DOCSLIB.ORG

Central and Eastern European Review

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Central and Eastern European Review CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN REVIEW Volume 9, 2015 REVIEWS AND REPORTS ALBANIA AND KOSOVO by Antonia Young University of Bradford ISSN 1752–7503 10.1515/caeer-2016-0002 © 2015 CEER First publication Central and Eastern European Review REVIEWS AND REPORTS ALBANIA AND KOSOVO By Antonia Young University of Bradford ‘The Prison at Spaç—Why a Museum?’, Tirana, 23rd May, 2015. Conference report. Robert Elsie, The Albanian Treason Trial (1945). Albanian Studies, Vol. 3, 2015 344pp. ISBN 978–15077095ll. Review. Vincent W. J. van Gerven Oei, ed., Lapidari, Punctum Books: Brooklyn and Tirana, 2015, 280pp. ISBN: 9780692350461. Review. Elizabeth Gowing, The Rubbish Picker’s Wife; an Unlikely Friendship in Kosovo. Elbow Publishing, Cornwall, 363pp. ISBN: 978–0–957409–03–3. Review Gerda Mulder, Robert Elsie and Herman Zonderland, A Passion for Theth: Albania’s Rugged Shangri-La. Skanderbeg Books: Utrecht and Tirana, 2014. 278pp. ISBN 978–90–7905 35 8. Review. 3 Central and Eastern European Review CONFERENCE REPORT ‘The Prison at Spaç—Why a Museum?’ Tirana, 23rd May, 2015. The conference was organized jointly by the Justice and Peace Commission of Shkodër, Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) and the German Maximilian Kolbe Foundation. A short film made up of clips shot during the time that Spaç prison was operational, with music but no words, was shown. Archbishop Angelo Massatra, Head of the Albanian Bishop’s Conference and Aleksandër Lala, Mayor of Orosh Commune (in which the prison is located), opened the meetings. Three members of the Ex-Politically Persecuted organization spoke about the history of Spaç prison (it had been built in 1967 by prisoners, alongside a copper mine where they became forced labourers), its conditions and the extent of the violation of human rights. One of them, Merkur Babameto, described the 3-day 1972 revolt. Two German speakers of the Maximilian Kolbe Foundation were to have spoken about the German experience of confronting the past and describing the model of Auschwitz as a place of commemoration, dialogue and hope. Unfortunately their flight failed to bring them. Fatos Lubonja, the well-known political writer and analyst was also unable to participate. He spent 17 years as a political prisoner and wrote up a part of his experience in his Second Sentence. Beni spoke on behalf of CHwB or plans they had started to formulate concerning the preservation of Spaç prison. Following a break, there was an impressive ‘Artistic Event’: 21 students from the Prenk Jakova Art School in Tirana, dressed in striped prison garb, stood with their backs to the returning audience. To the accompaniment of sombre music, they turned round, each holding an artwork which had been inspired by a recent visit to Spaç prison. About half the conference participants were former political prisoners. Notably absent from the conference, although all specifically invited, were any members from the Albanian Ministries and any media. After dinner on the Tirana International Hotel terrace, participants returned to take part in four workshops concerned with planning the realization of the future museum. 4 Central and Eastern European Review This year there have been many other moves towards recognizing the past and thereby acknowledgment, giving dignity to those who were killed and others who survived the suffering. There was an open day at The House of Leaves in central Tirana, hidden behind trees, right opposite the huge new Orthodox Cathedral (built in 2011). In this House, interrogations and torture had been performed under the Communist regime, and it is believed that some such continued under the Democratic Party regime of recent years. There has long been an interest, especially on the part of foreigners, in the 700,000 bunkers placed all over the country. Many people have written about them, photographed them, created exhibitions about them. Most are only large enough for two persons to squeeze inside and have widely been used as toilets, many are destroyed. Some of the larger ones were adapted for use as cafes or shops. But this is the first time I have seen any preserved simply as a part of Albanian history: opposite the international Rogner Hotel, one has been showcased, cleaned and protected by glass, it can be viewed by passers-by. Others, much larger, are being made comfortable for public view: known as ‘atomic’ bunkers, one of them on Dajti mountain, where Hoxha and his entourage would have taken shelter, contains the furniture taken by the regime from former wealthy families. Antonia Young 5 Central and Eastern European Review REVIEWS Robert Elsie, The Albanian Treason Trial (1945). Albanian Studies, Vol. 3, 2015 344pp. ISBN 978–15077095ll. Readers are spared the full length and poorly translated record of the trial in March, 1945, of 60 Albanians. The trial was set up by the new government, for political activities during the period leading up to and during the Italian occupation of Albania from 7th April, 1939 and then the German occupation from September 1943 until November 1944, when the last German troops left Albania. Robert Elsie has selected records of fourteen of these hearings of whom six (out of a total of 17 executed) were shot immediately following the trials. Warnings of the accused’s misdeeds were first published daily, in Bashkimi (3rd February—l7th April l945), to inspire terror in the population. This important document is presented in readable form out of a full record which had been transcribed either by the British or the American Mission. Elsie explains that Vandeleur Robinson had been one of few foreign diplomatic observers permitted to attend the proceedings of the Treason Trial. His record contrasts to his observations in his book, Albania’s Road to Freedom, written following his visits in the years just before the Second World War, published in 1941. In the book, despite recognizing shortcomings of Zog, he nevertheless praises him for the range of reforms he has brought to the country. Robinson brought a copy of the transcribed trial record to the UK, as well as his own notes from the time. In Robinson’s own notes, included in this volume, he records that the general indictment ran to fourteen points: these are elaborated at the start of the official report of the Trial. As he explains, the indictments fell basically into two classes of offence: those in which the accused was found to be a traitor to his country who thus was considered to be a ‘war criminal’; and those who had been political opponents of the partisan movement and was thus an ‘enemy of the people’. In this new format the Treason Trial is prefaced with a brief contextual note by Elsie, pointing out, for example, that in the Second World War, more Albanians died fighting one another, than from the opposing Italians and Germans. Besides this and Robinson’s comments, there is a short excerpt from the memoirs of one of the 6 Central and Eastern European Review accused, Lazër Radi, recounting the growing tensions of the days before his arrest. Radi was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was not in fact freed until the fall of Communism in 1991—shortly after this, Robert Elsie met him. Elsie first had sight of the Trial document that Robinson had brought to the UK, in 1996, thanks to Bejtullah Destani, Director of the Centre for Albanian Studies in London. The two most powerful men at the Trials were Koçi Xoxe, the President of the Tribunal described by Robinson as ‘a short, fat man’, and Bedri Spahiu, described by Robinson as a ‘small, monkey-like man’. Little would they have known at the time that their own fates would become similar to those of the men for whom they brought such terminal violence. Xoxe was executed in 1949 and Spahiu fell from favour after 1955 and spent most of the rest of his life in prison or in internment, freed in 1990, eight years before he died. There is an extremely useful section at the end of the book devoted to biographical details of individuals mentioned in various of the trials, including some of the accused. This greatly enhances, not only the interest of the book, but also its value as a very accessible reference resource for further research. Robert Elsie is not only a prolific writer, but also a prolific publisher, having edited and produced another six books in just a few months this year. These may all be viewed at tp://www.elsie.de/news.html and are also available on Amazon. (Prices vary between $l5–$30). Antonia Young 7 Central and Eastern European Review Vincent W. J. van Gerven Oei, ed., Lapidari, Punctum Books: Brooklyn and Tirana, 2015, 280pp. ISBN: 9780692350461. The publication of this book coincides with what appears to be a sudden awakening in Albania of the potential both to acknowledge the gruesomely oppressive period of its history, and thus to develop an advantageous exploitation of that history through tourism. This realisation of potential was also promoted through a conference in Tirana on 23rd May, 2015 concerning the possible transformation of Spaç prison into a museum. This notorious political prison and forced labour camp in the remote mountain region of Mirdite has been pillaged and vandalized for 25 years, but there are now moves to preserve it, both in order to educate Albania’s youth, and also to restore some dignity to those who died there as well as those who have survived tormented incarceration there. The current dual-language first volume (of three), Lapidari, brings together writing on the topic both from the oppressive communist period (1945–90), and recent analyses from different perspectives. This volume includes several illustrations of lapidars as they relate specifically to the ten written chapters.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Monument As Ruin: Natality, Spectrality, and the History of the Image in the Tirana Independence Monument
    Liminal Balkans No. 2 - Year 6 06/2016 - LC.6 [sic] - a journal of literature, culture and literary translation Raino Isto, University of Maryland, USA ([email protected]) The Monument as Ruin: Natality, Spectrality, and the History of the Image in the Tirana Independence Monument Abstract This article examines the Tirana Independence Monument, first inaugurated in November of 2012 on the hundredth anniversary of Albanian independence from the Ottoman Empire. The monument, designed by Visar Obrija and Kai Roman Kiklas, swiftly fell into disrepair until it was recently renovated in November of 2015. The article analyzes the monument’s function in terms of its doubled existence as a sign of perpetual natality (the possibility of the rebirth of national consciousness) and as a ruin with a spectral pseudo-presence (as an object that continually reminds us of the disjunctures that divorce the present from its historicity). It considers the way the monument’s inauguration relates to the politics of monumentality in contemporary Albania, and argues that the monument’s gradual ruination between 2012 and 2015 can be read as a particular manifestation of the history of the image in late capitalist society.[1] Keywords : spectrality, natality, monumentality, Albania, Tirana, independence, national identity, grid, public sculpture 1. Introduction “A good city is a city that remembers.”—Erion Veliaj (qtd. in “Monumenti i Pavarësisë rikonstruktohet”)[2] “The fortification, once an object, tended to become a ‘subject.’”—Paul Virilio (41) ISSN 1847-7755; doi: 10.15291/sic/2.6.lc.6 1 Liminal Balkans No. 2 - Year 6 06/2016 - LC.6 [sic] - a journal of literature, culture and literary translation The image of the damaged, abandoned or ruined monument has served for some time as both an icon and an index of the postsocialist condition.
    [Show full text]
  • Albanian Catholic Bulletin Buletini Katholik Shqiptar
    ISSN 0272 -7250 ALBANIAN CATHOLIC BULLETIN PUBLISHED PERIODICALLY BY THE ALBANIAN CATHOLIC INFORMATION CENTER Vol.3, No. 1&2 P.O. BOX 1217, SANTA CLARA, CA 95053, U.S.A. 1982 BULETINI d^M. jpu. &CU& #*- <gP KATHOLIK Mother Teresa's message to all Albanians SHQIPTAR San Francisco, June 4, 1982 ALBANIAN CATHOLIC PUBLISHING COUNCIL: ZEF V. NEKAJ, JAK GARDIN, S.J., PJETER PAL VANI, NDOC KELMENDI, S.J., BAR­ BULLETIN BARA KAY (Assoc. Editor), PALOK PLAKU, RAYMOND FROST (Assoc. Editor), GJON SINISHTA (Editor), JULIO FERNANDEZ Volume III No.l&2 1982 (Secretary), and LEO GABRIEL NEAL, O.F.M., CONV. (President). In the past our Bulletin (and other material of information, in­ cluding the book "The Fulfilled Promise" about religious perse­ This issue has been prepared with the help of: STELLA PILGRIM, TENNANT C. cution in Albania) has been sent free to a considerable number WRIGHT, S.J., DAVE PREVITALE, JAMES of people, institutions and organizations in the U.S. and abroad. TORRENS, S.J., Sr. HENRY JOSEPH and Not affiliated with any Church or other religious or political or­ DANIEL GERMANN, S.J. ganization, we depend entirely on your donations and gifts. Please help us to continue this apostolate on behalf of the op­ pressed Albanians. STRANGERS ARE FRIENDS News, articles and photos of general interest, 100-1200 words WE HAVEN'T MET of length, on religious, cultural, historical and political topics about Albania and its people, may be submitted for considera­ tion. No payments are made for the published material. God knows Please enclose self-addressed envelope for return.
    [Show full text]
  • Central and Eastern European Review
    Central and Eastern European Review CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN REVIEW Volume 12, 2018 SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE REVIEWS by Antonia Young University of Bradford And Colgate University Mirela Bogdani and John Loughlin, Albania and the European Union: The Tumultuous Journey towards Integration and Accession, London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007. 272 pp. ISBN: 978-1-84511-308-7. (Page 71) Robert Elsie, ed., Tales from Old Shkodra: Early Albanian Short Stories. Albanian Studies, vol. 5, 2015, 174 pp. ISBN: 978-1509428224. (Page 78) Cornelia Golna, Tainted Heroes, Go-Bos Press, Leiderdorp, 2017 411 pp. ISBN: 978- 9082 608922 . (Page 85) Ismail Kadare, A Girl in Exile, Vintage, London, 2017, 186 pp. Translated by John Hodgson. ISBN: 978-0-099-58307-2. (Page 84) Miruna Troncota, Post-conflict Europeanization and the War of Meanings: the challenges of EIU Conditionality in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Tritonic, Romania, 2016, 255 pp. ISBN: 978-606-749-087. (Page 71) Tajar Zavalani, History of Albania, edited by Robert Elsie and Bejtullah Destani, Albanian Studies no. 1, Robert Elsie, 2015, 354 pp. ISBN: 9781507595671. (Page 80) ISSN 1752–7503 10.2478/caeer-2019-0005 © 2018 CEER. First publication 70 Central and Eastern European Review Miruna Troncota, Post-conflict Europeanization and the War of Meanings: the challenges of EIU Conditionality in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Tritonic, Romania, 2016, 255 pp. ISBN: 978-606-749-087. Mirela Bogdani and John Loughlin, Albania and the European Union: The Tumultuous Journey towards Integration and Accession, London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007. 272 pp. ISBN: 978-1-84511-308-7.
    [Show full text]
  • Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 7 the Titles Published in This Series Are Listed at Brill.Com/Yme Yearbook of Muslims in Europe Volume 7
    Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 7 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/yme Yearbook of Muslims in Europe Volume 7 Editor-in-Chief Oliver Scharbrodt Editors Samim Akgönül Ahmet Alibašić Jørgen S. Nielsen Egdūnas Račius LEIDEN | BOSTON issn 1877-1432 isbn 978-90-04-29889-7 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-30890-9 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents Preface ix The Editors xv Editorial Advisers xvii List of Technical Terms xviii Islams in Europe: Satellites or a Universe Apart? 1 Jonathan Laurence Country Surveys Albania 13 Olsi Jazexhi Armenia 33 Sevak Karamyan Austria 41 Kerem Öktem Azerbaijan 62 Altay Goyushov Belarus 79 Daša Słabčanka Belgium 87 Jean-François Husson Bosnia and Herzegovina 114 Aid Smajić and Muhamed Fazlović Bulgaria 130 Aziz Nazmi Shakir Croatia 145 Dino Mujadžević
    [Show full text]
  • Behind Stone Walls
    BEHIND STONE WALLS CHANGING HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZATION AMONG THE ALBANIANS OF KOSOVA by Berit Backer Edited by Robert Elsie and Antonia Young, with an introduction and photographs by Ann Christine Eek Dukagjini Balkan Books, Peja 2003 1 This book is dedicated to Hajria, Miradia, Mirusha and Rabia – girls who shocked the village by going to school. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Berita - the Norwegian Friend of the Albanians, by Ann Christine Eek BEHIND STONE WALLS Acknowledgement 1. INTRODUCTION Family and household Family – types, stages, forms Demographic processes in Isniq Fieldwork Data collection 2. ISNIQ: A VILLAGE AND ITS FAMILIES Once upon a time Going to Isniq Kosova First impressions Education Sources of income and professions Traditional adaptation The household: distribution in space Household organization Household structure Positions in the household The household as an economic unit 3. CONJECTURING ABOUT AN ETHNOGRAPHIC PAST Ashtu është ligji – such are the rules The so-called Albanian tribal society The fis The bajrak Economic conditions Land, labour and surplus in Isniq The political economy of the patriarchal family or the patriarchal mode of reproduction 3 4. RELATIONS OF BLOOD, MILK AND PARTY MEMBERSHIP The traditional social structure: blood The branch of milk – the female negative of male positive structure Crossing family boundaries – male and female interaction Dajet - mother’s brother in Kosova The formal political organization Pleqësia again Division of power between partia and pleqësia The patriarchal triangle 5. A LOAF ONCE BROKEN CANNOT BE PUT TOGETHER The process of the split Reactions to division in the family Love and marriage The phenomenon of Sworn Virgins and the future of sex roles Glossary of Albanian terms used in this book Bibliography Photos by Ann Christine Eek 4 PREFACE ‘Behind Stone Walls’ is a sociological, or more specifically, a social anthropological study of traditional Albanian society.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Robert Elsie
    The Albanian Media in Kosovo and the Spectre of Ethnic Cleansing by Robert Elsie Kosovo, the dust-swept Plain of the Blackbirds in the southern Balkans, is many things to many people. For the majority of its inhabitants, it is now the self-declared Republic of Kosovo under foreign military occupation, a country longing for democracy and freedom from the brutal Serbian yoke, an ethnically Albanian territory since the beginning of time. For the small Serbian minority, Kosovo is a nostalgic reverie of Old Serbia, the very cradle of Serbian Orthodox civilization now overrun by the Moslem hordes. For all of its inhabitants, it is the powder-keg of Europe, a land of passions. Christine von Kohl and Wolfgang Libal described the significance of Kosovo recently in the following terms: "For the Serbs, Kosovo is the 'holy land' of their history. For the Albanians, Kosovo is the quintessence of their future.1" Albanians and Serbs have been living together in Kosovo for centuries now. Though never completely at ease with one another, they have, during some happier eras of their common history, managed to co-exist in friendship and harmony. In many periods, though, relations between the two peoples have been tense. Since the Serbian military took direct control of Kosovo in 1990 against the will of the Albanians who now make up about 85-90% of the population, the situation has once again become explosive. Serbian expansionist dreams in Bosnia and Croatia have been parallelled here by an unrelenting and ruthless will to make Kosovo Serbian and Serbian only.
    [Show full text]
  • Ligjvënësit Shqipëtarë Në Vite
    LIGJVËNËSIT SHQIPTARË NË VITE Viti 1920 Këshilli Kombëtar i Lushnjës (Senati) Një dhomë, 37 deputetë 27 mars 1920–20 dhjetor 1920 Zgjedhjet u mbajtën më 31 janar 1920. Xhemal NAIPI Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1920) Dhimitër KACIMBRA Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1920) Lista emërore e senatorëve 1. Abdurrahman Mati 22. Myqerem HAMZARAJ 2. Adem GJINISHI 23. Mytesim KËLLIÇI 3. Adem PEQINI 24. Neki RULI 4. Ahmet RESULI 25. Osman LITA 5. Bajram bej CURRI 26. Qani DISHNICA 6. Bektash CAKRANI 27. Qazim DURMISHI 7. Beqir bej RUSI 28. Qazim KOCULI 8. Dine bej DIBRA 29. Ramiz DACI 9. Dine DEMA 30. Rexhep MITROVICA 10. Dino bej MASHLARA 31. Sabri bej HAFIZ 11. Dhimitër KACIMBRA 32. Sadullah bej TEPELENA 12. Fazlli FRASHËRI 33. Sejfi VLLAMASI 13. Gjergj KOLECI 34. Spiro Jorgo KOLEKA 14. Halim bej ÇELA 35. Spiro PAPA 15. Hilë MOSI 36. Shefqet VËRLACI 16. Hysein VRIONI 37. Thanas ÇIKOZI 17. Irfan bej OHRI 38. Veli bej KRUJA 18. Kiço KOÇI 39. Visarion XHUVANI 19. Kolë THAÇI 40. Xhemal NAIPI 20. Kostaq (Koço) KOTA 41. Xhemal SHKODRA 21. Llambi GOXHAMANI 42. Ymer bej SHIJAKU Viti 1921 Këshilli Kombëtar/Parlamenti Një dhomë, 78 deputetë 21 prill 1921–30 shtator 1923 Zgjedhjet u mbajtën më 5 prill 1921. Pandeli EVANGJELI Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1921) Eshref FRASHËRI Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1922–1923) 1 Lista emërore e deputetëve të Këshillit Kombëtar (Lista pasqyron edhe ndryshimet e bëra gjatë legjislaturës.) 1. Abdyl SULA 49. Mehdi FRASHËRI 2. Agathokli GJITONI 50. Mehmet PENGILI 3. Ahmet HASTOPALLI 51. Mehmet PILKU 4. Ahmet RESULI 52. Mithat FRASHËRI 5.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 LIGJVËNËSIT SHQIPTARË NË VITE Viti 1920 Këshilli Kombëtar I
    LIGJVËNËSIT SHQIPTARË NË VITE Viti 1920 Këshilli Kombëtar i Lushnjës (Senati) Një dhomë, 37 deputetë 27 mars 1920–20 dhjetor 1920 Zgjedhjet u mbajtën më 31 janar 1920. Xhemal NAIPI Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1920) Dhimitër KACIMBRA Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1920) Lista emërore e senatorëve 1. Abdurrahman Mati 22. Myqerem HAMZARAJ 2. Adem GJINISHI 23. Mytesim KËLLIÇI 3. Adem PEQINI 24. Neki RULI 4. Ahmet RESULI 25. Osman LITA 5. Bajram bej CURRI 26. Qani DISHNICA 6. Bektash CAKRANI 27. Qazim DURMISHI 7. Beqir bej RUSI 28. Qazim KOCULI 8. Dine bej DIBRA 29. Ramiz DACI 9. Dine DEMA 30. Rexhep MITROVICA 10. Dino bej MASHLARA 31. Sabri bej HAFIZ 11. Dhimitër KACIMBRA 32. Sadullah bej TEPELENA 12. Fazlli FRASHËRI 33. Sejfi VLLAMASI 13. Gjergj KOLECI 34. Spiro Jorgo KOLEKA 14. Halim bej ÇELA 35. Spiro PAPA 15. Hilë MOSI 36. Shefqet VËRLACI 16. Hysein VRIONI 37. Thanas ÇIKOZI 17. Irfan bej OHRI 38. Veli bej KRUJA 18. Kiço KOÇI 39. Visarion XHUVANI 19. Kolë THAÇI 40. Xhemal NAIPI 20. Kostaq (Koço) KOTA 41. Xhemal SHKODRA 21. Llambi GOXHAMANI 42. Ymer bej SHIJAKU Viti 1921 Këshilli Kombëtar/Parlamenti Një dhomë, 78 deputetë 21 prill 1921–30 shtator 1923 Zgjedhjet u mbajtën më 5 prill 1921. Pandeli EVANGJELI Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1921) Eshref FRASHËRI Kryetar i Këshillit Kombëtar (1922–1923) 1 Lista emërore e deputetëve të Këshillit Kombëtar (Lista pasqyron edhe ndryshimet e bëra gjatë legjislaturës.) 1. Abdyl SULA 49. Mehdi FRASHËRI 2. Agathokli GJITONI 50. Mehmet PENGILI 3. Ahmet HASTOPALLI 51. Mehmet PILKU 4. Ahmet RESULI 52. Mithat FRASHËRI 5.
    [Show full text]
  • A1998conflictyugo.Pdf
    Articles for the book CONFLICT IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA Robert Elsie BUKOSHI, BUJAR Bujar Bukoshi is a leading Kosovo Albanian political figure. Born in 1947 in Suhareka / Suva Reka (Kosovo), Bukoshi studied medicine in Belgrade and Berlin. As a specialist in urology, he worked for a number of years as associate professor of surgery at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Prishtina. In October 1991 was elected to the post of prime minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. He leads his government from exile in Germany. CUBRILOVIC, VASO (1897-1990) A Bosnian Serb scholar and political figure. Vaso Cubrilovic was born in Bosanska šAs a student, he participated in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo in 1914 - the event that precipitated the World War I. Between the two wars, he was professor at the Faculty of Arts in Belgrade and a leading member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It was for the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts that Cubrilovic prepared a number of politically influential memoranda particularly in favour of the “ethnic cleansing” of national minorities, such as the Albanians in Kosovo and the Germans in the Vojvodina. Among these documents are Iseljavanje Arnauta “Expulsion of the ” presented in Belgrade on 7 March 1937, and Manjinski problem u novoj Jugoslaviji “ Minority Problem in the New ”), presented in Belgrade on 3 November 1944. Cubrilovic held several ministerial portfolios in the Yugoslav government after World War II. Of his major publications, mention must be made of the monograph Istorija politicke misle u Srbiji XIX veka (History of Political Thought in Serbia in the 19th Century), published in Belgrade in 1958.
    [Show full text]
  • ALBANIAN LITERATURE in the MOSLEM TRADITION Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Albanian Writing in Arabic Script by Robert Elsie Olzheim/Eifel
    ALBANIAN LITERATURE IN THE MOSLEM TRADITION Eighteenth and early nineteenth century Albanian writing in Arabic script by Robert Elsie Olzheim/Eifel 1. Historical and cultural setting On 28 June 1389, the Turks defeated a coalition of Balkan forces under Serbian leadership at Kosovo Polje, the plain of the blackbirds, and established themselves as masters of the Balkans. By 1393 they had overrun Shkoder, although the Venetians were soon able to recover the city and its imposing citadel. The conquest of Albania continued into the early years of the 15th cen- tury. The mountain fortress of Kruje was taken in 1415 and the equally stra- tegic towns of Vlore, Berat and Kanine in southern Albania fell in 1417. By 1431, the Turks had incorporated southern Albania into the Ottoman Empire and set up a sanjak administration with its capital in Gjirokaster, captured in 1419. Feudal northern Albania remained in the control of its autonomous tribal leaders, though now under the suzerain power of the Sultan. The Turkish conquest did not meet without resistance on the part of the Albanians, notably under George Castrioti, known as Scanderbeg (1405-1468), prince and now national hero. Sent by his father as a hostage to Sultan Murad II, the young Castrioti was converted to Islam and was given a Moslem educa- tion in Edirne (Adrianople). The Turks called him Iskender and gave him the rank of bey, hence the name Scanderbeg. In 1443, Scanderbeg took advantage of the Turkish defeat at Nish at the hands of John Hunyadi to abandon the Ottoman army, return to Albania and reembrace Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • Easter in Albania
    Product data have been exported from - SkyBarcino Export date: Wed Sep 29 11:23:06 2021 / +0000 GMT Easter in Albania Rating: Rated out of 5 Product Categories: Europe Tours, Albania Product Tags: Albania, best price, economic, economic travel, Europe Product Page: https://skybarcino.com/product/ester-in-albania Product Summary Tour date: 28.03.2018 to 01.04.2018 Tirana- Kruja-Monasteriode Ardenica -Apollonia-Berat Product Description Itinerary ] Tirana International Airport -Tirana (30 min) Arrival at the airport and transfer to Tirana. Free afternoon and dinner of [ Export product details as PDF file has been powered by WooCommerce PDF & Print plugin. ] | Page 1/6 | Product data have been exported from - SkyBarcino Export date: Wed Sep 29 11:23:06 2021 / +0000 GMT benveninda. Accommodation in Tirana. Tirana -Kruja (1 hour) -Tirana Today we will visit Kruja, we will start with its Castle, an Albanian stronghold that withstood three massive attacks by the Ottoman Turks despite their small walls, with the Skanderberg Museum. Free time to enjoy the old bazaar. In the afternoon I return to Tirana. Dinner and overnight at the hotel. Tirana -Ardenic Monastery (1 hour) -Apollonia (1 hour) -Tirana (2 hours) We will continue with Ardenica, where there is a medieval Orthodox monastery, from the 13th century. Being surrounded by stone walls was called “Myzeke Castle”. Its Chapel of the Holy Trinity was already there centuries before, next to a pagan temple dedicated to Artemis, while the Church of Santa Maria contains important frescoes from the 18th century. Our next visit Apollonia, founded in the sixth century BC, a flourishing city in Roman times where there was an important school of philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • How the Soviet-Albanian Relations Came to an End
    ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 12 No 4 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) www.richtmann.org July 2021 . Research Article © 2021 Geri Pilaca and Alban Nako. This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Received: 4 May 2021 / Accepted: 21 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021 Splitting Apart: How the Soviet-Albanian Relations Came to an End Geri Pilaca Alban Nako Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Epoka University, Tirana, Albania DOI: https://doi.org/10.36941/mjss-2021-0028 Abstract Albania was the only Eastern European country to exit from the Warsaw Pact and consequently become diplomatically isolated by its member states by late 1961. Such an event was the result of the continuous accusations exchanged between the Albanian and the Soviet Leaders, primarily between Enver Hoxha and Nikita Khrushchev. In the midst of the turbulent Soviet-Albanian relations, China offered its alliance to Albania which only worsened the situation. This study aims to illustrate how the curve of the Albanian- Soviet partnership changed over time, starting from the Stalin era and finishing with the Khrushchev era. More precisely, this study explains how Khrushchev’s decision-making concerning other countries, especially Yugoslavia, pushed the Albanian leaders into changing attitude towards the Soviet Union and make alliances with Mao Zedong. Keywords: Albania, Soviet Union, split, China 1. Introduction The story of the Soviet-Albanian split remains a particular and interesting case study not only because Albania was the second communist state after Yugoslavia to seize all the possible relations with the USSR but also because of the main factors that lead to the disruption of what was seen as very close relations.
    [Show full text]