Albania's Golgotha

Albania's Golgotha: Indictment of the Exterminators of the Albanian People, German: Albaniens Golgatha, is a German published document of 1913 which was written by the Austrian publicist and politician Leo Freundlich (1875-1953). The document is a compilation of news which he gathered when traveling in the Vilayet of Kosovo during the Serbian invasion of 1912-1913, explaining in detail the full-scale massacres, rape, expulsions, torture and abuse which Albanian civilians suffered under Serb rule by the army and Chetnik paramilitaries.^[1][2] According to the documents of Freundlich, 25000 Albanians were massacred in total. The document describes the methods of ethnic cleansing which was used to remove the Albanian population of Macedonia, Northern Albania, and Kosovo. The document was re-translated by Robert Elsie.^[3] The reports were confirmed by the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan War.^[4][5][6][7]

Content

Leo Freundlich describes how the Serbian King Peter promised amnesty for all peoples in the newly annexed regions, but he did not keep his promise because of the atrocities committed. Freundlich writes of the "thousand of men, women, children and old people who were slain or tortured to death".^[8] The report contains information on how entire villages were marauded and burnt to the ground and the women and young girls being raped, and the countryside plundered, ravaged and swimming in blood". He called for an international investigation demanding that Serbian and Montenegrin forces leave Northern Albania and that the atrocities stop. Freundlich was also told by Serbian officials that they were going to wipe out the Albanians, despite protests from the Great Powers. The war crimes were, according to Freundlich, fully supported by the Serbian authorities.^[9] He also describes how the Serb regular army, together with Chetniks, attacked unarmed civilians, strangeling children and elderly and raping 12-year old girls. The report gained much attention in Europe with news-bureaus reporting of "appalling atrocities" being committed by the Serb armies. The Kreuzzeitung reported on the "extermination of the Albanian population" and The Daily Chronicle about the massacre of "2000 Arnauts in Kumanovo" and another "5000 in Pristina"^[10][11]

The Il Messaggero of Rome reported of "heinous massacres" of the Albanians in the Vilayet of Kosovo. The French "L'Humanité" reported of plundering, massacres and destruction. Freundlich called for the Great Powers help in order to protect the "defenseless population against an army with a state" referring to how the Albanians did not resist the invading Serb forces but were, despite their cooperation, massacred.^[12] He mentions how Serb soldiers, in the village of Kumanovo, set fire to houses, and smoked the inhabitants out and then shooting them.^[13][14] The reports include descriptions of how Catholic Albanians and priests were murdered by the Serb armies and how the Serbian Orthodox Church violently converted Albanian Catholics to Orthodoxism. In Albania, many Catholic churches were robbed, including Orthodox ones. Manhunts were carried out by Serb officers who killed many Albanians, and houses and whole villages were burned down with the inhabitants being burned alive or shot down as they fled. Much of the food was stolen by the Serb soldiers from the Albanian villagers, leading to starvation and disease.^[15][16] It is estimated that 25000 Albanians were murdered in the Vilayet of Kosovo but historians claim the number to be much higher.

The Deutsches Volksblatt reported on 8 February that the Serbian Minister of Culture and Education, Ljuba Jovanovic, published a declaration speaking of how "Muslims were to be treated the same as everyone else." The statement also contained assumptions that the Albanians had resisted the Serbian forces, justifying the massacres. The Belgrade newspaper Piemont wrote about the problem of Shkodër, claiming that the city was bound to be part of Montenegro, and that if it did not, it was to be wiped out. Other reports from Podgorica wrote how the Serbs, after the battle of Bërdicë entered the village of Barbullush on their retreat and attacked the unarmed villagers and slaughtered men, women, old people and children. An eight-year-old child was found with eight bayonet wounds.

Freundlich writes of the boasting from the Serbian officers, explaining how they robbed houses and massacred the Albanian population wherever they went. Other regions were attacked as well, such as Luma region, where the men were burned alive. Serbian officers openly told Freundlich the justification of burning down 80 villages in Luma region. Other reports stated that Serb volunteers traveled from Serbia and joined in with militaries and proceeded with the atrocities. Freundlich described how 36 Albanians were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and were shot. A Serbian officer invited Freundlich to a "manhunt" and boasted that he had murdered nine Albanians. Other reports spoke of Serb soldiers in Skopje who openly spoke of rape and murder that they had committed, intoxicated by victory. One case which bothered Freundlich was when he was told of a Serb soldier who had broken into an Albanian home, and forced the father of the house at gun-point, to light up the room as the Serb soldier proceeded to rape the owners wife and girls.^[17] The Albanische Korrespondenz reported from Durrës about "the carnage perpetrated" by the Serbs in Albania. A Serbian officer reported of how "the womenfolk often hid their jewellery and were not willing to hand it over. In such cases, we shot one member of the family and, right away, were given all the valuables." Serbs continued with atrocities in Luma and the Serbian commander Captain Petrovic, published in the Serbian newspaper Ukaz, officially announcing the deeds. The reports also contained witnesses who spoke of Albanians who were beaten to death in Tirana and in other neighboring villages. The Serbs also destroyed Catholic churches, claiming they were Austrian constructions and were unacceptable on the new Serbian lands.

Denials

Much of the reports were met with denials from Serbian officials, despite the evidence and their full cooperation. The reports were confirmed by Austrian, Italian, German, French, and Russian news reports and from different news agencies. Leo Trotskey criticized the Serbian authorities for denying the atrocities, saying that such accusations could not simply be ignored by denying them. These event greatly contributed to the Albanian-Serbian conflict.

Results

The Great Powers eventually forced the Serbian forces out of the newly independent Albania and the Montenegrins out of Shkodër. Kosovo however remained within the Kingdom of Serbia which followed the Great War with more atrocities being committed from the Serbian armies with orders from the authorities. It is estimated that 120000 Albanians of all ages and both sexes were murdered during and after the Serbian invasion. Kosovar Albanians continued to experience genocide during the first two decades of the 19th century by Serbian chetniks and the hatred between Albanians and Serbs grew.

Confusion

The report of the atrocities is not to be confused with the Serbian "Albanian Golgotha" which refers to the Serbian retreat which the Serbian army did in 1915 through the mountains of Albania. It is estimated that around 150000 Serb soldiers froze to death and at the hands of Albanian tribes men.

References