.

The Serbian killings of Albanians in this village have not stopped until our time. In February 2001, local Serbs organized another massacre. They deceived Raif Ahmet Vlasa with deceit and flattery, took him to the house of Nesik Momcilo, who they massacred at night, and buried the massacred corpse in the area of ​​Ćafa e Dardanes, with the message: we will do this to all Albanians!

There are claims that Raif was chosen because he was the brother of former socio-political official Azem Vlasi, as well as because his son, Nasser, was among the most prominent fighters of the Kosar War on April 9, 1999, who suffered several wounds from enemy bullets in this war.

P.S. – one clarification:

Famous Kačacs: Vesel Kosovica and Ajet Ahmet Blaca, after killing the famous duke Rede Populani in 1923, ambushed and killed the great criminal of the Domoroccans, duke Stojan Šiklić, the organizer of the Ruboc massacre. Dul Vlasa and Bajruš Vlasa were sentenced to 14 years in prison by a communist court in 1945, on the grounds that in October 1944 they had killed two elderly Serbs from Dardana, participants in the Ruboc massacre in 1915.

Reference

https://www.zemrashkiptare.net/news/8398/halit-s-maliqi-dhuna-vrasjet-dhe-masakrat-serbe-ne-fshatin-ruboc-dardane.html?keyword=masakra

Pesocani – the Albanian village that suffered the worst Serbian massacres

Pesocani is a village that experienced the most brutal ethnic cleansing of Albanians by the Serbian invaders, a massacre that cleansed this place of the Albanian element. Today, this village is inhabited only by Macedonians and as a testament to the change that occurred almost 100 years ago, a large cross was erected at this place, showing that the mission was successfully completed.

While all the Albanian inhabitants who survived the three massacres in Pesocan now live scattered throughout the villages and the city of Struga, the inhabited village of Pesocan, the capital of the Albanians until November 1920, is located in the Debrece region, on the western side of the Debrece municipality, on the left side of the Oher-Kirchovo highway, 23 km from the city of Struga, and near the upper reaches of the Sateska River [1].

Klirim Dervishi, a historian from Strugan who has studied the genocide against the Albanians of Pesochani, points out that the massacres in this village began immediately after the Serbian invasion of 1912 and the anti-Serbian uprising of 1913, while the decisive coup that finally cleared this place of Albanians was the one from 1920.

“The first massacre in the village of Pesočan took place around November 23, 1912, after the occupation of this area by the Serbian army without any justifiable reason. In the presence of family members and villagers, in the middle of the village, very close to the mosque, dozens of residents were massacred, including the brothers Tefik and Avdi Sherifi, who were executed and then thrown into the “chingel”, as well as their followers: Pašon, Kaplanin, Musana and Hajredinin. All of them were adults.”

The anti-Serbian uprising of September 1913 was not only an expression of the resistance of the Albanian population against the brutal repressive policy of the new conquerors, but also evidence of mass opposition to the decisions of the Great Powers, which gave these provinces to Serbia, contrary to the ethnic principle. The inhabitants of the village of Pesočan also participated in this uprising.

This fact served as an excuse for the main criminal Duka Pesočani (he was from Godivlje, but was then called Pesočani), accompanied by the Serbian gendarmerie and the special territorial forces “Black Hand” and “People’s Defense”, on October 11, 1913, on the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, in the early morning hours, while the men were performing Eid al-Fitr prayers, to surround the village mosque. After they were driven out of the mosque, 74 men tied them up and arrested them, along with the village imam, who sent them further away from the village, about 2 km, to the region between the villages of Belčište and Zlesta.

Until the place of execution, according to testimonies collected from the memories of the oldest, the arrested were tortured with bayonets all the time[1], emphasizes Dervishi. However, the final cleansing of the people of Pesoch by the Albanian Serbs was carried out on November 11, 1920, when more than 150 houses were burned and destroyed, where everyone who found themselves there was killed, men, women, children and the elderly, all of whom were killed by the Serbian gendarmerie.[1]

Historian Dervishi specifies that, after arresting and torturing the villagers, and stabbing them one by one with bayonets, they threw 94 people (2 women, 2 children, and 90 men) into a well. [1] Dervishi states that Peter Čaulevi [1] provides a more accurate account of the crimes in Pešočan, writing, among other things:

“…The Albanian people have been reacting wonderfully to their enemies and occupiers in the last ten years. They have made so many sacrifices that even the worst executioners during the darkest times did not act in this way. Not only were villages emptied, but entire regions were also emptied, children and women were slaughtered, cruel acts such as the civilized world has rarely seen.” He then continues:
 “I wanted Prof. Rais, the representative of Switzerland, to take the trouble to visit Kosovo and Macedonia and see the importance of the man from Šumadija and the power of Nikola Pašić, whom he blindly serves as a man of science, as a son of Switzerland who has fought for centuries like us, to try to go to the municipality of Slatina in the Ohrid district.”

There I call the mayor of the municipality or someone from the district prefecture to show him where the village of Pesočan is located… After I find it, I will see that the village, which had 175 houses, has been destroyed, while the men, women and children of this village have simply been slaughtered to the last person by the Serbian army during one night in 1920. The skulls of the inhabitants of this village, and of course newborns, can be found in a deep well located in the center of the village…

So, according to previous research, it turns out that, in the period 1912-1920, 203 men, women and children were killed in the village of Pesočan, while the ethnically pure Albanian village, after the last crime, was populated by the remnants of Slavic criminals from neighboring villages.

Serbian and Bulgarian massacres and crimes against Muslim civilians 1912-1913

In the book “BALKAN SAVASLARI’NDAKI MEZALIMLER”, authored by Gyula Mesáros, written in 2020, we can find various documents and reports about Serbian and Bulgarian atrocities and war crimes against Muslim civilians in the villages of Kostara, Stojran, Dojran, Kavadarci, Karšut, Osmica, Radovini Rumelia, Royden, Tikveš, Beknishta, Kavadar, Sitne, Kosani, Bitola, Ser, Sultan Yeri, Egri Dere, Kirçaali, Kara Tepe and Koč Tepe

Quoted from the publication:

Bulgarian massacres

“The Bulgarian government guaranteed that their lives and property would be spared; they were ordered to return to their villages. Then, in groups of 3,000-5,000 people, they began to retreat from the cities. A group of 4,600 people, consisting exclusively of women and children, had reached only two kilometers from the city when Bulgarian soldiers and members of the committee attacked them and massacred every last person.”

Costa Rica

“They arrested another group near the village of Kostara, between Stojran and Dojran, and left each of them with only one shirt. Those who tried to escape were stabbed and bayonets to death. They brutally raped many women, a feat that no human conscience can accept.”

Kavadarci

“Accusing the Turks of plunder, the Bulgarians did nothing but plunder and destroy in Kavadarci for three days. They massacred those who tried to escape and burned the village.”

Karsut

In the village of Karsut, in the Avret Hisar district, people fled to a mosque and a barn. Bulgarian and Serbian soldiers burned both buildings and massacred those who fled.

The Bulgarian members of the committee destroyed property worth approximately 50,000,000 crowns and ruined the lives of more than 40,000 people.

“Bulgarian bands pursued them like hungry wolves, slaughtering them one by one along the way. 4,000 people in the second caravan and 3,000 fugitives in the third caravan suffered a similar fate. There was no one to deliver the news.”

Dojran (Dojran) in Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki)

After the occupation of this small town and its surroundings, mass killings also took place there. Bulgarian gangs held a blood trial and, within just two weeks, sentenced Muslims to death. They slaughtered many of them under brutal torture, using them as targets, raping girls and women before killing them. They extorted blood from the wealthy, but each of them was executed only after a ransom was paid.

Radovishta, Strumica and Osmanija

The most inhumane of all was the massacre of every last member of the escape caravan, consisting of women, small children, and the elderly (p. 29). When the Bulgarians decimated the male population of the surrounding villages, the survivors of Radovišta, Strumica, and Osmanija fled toward Dojran, hoping that at least there they would be protected and save their lives. They had already left behind their homelands, their homes, all their possessions, and the mutilated bodies of their men. Only their lives remained, nothing else that could be saved.

But Dojran offered no refuge to these homeless people; their terrified eyes saw only blood and smoke everywhere. The caravan, now hopeless, fled. The first group consisted of 4,600 people, only women, children and the elderly. They had just set out from the city.

The unburied corpses lying by the roadside were a sad witness to the extent of the Bulgarian plunder. Before they were massacred, many of them were stripped of their poor, tattered clothing. The population of the Turkish villages of the Dojran region was thus completely massacred.

These degraded lands, which stank of unburied corpses and were reduced to ruins, would later be inhabited by Bulgarian gangs with blood on their hands. For those who slaughtered the Turks could freely possess all this land. (p. 30) This is the state of the Bulgarian occupation of the land in the 20th century. (Officially)”

Thessaloniki

“The villages and small farms around Thessaloniki were the scene of unprecedented crimes. Bulgarian gangs in Macedonia constantly carried out a policy of racial extermination of the Muslim population, and continue to do so today. They captured the male population of the villages and imprisoned them in mosques. At night they took them to the mountains and massacred each one of them.”

Young Turkish girls were forced to marry Bulgarian young men. However, the Bulgarian government turned a blind eye to all this and allowed the Bulgarian people and gangs to continue their plunder.

Korkut

“(p. 28) In the Muslim village of Korkut, in the neighborhood called Avrat Hisari, they gathered all the men from 200 houses, locked them in a mosque, doused them with gasoline and burned them alive. They burned three elderly women in a similar manner. Such atrocities, unseen anywhere else in the world, are repeated daily in Rumelia, and the Bulgarian population carries out these acts with great demonstrations and celebrations.”

Royden

“(Letter from Osman Nuri, an official of the Rojden region)”

Sir, you want to expose the murders and atrocities committed by the enemy in occupying Rumelia, crimes that we have neither seen nor heard of in history. And you want to tell all this to the deaf ears of the cultural world.

Let me tell you what I saw in Tikveš. The reason for this is that the assassinations committed in Tikveš and the surrounding villages are no different from the crimes committed elsewhere.

Serbian massacres and war crimes

Serbian crimes in Tikveš

The Serbian army occupied Tikveš on October 23. Two hours before the Serbian army entered the city, Bulgarian comitadjis, resembling monsters used to scare children, burst into the streets carrying flags and shouting wildly “long live.” Serbian soldiers arrived shortly thereafter.

The commander immediately ordered the leading members of the Muslim community to gather in front of the town hall (p. 36) and demanded that the people surrender all their weapons within two hours. They acted in great haste to collect weapons. On the one hand, they collected the weapons of the Muslim population, and on the other hand, they immediately armed the Bulgarian population.

The reason for the hasty disarmament of the Muslim population was to deprive these poor people of all means of defense, and then to massacre them one by one. And so it was. When the last weapons were collected, the Bulgarians, joined by the Serbs, broke into the homes of the Muslims, stealing everything they found there: furniture, livestock, and grain. But the real destruction did not end there.

It was the evening of Eid al-Adha. Suddenly, the news spread like lightning that a Serbian soldier had been killed in the city. No one knew if it was true or just an excuse. Bulgarian militants, together with the Serbs, then ruthlessly unleashed bloodshed.

“They mercilessly massacred everyone they found on the streets: young and old, women and children. The snow of victims flowed like a stream through the streets. From the evening before Eid until the evening of the next day, gunfire could be heard from all sides.”

The murder of our neighbor, the court clerk Mehmed Ali, horrified us. They dragged this poor old man out of his house, took him to a small square, and shot him there. The streets echoed with heartbreaking cries of “Allah, Allah…” (p. 37). On the same day, at a different location, they shot another clerk in the head. It was Ali Efendi, a young man and the only son of his mother…

In our neighborhood alone, they killed twelve people for no apparent reason. Later I heard that a total of one hundred and eighty people were killed in Tikveš. Later I learned from others how many people were killed in the surrounding Muslim villages. Their number exceeds four hundred.

It is impossible to count the number of acts of tyranny and injustice committed against morality and chastity. I will mention only a few of them.

Serbian soldiers entered the house of Sadi Efendi, the head of the Trnovo region near Tikveš, under the pretext of searching for weapons. There they tied him up and, in front of him, raped his wife and two virgin daughters-in-law. Then they looted everything they found in the house.

A Serbian soldier climbs onto the balcony of a minaret to peer through binoculars looking for Muslim women.

“Serbian soldiers were no less degrading than others in their humiliation of Muslim women. Serbian officers would enter the house of a family who had moved here from Kosovo at night and commit similar crimes. During the day they would climb onto the balcony of the minaret, peer through binoculars into the courtyards and windows of neighboring houses, and if they saw a beautiful woman or girl, they would definitely enter that night.”

“It shone straight in the face. There was no mercy, no one could help. Screaming children huddled in fear next to their mothers. At least for that they have to live. There was no time for hesitation.”

The girls and young women, with their faces covered and sobbing, were then divided among the young men of the village. Each took home his spoils. (Official)

Kavadarci

The following incident interestingly confirms how the Bulgarian population massacred Muslims according to a complex plan:

(p. 42) It happened in the town of Kavadarci (near Tikveš) after the Serbian occupation. It was the evening of Eid al-Adha. A Serbian soldier was looking for straw for his horse and, unable to find it, several Bulgarians whispered to him where the young man could find it. They went to the house of a man named Husein in the Bala neighborhood and entered through the door. While they were looking for straw, one Bulgarian cut the soldier’s head in two with an axe, while another shot him with a pistol.

When the Serb was killed, the Bulgarians immediately ran into the streets and began shouting at the top of their voices: “Muslims are killing their own soldiers.” The Serbian commander quickly learned of the incident, of course from the Bulgarians. He then ordered that all Muslims they encountered be killed without mercy. The Bulgarians had expected this.

They roamed the streets with Serbs, and within three and a half hours, nothing was heard in the city except gunfire and shouts of “burn.” In total, fifty-two men, women, and children were killed. (Officially)

Backwaters in Tikvesh

Village of Beknishta (near Tikveša)

After occupying the surrounding area, the Serbian commander settled in Kavadarci.

One day, the Bulgarian villagers of Beknishte, out of breath, went to the Serbian commander in Kavadarci and, in fear, told him that the Turks had attacked their village and started killing them. They demanded that the soldiers come quickly (8.43) and help them, warning that if they did not do so, they would all die.

The commander immediately took the soldiers and personally went to the village the next day. Upon arrival, they found silence everywhere; there were no signs of an uprising, and everyone was calmly going about their business. Apart from a few unruly dogs barking at the strangers, nothing else was happening.

“But why did you trick me and bring me here?”

“Sir, we just wanted to see you, we couldn’t find any other way for you to honor our village with your arrival; that’s why we invited you!”, replied the gathered Bulgarians.

However, this entire maneuver was just a deception.

Nine Muslims were arrested in Kavadarci, and the Bulgarians wanted to deal with them immediately. As soon as the commander and his soldiers left the village, the Bulgarians captured the nine prisoners, took them to a remote location, and brutally killed them. Upon their return, the commander heard what had happened, but no one touched the murderers. (Official)

Small items

“They dragged six adult girls from different families to the village of Sitne, where they raped them all and continued to rape them for six days.”

On November 24, they dragged the girls naked to the center of the village and killed them all in front of a Bulgarian house called Papadija.

(Tanin, March 12, 1913)

The village of Kosani is thirteen kilometers from Monastir. There are only four hundred houses here.

In this village lived an old man named Haji Mahmud, known for his hospitality.

(p. 48) When Serbian soldiers occupied Bitola, news of this spread throughout the region, and Bulgarian gangs mobilized, searching the area for anything they could destroy and ravage. Robbers from the neighboring village of Chapari, ten minutes from Kosani, captured the most respected village elder, Hadji Mahmud, dragged him to the mosque and killed him. They completely severed his head from his body. Then they entered the village and burned all the houses.

(Tanin, March 12, 1913)

Destruction of Sera

(Witness description)

“On the morning of a Tuesday, October 23, more than 200 guards, 190 regular soldiers, and a large number of civilians re-entered Serres after cutting the telegraph wires. I personally received orders from the Thessaloniki headquarters to remain calm and not to move from my station: therefore, in accordance with this order, I remained there. But even that day I realized that the local Christian population was plotting something bad against me.”

“The family of Muru Tahsin Bey also lived there; Bulgarian soldiers were constantly coming in and out and stealing everything they found valuable; they raped the women.”

It is impossible to list the names of those whose money, watches, rings, and other valuables were stolen. The Bulgarian authorities, to further humiliate the already helpless Muslims, forced them to perform hard labor. Every day, they forced elderly men with white beards, priests in white and green turbans, and Turkish officials to clean the streets and public toilets.

Sultan Ieri, Egri Dere, Kyrtsaali, Kara Tepe, Kots Tepe

“Many people fled to Komotini from Sultan Yeri, Egri Dere, Kirdzhali and other places. There must have been several thousand of them. The Bulgarian authorities lulled these unfortunates with all possible persuasions and finally massacred them in groups of hundreds. They especially massacred the people of Kirdzhali in a systematic and planned manner.”

Kara Tepe is a village six hours from Komotini (p. 55), inhabited exclusively by Muslims. The Bulgarian inhabitants of the surrounding villages of Kochlu Alti and Hajilar killed all the Muslims of Kara Tepe and confiscated their property. They showed no mercy even to babies in cradles.

Similarly, they mercilessly massacred the Muslim population of the village of Koç Tepe in the Komotini region.

Chai Hane is another Muslim village in the Komotini region. In the neighboring village of Kalajdzi, there was a lasting friendship and brotherhood between the Bulgarian and Turkish populations. Turkish officials repeatedly protected the Bulgarians from Serbian and Greek gangs.

In return for all this service, the Bulgarians of Kalajdzhi promised their Turkish neighbors protection during the military occupation, but this generosity lasted only two weeks. After that, they made a deal with the militants and burned the Muslim village together with them, massacring the men and raping the women. The death toll reached 28 or 30.

Reference

https://www.google.se/books/edition/BALKAN_SAVA%C5%9ELARI_NDAK%C4%B0_MEZAL%C4%B0MLER/AyH4DvAAQBAJ?hl=sv&gbpv=0

Massacres of Albanians in World War I

The Albanian massacres of World War I  were a series of war crimes committed by Serbian, Montenegrin, Greek and Bulgarian troops against the Albanian civilian population of Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo during and immediately before the Great War. These crimes were a continuation of previous massacres committed during the Balkan Wars. In 1915, Serbian troops implemented a scorched earth policy in Kosovo, massacring tens of thousands of Albanians.[1] Between 1912 and 1915, 132 Albanian villages were razed to the ground.[2][3]

Many Albanians in the Kicevo region were killed by Bulgarian forces between 1915 and 1918.[4] In 1916, many Albanians in Štrpce and Načelnik died of starvation or became ill as a result of Bulgarian soldiers collecting wheat from villagers, leading to an artificially induced famine.[5][6] The number of Albanians (including combatants) killed or dying during World War I in Albania is estimated at around 70,000, according to Spencer Tucker.[7] The Kosovo Committee claimed in 1919 that Serbian and Montenegrin armies had killed 200,000 Albanians since the Balkan Wars, including about 100,000 Albanians killed in Kosovo from 1913 to 1915, and that Bulgarian troops had killed 50,000 Albanians throughout the war.[8] In 1921, Albanian deputies claimed that 85,676 Kosovo Albanians had been killed since the Balkan Wars.[9] After World War I, Albanians in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were persecuted.

Background

During the Balkan Wars, numerous atrocities were committed against the Albanian population in the territories occupied by the Balkan League, usually by Serbian and Montenegrin forces. According to contemporary accounts, around 25,000 Albanians were killed during the first half of the First Balkan War, before the violence reached its peak.[8][10][11] It is estimated that up to 120,000 or more were killed in Old Serbia or in all areas occupied by the Serbian army.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

In addition, according to Serbian documents, 281,747 Albanians over the age of six were expelled from Old Serbia, while other figures may reach as high as 60,000.[18][19][20] The Carnegie Commission characterized the expulsions and massacres as an attempt to transform the ethnic structure of regions populated mainly by Albanians.[21]

Massacres
According to an article in the Boston Daily Globe, published on 8 November 1915, Serbo-Montenegrin troops shot or bayoneted 20,000 Albanian women and children and destroyed 300 villages and 35,000 houses, leaving 330,000 people homeless.[22]
In 1918, Serbian forces entered Albanian villages with the intention of disarming them, resulting in the burning of numerous villages.[23][24]

According to Justin McCarthy, in 1915 Serbian and Bulgarian forces entered the Bitola region, in Kičevo and Kruševo in Bitola, and burned between 19 and 36 villages. 503 men, 27 women, and 25 children were killed, and 600 houses were burned.[25][26]

Kosovo

Bytići
In 1913, Serbian forces entered the Bytići region and killed 51 men and burned 2,000 houses. Later, in 1915, the village was attacked again and the entire Uški family was almost exterminated, with only one surviving.[27]

Astrazubi
In 1914, Serbian troops entered the village of Astrazubi in Mališevo and burned 1,029 houses and killed 227 civilians, mostly women and children, although the number is believed to be higher according to Albanian sources. In the village of Banje, the wounded were buried alive.[28]

Gnjilane
In 1914, Serbian troops committed many atrocities in Gnjilane.[29]

Kamenica
During the retreat of the Serbian army, the soldiers burned Kamenica, Selac, Gradec and Vranisht, after slaughtering several villagers and taking away the women. On 1 November 1915, the soldiers placed two light artillery pieces two hundred paces from the village of Večali, on the Tetovo-Prizren road, and set the village on fire with these artillery pieces, killing almost 65 men, women and children. The remaining villagers managed to escape. Before the bombardment of the village, the villagers gave bread to the Serbian soldiers.[30]

Peć
In the Peć region in 1914, Serbian troops executed approximately 25 Albanian civilians per day.[31]

Vitija
In the village of Ljubište, Serbian troops massacred 104 men, as well as 24 men in Đulekar. In Ljubište, the head of the Bakija family, the elderly grandmother of the Metuši family, and two children of the Emin family were burned alive.[32]

Macedonia
Tetovo
In 1915, a young Albanian boy shot a Serbian soldier in the village of Derbeca in Tetovo. The Serbian army demanded that the village surrender. The villagers refused, resulting in the massacre of the entire village.[33]

Albania
Shkodra
In November 1915, Montenegrin troops killed Albanian intellectuals and patriots. Others were captured and sent to Cetinje and executed. Among the martyrs was the publicist Mustafa Hilmi Leskoviki, head of the Albanian newspaper Kombi.[34]

Labova and Hormova
On 29 April 1914, Greek troops massacred 217 men and boys from Hormova within the premises of the Monastery of St. Mary in the neighboring village of Kodra.[35][36][37][38]

When General Dever’s team arrived there in early May, they saw an oak branch and, in the church’s bell tower, two male bodies hanging next to it. The church door was bloody and riddled with bullets, indicating that it had been used as a place of execution. Inside, the church walls were also stained with blood and human remains. The entire area reeked of corpses. In the courtyard in front of the church, three mass graves containing the bodies of 217 men were discovered, which were covered with a layer of mud. Dutch troops pacified a group of Roma nearby, who removed the bodies, many of which had been decapitated or had their skulls crushed, and reburied them in several deep pits they had dug themselves.

The report of General Dever and the medical team that accompanied him seriously shocked the offices of the Great Powers. Five years later, at the end of World War I, a peace conference was held in Versailles. Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos tried to convince representatives of the victorious powers to annex the Labova region to Greece. Representatives of the powers mentioned the Labova massacre.

Panarit
On 10 July 1914, Greek troops committed a series of atrocities against the Albanian population of several villages in southern Albania. About 250 villages were destroyed, and 100,000 people emigrated from Northern Epirus. In Luaras and Erseka, 14 children were killed, and in Panarit over 375 Albanians were killed. Several atrocities were committed in the region. This was documented by the Albanian Orthodox priest Kosta P. Tomori Leuza.[39][40][38]

Korça
Before World War I, in 1914, Greek forces committed atrocities in the Korça district. Many of these atrocities were reported by Christo Dako in May 1914. Greek forces destroyed hundreds of Muslim homes and expelled the Albanian Christian population from several villages. In the process, many civilians were massacred, including Christians. In Kodra, 230 men, women, and children were rounded up in an Orthodox church and executed by machine gun fire. About 20,000 refugees were created in and around Korça.[41]

Aftermath
In 1920, Hasan Priština collected information about the crimes committed by Serbian troops against the Albanian civilian population in the period 1918–1920. He reported to the British government that 20,000 men and 1,500 women had been massacred, as well as 168 villages razed to the ground and 4,769 houses burned.[42]
Many other crimes were committed between 1918–1941 by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia against the Albanian population and during the Kosovo War.

References

1. Cami, Muin (1973). La Lutte anti-imperialiste de liberation nationale du peuple albanais, 1918-1920 (in French). Académie des Sciences de la Rp d’Albanie, Institut d’Histoire. Accessed 10 August 2023.
2. Plana, Nusret; Kabashi, Emin (2001). Der Terror der Besatzungsmacht Serbien gegen die Albaner (in Albanian). Shteterror i Kosoves Archives. ISBN 978-9951-404-00-6. Accessed 10 August 2023.
3. Ternon, Yves (1995). L’Etat criminale: les genocidèses au XXe siecle (in French). Seuil. ISBN 978-2-02-017284-4. Accessed 10 August 2023.
4. Dr.Sc. Ilmi Veliu: “The massacre in Kerkova will also be in Bulgaria, but the Skopjes in Kosovo will be in 1915-1918”
5. Krste Bitovski. “Famine, Suffering and Resistance of the Population of Kosovo and Metohija during the Bulgarian Occupation”. Historical Gazette, Belgrade 1963. p. 84
6. Janace Popovik. “Kosovo into slavery under the Bulgarians 1915-1918”. Published in Leskovac, 1921.
7. Tucker, Spencer; Mary Roberts, Priscilla. World War I: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1, p. 77.
8. Kosovo, Documentary History: From the Balkan Wars to World War II 1788311760, 9781788311762. Accessed August 10, 2023.
9. Albanians at the Ambassadors’ Conference in Tirana, August 1. New York: Association of Middle Eastern Colleges. 1921. p. 199. Accessed December 31, 2019.
10. Leven, Mark (2013). Devastation: Volume I: The European Rim 1912-1938. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199683031.
11. Hudson, Kimberly A. (March 5, 2009). Justice, Intervention, and Force in International Relations: A Reevaluation of Just War Theory in the 21st Century. Taylor and Francis. pp. 128. ISBN 9780203879351. Retrieved September 6, 2016 – via Google Books.
12. Novaković, Kosta. “Colonization and Serbization of Kosovo”. Historical Institute, Pristina. Archived from the original on 25 December 2013.
13. Rifati, Fitim. Kriengritjet shqiptare ne Kosove si alternative clirimi nga sundimi serbo-malazez (1913-1914) (PDF). Journal of Balkan Studies. p. 84. “According to the Serbian social democratic politician Kosta Novaković, the Serbian-Montenegrin regime exterminated more than 120,000 Albanians of all ages from October 1912 to the end of 1913, and forcibly expelled more than 50,000 Albanians and Albanians to the Ottoman Empire.
14. Alpion, Gezim (December 30, 2021). Mother Teresa: The Saint and Her Nation. Bloomsbury. p. 11. ISBN 9789389812466. “During the Balkan Wars, a total of ‘120,000 Albanians were exterminated’, hundreds of villages’ were shelled and ‘large numbers were burned’ across Kosovo and Macedonia. The figures do not include people killed in present-day Albania and the devastated homes, villages and towns left behind by Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers when they were eventually forced to retreat.”
15. Ademi, Hadzi (2019). “THE CASE OF THE “DISPLACEMENT” OF SERBS FROM KOSOVO DURING WORLD WAR II” (PDF). Annals of the University of Craiova. History: 32.
16. Žitija, Skender (2021). “Anti-Albanian Policy of the Serbian State, Programs and Methods (XIX-XX)”. Journal of History and the Future.
17. Geshov, Ivan Evstratiev (1919). The beginning of the world war: the collapse of the Balkan alliance (in French) (such as, for example, the article by the Serbian MP Triša Kaclerović, who in an article published in 1917 in the magazine “International Bulletin” confirms that in 1912-1913 the Serbian army massacred 120,000 Albanians – ed.). P. Haupt. p. 64. Accessed 9 August 2023.
18. Štěpanek, Václav (2010). The Problem of Colonization of Kosovo and Metohija 1918–1945 (PDF) (in Czech). p. 88.
19. Ćirezi, Arben (2017). “Resolving the Kosovo Self-Determination Dispute”. In Mehmeti, Leandrit I.; Radeljić, Branislav (eds.). Kosovo and Serbia: Controversial Options and Shared Consequences. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 9780822981572.
20. “SERBIANS’ WARS OF OCCUPATION AND OTHER MEASURES FOR THE EXPULSION OF ALBANIANS (1912–1941)”. Historical Institute, Pristina. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012.
21. Kramer 2008, p. 138
22. Skopianski, MD. dernier (Extract (lu Corriere delle Puglie, quotidien paraissant a Bari (Italy) ed.). Ancien redacteur du Journal Macedonian «La Patrie»). BIBLIOTHEQUE DES PEUPLES BALKANIQUES. 1. pp.
23. JANJETOVIĆ, Zoran, 2005, Children of Emperors, Stepchildren of Kings: National Minorities in Yugoslavia 1918-1941, Belgrade: INIS.
24. “Massacres in the Dismembered Yugoslavia, 1941–1945 | Sciences Po Mass Violence and Resistance – Research Network”.  http://www.sciencespo.fr  . 25 January 2016.
25. Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922. March 1, 1996. p. 183
26. “Eshtrat ne shstepine e Ali Ahmetit: ja cfare shkruan Justin McCarthy mbi masakrat serbo-bullgare ne Kercove 54455-kot-655”. Accessed 12 August 2023.
27. Elsey, Robert (24 April 2015). The Tribes of Albania: History, Society and Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85773-932-2. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
28. Rifati, Fitim (2015). “The Mizorite and the Ushtrise Serbs in the Rajonin Region were Astrazubit in 1914”. Gyurmime Albanologike – Serie e shkencave historike (in Albanian). pp. 81–91.
29. Destani, Bejtullah D. (2003). Ethnic Minorities in the Balkan States, 1860-1971: 1888-1914. Archival Editions. ISBN 978-1-84097-035-7. Accessed 10 August 2023.
30. works, Bulgaria Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1919). La verité sur les accusations contre la Bulgarie (in French). l’Etat. Accessed 10 August 2023.
31. de 1914-1918, French Commission for the Publication of Documents Relating to the Origins of the War (1933). Documents Diplomatiques Françaises (1871-1914): 1913 (in French). Nationale. Accessed 10 August 2023.
32. Destani, Bejtullah D. (2003). Ethnic Minorities in the Balkan States, 1860-1971: 1888-1914. Archival Editions. ISBN 978-1-84097-035-7. Accessed 10 August 2023.

33.” The Shqiptari are not like the law, but the Shqiptari: I will not be able to do anything in 1915, not in Debrece.” StrugaLajm.

34. Skopianski, MD. dernier (Le Corriere delle Puglie, quotidien parissant a Bari (Italy), annee XXVIe, du 21 December 1913.) ed. 1. Accessed 10 August 2023.
35. 1915 | Midhat Bey Frasheri: The Epirus Question – Martyrdom of a People”.  http://www.albanianhistory.net  .
36. Destani, Bejtullah D. (2003). Ethnic Minorities in the Balkan States, 1860-1971: 1914-1923. Archival Editions. ISBN 978-1-84097-035-7. Accessed 10 August 2023.
37. Swayer, Joseph (1937). King Zog of Albania. Liveright. Accessed 10 August 2023.
38. Greek barbaric crimes in Albania”. Oculus News. April 9, 2016.
39. Chemerika, Hadzi; Buzali, Ilir (1984). Riza Kodheli (in Albanian). Shtepia Botuese “8 Nentori”. Accessed 10 August 2023.
40. Tomori, Kosta Papa (2012). Barbarians of the Greeks, not the Skippers: A Historical Account, 1913-1914 (in Albanian). Naimi. ISBN 978-9928-109-38-5. Accessed 10 August 2023.
41. Elsey, Robert. “Christ Daco 1914: The Terrible Greek Crimes in the Korça District”. albanianhistory.net.
42. Kur Hasan Pristina in the British tregonte crime Serbs in Kosovo: Jane vra 20,000 burra e 1,500 gra.” National.

Massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars

Massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars  were committed on several occasions by the Serbian and Montenegrin armies and paramilitaries during the conflicts that took place in the region between 1912 and 1913.[1][2] During the First Balkan War of 1912–13, Serbia and Montenegro committed a series of war crimes against the Albanian population after expelling Ottoman forces from present-day Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, as reported by the European, American, and Serbian opposition press.[3] Most of the crimes occurred between October 1912 and the summer of 1913. The purpose of the forced expulsions and massacres was statistical manipulation before the London Conference of Ambassadors to determine the new borders of the Balkans.[3][4][5]

According to contemporary accounts, around 25,000 Albanians were killed or died in the Kosovo Vilayet during the first half of the First Balkan War, before the violence culminated.[3][5][6][7][8] The total number of Albanians killed in Old Serbia (Kosovo Vilayet and Macedonia) or in all Serbian-occupied regions during the Balkan Wars is estimated at around 120,000 or more.[9][10][11][12][13][14] Many of the victims were children, women and the elderly.[15] In addition to the massacres, some civilians had their lips and noses cut off.[16] Several historians, scholars and contemporary accounts refer to the massacres as genocide or the systematic extermination of Albanians or the Muslim population of the Balkans as a whole. Further massacres of Albanians occurred during World War I and continued throughout the interwar period.

According to Philip J. Cohen, the Serbian army caused such fear that some Albanian women killed their children rather than leave them in the hands of Serbian soldiers.[17] The Carnegie Commission, an international fact-finding mission, concluded that the Serbian and Montenegrin armies committed large-scale violence to “completely transform the ethnic character of regions inhabited exclusively by Albanians”.[18] Cohen, examining a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that Serbian soldiers cut off the ears, noses, and tongues of Albanian civilians and gouged out their eyes.[19] Cohen also quoted Durham as saying that Serbian soldiers helped bury people alive in Kosovo.[20]

According to an Albanian imam organization, there were about 21,000 mass graves in Kosovo where Serbian troops massacred Albanians.[21] In August and September 1913, Serbian forces destroyed 140 villages and forced 40,000 Albanians to flee.[22] According to documents from the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 281,747 Albanians were expelled from Old Serbia between 1912 and 1914 (not counting children under the age of six), while other figures may be as high as 60,000.[23][24][25] American relief commissioner Willar Howard said in a 1914 interview with the Daily Mirror that General Carlos Popovic shouted: “Don’t run, we are brothers and friends. We don’t want to do anyone any harm.”[26] Peasants who believed Popovic were shot or burned, and elderly women who could not leave their homes were also burned. Howard said that the crimes were committed after the war ended.

According to Leo Freundlich’s 1912 report, Popović was responsible for many Albanian massacres and became a captain of Serbian troops in Durres.[27] Serbian generals Datidas Arkan and Božo Janković were authorized to kill anyone who blocked Serbian control of Kosovo.[28] “Yugoslavia from a Historical Perspective”, a 2017 study published in Belgrade by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, states that villages were burned to the ground and Albanian Muslims were forced to flee when Serbian-Montenegrin forces invaded Kosovo in 1912. Some chronicles mentioned beheadings as well as mutilation.[29]

Leon Trotsky and Leon Freundlich estimated that around 25,000 Albanians had been killed in the Kosovo Vilayet by early 1913.[7][3] Serbian journalist Kosta Novaković, who was a Serbian soldier during the Balkan Wars, reported that over 120,000 Albanians were killed in Kosovo and Macedonia, and at least 50,000 were expelled to the Ottoman Empire and Albania.[10][9][11] A 2000 report examining Freundlich’s collection of international atrocity news reports estimated that around 50,000 victims were within the present-day borders of Kosovo.[30]

Background
The Albanian–Serbian conflict has its roots in the expulsion of Albanians in 1877–1878 from areas that were included in the Principality of Serbia.[31][32] As a result, some Albanian refugees who fled to Kosovo attacked the local Serbian population.[33] In May 1901, Albanians looted and partially burned the towns of Novi Pazar, Sjenica, and Pristina, and massacred Serbs in the area of ​​northern Kosovo.[34] Before the outbreak of the First Balkan War, Albanians had been fighting for a national state. An Albanian uprising in mid-1912 resulted in the Ottoman recognition of the “Fourteen Points”, a list of demands that included the establishment of an Albanian vilayet.[35] The drive for Albanian autonomy and Ottoman weakness were seen by contemporary regional Christian Balkan powers as a threat to their Christian populations through extermination.[36]

According to Albanian scholarly works, the realization of Albanian aspirations was negatively received by Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece.[35] The Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria) attacked the Ottoman Empire and, over the next few months, divided up all of the Ottoman territory inhabited by Albanians.[2] The Kingdoms of Serbia and Greece occupied most of present-day Albania and other Albanian-populated lands on the Adriatic coast. Montenegro occupied part of present-day northern Albania, around Shkodra. According to Dimitri Tucović, Serbia doubled its territory. Most Albanian historians say that Montenegro, Greece, and Serbia did not recognize Albanian autonomy and that the Balkan Wars were fought to stop it from reaching the Ottoman lands that claimed it.[35]

When Serbo-Montenegrin forces invaded the Kosovo Vilayet in 1912, a large part of the Albanian population fled due to fear of (and actual) violence experienced by the invading armies.[37] The Serbian military effort to conquer Kosovo had the connotation of extermination, with Serbian reprisals against Albanians targeting children and women, including the killing of women and men and the destruction of homes.[38] During this period, 235 villages were burned: 133 by Serbian forces and 102 by Montenegrin forces.[39] Stephen Schwartz writes that during the capture of Durrës, Shkodra, and Shengjin, Serbian soldiers massacred and looted poor Albanians.[40]

According to Albanian Armend Bekaj, the Serbian invasion of Kosovo was illegal.[41] Anna Di Lelio writes that the Serbian campaign of expansion forced Albanians to embrace Serbian nationalist ideology, which made them feel like a minority in their homeland.[42]

According to a telegram sent by the Serbian consul in Pristina on 22 September 1912, the Albanians were fearful of a potential Serbian invasion. Nikola Pašić then ordered Milan Rakić and Jovan M. Jovanović to write a proclamation declaring that “the Serbian army will not act against the Albanians but against Turkey, and that the army will liberate the Serbs. The Albanians will not be harmed, and schools and religious buildings will be left alone, and there will be freedom of language”.[43]
Belgrade promised Isa Boletini that it would act in a friendly manner towards the Albanian uprising against the Turks and that Albanians and Serbs would live in peace.[44]

Massacres
in the Skadar Vilayet
of Malesia
A series of reports emerged of violent Montenegrin persecutions of Catholic Albanians.[45] In districts under Montenegrin control, Catholic and Muslim Albanians were subjected to forced mass conversions to Orthodox Christianity.[46]

Shkodra
When Serbo-Montenegrin troops attacked Shkodra, about 10,000 Montenegrin soldiers were killed. Equating Albanians with Turks, the Serbian army took revenge on the population for the way the Turks had treated them centuries earlier.[47] The city was looted, and civilians (including the sick and wounded, women, and children, many of whom were Christians) were massacred.[47] In late 1913, international pressure led to the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Shkodra; according to the Austro-Hungarian consul in the city, Serbian troops killed about 600 Albanians.[45]

Kruja
In 1912, Serbian troops entered the village of Zala in Kruja and a soldier broke into the house and attacked the woman. The husband shot the soldier, and when Serbian troops arrived, they massacred everyone, including women and children, and razed the village to the ground.[48]

Leža
In 1913, Serbian troops raided the village of Patok, burning many houses and capturing a number of residents.[49]

Barbulush
After the Battle of Brdica, Serbian soldiers retreated to the village and, despite the residents’ pleas for mercy, massacred the men, women, children, and elderly.[3]

Krasnice
A British captain assisting the general spoke to the arriving Albanian refugees and reported: “The Serbs are also in the Krasnice region and have massacred all those who remained. The refugees tell of savage and pitiful scenes”.[50]

Tirana
In Tirana, local Serbian troops beat many Albanians to death.[51] After helping Albanian volunteers, residents of Kaz Tirana had their homes burned, and 17 people were burned to death, and an additional 12 were executed.[3]

Brut
According to Jovan Hadži Vasiljević, in his book “Arnauti naše krvi-Arnautaši”, published in Belgrade in 1939, in the village of Brut, near the Drin River, Serbian troops ordered local Albanian villagers to bring them food. After the villagers delivered the food, they were killed, and their heads were cut off and laid at the feet of dead Serbian soldiers.[52]

Kavajë and Elbasan
In the cities of Kavajë and Elbasan, civilians were beaten and killed.[3]

Plav and Gusinje
Main article: Plav and Gusinje massacres (1912–1913)
Bosniak organizations claim that more than 1,800 Muslims were massacred and 12,000 were forced to convert to the Serbian Orthodox faith in Plav and Gusinje.[53] Mark Krasniqi of the Academy of Sciences of Kosovo claimed that a total of 8,000 Albanians were killed in the massacres.[54]

Topojan
In 1913, Serbian troops massacred 620 unarmed men and boys in the village of Topojan.[55][56]

Đužaj
In 1913, Serbian troops entered villages inhabited by Albanians and bayoneted 27 unarmed men from the village of Đužaj when they resisted the occupation.[57] The Serbian army also committed several atrocities in the village of Kadijaj in Fier.

Kosovo Vilayet
The Austro-Hungarian Consulate in Belgrade reported that during February 1913, Serbian military forces executed all Albanian residents of the villages of Kabaš, Terpeza, Ljubišt, and Đilekar.[58] Chetniks razed the Albanian quarter of Skopje and killed numerous Albanian residents of the city.[59] Numerous accounts of the Balkan Wars, including a series of articles by the journalist Leon Trotsky, documented state-organized massacres in numerous locations, including Ferizaj, Đakovica, Gnjilane, Priština, and Prizren, with a total death toll of around 25,000 by early 1913.[7]

In 2001, a report was published listing 431 civilians killed by Serbo-Montenegrin troops in Kosovo in 1912–13. Names, dates, and locations were documented. The villages included Istog, Dečani, Klina, Dragash, and Preševo, among others mentioned below.[60]

Bujan
In 1912, Serbian soldiers entered the village of Bujan in Lipljan and massacred 48 men, women, and children.[61]

Kabashi and Koriša
In 1912, Serbian troops massacred 102 Albanian men, women, and children in the village of Kabashi and Koriša.[62]

Pristina
When villagers heard of Serbian massacres of Albanians in nearby villages, some houses took the desperate measure of flying a white flag to protect themselves. In cases where the white flag was ignored during the Serbian army’s attack on Pristina in October 1912, the Albanians (led by Ottoman and Albanian officers) misused the white flag and attacked and killed all the Serbian soldiers.[6] The Serbian army then used this as an excuse to brutally retaliate against civilians, including Albanian families and even their babies.[3]
The army entered Pristina on 22 October.[63] Albanian and Turkish households were looted and destroyed, and women and children were killed.[64]

A Danish journalist based in Skopje reported that the Serbian campaign in Priština “took on the character of a terrible massacre of the Albanian population”.[63][64] It is estimated that 5,000 people in Priština were killed in the first months of the Serbian occupation.[65][64][66] The events have been interpreted as an early attempt to change the demographics of the region.[63] Serb settlers were brought into the city, and Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić purchased 1,214 hectares (491 acres) of land.[67] Priština residents who wore the plis were targeted by the Serbian army; those who wore the Turkish fez were safe, and the price of the fez skyrocketed.[68]

Đakovica
Đakovica suffered at the hands of the Serbo-Montenegrin army. The New York Times reported that people were hanging on gallows on both sides of the road, and the road to Đakovica became a “gallows alley”.[66] Regional Montenegrin paramilitaries abused the Albanian population.[69] The village of Bobaj was burned down, and all the villagers were killed after four Serbian soldiers were beaten for attempting to rape women.[3]
Serbian priests forcibly converted Albanian Catholics to Serbian Orthodoxy.[70] Albert von Mensdorff-Puley-Dietrichstein told Edward Grey in an interview on 10 March 1912 that Serbian soldiers behaved “barbarically” towards both Muslim and Catholic Albanians in Đakovica.[71]

Bytići
In 1913, Serbian forces entered the village of Bytići, killing 51 men and burning 2,000 houses. [72]

Prizren
When the Serbian army controlled the city of Prizren, it introduced repressive measures against the Albanian civilian population; Serbian squads broke into houses, looted, committed violence, and killed indiscriminately.[3] About 400 people were “exterminated” during the first days of the Serbian occupation.[3] According to one witness, about 1,500 Albanian bodies lay in the streets, and foreign journalists were forbidden from entering the city.[6] General Božidar Janković forced the surviving Albanian leaders of the city to sign a statement expressing gratitude to the Serbian King Peter I Karađorđević for their liberation.[6] It is estimated that 5,000 Albanians were killed in Prizren and the surrounding area.[6]

British traveler Edith Durham and a British military attaché were scheduled to visit Prizren in October 1912, but the authorities canceled the trip. Durham said, “I asked the wounded Montenegrins [soldiers] why I was not allowed to go, and they laughed and said, ‘We didn’t leave a single Albanian nose up there!’ Not a pretty sight for a British officer.”[64] Durham eventually visited the northern Albanian stronghold of Kosovo, where she encountered captured Ottoman soldiers whose upper lips and noses had been cut off.[73]

Although Prizren did not resist the Serbian forces, it did not prevent the bloodshed; Prizren was the second-hardest-hit Albanian city, after Priština. Serbian troops raided homes and abused anyone in their path, and up to 400 people were killed in the first few days of the Serbian occupation. When Serbian troops moved west, they could not find horses to transport their equipment and used 200 Albanians; most of them died along the way.[74][75]

Many Albanians fled to the Austrian consulate, where they were met by Oskar Prochazka. The Serbs demanded their surrender, which the consul refused; the Serbs then stormed the consulate.[76]

In
1913, the newspaper “Radničke novine” published an article from “Albanski dopisniki” reporting that, following the crimes committed by Serbian troops in the village of “Fšaj”, members of the Malesori tribe took up arms.[77][78]

Rugova
In 1913, General Janko Vukotić told Edith Durham that his soldiers had committed crimes against the civilian population of Rugova. In response to her protests, he reportedly said: “But they are beasts, wild animals. We have managed very well”.[79] Slovenian author Božidar Jezernik interprets this as confirmation of the Montenegrin goal of removing local Muslims from their newly conquered territories and settling them.[79]

The
capture of Uroševik (as the town was known during the Ottoman period) by the Serbian army and subsequent events are documented in contemporary accounts. The entry of the Serbian army was accompanied by a massacre of the population.[63] Leo Freundlich recorded contemporary accounts of the Albanian Golgotha. According to a war correspondent for the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero, the town was destroyed, and most of its inhabitants were killed.[8] A Catholic priest in the region reported that resistance to the advancing Serbian army was strong for three days. When the town was finally taken, the fleeing locals were invited to return if they would surrender their weapons. After they did so, the army killed 300 to 400 people; only a few Muslim families remained.[8] Freundlich estimated the total number of dead at 1,200.[8]

Luma region
, Serbian military forces entered Luma in 1912 and attacked the local population, killing tribal chiefs, taking livestock, and razing villages to the ground.[80] This sparked a local uprising.[80] The Serbian army responded with a scorched earth policy and widespread killings; young and old, men and women were barricaded in mosques and houses and shot or burned.[80] Twenty-five thousand people fled to Kosovo and western Macedonia.[80] According to Mark Leven, the events were a “localized genocide”.[80]

When General Božidar Janković saw that the Albanians in the region would not allow Serbian forces to continue their advance towards the Adriatic Sea, he ordered his troops to continue their brutality.[3] The Serbian army killed men, women and children and destroyed 27 villages in the Ljuma region.[6] Reports cited atrocities by the Serbian army, including the burning of women and children tied to haystacks in front of their husbands and fathers.[3] Around 400 men from Ljuma surrendered to Serbian authorities, were brought to Prizren and killed.[3] According to an article in the Daily Telegraph, “All the horrors of history were surpassed by the appalling conduct of General Janković’s troops.”[3]

The second massacre in Luma occurred the following year. After the Conference of Ambassadors decided that Luma should be part of Albania, the Serbian army initially refused to withdraw. The Albanians revolted in September 1913, and Luma again suffered severe reprisals from the Serbian army. The International Commission’s report quoted a letter from a Serbian soldier describing a punitive expedition against the rebellious Albanians:

“My dear friend, I don’t have time to write to you at length, but I can tell you that terrible things are happening here. I am horrified and I keep asking myself how people can be so barbaric as to commit such atrocities. It is terrible. I dare not tell you more, but I can tell you that Ljuma (the Albanian region along the river of the same name) no longer exists. There is nothing but corpses, dust and ashes. There are villages of 100, 150, 200 houses, where there is no longer a single person, literally not a single one. We collect them in bodies of forty to fifty, and then we pierce them with bayonets to the last man. Looting is happening everywhere. The officers have told the soldiers to go to Prizren and sell the things they have stolen.”[2]

A Franciscan priest who visited Luma reported seeing “poor babies stabbed with bayonets” in the streets.[81]

Opoja and Restelica
After the defeat at Ljuma, Serbian troops were ordered to exterminate the population of the villages of Opoja, Gora, Belobrad, Brut, Renc, Bresana, Zim and Ćafeleši. Thousands of men, women and children were killed, and their houses were burned. Survivors hid in the mountains or in wells where some suffocated; in one case, a mother held her baby above the water. Some were killed on local bridges, and their bodies were eaten by dogs. Local Roma greeted the Serbian troops with drums and music; they were killed and buried in the mosque in Opoja.[82]
Kumanovo
A Serbian general told British army officer Christopher Birdwood Thomson in Belgrade in 1913 that after the Third Serbian Army defeated the Turkish forces at Kumanovo, it entered the town and wiped out entire villages – massacring men, women and children in their homes and forcing others to flee to their deaths from hunger and cold. In 1920, he wrote: “Nothing more terrible has happened in any part of the world, nor in the entire history of war”.[83]

Kratovo
After the Battle of Kumanovo, Chetnik paramilitary groups supported by the Serbian Army attacked and expelled the Albanian population of Kratovo.[84] Leo Freundlich, a journalist who traveled the Balkans during the Balkan Wars, observed the massacres of Albanians committed in Kratovo. He wrote: “Near Kratovo, General Stepanović, having ordered hundreds of Albanians to form two lines, shot them down with machine guns. Afterward, the general explained: These scoundrels must be exterminated so that Austria can no longer find its darlings.”[85]

Gostivar
After the Battle of Kumanovo on 23–24 October 1912, the Moravian Division of the Serbian Army entered Gostivar. Hundreds of Albanians were killed, which provoked protests in Vienna. Leopold Berchtold, appalled by the massacre, demanded that Belgrade withdraw from Albanian territory.[86] On 21 November 1912, he wrote letters to Paris, London, Berlin, Rome and Petrograd: “The behavior of the Serbian army towards the Albanian people does not belong to any international human rights norm, but after the occupation of countries they no longer choose how to deal with it. They acted brutally against the innocent and helpless population”.[87][88]

Vice-Consul W. D. Peckham of Uskub
was informed by a Catholic chaplain from Skopje and Ferizaj, who visited him on 27 February 1913, that thousands of Albanians had been killed and hundreds tortured.[89] Serbian soldiers broke into the home of an Albanian family, raped the woman and beat the husband until he told them where his daughters were hiding; his daughters were then raped as well.[90] According to the Daily Chronicle, Serbian soldiers had killed around 2,000 Muslim Albanians in the Skopje area by 12 November 1912.[3] It is estimated that around 80% of the villages – mostly Albanian – in the Skopje region and the Albanian quarters of the city were destroyed by the Serbian army, which carried out indiscriminate massacres of Muslims.[91]

Mitrovica
On 18 November 1912, Sir F. Cartwright wrote to Sir Edward Grey that the Serbian army had entered Mitrovica, arrested the Austrian consul and held him prisoner for 15 days; the consul fled to Budapest after witnessing the atrocities against Albanian civilians.[92] According to an article in the Japan Times in 1912, the Austrian consuls in Prizren and Mitrovica were arrested because the Serbian government did not want news to reach Austria that Serbian soldiers had massacred Albanian civilians.[93]

Serbian soldiers in Vučitrn
killed 17 Albanian civilians when they entered Vučitrn on 13 August 1913. The killings were documented in a letter from the British Vice-Consul in Skopje, W. D. Peckham, to the British Ambassador in Belgrade, Ralph Paget.[94]

Peć/Peć
The Serbian army bombarded the city of Peć and razed the villages to the ground in 1912, with the help of the Chetniks.[95] Edith Durham wrote about the refugees from Peć after the Serbian army entered the city in 1913:
One Ipeć resident, well-educated and of high standing, recounted what happened there. “Every day the executioner shouted in the streets, ‘Today the Government will shoot ten (or more) people!’ No one knew who they were or why they were being shot. They stood in a trench, which was supposed to be their grave. Twelve soldiers fired, and as the victims fell, the earth was covered with shovels, both living and dead. Baptisms were forced under torture. People were thrown into the icy river, then half-opened until they cried for mercy.” Many, terrorized into baptism, came to me.[81]
About 10,000 Albanians in Peć were forcibly converted.[96]

Novi Pazar
Carlo Papa di Castiglione d’Asti (1869–1955), an Italian major and military attaché in Belgrade and Bucharest from 1908 to 1913, observed the advance of the Serbian army. He reported that the army had exterminated the Albanian population of Novi Pazar in order to facilitate Serbian domination.[97] When Serbian troops entered the sanjak of Novi Pazar, hundreds of civilians were killed.[98] The Ibar army under the command of General Mihail Živković entered the sanjak and pacified the Albanian population with “soletudinem faciunt pacem appelant” (“They create a desert and call it peace”).[99]
Vilayet of Manastir
On 19 November 1912, the Italian newspaper Gazzetta Ufficiale published an article stating that after the fighting in Manastir, Serbian and Greek troops had committed “unbelievable atrocities”.[100]

Zajas
In 1913, Serbian troops committed many atrocities against the Albanian population of Zajas.[101][102] A Chetnik gang first massacred 40 men, throwing their bodies into a well. While in October, over 200 men from the same village were killed and over 800 books burned.[103]

Plasnica
In the village of Plasnica, in October, 6 people were found dead and 40 others were killed. 5 houses were burned. Also, many other villages around Kirčova were burned and the men were killed and massacred. In Kičevo, the town’s imam was among the first to be killed.[104][105]

Tetovo
In the village of Kalkendele, Tetovo, 85 Albanian civilians were killed without resistance. Houses were burned and villages were looted. Women and young girls were raped, while husbands were forced to watch.[106]

Manastir
It is estimated that around 80% of the villages – mostly Albanian – in the Manastir region and the Albanian quarters of the city were destroyed by the Serbian army, which carried out indiscriminate massacres of Muslims.[91]

Ohrid
In the city of Ohrid, Serbian forces killed 500 Albanians and Turks.[18]

Dibra
On 20 September 1913, the Serbian army took all the cattle to Dibra, in Malesia. Although the herders fought back, they were all killed. The Serbs also killed two Ljuma chiefs (Mehmet Edhemi and Xhafer Elezij) and looted and burned the villages of Peshkopi, Blice and Dohosisht in the lower Dibra district and seven other villages in the upper Dibra district. Women, children and the elderly were tortured and killed.[107]

As the army attacked Albania through Dibra, Elbasan, and Shkodra, they bombarded towns and villages with artillery. The Albanian government telegraphed to its delegates in Paris that Serbia’s aim was to suppress the Albanian state and exterminate the Albanian population.[108]
American relief commissioner William Howard, in an interview with the Daily Mirror in 1914, said that Serbian troops had destroyed 100 villages (with 12,000 houses) in Dibra, and that 4,000 to 8,000 Albanians had been burned, bayoneted, or shot.[109] When Serbian troops plundered the villages of Dibra, armed Albanians killed the soldiers. The Serbs responded by burning 24 villages.[110]

Pelagonia’s
Serbian majors M. Vasić and Vasilije Trbić gathered 30 Chetniks in September 1912 and traveled to Desovo, where they shot 111 Albanian men and razed the village to the ground.[111] In nearby Brailovo, Trbić executed 60 Albanians.[111]

Porkasi and Sulp
In villages, Serbian soldiers took men out and demanded money from women for their release. After payment, they were placed in a mosque, which was blown up. In Sulp, 73 Albanians were also killed.[112]

Viti
In October 1913, Serbian soldiers were investigating a local Albanian ruler named Rustem Januz Kabashi (1891-1914) who lived in the local mountains. The soldiers demanded that the Kachaci surrender, which resulted in the shooting of two Serbian soldiers. When dusk fell, the Serbian army, paramilitaries, and armed civilians surrounded the village and arrested all males over the age of 15. The arrested were placed in the local mosque and then transported to the local tower in Vitina. The village was looted and burned, and the inhabitants were killed in a local pit that had been prepared. Among those killed were 40-year-old Zenel Rexhepi, 20-year-old Qazim Shabani, 19-year-old Rustem Salahu, and 17-year-old Shaban Salahu, who were burned alive. 54 civilians were killed.[113]

Vilayet of Ioannina
The Greek army sought to take full control of the Vilayet of Ioannina in the Balkan Wars, and as it marched north, local Albanians resisted its campaign. In response, Greek forces began executing irregular soldiers and regularly killing prisoners; the authorities also encouraged harsher action against civilians. These measures were common practice by the time Greek forces entered Albania. According to one infantry officer, villagers were “cut down like sparrows” and houses were burned.[114] Muslim Albanian towns such as Tepelena, Leskovik, and Fraşer, and many villages were completely burned. When the Greek army was forced to officially withdraw from Albania, after the Albanian Declaration of Independence was internationally recognized, it organized a militia called the “Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus”, consisting mainly of bandits and deserters, which engaged in arson, hostage-taking, and looting as a means of fighting the Albanian militias.[115]

Peštan
In 1917, the book “Greek Barbarians in Southern Albania” was published, written by Kosta Papa Tomori, an Albanian Orthodox priest originally from Leuša. Tomori describes how he witnessed a massacre of Albanian civilians by Greek soldiers in 1913. The book was dedicated to Mehmet Bey Konica. Known as the “Areze Offensive”, in the Leskovik district, in the villages of Areze and Barmaš, Greek soldiers entered the village of Leshnje and slaughtered men, women, and children with knives.[116]

Eyewitness accounts
British anthropologist Edith Durham spent 12 years travelling to the region and becoming acquainted with Albania and the Albanians.[117][118] Durham was in Montenegro in August 1912, saw Montenegrin preparations for war along the border and warned the British press;[119] she believed that Montenegro was trying to provoke the Ottomans into conflict and witnessed the outbreak of hostilities when the Montenegrin King Nikola ordered his army to fire artillery on Albania.[120] As the war began, Durham sent news to the British press; for a time she was the only war correspondent from Montenegro.[120] Durham wrote for the Evening Chronicle and the Manchester Guardian before she found that the newspapers were “abridged and even reworked” her articles.[120]

At the beginning of the conflict, Durham (a nurse) was involved in humanitarian work with the Red Cross and became aware of the atrocities.[121][118] Close to the hostilities, she described razed villages and refugees; some had to take shelter in outhouses.[65] Writing a sharply worded indictment of the behavior of Serbs and Montenegrins,[117] she visited over a thousand families whose homes had been razed and noted the negative attitude that Montenegrins had towards Albanians.[117] Durham met soldiers on the front lines, such as one Serbian officer who considered his time in Kosovo “heroic” and “almost choked with laughter” as he spoke of “bayonets on the women and children of Luma”.[121]

She heard other officers say that “no one would dare speak the foul language” (Albanian) in the newly acquired territories,[121] and they spoke openly to her about the violence used to convert Catholic and Muslim Albanians to Orthodox Christianity.[121] On the Montenegrin-Albanian border, Durham described “cutting off noses” and other mutilations by “their commanders”.[118] She broke off her friendship with King Nikola over the actions of the Montenegrin army.[122] The Albanian leadership used Durham’s reports to strengthen its nationalist rhetoric, opposing the violence committed by the armies in the region.[123]

Leon Trotsky, sent by socialist Kiev newspapers to cover the Balkan Wars, reported on the violence against Albanians.[117][124] A few days after Skopje came under Serbian control, Trotsky described the situation in the city and its surroundings.[124] He was not on the battlefield, but gathered information from interviews with witnesses, such as a Serbian friend who spoke of the “horrors” in Macedonia.[117] The friend was given a military pass to travel to Skopje and told Trotsky:[117][124]

“… The horrors actually began as soon as we crossed the old border. By five in the afternoon we were approaching Kumanovo. The sun had set, it was beginning to get dark. But the darker the sky became, the more the terrible illumination of the fire stood out in its image. The burning was burning all around us. Entire Albanian villages were turned into pillars of fire… In all its fiery monotony, this picture was repeated all the way to Skopje… Two days before my arrival in Skopje, the inhabitants woke up in the morning and saw, under the main bridge over the Vardar – that is, in the very center of the city – piles of Albanian corpses with their heads cut off. Some said that these were local Albanians, killed by the comitadji [Chetniks], others that the bodies had been carried to the bridge by the waters of the Vardar. What was clear was that these decapitated people did not die in fighting.”[125][117][124]

Trotsky’s account from his Serbian friend referred to the actions of Serbian troops in Skopje: looting, arson, and torture of the Albanian population, which they spoke about publicly.[126] Many atrocities in Skopje were committed at night by Serbian paramilitary units; by morning hundreds of decapitated Albanian corpses were in the Vardar River near the main bridge.[124] Although it was certain that the bodies were not victims of war, it was not known whether they were Albanians from the area or had sailed from the upper Vardar.[124] Albanian villages were burned, and irregular troops raided houses to kill and loot.[117] Trotsky’s Serbian friend said that Skopje had become a military camp and that Serbian peasant troops looted food, livestock, doors, and windows from Albanian houses.[124] He expressed disgust at the brutality of the Serbian officers, but the corporal told him that they were different from the komitas (paramilitary units).[124]

According to the corporal, the army “would not kill anyone under the age of twelve”, but “the Komitas engage in murder, robbery and violence as a wild sport”.[127] The military authorities sent some Komitas home because of the disgrace they had brought on the army.[128] A Serbian informant wrote to Trotsky that “the flesh is rotting, human flesh as well as the flesh of oxen”; the conflict had “brutalised” the people and caused them to lose “their human aspect”.[128]

Trotsky’s Serbian friend met a corporal in Kosovo who described his actions as “roasting chickens and killing Arnauts [Albanians]. But we are tired of it”.[117] In his report for Kiev Thought, Trotsky wrote of “the crimes committed against the Albanians in Macedonia and Kosovo after the Serbian invasion of October 1912”.[129]

He reported that when Peter I of Srpska was on a tour of the front, he said that Albanians should be beaten to death in order to save ammunition.[130][24] Trotsky wrote several dispatches describing the crimes: “An individual, group, party or class that is capable of ‘objectively’ picking its nose while watching blood-drunk men, incited from above, massacre helpless people, is condemned by history to rot and be worm-eaten while it is still alive”.[131]

A British Foreign Office report cited a telegram from the Italian consul in Skopje: “The crimes committed by the Serbian troops and their apparent intention to exterminate as many of the Albanian population as possible.”[128] A Swiss engineer employed as a superintendent of the Oriental Railway submitted a report to the British embassy in Belgrade detailing Skopje after the arrival of the Serbian troops.[132] The report described the Serbs’ treatment of the Muslim population as “cruel in every respect,” apparently “aimed at their complete extermination.”[128] The engineer wrote that the shooting began early that day and continued until late; Prisoners were mistreated, and officers were shot without trial:[128] “Orders were issued to soldiers in certain places to kill all Albanians aged eight and over with the aim of extermination. The Serbs abused the sick, women and children.”[128] His report described the destruction of mosques, the razing of villages and about 500 bodies floating in the Vardar River;[133] “The Albanians were desperate.”[134]

The historical
school treats war correspondence from the Balkan Wars as first-hand evidence, and historian Wolfgang Heppken says that these sources must be handled with care.[135] Heppken says that although the journalists (such as Trotsky) who provided first-hand information were not close to the battlefield,[135] Trotsky’s accounts of the Balkan Wars were “some of the most brilliant and analytical war reports”.[136]

Contemporary journalists based in the Balkans, such as Richard von Mach of the Kölnische Zeitung, said that the reports were often third-party or “even pure fiction”.[135] Writers such as Karl Pauli obtained their information from unnamed witnesses or gathered evidence from the extensive compilation of Leo Freundlich, who wrote about the Albanian conflict zone with empathy for its Albanian victims.[135] According to Hepken, these sources are significant, but their information “can hardly be taken for granted”.[135]

Carnegie Commission hears refugees from the Balkan Wars of 1913

The oft-cited report of the Carnegie Commission International “cannot,” says Hepken, “be read without the historian’s due deconstructive effort”.[135] However, historian Alan Kramer considers the Carnegie Commission report “an extraordinarily well-documented and impartial investigation, coolly skeptical of exaggerated claims, reaching conclusions that have not been improved upon to this day”.[18] Diplomatic missions in the Balkans repeatedly reported rumors and reports of violent acts committed by all participants in the Balkan Wars,[137] and often complained about their inability to obtain first-hand information.[137]

Reports from British consuls described many acts of violence committed by Serbian irregular forces in Kosovo and Macedonia following their capture by the Serbian army in 1912–1913.[136] The British government was suspicious of the authenticity of the complaints and reports and was hesitant to take political action.[138]

When political relations with Serbia were strained, Austria-Hungary took a keen interest in gathering details of Serbian atrocities and carefully examined the reliability of its sources.[138] The Austro-Hungarians said that, although there was often “much exaggeration” in the information they had,[138] the accounts of verified witnesses confirmed the murders of children and women, large-scale theft, and the razing of villages.[138] In Skopje, the Austro-Hungarian consul Heimroth repeatedly sent his aides into the field to verify reports of atrocities before sending reports (such as “Gausamkeiten der Serben gegen Albaner”) to Vienna.[139]

A comprehensive report by Catholic Bishop Lazer Mjeda on Serbian violence against the Muslim and Albanian population of Skopje was the subject of detailed discussion at the Austro-Hungarian Consulate,[139] which concluded that the report was well-founded.[139] In his report, Consul Heimroth said that Serbian forces should at least be held accountable for failing to stop the violence against Muslims after their arrival in Skopje.[140] Heimroth said that he had received more complaints about wartime violence than during the Russo-Japanese War, and that the conflict aimed at liberating Christian co-religionists had ended in an attempted extermination of the non-Orthodox population.[140]

Non-partisan witnesses included foreign workers and engineers from the Oriental Railway and local and foreign Christian clergy.[138] Some observers have suspected that the forced population transfers (ethnic cleansing) were part of an organized extermination effort.[138] Hepken finds little support for this view in the sources, and the events “radicalized” the ongoing course toward homogeneous ethnic populations.[138] Historian Mark Mazower writes that, despite “careless talk of the ‘extermination’ of the Albanian population”, the killing of “perhaps thousands of civilians” by Serbian armed forces in the provinces of Kosovo and Monastir was “more motivated by revenge than genocide”.[141]

The observations of “reliable” and “non-partisan” informants who witnessed the events “left no doubt”, says Hepken, that large-scale violence (such as the demolition of houses and villages and the forced displacement of the population) had occurred.[138] In addition to what Hepken calls “dubious narratives of slaughter” in second- and third-hand accounts, doctors and nurses confirmed that “the conflict transcended all rules and regulations”.[138]
In Albanian literature and scholarship, the actions described in Durham’s accounts are the result of anti-Albanian policies organized by the Serbian government to “exterminate the Albanians”.[121] According to Daut Dauti, Durham’s war reports “reduced themselves to testimonies of crimes committed against Albanians”.[123]

Durham’s reports were criticized by Rebecca West, a fellow traveler from the region.[65] West called Durham naive (mocking her support for a false 1912 report that claimed the Austrian consul had been castrated by Serbs in Prizren),[65] but historian Benjamin Lieberman wrote that West was accused of pro-Serbian bias.[65] Lieberman said that Durham was an eyewitness to the conflict and that in Trotsky’s interviews with Serbs, his informants lacked motive to portray their fellow soldiers (and citizens) negatively.[65] He called the reports of Trotsky, Durham, and others consistent and corroborated by additional sources, such as Catholic Church officials who cited multiple massacres.[65]

Estimates of casualties
(≥1,000 in descending order)
Ying Ke[142][143]
120,000–270,000
All regions from 1912–1914.
Kosta Novaković[10][11][9][12][13]
120,000
Kosovo and Macedonia from 1912–1913.
Triša Kaclerović[14]
120,000
Areas occupied by the Serbian army from 1912–1913.
Kosovo Committee[8]
100,000
Kosovo from 1913–1915.
Justin McCarthy[144][145]
100,000
Albania from 1912–1913.
University of Belgrade[30]
50,000
Present-day Kosovo 1912–1913.
Leon Trotsky[7]
25,000
Kosovo Vilayet early 1913.
Leo Freundlich[3]
25,000
Kosovo Vilayet by the end of January 1913.
Lazer Mjeda[6]
25,000
Kosovo Vilayet by the end of January 1913.
The Times[146]
25,000
“Northeastern Albania” by 18 January 1913.
Tim Judah[147]
20,000
Kosovo Vilayet 1912.
B. Peel Willett[148]
8,000
farmers killed in “Northern Albania”
Mark Krasniqi[54]
8,000
Plav–Gusinje from 1912–1913.
William Howard[108]
4,000–8,000
Dibra
New York Times[66]
5,000
Pristina by the end of 1912.
Lazer Mjeda[6]
5,000
Prizren by the end of January 1913.
Dr. Hakif Bajrami[149]
5,000
Gazimestan
Leo Freundlich[3][66]
3,000
Kumanovo–Uskub by the end of 1912.
Dnevna kronika[3]
2,000
Uskub by November 1912.
Bosniak organizations[53]
1,800
Plav–Gusinje from 1912–1912.
[1912–1961
]
Uroševac by the end of January 1913

The issue of genocide
Some scholars, historians, and organizations recognize the violence against Albanians as genocide or as part of a larger genocide against Muslims during the Balkan Wars.[8][16][75][150] “Albanian Golgotha”, a collection of contemporary accounts from this period, calls the events genocide, as translated by the publishing house “Juka”.[75] However, translated passages by linguist and Albanologist Robert Elsie use the word “extermination” instead of “genocide”.[3]

Multiple scholars, historians, and contemporary accounts have also referred to the violent acts against the Albanian population as systematic extermination or the result of a systematic policy, without directly mentioning genocide.[1][7][9][13][27][10][66][151] According to Professor Dr. Catherine Beck, the numerous crimes committed by Serbian troops against Albanians constituted the first ethnic cleansing committed in Europe during the 20th century.[152][153] Historian Mark Levin has called the Luma massacres “localized genocide”.[7] The Carnegie Commission stated that the goal of the violence was “the complete transformation of the ethnic character of regions inhabited exclusively by Albanians”.[2] Serbian officials and generals reportedly stated on several occasions that they would exterminate Albanians.[3][6][154][66] Historians such as Mark Mazower argue, despite statements by Serbian generals, that the massacres were motivated by revenge rather than genocidal intent.[141]

Reactions
On 21 December 1913, the Italian newspaper Corriere delle Puglie published statistics on Serbian crimes against the Albanian civilian population. These statistics were republished in 1919 in a report entitled “Crimes committed by the Serbs in September Albania after the amnesty agreed on last October”, intended for the Great Powers (Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Italy). The report describes the crimes committed by Serbian troops against the Albanian population and villages in Dibra and Lumi. It mentions the total number of dead and burned villages, as well as looting and imprisonment.[155]

Serbian MP and intellectual Triša Kaclerović, in an article published in 1917 in the journal “International Bulletin”, confirmed that in the period 1912–1913 the Serbian army massacred 120,000 Albanians.[14]
In late October 1913, Hasan Priština visited the International Control Commission and handed it a long list in French of crimes committed by the Serbian army in September and October. The list stated which houses had been looted and how many people had been killed.[156][157]
In January 1913, the French consul Maurice Carlier wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France about the miserable conditions of the Albanian population living in the territories occupied by the Serbian army.[158]
On December 29, 1912, the Italian newspaper “La Stampa” published an article about the massacre of Albanian women and children hiding in the Prohaska consulate by Serbian soldiers:

“The doors were broken down. Albanian families who had taken refuge in the Consulate were slaughtered without reason in a terrible massacre: the wounded were massacred in their beds. Even women and children were killed after the brutal soldiers had satisfied their lusts on the unfortunate. Among these Serbs were those who desecrated the bodies of the dead! The Consul vigorously protested against these facts, but the Serbs laughed at him.”[159]

According to the German newspaper Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung, Abend-Ausgabe, in its publication of November 14, 1912, an article states:
“Now, while the world is resounding with the crimes committed by Serbian troops against the Albanian people, the European newspapers are silent. Photographs of impaled women and children are shown as evidence. Albanians are also protesting against the extermination of Albanians in the Vilayet of Kosovo”.[160]

According to Misha Glenny, the Serbian press published headlines (such as “Prepare for war! A joint Serbo-Bulgarian offensive will begin any hour!”) on the eve of the war, fueling patriotic hysteria.[161] French General Frédéric-Georges Herre reported on 3 January 1913 that “in the Albanian massif, the numerous massacres which have bled the region have reduced the population to a large extent. Many villages have been destroyed, and the land has been left barren”.[162] Edith Durham, European socialists Leo Freundlich and Leon Trotsky, and Serbian socialists such as Kosta Novaković, Dragiša Lapčević, and Dimitrije Tucović condemned the crimes against Albanians and supported Albanian self-determination.[163][164]

Durham wrote about Isa Boletini and how Dragutin Dimitrijević (Apis) and his friends betrayed the Albanians after they rebelled against the Ottomans: “Having used up their ammunition in the recent rebellions, most of the Albanians were practically unarmed and were mercilessly massacred by the invading armies. Apis and his friends, who presented themselves as friends of the Albanians, now spared neither man, woman, nor child. How many were massacred in the Vilayet of Kosovo will never be known”.[165]
To investigate the crimes, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace formed a commission that was sent to the Balkans in 1913. Summing up the situation in the Albanian areas, the commission concluded:
Houses and entire villages reduced to ashes, unarmed and innocent populations massacred in massive numbers, incredible acts of violence, plunder and brutality of every kind – such were the means used and still used by the Serbian-Montenegrin army, with the aim of completely transforming the ethnic character of the regions inhabited exclusively by Albanians.[2][166]

— Report of the International Commission on the Balkan Wars
Serbian territorial claims in the region were complicated by the issue of war crimes committed by Serbian forces, which were part of the investigation of the International Commission on the Balkan Wars.[167] The report was received negatively by Serbian historians and officials, although the Serbian side was treated with restraint compared to others who participated in the conflict.[167] The socialist press in Serbia mentioned the crimes, and the Serbian socialist Dimitrije Tucović wrote about the Serbian campaign in Kosovo and northern Albania.[167] The Serbian social democratic newspaper Radnica novine reported that innocent Albanians were robbed and their villages destroyed.[168]

Captain Dimitrije Tucović
“We attempted the premeditated murder of an entire nation. We were caught in the act and were prevented. Now we must suffer the punishment… In the Balkan Wars, Serbia not only doubled its territory, but also its external enemies.[169]
— Dimitrije Tucović”

Although Tucović reminded his Serbian readers in 1913 of the “prophetic” quote by Karl Marx (“A nation that oppresses another nation forges its own chains”), the Serbian Orthodox Church inflamed nationalist hatred towards Albanians.[170] In his book “Serbia and Albania”, he wrote:[171]
The bourgeois press called for merciless destruction, and the army acted accordingly. Albanian villages, from which the men had fled in time, were reduced to ashes. At the same time, they were barbaric crematoriums in which hundreds of women and children were burned.”
— Dimitrije Tucović[172][173][174]

During the second half of the twentieth century, historian Vladimir Dedijer investigated Serbian foreign relations of the period.[146] Dedijer equated Serbian actions (such as Nikola Pašić’s description of eyewitness accounts as foreign propaganda) with those of European colonial armies in South America and Africa.[146] The British and German press published articles about the large number of Albanian deaths in Albania and Kosovo and the Serbian government’s attempts to conceal the reality from its people through censorship.[146] An article in The Times of London on 18 January 1913 reported that Serbian forces had killed 25,000 Albanians in northeastern Albania.[146]

Russia played a significant role in the territorial division of Albanian regions and propaganda about crimes committed by Serbs.[146] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov repeatedly warned Pašić through the Serbian representative in Saint Petersburg of the need to renounce each individual case, such as Đakovica (where Serbian forces allegedly shot 300 Albanians).[146] Sazonov repeatedly told the Serbs that the Austrians were ready to accept Đakovica as part of Serbia if there were no casualties.[146] Russia also helped Serbia gain the cities of Debar, Prizren, and Peć from Albania (and attempted to gain Đakovica), while Austria-Hungary attempted to retain the remaining territory for Albania.[146]

The Russian newspaper Novoye Vreme refused to acknowledge Serbian crimes against Albanian civilians in Skopje and Prizren in 1913, citing local Catholic priests who said that the Serbian army had not committed any acts of violence against the civilian population.[175] American relief agent B. Peel Willett wrote in his 1914 report, “The Decline of Christian Work”:

“Serbian and Montenegrin troops destroyed a hundred villages in northern Albania without warning, without provocation, without justification… 12,000 houses were burned and demolished, 8,000 peasants were killed or burned, 125,000 were left homeless. All livestock were driven out. Freshly harvested corn was taken away. Like hunted animals, the peasants fled to Elbasan, Tirana, Shkodra and the surrounding villages. I have returned from a 400-mile journey, partly on foot, through these affected regions. I saw villages destroyed, houses burned and demolished. I saw starving refugees. I saw women and children dying of hunger.[176]”

Serbian army in Albania in 1913.
The Habsburg envoy in Belgrade said that Serbian authorities sponsored and tolerated the harsh treatment of Albanians (plunder, arson, and executions) in the “liberated lands”.[177] The German newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung received reports, confirmed by impartial European observers, that massacres were being committed against various local communities in Macedonia and Albania by Bulgarians, Serbs, and Greeks.[154] According to the newspaper, the Serbian position was that the Albanian population “must be eradicated”.[154]

Darrell Crecanthorpe, a British official, wrote to Edward Grey from Belgrade on 25 September 1913 that the Albanian uprising against Serbian forces (according to the Austrians) was a consequence of Serbian occupation and massacre of civilians.[178] A Romanian doctor wrote in the Bucharest newspaper Adevarul on 6 January 1913 that the actions of the Serbian army in Kosovo were “far more terrible than can be imagined”.[179] As resistance in Ljum against Serbian troops continued, European public sentiment turned against Belgrade.[180] In 2006, Günter Schodl wrote that the atrocities in Kosovo were part of the first recorded ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.[181][182]

Denial
The war crimes committed by Serbian troops infuriated Serbian officials and historians; despite Serbian, British, and German reporting of the crimes, Nikola Pašić attempted to portray them as “a figment of foreign propaganda”.[183] ​​Denial continued, with the crimes being referred to as a “fight for freedom” (leading to the popular joke of “the final liberation of the cradle of Serbism and its occupied brethren”).[184]

In January 1913, the Serbian government forwarded a memorandum to British officials denying all allegations of crimes committed by the Serbian army, calling the reports “tendential rumors” and “untrue”, stating that its troops “devoted the most scrupulous attention to the rights of humanity”.[185]

In 2003, the Serbian Orthodox Church published a memorandum in which it claimed that “after the liberation of Kosovo and Metohija in 1912-13, there was no expulsion of the Albanian population from this area, nor did the Serbs take revenge on them”.[186]

Legality
of the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907
Although the Kingdom of Serbia signed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, it did not respect the 1907 agreement; Muslim civilians in Kosovo were abused and subjected to excessive violence.[187]

Aftermath
There are reliable statistics on the number of military casualties in the Balkan Wars.[166] There is a gap in research on civilian casualties (often members of the targeted ethnic or religious group) because the statistics have been interpreted for partisan purposes.[166] The wars created many refugees, some of whom fled to Istanbul or Anatolia.[188] After the creation of Albania, Albanian refugees (especially Muslims) also fled to Turkey.[188] Serbian control was challenged by the Ohrid-Debar Uprising in the autumn of 1913; its suppression by Serbian forces resulted in the arrival of tens of thousands of Albanian refugees into Albania from western Macedonia.[189] According to Freundlich, the Albanian refugee population in the city of Shkodra numbered 8,000–10,000; 7,000 refugees were each in Shala and Ibal.[190]

Edwin Pezo wrote that part of the large refugee population in northern Albania probably came from Kosovo.[191] The lack of assistance from the new Albanian government and the restrictions on Albanian immigration by the Ottomans forced many refugees to return home, often to destroyed homes.[191] Survivors of the Balkan Wars, such as those in Skopje, often did not speak about their experiences.[134] The Middle East published an article in 1921 about Albanian deputies who told the Conference of Ambassadors in Tirana on 1 August that between 1913 and 1920, Serbian forces had killed 85,676 Albanian civilians in Kosovo and that a number of villages had been burned. They also said that the Black Hand had brought Russian colonists to settle in regions where Albanians had been killed or expelled.[192] The Kosovo Committee claimed that Serbian and Montenegrin forces in Kosovo killed 200,000 Albanians from the end of the Balkan Wars until 1919.[8]

As a result of the Treaty of London of 1913, which awarded former Ottoman lands to Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece (most of the Kosovo Vilayet was awarded to Serbia), an independent Albania was recognized; Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro agreed to withdraw from the new Principality of Albania. The principality included only about half of the territory inhabited by ethnic Albanians, however, and many Albanians remained in neighboring countries.[193] Two invasions of Albania by the Serbian army (in 1913 and May 1915) resulted in attacks by Albanian snipers on the army during its retreat, partly in retaliation for Serbian brutality in the First Balkan War.[194][195][196] After the Balkan Wars, massacres of Albanians continued throughout World War I.

The Balkan Wars led Serbian forces to see themselves as “liberators”, and non-Serbs became concerned about their place in the new reality.[146] The current Serbian view of the Balkan Wars is that they were the “final” struggle to liberate “the cradle of Serbdom and [its] occupied brethren”.[146]

Violent events, such as those in Skopje, are omitted from Macedonian and Yugoslav history.[134] Most Albanian and Kosovo history books present the attack on the Ottoman state to liberate Greeks, Serbs, and Albanians from bad rule in a positive light,[197] viewing the arrival (and behavior) of Serbian, Greek, and Montenegrin military forces in Albania as chauvinistic and unjustified.[197] The “liberation” of the Albanian population by military force (especially by the Serbian and Montenegrin armies of the Balkan League) is described as an “invasion by the enemy” or long-standing “enemies”.[197] In Albania and Kosovo, this understanding of the Balkan Wars is part of the educational curriculum.[197]
During 1998–99 War crimes similar to those of 1912 were committed against the Albanian population.[151] These events profoundly affected relations between Albania and Serbia.[198]

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Serbian and Montenegrin massacres, atrocities and war crimes in the Albanian villages of Burim (East) (1912-1999)

Photo: Screenshot from a 1960s socialist film set in the East (Burimi).

Summary

Between 1912 and 1999, Serbian and Montenegrin occupying forces committed many war crimes and atrocities against the Albanian civilian population in the villages of Burim (East). Many Serbian and Montenegrin (Slav) colonists also settled in Albanian villages whose inhabitants were expelled or killed. The infamous Chetnik paramilitary commander Milić Krstić (Milić Kerstić) is alleged to have killed many Albanian civilians.

Arbana (Oroberda)
In 1919, Serbian and Montenegrin gendarmerie burned down several towers and killed several people. Seven Kačak families were resettled to Albania between 1924 and 1934. During this period, 12 families of Serbian and Montenegrin immigrants settled in this village, mostly in Kačak houses and properties.

Before the Serbian aggression in 1998-99, the village had 120 Albanian houses (not counting the Hakaj neighborhood). All Albanian houses were burned and destroyed, except for 5 houses that survived. 14 people were killed from this settlement, 3 of whom were martyrs. The population was expelled from the village on March 28, 1999 and took refuge in Rožaje, then in Albania, part of it in Tuz and Ulcinj. Ladža Hakaj administratively belongs to Arbana.

The current inhabitants settled here 150-200 years ago and came from Hakaj and Rugova. In 1938, the family of Sokol Hakaj moved to Izmir, Turkey. In 1999, this place was burned for the third time, by Montenegrin Serbs. Before the war, this settlement had 35 houses with 350 Albanian inhabitants. All were burned, except for those that were not rebuilt. Two people died, and one is missing. The population was displaced to the mountains on April 20, 1999, then to Rozaje, later to Ulcinj and Shkodra.

Arbneši (Serbobrani)
In 1999, all 15 Albanian houses in the village were burned down by Serbian forces.

Baja (Banja)
During the 1998–99 war, Serbian forces destroyed 115 houses. Two villagers were killed and one is missing. On 27 March 1999, the Albanian population was forced to flee towards Montenegro.

Banjeza (Banjica)
In 1999, Serbian forces burned down 15 Albanian houses and killed four villagers. On April 26, 1999, the Albanian population left the village and headed towards Montenegro.

Begaj (Lukafci and Begut)
In 1999, Serbian forces destroyed 53 Albanian houses. Three villagers were killed, including one identified as a martyr. On March 29, 1999, the Albanian population was forced to flee towards Rozaja and Albania.

Istog (Dubova) area
The Serbian-Montenegrin troops burned the settlement three times: in 1912, 1944 and 1999. During the 1999 war, 32 Albanian houses were burned and six Albanian civilians from the village were killed. On 12 April 1999, the population was expelled to Montenegro and then to Albania.

Kašica (in the Istog region) –
in 1999, Serbian forces killed 12 villagers, one of whom is considered a martyr. On May 8, 1999, the population was deported to Albania. The aggressor burned down 142 Albanian houses, a school and a mosque. In the upper part of the mahala, 5 villagers were killed (one martyr). In the lower part of the mahala, on August 29, 1998, eight members of the Salihaj family and their nephew Nazmi Gashi from Vojnik near Skenderaj were massacred.

Ljubožda (in the extended area)
During the 1999 war, Serbian forces burned down about 110 Albanian houses. Five Albanian civilians were killed, including four martyrs; a fourteen-year-old boy is missing. The population was expelled to Montenegro and Albania on 24 March 1999.

Occasions / Hot Springs Area

1913-1921

The population of Prigoda suffered greatly from the Serbian occupiers. In 1921, Milić Kerstić’s gang killed the entire family of Dan Drešaj and Mahmut Dema, along with their sons Rama and Šabani, and their daughter Zoja.

Then they killed Istref Selimi and his son Sila with Latif Zeqiri, when they were in the mountains guarding their cattle. Statistical notes: In 1921 there were 40 houses with 275 inhabitants, in 1948 – 49 houses with 343 inhabitants, in 1981 – 70 houses with 702 inhabitants (646 Albanians, 1 Serb, 3 Montenegrins, 51 Muslims, 1 other). In the winter of 1913, Serbian military forces imprisoned 27 men from the village of Vrelo and after torture many of them died.

1998.

During the 1998–99 war, Serbian forces burned down 399 Albanian houses, two historic towers, a village health clinic, a factory, a library with over 8,000 books, and partially damaged a school and a mosque. Twenty-eight villagers were killed, including seven martyrs, and seven people are missing. The population fled the village between 11 and 14 April 1999 towards Rožaja in Montenegro, and then towards Ulcinj and Albania.

Uče area (Istok)
In the winter of 1912, Serbian gangs under the command of Milić Kirstić with gendarmes rounded up 28 selected Albanian men from the Istok region and imprisoned them in the Đurić mill in Istok, where they were beaten to death and their skulls crushed. On 17 July 1920, Serbian forces rounded up 9 villagers, imprisoned them in a tower and burned them alive, then burned and looted the village. During the 1998–99 war, Serbian forces burned down 19 Albanian houses and killed five villagers, including an elderly man, two children aged about 10, and two young women. The population was expelled to Albania on 8 May 1999.

Žalac area (East region)
In May 1922, the Serbian gendarmerie killed Islam Zagradza with 15 companions and burned 13 houses in Žalac.

Gurakoc area
When the Serbian and Montenegrin armies returned after 1912, many houses were burned, and some Albanians were killed and massacred. In the summer of 1920, gangs under the command of Milić Kirstić killed several shepherds and three villagers from Ljukafči and Begut. Before the aggression of 1999, Serbian forces burned 135 Albanian houses, and later many Serbian houses. One civilian was killed. The population was expelled from the village on 28 March 1999 to Albania and Montenegro.

Lower East

In the summer of 1919, gangs of the notorious Duke Milić Kerstić rounded up dozens of Albanians and killed 64 of them. According to the newspaper “Kosova”, on February 15, 1920, these gangs killed Hysen Sejdiu along with his five sons, and also killed Keko Bajra, Emin Bajra, Ramiz Selman Ljožani, Murat Kostari and ninety other souls, women, children, elderly people and women, wrote “Kosova” from Constanta. According to this newspaper, the tragedy began around 10 am and ended around 1 pm. According to this newspaper, the Serbs killed and looted property.

Serke

This village suffered greatly after the Serbian-Montenegrin invasion of 1912. In 1912, Serbs and Montenegrins killed 25 villagers and burned three houses. In this village, in 1938, the brave Selman Kadrija killed the notorious Serbian duke, Milić Kerstić, the great oppressor of the Albanian people.

Darda (Zhakova)

Due to the actions of the notorious Serbian duke Milić Krstić, around 1920, 3 Albanian residents of this village died from torture. After 1920, 4 families moved to Turkey (Uroševac, Hajzeraj, Salihaj). Statistical notes: In 1918, there were 260 inhabitants (7 Albanian families with 60 inhabitants and 18 Serbian families with 200 inhabitants). In 1948, there were 74 houses with 507 inhabitants. In 1981, there were 86 houses with 519 inhabitants (302 Albanians, 214 Serbs, 2 Montenegrins, 1 other).

According to the 1991 Serbian census, the village had 164 Serbian and 2 Montenegrin inhabitants. In 1999, the village had 73 Albanian houses with 429 inhabitants and 20 Serbian houses with 165 inhabitants. As a result of the war, all Albanian houses were burned and destroyed, as well as Serbian ones. The Albanian population was deported to Albania and Montenegro.

Gasaj (Šušica)

The Serbian criminal, the notorious Duke Milić Kerstići, also committed crimes in Šušica. According to historical documents, he shot 8 Albanians in this settlement in the spring of 1921, and another 10 in July of the same year. Between the two world wars, 70 immigrant families settled in this settlement.

Statistical notes: In 1871 there were 25 Albanian houses, in 1903 3 Serbian families were registered, possibly from the nearby village of Belopoje. In 1921 there were 85 houses with 702 inhabitants. In 1942 812 inhabitants were registered, of whom 414 were men and 398 were women. In 1948 there were 160 houses, 1139 inhabitants. In 1981 there were 195 houses with 1723 inhabitants (1672 Albanians, 13 Serbs, 38 Montenegrins).

According to the 1991 Serbian census, there were 9 Serbs, 6 Montenegrins and 4 Croats. At the beginning of 1999, the village had 240 houses, with 2,395 Albanian inhabitants. 142 houses, a school and a village mosque were burned by the Serbian aggressor. From the upper settlement, 5 people were killed, one of whom was a martyr, while from the lower settlement, eight members of the Salihaj family and their nephew from Vojnik Skenderaj, Nazmi Gashi, were massacred on 29 August 1998. On 14 April, the population was deported to Albania. The homes of Serbs and Montenegrins were later destroyed.

Krasnić (Kovraga)

In 1919, Milić Kerstić’s gang surprised 12 men and burned them in an Albanian tower in the Pitulić neighborhood. In addition to the Šiti family, several Verbić families also moved to Turkey in 1924. In the period between the two world wars, the Serbian-Montenegrin government settled 31 immigrant families here, Serbian and Montenegrin, mainly in Gornja and Srednja Kovrag.

According to the registry of these colonies, from 1926 to 1938, the Serbian government settled 74 immigrant families with 331 members in these areas: Kovrag, Verić and Gurakoc. This colony, as has been said and stated many times, was formed by Serbian strategic policies, due to the fact that these settlements are located along the Peć-Mitrovica highway.

Statistical notes: At the end of the 19th century there were 10 houses, including 4 towers, in 1921 there were 42 houses with 348 inhabitants, in 1948 – 84 houses with 513 inhabitants, in 1981 – 156 houses with 1084 inhabitants (622 Albanians, 229 Serbs, 29 Montenegrins, 174 Muslims, 30 others).

According to the 1991 Serbian census (the Albanians boycotted the census), there were 429 Serbs and 1 Yugoslav in Kovrag. On the eve of the war, Kovrag had 120 Albanian houses with about 800 inhabitants and about 30 Serbian and Montenegrin houses with about 200 inhabitants, 12 Bosniak and 12 Ashkali. According to informants, 120 houses were burned and destroyed in this settlement during the 1999 war, including Serbian and Montenegrin ones.

Uka

This settlement suffered greatly from Serbian barbarity. In the winter of 1912, gangs of Milić Kerstić and gendarmes gathered 28 selected men from the Istok district and imprisoned them in the Đurić mill in Istok. These selected Albanians were beaten to death, and even had their heads crushed with millstones until they died. Among them were men from Uča.

On July 17, 1920, the Serbs took 9 people and imprisoned them in a tower where they burned them alive, and then burned and looted the village. When Serbia returned to Kosovo in 1918, new crimes occurred. Thus, “Kosovo” from Constanta, Romania, wrote in 1932: “In the village of Uča, the Serbs captured Murat Rexhep Selman with 8 friends and sent them to the tower in Kovragë. They tied his hands and feet, locked him inside and set the tower on fire, burning them alive. Then they returned and burned and looted the village.”

In 1923, a family of settlers with 5 members was colonized, and other Serbian families also arrived, one from Rakosh originally from Kuršumlija, and another in 1953 from Kolašin and Ibar. During this period and until the end of the communist and partisan violence in the early 1960s, more than 70 people from this settlement died. Due to the violence of the Serbian government, many families from this settlement moved to Albania and Turkey.

In 1924, the Halitaj family left for Albania with 25 members, half of whom died on the way. They settled in Katundi e Ri, near Durrës. The family of Ferat Bardi also moved to Roshbul in Albania in 1920, the family of Sali Idrizi went to Albania in 1918. The families of Ramadan Hyseni and Ibish Tal also settled in Albania at that time. The three brothers of the Smajlaj family moved to Turkey in 1956.

Statistical notes: According to the guide J. Miller, in 1838 Uča had 10 houses with 50 inhabitants, in 1918 there were 60 Albanian families with 700 inhabitants, in 1948 – 83 houses with 725 inhabitants, in 1981 – 124 houses with 1160 inhabitants (1147 Albanians, 13 Serbs). According to the 1991 census of the Republic of Serbia, this settlement had 17 Serbs. At the beginning of 1999 there were about 150 houses.

The Serbian aggressor burned and destroyed all the houses along with the auxiliary buildings, only the school and the village mosque survived, which were damaged. Two people were burned to death, one martyr died in Kosare. Before the war, in the defense of the Albanian school, on January 31, 1992, three residents of this village were killed.

The population left the village on March 27, 1999 and settled in Velika Fuša. They stayed there for a few days, then went to Rožaja, and from there to Ulcinj and Albania. Some stayed in Vojdol.

Dasami (Saradani)

The Serbian massacres in this settlement never stopped. According to the newspaper “Kosova” published by Albanian emigrants in Constanta, Romania, Serbian forces killed Šaban Hajdari and burned four houses here on May 22, 1922. Only Albanians lived in this settlement. After 1928, the colonization of Serbs and Montenegrins began. At that time, 9 immigrant families settled here.

Around 1956, 2 Elshani families, 3 Kabashi families and 1 Mavraj family moved to Turkey, and one Elshani family went to Albania. In 1918, the Serbs burned down several towers of great cultural and historical importance. Statistical notes: Around 1905 there were 20 Albanian houses, in 1921 there were 40 houses with 445 inhabitants. In 1948 there were 91 houses with 706 inhabitants, in 1981 there were 129 houses with 1605 inhabitants (1585 Albanians, 4 Serbs, 16 Montenegrins).

According to the 1991 Serbian census, the village had 3 Serb inhabitants, the Albanians boycotted the census. At the end of 1998, this village had 265 houses, with 2115 Albanian inhabitants and only one Serbian family. In 1999, the Serbian aggressor burned and destroyed 84 houses and 22 other buildings. 15 people were killed and massacred, mostly young people, including two martyrs, while two are missing.

A mass grave with 14 victims was discovered in the Mavraj neighborhood (9 from Saradrani, 2 from Žabljak, 2 from Naberđan and 1 from Sverka e Pejs). From 6 to 8 May 1999, the population was deported to Albania and Montenegro. The school and the clinic were also damaged. This village was previously home to more than 70,000 residents from various parts of Kosovo.

Dreja

In 1919, the Serbian army burned the village and killed two locals, six residents of the nearby village of Šalinovc and a friend of the house. The Kokaj family also died in this massacre. In the period between the two world wars, 4 families of Montenegrin immigrants settled here.

According to the 1921 census, Dreja had 12 houses with 60 inhabitants, in 1948 there were 31 houses with 197 inhabitants, in 1981 there were 50 houses with 438 inhabitants (12 Serbs, 2 Montenegrins, 10 Muslims). According to the 1991 Serbian census, there were 14 Serbs and 11 Egyptians here.

Before the Serbian aggression in the spring of 1999, Dreja had 68 families, with about 300 Albanian inhabitants. 6 Ashkali families, 2 Serbian families with 8 inhabitants, while in the outside world there were 224 inhabitants. One person was killed. The population was expelled and settled in other villages on March 27, 1999, and deported to Albania on May 8 of that year.

Drejana (Dubrava)

The Albanian population was deported to Rožaja in Montenegro on 28 March 1999, and then to Ulcinj and Albania. This place was (and still is) the site of the infamous Dubrava prison, where Serbian forces killed and massacred 97 Albanian prisoners from all parts of Kosovo between 19 and 22 May of that year.

There is evidence that many more people were killed in that massacre. Some prisoners from that time are still missing, among them the Albanian intellectual, Mr. Ukshin Hoti. A KFOR base was established in this locality after the war.

The Bridge in Zalci (Hurray in Zalci)

In 1999, Serbs burned and shelled 33 Albanian houses. 5 KLA members were martyred in this settlement, 3 people were killed before the offensive, 2 people were taken from a column of displaced persons and massacred, all young people. On May 8, 1999, all residents were deported to Albania.

Frashni (Zabalci)

In 1999, Serbs burned and shelled 33 Albanian houses. 5 KLA members were martyred in this settlement, 3 people were killed before the offensive, 2 people were taken from a column of displaced persons and massacred, all young people. On May 8, 1999, all residents were deported to Albania.

Gurasi (Sudenica)

During the attack on the village on April 13, 1999, 263 houses were burned and destroyed, the village mosque, built in 1803, was shelled and partially burned, as well as the cultural center. On April 23, 9 people were executed and massacred, including four girls and four old men.

A communal cemetery was discovered in the village. The population was expelled to Montenegro on April 13, and then to Albania. During the war, a large mass of the Albanian population, expelled from other parts of the Istog municipality, resided in this settlement for a time.

Calicans

Before the Serbian aggression, there were 153 houses with 1,630 inhabitants. More than 98 percent of the village was burned, and several towers of cultural and historical value were also burned and destroyed, such as the three-story Laš Uka tower, with its characteristic style.

The village mosque, the cultural center, the school and its documentation were burned. 4 villagers and 43 refugees who were here were killed, among those killed and massacred were women, the elderly, even children and the sick. Among the massacred were eight members of the Rugova family from Cerce, whose bodies were burned by the Serbs. On April 13, the population took refuge in the mountains, and then moved to Rozaja, and then further to Ulcinj and Shkodra, Tuz and Malesi e Mahe.

Pemista (Paladishta)

In 1998, the settlements belonging to the municipality of Skenderaj had 90 houses with Albanian inhabitants. Only 11 houses escaped being burned by the Serbian occupier. 7 inhabitants were killed (one woman), among them two martyrs. In the settlements belonging to the municipality of Istok there are 50 houses, 70% of which were burned. 20 inhabitants were killed here (19 from the Imeraj family). A mass grave (Te Kodra e Rakošit) was discovered with 97 people killed in the Dubrava prison massacre.

Dance

Before the Serbian aggression in 1998-99, Rakoshi had 160 Albanian houses with 1050 inhabitants, 6 Serbian houses with 22 inhabitants and one Roma family with 8 members. The aggressor burned 141 houses, and then Serbian houses were burned in revenge. Three people are considered missing. The mass grave on Rakoshi’s predprak is believed to contain the remains of massacred people from Dubrava prison, who were from all parts of Kosovo.

Trugubok

At the end of 1998, there were about 100 houses with 750 Albanian inhabitants. The Serbian army destroyed and burned 62 houses, 3 inhabitants were killed, 2 of whom were martyred, and one young man was massacred. On May 8, 1999, the population was expelled towards Montenegro and Albania.

Verishta (Luga)

Before the Serbian aggression in 1998-99, this settlement had 126 houses with 887 inhabitants. The aggressors burned 49 houses, killed 4 people, of whom a man and a woman were massacred and thrown into a well, and a teacher was martyred. On March 27, 1999, the population was deported to Albania and Montenegro.

Source

Taken from the book by Dr. Jusuf Osmani: “Settling Kosovo – Source (Istogu)”. Prepared for publication by: Rustem Rugova

Massacres of Albanians during and after the Serb withdrawal in Albania and Kosovo in 1915

During the Great Retreat, many crimes were committed against the Albanian population. Despite this, the Albanian tribes allowed Serbian soldiers to pass through the mountains.[1][2]
Serbian soldiers committed many crimes against the population of Struga and Dibra during the retreat.[3] In the book “Serbia in the Great War”, author Dušan T. Bataković does not mention the crimes committed at all.[4]

Background
According to Justin McCarthy, in 1915 Serbian and Bulgarian forces entered the Bitola region, in Kičevo and Kruševo in Bitola, and burned between 19 and 36 villages. 503 men, 27 women, and 25 children were killed, and 600 houses were burned.[5][6]

In 1916, Serbian Chetnik forces visited the Dervenda region, killing civilians and burning the villages of Merova, Ljerca, Čiflik, and Deberca to the ground.[7][8]

Kosovo
Macedonia
According to a Bulgarian report from 1917, in the regions of Prilep, Veles and Kerch, Vasilije Trbić stated that 2,000 Albanians, mostly women and children, were killed. Many women, aged 10 and above, were abused by Bulgarian forces.[9]

Tetovo
In 1915, a young Albanian boy shot a Serbian soldier in the village of Derbeca in Tetovo. The Serbian army demanded that the village surrender. The villagers refused, resulting in the massacre of the entire village.[10][11][12]

Debrecen
On 22 July 2015, the 100th anniversary of the massacre of Albanian men in Debrecen was marked. A total of 73 men were killed by Serbian soldiers in 1916.[13]

Gostivar
According to Bulgarian sources, in the village of Doberdol 50 houses were burned and 10 people were killed, while in the village of Vrapčišt one house and two shops were burned.[14] In the village of Čegran 20 people were killed, in Čajl 7, and in the village of Kalište 100 houses were completely burned, and most of the villagers were killed. Meanwhile, in the Tetova district, in the village of Pirok 8 people were killed, and in Negotin 30 houses were burned and 12 people were killed. Between Grupčin and Želina about 100 villagers were shot.[15][16]
In Gradec 50 houses were burned and 150 people were killed, about 200 people were killed on the road from the Skopje prison to Kačanik and Uroševac.[17][18]

Ohrid
In the Ohrid region, 30 villages were burned, and in Struga, Debar, Mavrovo and Gostivar, 180 villages were looted and burned.[19][20]

Polog
In the Polog region, the Serbian army committed many atrocities against the Albanian population.[21][22] In order not to “tarnish” the “heroic image” of Serbian soldiers, war crimes committed by Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers against Albanians are rarely mentioned in Serbian school textbooks.[23]

References

1. 
   State, United States Department of State (1947). Documents Relating to Foreign Relations of the United States. United States Government Printing Office. p. 741. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
2. “The Origin of the Shiptare Family of the Serb Terrorists”. Telegrafi (in Albanian). No. Telegrafi recalls that Peter I, who committed cruel crimes against Albanians during the Balkan Wars and World War I, was quoted in the Belgrade press at the time of his rise to power as coming from the famous Albanian tribe of Kelmendi. It is also said that the Kelmendi protected him during the retreat of the Serbian army through Albania in 1915, where major crimes were also committed, because they considered him their heir. April 12, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
3. Vladimir Cvetkovski, Lady Paget’s Report on Skopje during the First World War, in: “History”, no. 1-2, Skopje, 1982, issue 2010-2011.
4. Batakovic, Dušan T. LA SERBIE DANS LA GRANDE GUERRE. Temoignages, memoires et écrits historiques francais, Belgrade: Bibliothèque Nationale de Serbia, 2016. Accessed 23. 8. 2023.
5. Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922. March 1, 1996. p. 183
6. “Eshtrat ne shstepine e Ali Ahmetit: ja cfare shkruan Justin McCarthy mbi masakrat serbo-bullgare ne Kercove 54455-kot-655”. Accessed 12 August 2023.
7. Photo archive is the Arkivit Kendror Shteteror (Public State Archive of Photographs). Fund 812, file 8. p. 11. Published in 1944.
8. http://www.arkiva.gov.al/kerko/fototeka
9. DARM, Skopje, F. VII-Belgrade, M. VIII/90, No. 5685, January 5, 1917, Dragomanci, Report and Vasilije Trbić, Chetnik commander, January 5, 1917, Dragomanci.
10. “Skhiptars are not like the law, they are Skhiptarins: I have been here since 1915, and I have not been in Debrece.” StrugaLajm.
11. Malysheva, TV (July 10, 2022). “Viti 1915, dite Bajrami, historia e lavdishme e shkiptareve te fshatit Debrece te Tetoves”. MALYSHEVA. Accessed August 23, 2023.
12. “ASHQ-Tirana, fund 810, file 110. Published in 1944. Certified and signed by the mayor of the municipality of Želine, Abdiraman Reka. “In the village of Deberce, where all the men of this village were slaughtered, in the Polog Uprising of 1915, when the Serbian army withdrew from Polog and the Bulgarian invaders first came from these parts. So, based on the evidence we have in the village of Deberce, during the Polog Uprising of 1915, not 72, but 78 people were killed, and they were buried on the main road Skopje-Tetovo, in a place called “Klisura”. “
13. “Shenohet 100 winds and massacres are raging in Debrecen”. makedoni2.rssing.com. Accessed August 23, 2023.
14. AQSH (Photo Library of the Central State Archives). Report of Consul Jelicka from Skopje, dated September 3, 1913.
15. AKSH (Photo Library of the Central State Archives) fund 810, file 110, p2. “The Chetnik detachments that massacred the innocent population were led by these Chetniks Krsto Trajča, Zdrav Mićko, Gine Mićko, Nesor Angjeli, Sime Novja, Ugrin Trpe, Kuzman Stefanovski and Mladen Llazari, etc.
16. https://archive.ph/u69Hl
17. K. Grigorov, Serbian Cruelties in Macedonia (1912-1915, Sofia). p-28.
18. https://archive.ph/u69Hl
19. Masar Kodra. “The Macedonians were attacked by the Dite Boterore 1939-1944”. Kumanovo. p-13. Author Petar Stojanov, p-158.
20. https://archive.ph/u69Hl
21. Document from “and foreign policy”. Document number 331; telegram from Nedić from Sofia to the Serbian government from September 14 to 27, 1913.
22. https://archive.ph/u69Hl
23. Janjetović, Zoran (December 1, 2002). From Enemies to Friends and Back (There is one gruesome aspect of the First Balkan War that is never mentioned in Serbian textbooks. These are Serbian war crimes against Albanians. The crimes were initially started by Montenegrins, but Serbian troops soon joined in. Although the number of victims is not precisely known to this day, the fact that the massacres took place is indisputable24. However, in order not to tarnish the heroic image of Serbian soldiers, their crimes are never mentioned in Serbian school textbooks. ed.). pp. 245–260. Retrieved August 21, 2023.

Massacres of Albanians by Serbian paramilitary formations in 1912-13.

In 1912-13, Serbian paramilitaries led by Bog Vojvode committed many atrocities against the Albanian population in the villages of Gostivar.[1] A total of 18 villages were razed to the ground, namely Debreš, Zdunje, Bajnica, Simnica, Genovici, Lakavica, Cerovo, Vrapčište, Senakos, Dobridoll, Kalište, Kafe, Čegran, Rečan, Vrutok, Mirdita and Dufe. 859 men and 78 women and children were killed.[2][3]

Senakos
According to Bulgarian sources,
170 innocent villagers were massacred in the municipality of the village of Senakos.[4]

Vrapčišt
In the village of Vrapčišt, Serbian Chetniks led by Jovan Troyan, Cena Stefani, Gligor Vasilije, Manol Krstić, and Stojan Cocol tortured 18 Albanians to death.[5] The village was burned, and the inhabitants were expelled to Turkey.

Debreš
In the village of Debreš, 7 people were killed by Serbian troops led by Desa Smilov, Mate Đorđe, Drago Lazar, Marko Duka, Simon Gruja and Boško Novak.[6]

Simnica
After previously committing a massacre, Serbian troops, led by Dimitar Đoko, returned and massacred 18 Albanians in the village of Simnica.[7]

Đonovica
Barely 8 days after the crime in Simnica, Serbian Chetniks returned to the village of Đonovica and killed 8 men, burned 9 houses full of people, where 13 men and 7 girls and women died. In these crimes, the following were killed: Halil Mislimi with his family of 7, Ćail Mersini with his family of 4, Đelil Mersini with his family of 5, Nazif Ibishi with his son, while his brother Zenko Ibishi managed to survive with 3 burned limbs.[8]

Cerrove
In the village of Cerrove, Serbian troops accused the villagers of participating in the September Uprising and for this killed 9 villagers: Beqir Rustemi, Rushan Rustemi, Rustem Beluli, Tahir Izeiri, Fejzo Aliyu, Maksut Dehari, Osman Sahiti, Ali Jonuzi and Abe.[9]

Miredit e Vogel
After the massacres in Ravenna and Zdunje, Serbian Chetniks surrounded the village of Mirdite and killed Jonuz Xhelili and his son Kazim, while 10 more people were tied up and taken to the village of Bajnica, and massacred together with Hysen Nuredini, Kail Sadiku, Pajazit Riza Ahmeti, Haymit Riza Ahmeti. Pajaziti, Mehmet Limani, Iliaz Limani and Zulfikar Lazami.[11][12]

Zdunje and Raven
After suppressing the Albanian uprising, the Serbian army entered
the village of Raven and killed 17 men and two women. Afterwards, 40 Albanians were captured in the village under the command of Đorđe Bilbili and Smilko Pčeková, who massacred them with bayonets. 35 men and 14 women were killed.[13]

Čegran
The inhabitants of Čegran participated in the September Uprising. The Serbian army rounded up 52 of the inhabitants, while 18 others were killed. The others were told that they would be taken to Gostivar, where they were killed by the roadside and thrown into the Vardar River. These killings were ordered by the Chetnik commander Risto Turcani, who received assistance from the deputy secretary of the Gostivar Prefecture.[14][15]

Ćafa
In the village of Ćafa, Serbo-Czech soldiers killed 33 men and 32 women. As this was happening, a girl named Sultana grabbed a pair of scissors and killed the Chetnik commander Stojan and his nephew Mihajlo Josifović. Two more Chetniks were killed, until the soldiers opened fire and killed her.[16]

In Bajnica
in 1913, after the September Uprising, Chetnik detachments led by Mihajlo Dimitriji, Bogdan Mihajliji, Krsto Trajc, Zdrav Micko, Gine Micko, Nestor Anđelji, Simo Novja, Ugrin Trpe, Kuzman Stefani and Mladen Llaze killed many Albanians. Among them were Te vrarit Fetah Emini, Hasan Imeri, Demir Hokha and Imer Tusha etj[17][18]

In the village of Lakavica, 4 villagers were also killed.[19  ]

Lapkindol
In 1912–13, in the village of Lapkindol, 26 people were massacred and the village burned. 5 people were massacred in the village of Lagje and 6 people in the village of Kolibar. In the village of Kolar, 7 people were massacred. The villages of Lešnica, Dragomišta, Tukhini and many others were looted by Serbian gangs. Similar crimes were committed during Bulgarian rule.[20][21]

Rečan
With the arrival of the Albanian army from the Diber side under the command of Emin Bey, the residents of Rečan under the command of the village imam Mula Imer and Halil Shek took up arms and attacked the Serbian army, which retreated towards the village of Zdunje. But, with the reoccupation of these villages, the commander of the Serbian army called the men to the village square, but the men left the village and fled to the mountains. The Serbian command issued an order that if the men did not return, their children would be taken hostage. The rebels decided to return. On that occasion, 86 people were captured, tied up and shot at a place called “Lamet e Katundi”.[22][23][24]

References

1. AKSH (Central Public Archives). Tirana. Fund 23 file 28, “Memoirs of Abdilakim Doganit”, p. 67
2. Pajaziti, Ali. SHKIPTARET E REKES SE EPERME. p. 373. Accessed August 23, 2023.
3. Vebi Xhemaili, “Shqiptaret e Makedonise nga Kriengritja e Dervish Tsares” 1843-1913. Dibres 1913, Tetove 2012, p. 684.
4. G. Grigorov. “Serbian Atrocities in Macedonia” (1912-1915) Quoted on p. 9.
5. AKSH (Central Public Archives) in Tirana. Fond 812, dos 8, p-9. Published 1944; Ne fshatin Vrapcisht nga maltretimi kane vdekur keta persona: Amza Ameti, Akhi Ameti, Jonuz Memeti, Amit Elamzi, Jusuf Alili, Izer Xhemali; kerkojme ndjese pasi nuk disponojme komplet me listen e te vrareve.
6. Ali Payaziti. “SHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p.376.
7. Ali Payaziti. “SHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-378.
8. Ali Payaziti. “SHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-379.
9. Albanian newspaper “Atdheu”, published on September 13, 1913.
10. “SKHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-379.
11. AKSH-Tirana (Central Public Archives) Fund 812, dos.8 p-11, published 1944.
12. “SHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-383.
13. “SKHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-382.
14. AKSH-Tirana, Fund 812. Dos. 8 pp.-11, Published 1944.
15. “SHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-384.
16. “Shkhiptaret is Rekes, we are Eperme”. p-385-86.
17. “SHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-377.
18. AKSH (Central Public Archives) Tirana. Collections 812, file 8, p.9 Published 1944.
19. “SHKIPTARET IS REKES SE EPERME”. p-384.
20. “Not in 1913, in the mountains of the Kercove, I was not able to see.” Facts Ditor. October 12, 2016.
21. “Perlindja e Shkiperise”, 18 vjeshte e II, p-5. Vlora, 1913.
22. USA-Tirana (Central Public Archives). Fund 812, file 8, p. 1. Published 1944.
23. K. Grigorov, “Serbian Cruelties in Macedonia” (1912-1915).
24. Newspaper “Tomori”. Headline “Guests come to me and gyalle and Dibres se Madh”. Tirana. Published 15-17 September 1941.

September 7, 2023

Author and translator: Petrit Latifi.

Balkan Academy

A detailed report on the massacres of Albanians in Uroševo by Serbian troops in 1912.

In 1912, when Serbian troops entered Ferizaj, they massacred Albanian civilians in their homes. In the village of Sojevo, 40 people were killed. According to one interview, the entire Šićeri Beg family was massacred, a total of 9 people. According to Dr. Liman Rušit, 103 Albanians were killed in the village of Sazlija. Another 20 people were killed in Papaz. In the Komoglave region, 24 people were killed. All were executed in the courtyard of the village mosque. Based on information from the time, it is said that within five months, hundreds of unarmed men, women, the elderly and helpless and innocent children were killed and massacred. Many corpses were lost. However, the material damage was great, considering that many villages were razed to the ground.

List of people killed in villages:

Varosh 60 killed and 47 guests.Zllatar 12 killed. Prelez i Muhaxhirëve  40 killed. Bibaj 23 killed.Balaj 24 killed.Neredime e Poshtme 5 killed.Neredime e Epërme 6 killed. Dramjak 9 killed. Manastirc 4 killed. Jezerc 8 killed. Greme 37 killed.Papaz 20 killed.Burrnik 5 killed.

Reference

“Pushtimi Serb”, 1912. Link:  https://ferizajpress.com/pushtimi-serb-i-ferizajt-me-1912/

Serbian massacres of Albanian children in Orlan, Kaćanuel, Selc, Kolić, Šarban and Podujevo in 1919.

In 1919, after years of Serbian massacres of Albanians since 1912, a group of Serbian assassins armed themselves and traveled to Belgrade. There they greeted Alexander I of Serbia, son of King Peter, and explained to him that the Chetniks would once again attack the Albanians. Alexander accepted this policy, as did Peter.

After this meeting, the Chetniks gathered 500 comitadžija (paramilitary units) and began their journey towards Albanian territories. They arrived in Golak where they surrounded an Albanian house. After forcing the women out of the house, the Chetniks killed them with knives, and also killed a twelve-year-old boy whose intestines spilled out.

The Serbian Chetniks then went to slaughter many more Albanian children with knives. The Serbs then tied the children to haystacks and burned them alive, in front of the parents who dared to approach them.

The Chetniks then continued to kill many Albanians in the regions of Prapaštica, Količe, and Šarban, all the way to Podujevo.

Source

The song by Albanian folklorist Vesel Skrome “Chetniket ne Kekekolle”. (Chetniks in Kekekolle). Based on the testimonies of survivors from 1919.