Abstract

The Karadak massacres refer to a series of killings and other acts of violence reported against Albanian civilians in the Karadak region of the Preševo Valley and neighboring areas during the Second World War and its immediate aftermath. Between 1941 and 1945, the region was affected by armed conflict involving Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Chetnik, Partisan, and Albanian nationalist forces. Albanian historical and commemorative sources document atrocities in numerous villages, including Bugarinë, Muhaxhieret Ranatoc, Shushaja e Poshtme, Bilinica, Lagja Kukaj, Pecenë, Gruhali, Norçe, Linicë, Kokaj, Sllubica, Gosponica, Sopot, and Isëukaj.

Among the episodes most prominently preserved in local memory is the massacre at Isëukaj in the autumn of 1944. Local commemorative sources identify 98 Albanian victims, including men, women, children, and elderly people. Their names are recorded on a memorial at the site. Accounts from survivors and later commemorative publications describe executions, destruction of property, forced displacement, and other forms of violence. Some testimonies contain particularly severe allegations concerning the treatment of civilians before their deaths.

This article examines the historical context of the Karadak massacres, the reported events at Isëukaj, available testimony, the memorialization of the victims, and subsequent demands for preservation of the massacre site. It distinguishes between documented historical claims and allegations originating in oral testimony or later commemorative reporting. The available material indicates that the history of Isëukaj remains an important subject of Albanian collective memory and warrants further examination through archival, demographic, military, and forensic research.

Introduction

The Karadak region occupies a historically significant area encompassing parts of the present-day Preševo Valley and territories bordering Kosovo and North Macedonia. During the Second World War, the region became the scene of armed confrontation between competing political and military forces. The collapse of Yugoslav state authority, occupation by Axis forces, the activities of resistance movements, and conflicts between ethnic and political groups created conditions in which civilians were repeatedly exposed to violence.

The Albanian population of Karadak experienced a series of attacks during this period. Albanian historical accounts describe killings, destruction of homes and agricultural property, displacement, and other abuses in numerous villages. Although the precise total number of Albanian victims remains uncertain, the individual episodes documented in local sources demonstrate the scale and geographical spread of the violence.

The massacre at Isëukaj occupies a particularly prominent place in this historical memory. The village, also rendered in different sources as Isëvukaj, Iseukaj, or Iseuka, is associated with the killing of 98 Albanian civilians during the autumn of 1944. A memorial at the site bears the names of the victims and has subsequently become a place of annual commemoration.

Historical context

The violence in Karadak must be understood within the wider political and military conflict of occupied Yugoslavia during the Second World War. Serbian Chetnik formations, Macedonian and Serbian Partisan units, German and Bulgarian forces, and Albanian nationalist formations operated in or around the region. Their relationships varied according to military and political circumstances.

Chetnik formations fought both Axis forces and Albanian armed groups associated with the Axis camp. Partisan formations simultaneously fought occupation forces and sought to establish communist political control. Albanian nationalist formations, commonly referred to as Ballistët, sought to defend Albanian-populated territories and opposed both communist Partisan forces and, at various stages, other military formations.

The resulting conflict was not exclusively military. In several areas, civilian populations were attacked, villages were destroyed, and inhabitants were displaced. The distinction between combatant and civilian was frequently blurred, particularly during the final stages of the war in 1944 and 1945.

Reports concerning Blace, Preševo, provide one example of the violence attributed to Partisan forces. Albanian sources state that a Macedonian Partisan formation known as the “Bloody Brigade” killed 109 Albanians in the village and that another 128 Albanians were subsequently discovered in a mass grave. The chronology and precise number of victims vary among accounts and require comparison with archival evidence.

Other reports describe attacks against civilians in Isëukaj, Gosponica, Sopot, Sllubica, Kokaj, and surrounding settlements.

The events of 1944

The final year of the war was particularly violent in Karadak. As Axis forces retreated and Partisan formations expanded their territorial control, armed confrontations intensified throughout the region.

According to Albanian historical accounts, Serbian forces burned dozens of houses, shelters, and agricultural fields in Mucibaba on 30 November 1944 and during the beginning of December. These operations were followed by further military activity in the eastern part of Karadak and the Preševo area.

One account attributes killings in Isëukaj, Gosponica, Sllubica, and Kokaj to Serbian forces operating together with the Serbian XVI Brigade. The same source gives different casualty figures for some locations. In Isëukaj, one account refers to 93 victims, while the memorial and subsequent commemorative publications identify 98 victims.

This discrepancy is significant. The number 98 has become established in local memorial culture because the names of 98 victims are recorded on the Isëukaj monument. Nevertheless, a scholarly treatment should acknowledge that historical sources do not always provide identical figures.

The Isëukaj massacre

The massacre at Isëukaj is generally placed in the autumn of 1944. According to local historical and commemorative accounts, Albanian civilians were killed during an operation involving Serbian and Macedonian forces.

The victims are described as including men, women, children, and elderly people. The memorial at Isëukaj records 98 names and serves as the principal physical monument to those who died.

One recurring element in local testimony concerns the circumstances in which the inhabitants were taken from their homes. A particularly powerful image preserved in the oral history is that of the sofer, the traditional table prepared for a family meal. According to testimony reproduced in later commemorative reporting, Albanian families were interrupted while eating and were taken away by armed men.

Other survivor accounts describe executions and severe mistreatment. Some testimonies say that victims were placed in lime pits and killed there, while other accounts describe additional forms of torture. Several witnesses have stated that the screams of the victims could be heard in neighboring villages several kilometres away.

These descriptions constitute important oral testimony concerning the massacre. At the same time, the most graphic allegations should be treated as testimony attributed to survivors and later witnesses rather than as independently established facts unless corroborating archival, forensic, or contemporaneous documentary evidence is available.

The destruction of civilian life

The reported violence at Isëukaj formed part of a wider pattern of destruction affecting Albanian communities in Karadak.

Accounts of the period describe the burning of houses and agricultural property and the displacement of inhabitants. In one report, survivors from the region were described as arriving without clothing or shelter and sleeping in open fields.

Such accounts indicate that the consequences of the violence extended beyond the immediate loss of life. The destruction of houses, agricultural resources, and community infrastructure could permanently alter the demographic and economic structure of a village.

The broader demographic consequences of wartime violence in Karadak remain insufficiently documented. Establishing the number of people displaced or killed would require systematic examination of population registers, local administrative records, wartime documentation, refugee records, and post-war demographic sources.

Witnesses and historical memory

The historical reconstruction of the Karadak massacres has relied heavily on testimony from survivors and witnesses.

Albanian nationalist formations operating in the region during 1944 reportedly encountered the aftermath of attacks and collected information from survivors. Later historians, local researchers, and community organizations continued to record testimonies concerning the events.

Among the figures associated with the documentation or discussion of these events are historians and researchers including Fehmi Rexhepi, Ramadan Asllani, Hasan Alia, and Kurtesh Agushi. Local archival material from Gjilan, Skopje, and Kumanovo has also been cited in Albanian historical publications.

The evidentiary basis for the history of Karadak therefore consists of several different types of material: survivor testimony, oral histories, memorial inscriptions, regional archival records, historical publications, newspaper reports, and commemorative statements.

These categories of evidence have different historical value and limitations. Oral testimony can preserve details absent from official documentation, particularly concerning civilian experiences, but memories recorded decades after an event can also contain chronological or numerical inconsistencies. Archival sources may provide contemporary information but can themselves reflect the political priorities of the authorities that produced them.

A comprehensive history of the Karadak massacres would therefore benefit from a systematic comparison of these different bodies of evidence.

The Isëukaj memorial

The memorial at Isëukaj has become a central site of remembrance for the local Albanian community.

The monument records the names of 98 people identified as victims of the 1944 massacre. Annual commemorations have brought together relatives of victims, survivors, villagers, historians, educators, veterans, intellectuals, and members of the wider Albanian community.

One reported commemoration included approximately 200 participants. Speakers included historian Hasim Nuhiu, education veteran and activist Demush Berisha, representatives of veterans’ organizations, and survivors of the massacre.

Hasim Nuhiu, whose family was reportedly affected by the massacre, emphasized the importance of preserving the names and memory of the victims. In the commemorative account, he described the 98 victims as martyrs whose memory remained relevant to subsequent generations.

Demush Berisha likewise emphasized the historical role of the Karadak region and the participation of local Albanians in earlier phases of the Albanian national movement. His speech placed the Isëukaj victims within a broader narrative of political struggle and national history.

A surviving villager also addressed the gathering and recalled hearing the screams of victims from Isëukaj toward neighboring settlements. Such testimony has become part of the oral tradition through which the massacre is remembered locally.

The proposal for a national memorial park

The preservation of the Isëukaj massacre site has been a recurring demand during commemorative gatherings.

Participants have called for the area surrounding the memorial and the location associated with the massacre to be transformed into a national park or protected memorial area. The stated purpose is to preserve the memory of the victims and provide a permanent location for annual commemorations and historical education.

Such a proposal would represent a transition from a local monument to a formally protected historical site. It could potentially include preservation of the existing memorial, documentation of the victims’ names, historical interpretation, archival material, and educational facilities.

Any future development of the site would benefit from multidisciplinary historical research to establish the chronology and physical context of the events as precisely as possible.

Conclusion

The Karadak massacres form part of a broader history of wartime violence experienced by Albanian communities in the Preševo Valley and surrounding regions between 1941 and 1945. The available Albanian historical and commemorative sources describe killings and destruction across numerous villages and identify Isëukaj as one of the most significant sites of civilian loss.

The massacre at Isëukaj is commemorated through a memorial listing 98 victims. Survivor testimony and later reports describe the killing of civilians, destruction of homes, displacement, and severe mistreatment. Some of the most detailed allegations derive from oral testimony and should therefore be distinguished from claims that can be independently established through contemporary archival or forensic evidence.

The continuing commemorations at Isëukaj demonstrate the importance of the site within the historical memory of the Albanian population of Karadak. The proposal to preserve the location as a national memorial park reflects an effort to protect the physical site and transmit the memory of the victims to future generations.

Further research should focus on establishing a comprehensive documentary record of the victims, comparing the different casualty figures reported in existing sources, identifying the military formations involved in individual incidents, and examining regional archives from the wartime and immediate post-war periods. Such research would contribute to a more precise historical understanding of Isëukaj and the wider Karadak massacres.

References

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