by Kolë Marku. Italy – 10/12/2025.
The photo below was published in a magazine: Балкански рат: у слици и речи (Balkan war – in pictures and words, “The Balkan war, in pictures and words”) No.: 13. Date: 14 April 1913. Place of publication: Belgrade. Page: 199 of the magazine (bottom right, with the title “Срби сељаци из Тетова на пазару у Скопју”). The magazine was a Serbian propaganda weekly for the Balkan Wars.
The text reads: (“Serbian peasants from Tetovo at the market in Skopje”), representing one of the clearest examples of the propaganda construction of ethnic identity in the Balkans during the 20th century. It shows three men dressed in traditional Albanian costumes from Polog, who, although clearly distinguished as Albanians by their clothing and typology, are publicly labeled as “strong and pure Serbs”.
This visual and narrative manipulation served to create the idea that Tetovo and Polog were historically Serbian spaces, even though the ethnic reality spoke differently.
1. The photograph as a historical and ethnographic source
Men dressed in white tirqe, white plis, vests and woolen xhokas, and one even holds a traditional shepherd’s staff, all elements deeply characteristic of the Albanian dress of Tetovo, Gostivar, Dibra, Rugova and Kosovo. Their features, body posture, the way they wear their sashes, the opinga and the texture of their clothing, cannot easily be confused with the southern Serbian traditions of that time.
Contrary to the visual reality, the text under the photograph declares: “All are true Serbs, as our beautiful photograph shows… the Tetovans are hardworking people who often come to Skopje with goods…” This contrast opens an important debate: Is the photograph evidence of Albanians, or evidence of their appropriation? In reality, it is the latter.
2. Historical context: The Yugoslavization of Polog (1913)
After 1912 and especially after the formation of the Kingdom of the Serbs (later Yugoslavia) in 1918, the state began a systematic process of administrative Serbization of Albanian-majority territories – including Kosovo and the provinces called “Southern Serbia” – through agrarian reform, colonization with Serbo-Montenegrin settlers, and constant pressure for migration towards Turkey and Albania.[1]
In this context, official policy aimed at changing the ethnic structure and “Slavizing” areas where Albanians were in the majority, presenting this as administrative normalization and “state civilization.”[3]
In this spirit, hundreds of reports, memoranda, and propaganda materials were drafted and published, describing Albanians as “Stari Srbi” – old Serbs “Albanianized by the Turks” – and openly proposing measures for their colonization and displacement from key strategic areas. [4]
The well-known memorandum of Vaso Čubrilović of 1937 and the Yugoslav-Turkish Convention of 1938 on the emigration of the “Turkish population” clearly mention Lower Polog (Tetovo) and Upper Polog (Gostivar) among the regions where the settlement with Slavic elements was to be carried out and the migration of Albanians was to be encouraged. [4]
The photograph of 1925 falls precisely into this ideological context: it produces a new reality through the image, presenting a population with Albanian clothing, features, and traditions as “Serbian peasants from Tetovo.” If Albanians look and dress like Albanians, it is enough to label them in the newspaper as “Serbs” for the historical reality to change on paper – while demographic documents show that in Donji Polog (Tetovo) and Gornji Polog (Gostivar) Albanians were a relative majority in the censuses of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. [5]
3. Clothing as an Albanian ethnic argument
The letter says Serbs, but the clothing says Albanians.
Element of clothing Cultural affiliation
White Tirqit Albanians (Dardani, Polog, Kosovo)
White Plis Albanians (symbolic identity)
Black Xhokë, woolen vest Albanian mountainous regions
Traditional opinga Documented Illyrian-Albanian culture.
Clothing does not lie – but propaganda can lie about clothing.
4. Why is this photograph important today?
Because this is a document that refutes the state narrative of the Yugoslav era, which aimed to transform the Albanian character of Tetovo into a new Slavic identity.
The photograph proves: Tetovo was ethnically Albanian in dress, culture and economic organization. “Serbization” was not a historical fact, but a political project.
State propaganda used the image as an ethnic construct. The Albanians of Polog constituted a clear autochthonous population. History can be falsified, but photography cannot. This image tells the truth without the need for words: the Albanians were there, with their dress, with their identity, regardless of what they were called on paper.
5. Conclusion
This photograph is not simply an image from 1925. It is an act of testimony against ethnic manipulation and a mirror that breaks down purposefully constructed historical myths. What the propaganda calls “Serbs from Tetovo”, our eyes clearly recognize as Albanians of Polog. Official history can be written with a pen – but ethnographic identity is written with clothing, culture and traces that do not disappear.
Bibliography
1. Blerim Latifi, “Serbian Programs for the Expulsion of Albanian Kosovars from Kosovo Between Two World Wars,” Eminak 3, no. 43 (2023): 156–163; see also Milovan Obradović, Agrarian Reform and the Colonization of Kosovo (1918–1941) (Prishtina: Institute of History, 2005). eminak.net.ua
2. Zija Shtylla, The Forcible Displacement of Albanians 1912–1941: The Truth About Kosovo and Albanians in Yugoslavia (Tirana: November 8, 1990); Oliver Jens Schmitt, Kosovo: A Brief History of a Central Balkan Country (Prishtina: Dukagjini, 2012). eminak.net.ua
3. “Vaso Čubrilović – The Expulsion of the Albanians (Memorandum, 1937),” in: Robert Elsie (ed.), Albanian History: Texts and Documents (albanianhistory.net), which mentions the regions of Dibra, Lower Polog and Upper Polog as areas that need to be “cleared” of Albanians. albanianhistory.net
4. “Convention Regulating the Emigration of the Turkish Population” (Yugoslav–Turkish Convention, 1938), published in Albanian History – Texts and Documents, which lists, among others, Donji Polog (Tetovë) and Gornji Polog (Gostivar) as areas included in the forced emigration schemes. albanianhistory.net
5. Blagoj Ilievski, “The Albanian Population in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia: Demographic and Statistical Analysis,” Istorija 20. veka 41, no. 1 (2023): 19–44, especially the data for 1921, where Albanians appear as a relative majority in the districts of Donji Polog (Tetovo) and Gornji Polog (Gostivar). Magazine “Istorija 20. veka”
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