History is being repeated and replayed in Macedonia
ŚŚŚ D. W. HaŽd TM ŹŹŚŚŚ
Mussolini established Greater Albania in 1941 following the occupation and
dismemberment of Yugoslavia. On April 6, 1941, Germany and allies Italy,
Albania, Hungary, and Bulgaria invaded Yugoslavia in Operation Punishment.
Yugoslavia was subsequently occupied and dismembered. Hitler and Mussolini
then sponsored a Greater Albanian state which included territory from
Western Macedonia, Kosovo-Metohija, and southern Montenegro.
Tetovo became a part of Albania. The borders of Albania were enlarged to
include not only Tetovo or Tetova in Albanian, but all of Western Macedonia
(Illirida), Kosovo-Metohija, and regions of Montenegro. Present-day
Macedonia (FYROM) was divided between Albania and Bulgaria. Tetovo was in
the Italian zone of occupation until September 3,1943, when Italy
surrendered and Germany re-occupied Macedonia. Ethnic Albanians in Macedonia
formed the National Albanian Committee to advance the Greater Albania
movement and agenda. The Balli Kombetar (BK, National Union) was formed by
Midhat Frasheri and Ali Klissura to advance the Greater Albania ideology or
cause. The Slavic Orthodox populations were targeted for deportation or
murder. The Jews and Roma were similarly to be deported or killed.
Hitler and Mussolini had given the ethnic Albanians Greater Albania. In
August, 1941, the Italian occupation forces in Tetovo established a prison
for prisoners of war. The Italian occupation authorities gave the civil
authority and administration to the Albanian population. All
Albanian-inhabited territories, Western Macedonia, Illirida,
Kosovo-Metohija, Kosova, and southern Montenegro, were integrated completely
into Albania proper. Albanian language schools, an Albanian press, an
Albanian radio network were established and an Albanian governmental and
political administration was created. Vulnetara, an Albanian paramilitary
formation, was organized. Albanian police units were established by the
Italian occupation force. Albanian became the official language as Western
Macedonia or Illirida became a part of Albania. The Albanian national flag,
the double-headed black eagle on a red background, was raised in Tetovo and
other cities and towns in Western Macedonia. The Albanian Lek was introduced
as the official currency. Tetovo, Gostivar, Struga, Debar, and Kichevo were
the key municipalities and districts in Western Macedonia incorporated into
Albania, a Greater Albania. Eastern Macedonia was occupied by Bulgarian
military forces.
Macedonia was divided between Albania and Bulgaria. Hitler and Mussolini
sought to delineate the borders between Greater Albania and Greater
Bulgaria. The Albanians and their Italian sponsors wanted to enlarge the
borders of Albania eastward encroaching on Bulgarian occupied territory. The
Bulgarians sought to expand westward. On April 20 and 21, 1941, the German
foreign minister, Joachim Ribbentrop, and the Italian foreign minister,
Count Galeazzo Ciano, met in Vienna to discuss the Bulgarian occupation zone
and the enlargement of the borders of Greater Albania eastward. Ribbentrop
emphasized the importance of the mines in Kosovo-Metohija and Macedonia that
were vital to the strategic interests of Germany. The German and Italian
supreme commands reached an agreement on the final demarcation line in
Macedonia. Hitler approved the agreement on April 25. The agreement was
tentative, however, and was not a final, complete agreement on demarcation
lines. The agreement was abandoned later as Italy and Bulgaria could not
agree on a border between their two occupation zones in Macedonia and
Kosovo-Metohija. Later in 1941, the two sides were able to reach an
understanding on where the border should be.
The Italian occupation forces appointed Albanian Dzaferi Sulejmani the
president of the Tetovo district. The vice-president was Albanian Munir
Tevshana who had come from Albania. Later, Zejnel Starova and Shaib Kamberi
replaced him. Kamberi worked for the Italian intelligence service. Selim
Shaipi was the representative for Tetovo and was the leader of the Albanian
youth movement. Shaipi was also a representative of the Second League of
Prizren and was the president of the Third Balli Kombetar Committee. Shaipi
fled with the German Army when Tetovo was evacuated in 1944. Husein Derala
was made the commander of the gendarmes units in Tetovo by the Italian
occupation forces.
Albanian troops in the 21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS "Skanderbeg",
1944.
The Albanian administration targeted the Orthodox, Slavic populations for
elimination, disenfranchisement, de-recognition, and expulsion. Feyzi
Alizoti called for the extermination and deportation of non-Muslims. The
Greater Albania ideology was anti-Orthodox, anti-Slavic in nature, and
atrocities, deportations, and murders were committed against the Slavic,
Orthodox populations. Josip Kovac, a Slovenian who was placed in charge of
the Tetovo hospital by the Axis forces, described the anti-Orthodox,
anti-Christian, anti-Slavic activity of Alizoti as follows:
"There were exceptionally hard times in the annexed areas of Western
Macedonia and Kosovo-Metohija when Fejzi Alizoti, the High Commissioner,
visited. He gave a speech in Tetovo that demanded the annihilation of the
non-Muslim communities. Publicly and openly he stated that there will be no
peace until the last foreigner---Orthodox Christians---leaves his territory
and settles across the border and only ethnic Albanians are left behind.
Following his visit, the situation deteriorated and became unbearable for
all non-Muslims."
The Italian military intelligence service, OVRA, formed an independent
battalion in occupied Tetovo. The battalion was named iLjuboteni, a special
unit made up of ethnic Albanians in the Tetovo region. This Italian-created
Albanian Axis unit was to uncover, question, and annihilate any resistance
to the occupation. After the surrender of Italy in 1943, the German forces
retained this Albanian formation allowing the unit to keep their
Italian-issued uniforms and weapons. Members of the Balli Kombetar later
joined the Ljuboten battalion. At the end of 1943, the Ljuboten unit was
engaged in the attack on Kichevo in Macedonia.
The Italian occupation of Western Macedonia allowed the Albanian population
to create an ethnic Albanian-ruled region. Albanian police and paramilitary
units were formed as a proxy army by the Italian forces. The civil
administration was entrusted by the Italians to Albanian leaders. Albanian
became the official language;the civil and police administration was taken
over by ethnic Albanians; Albanian schools, newspapers, and radio stations
were established. Tetovo became Tetova, an Albanian Muslim city in the
newly-expanded Albanian state.
In the town of Leshok, in the Tetovo municipality, is located the Leshok
Monastery which includes the Orthodox Church of the Holy Virgin built in
1326 and the Sveti Athanasius Orthodox Church built in 1924. The tomb of the
Orthodox scholar Kiril Pejchinov lies in the Leshok Monastery. The Church
has three layers of frescoes: The lower layer was built in 1326, the middle
layer was built in the 17th century, and the top layer was built in 1879.
The Leshok Monastery symbolizes the Macedonian orthodox presence in the
region. The UCK separatists deliberately mined and demolished the Monastery
in August, 2001, to eradicate and cleanse the Orthodox influence. Cultural
cleansing is followed by the ethnic cleansing of the Orthodox population.
The UCK has ethnically cleansed or driven out much of the non-Albanian
population from the Tetovo district.
Vivian described the Macedonian system as a isemi-feudal systemi. The landed
estates are governed by chifji or seigneurs. The peasants have to pay a
third of their crop every year in lieu of rent. Macedonians ilead a medieval
lifei. Vivian noted the tension between the Slavic Orthodox Christians and
the Muslim Albanians. Muslims were allowed to own weapons, but Christians
were forbidden to own any arms. Vivian explained:
"This question of arms is one which exercises the Macedonians excessively.
It is a standing grievance with the Christians that they are forbidden to
possess arms, while the Albanians bristle with weapons."
On April 17, 1944, Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler approved the formation
of an Albanian Waffen SS Division, which was then subsequently approved by
Adolf Hitler. The SS Main Office envisioned an Albanian division of 10,000
troops. The Balli Kombetar, the Albanian Committees, and the Second League
of Prizren submitted the names of 11,398 recruits for the division. Of
these, 9,275 were adjudged to be suitable for drafting into the Waffen SS.
Of this number, 6,491 ethnic Albanians were actually drafted into the Waffen
SS. A reinforced battalion of approximately 200-300 ethnic Albanians, the
III/Waffen Gebirgsjaeger Regiment 50, serving in the Bosnian Muslim 13th
Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS iHandzari or iHandschari were transferred to
the newly forming division. To this Albanian core were added veteran German
troops from Austria and Volksdeutsche officers, NCOS, and enlisted men. The
total strength of the Albanian Waffen SS Division would be 8,500-9,000 men.
The official designation of the division would be 21. Waffen Gebirgs
Division der SS iSkanderbegi (Albanische Nr.1). Himmler planned to form a
second Albanian division, Albanische Nr. 2. The SS Main Office designed a
special arm patch for the division, consisting of a black, double-headed
eagle on a red background, the national flag/symbol for Albania. The
UCK/KLA/NLA/ANA/LAMBP would have an identical arm patch in their
separatist/terrorist war for igreater rightsi and ihuman rightsi in the
1998/99 Kosovo conflict and the iinsurgencyi in Macedonia in 2001.The SS
Main Office also designed a strip with the word iSkanderbegi embroidered
across it as well as a gray skullcap with the Totenkopf (Deathis Head)
insignia of the SS below the Hoheitszeichen (the national symbol of Nazi
Germany, consisting of a silver eagle over a Nazi swastika). Josef Fitzhum,
the SS leader in Albania, commanded the division during the formation
stages. In June, 1944, August Schmidhuber, the SS Stardartenfuehrer in the
7th SS Division iPrinz Eugeni, was transferred to command the division.
Alfred Graf commanded the division in August and subsequently when the
division was reorganized.
The Albanian SS troops played a key role in the Holocaust, the Final
Solution to the Jewish Problem, which the sponsor of the Greater Albania
ideology, Heinrich Himmler, organized. On May 14, 1944, the Skanderbeg SS
Division raided Kosovo Jewish homes and businesses in Pristina. The Albanian
SS troops acting as a proxy for the German occupation forces rounded up 281
Kosovo Jews who were subsequently killed at Bergen-Belsen. The Skanderbeg SS
Division targeted Macedonian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Roma, and Jews when
the division occupied Tetovo and Skopje and other towns and cities in
Western Macedonia. The goal and agenda of the ethnic Albanian Skanderbeg
Waffen SS Division was to advance the Greater Albania ideology by deporting
and killing the non-Albanian populations of Western Macedonia.
The Skanderbeg SS Division was formed at a time in the war when Germany was
retreating and withdrawing its forces from the Balkans. The Russian Red Army
was inflicting severe losses on the German military forces. By November,
1944, the Germans were withdrawing their forces from the Aegean islands and
from Greece. At this time, the Skanderbeg Division remnants were reorganized
into Regimentgruppe 21. SS Gebirgs iSkanderbegi when it was transferred to
Skopje. The Kampfgruppe iSkanderbegi, in conjunction with the 7th SS
Mountain Division iPrinz Eugeni, defended the Vardar River valley in
Macedonia to allow Alexander Loehris Army Group E to retreat from Greece and
the Aegean. The Vardar Valley was crucial as an escape corridor for the
retreating German military forces.
The Skanderbeg SS Division crossed into Macedonia and occupied Tetovo and
Skopje in the early part of September, 1944. The purpose for the occupation
was to garrison Macedonia and safeguard the retreat of German troops from
Greece and the Aegean peninsula. By 1944, the German forces in the Balkans
were in a defensive posture and were focusing their strategic efforts on a
well-ordered retreat and withdrawal. The Bulgarian forces and the Italian
forces had occupied Macedonia. The Bulgarian army continued to occupy
Macedonia and their presence threatened the German retreat. The Skanderbeg
SS Division occupied the Skopje and Kumanovo regions of Macedonia and the
Preshevo and Bujanovac region of southern Serbia. The German XXI Mountain
Corps was based in Tirana. The Germans also had the 181st Infantry Division
at Lake Scutari and the 297 Infantry Division at Valona, both based in
Albania, to prevent an Allied landing force in the Adriatic. The German XXI
Mountain Corps crossed into Macedonia from Tirana, the capital of Albania
and moved northward past Debar and the Tetovo and Gostivar area. By October
1, 1944, the 21st SS Division Skanderbeg then occupied Skopje, the capital
of Macedonia. The first Regiment of the Skanderbeg Division occupied Tetovo.
A Reconnaissance Battalion of Skanderbeg occupied Djakovica while a Signals
Battalion occupied Prizen in Kosovo-Metohija. The Skanderbeg SS Division was
based in the towns of Tetovo, Skopje, Prizren, Pec, Djakovica, Kosovska
Mitrovica, Pristina, and Novi Pazar.
The SS ideology in forming ivolunteeri Waffen SS Divisions of non-German
nationalities was that the Waffen SS was advancing the cause of national
liberation and national freedom for oppressed/repressed nationalities and
aggrieved ethnic minorities. So the Waffen SS perceived itself as a military
organization under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler which was made up of
national ifreedom fightersi advancing the cause of national liberation,
freedom, and independence. NATO/US/EU would adopt the identical
interventionist/occupation strategy or paradigm in the 1998-1999 Kosovo
conflict and the 2001 Macedonian conflict. The policy was divide and
conquer. The SS exploited minorities and nationality groups in the various
countries they sought to occupy and dismember. These oppressed/repressed
national/ethnic groups and minorities were a natural Fifth Column in every
country targeted for military occupation. Heinrich Himmleris SS took on the
cause of iliberationi and freedom/independence for oppressed/repressed
minorities and nationality groups. Foremost amongst the groups for SS
sponsorship were the ethnic Albanians in the Balkans and the Palestinians in
the Middle East. Indeed, Palestinian national leader Haj Amin el Husseini,
the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, worked closely with Himmler and the SS and
supported the Albanian and Bosnian Muslim aspirations to iindependencei and
separatism from Slavic Orthodox Christian countries. The SS argued that the
countries the SS sought to occupy and dismember were iartificiali nations or
states. But how is an artificial state to be defined and who was to make the
conclusion? Germany itself was an iartificiali state established by Prussian
leader Otto von Bismarck through military occupation and annexation. Germany
consisted of many ethnic groups and many different religions. Bismarck
launched wars against Denmark and Austria-Hungary to dismember those nations
and to annex their territory to a Greater Germany. The creation of the
artificial German state was through military force, through annexation and
occupation, achieved by a Prussian military dictatorship and not through
democratic means. Germany was thus itself an iartificiali state achieved
through war by the Prussian army. National liberation of oppressed/repressed
nationalities and minorities nevertheless remained the ideological basis for
the Waffen SS. Later, this identical paradigm would be adopted by
NATO/US/EU.
Heinrich Himmler was buttressed in his support of the Greater Albania
ideology by Italian archeological research that purported to show that the
Albanian Ghegs were of Aryan/Nordic origin, that they were the herrenmensch,
the master race. Himmler planned to establish two ethnic Albanian Waffen SS
Divisions but the war ended before this could be accomplished. This is the
reason the Skanderbeg SS Division is referred to as the iAlbanische Nr.1i in
the SS records.
By January, 1945, remnants of the Skanderbeg Waffen SS Division would
retreat to Kosovska Mitrovica in Kosovo and then to Brcko in
Bosnia-Hercegovina. The Skanderbeg remnants would reach Austria in May,
1945, when Germany surrendered following the military and political collapse
of regime.
Albanian and German Occupation Forces in Macedonia
The German occupation forces retained the Albanian civil, political,
military, and police control and administration of Western Macedonia. The
Albanian national flag was flown, the official language was Albanian, and
the Albanian Lek remained the official currency in Illirida. The Germans
retained the incorporation of Western Macedonia and Kosovo-Metohija into a
Greater Albania. Rejeb Bey Mitrovica, however, was replaced by Fikri Dine as
the Prime Minister of the Greater Albanian state occupied by the German
Wehrmacht. The Albanian Minister of the Interior was Dzafer Deva. Mustafa
Kruja and Mehdi Bey Frasheri also held high positions in the Albanian
regime. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who had replaced Reinhard Heydrich as the
leader of the SD, was instrumental in setting up the Albanian Nazi Party,
which replaced the Albanian Fascist Party that the Italian authorities had
set up previously. Much of the civilian and military administration was
exercised by ethnic Albanians during both the Italian and German
occupations. In Tetovo, there was a total of 1,500 ethnic Albanian Waffen SS
troops, members of the 1st Regiment of the Skanderbeg SS Division. In
Gostivar, there were 1,000 Albanian SS troops, while in Struga there were
100, and 900 in Debar. In Kichevo, there were 1,500 Albanian SS troops. The
total number of Albanian SS troops in Western Macedonia was 5,000. The
Albanians made up the police force in Western Macedonia: In Tetovo, there
were 16 members of the police force, in Gostivar 10, in Struga 11, in Debar
16, and in Kichevo, 5. There were a total of 5,500 members of the Balli
Kombetar in Macedonia, 2,000 of which were based in Tetovo. There was a
total of 250 Albanian gendarme units, or armed police units, in Tetovo. An
Albanian Battalion for Security made up of 800 members was based in Tetovo.
In addition, there were 80 Albanian finasi troops and border guards. The
total number of Albanian police and paramilitary units in Tetovo during the
German occupation was 4,646. The German Army only had 450 German troops and
three Gestapo agents in Tetovo and a total of 2,180 troops and 34 Gestapo
agents in all of Western Macedonia. Instead, the German occupation forces
created a proxy army and police staff made up of ethnic Albanians,
collaborationists who acted as the proxies for the German military forces.
Like the Italian occupation forces had done before them, the German military
was able to use the Albanian police and paramilitary forces as a proxy
force.
The German Army used Albanian separatists to create a proxy army of
occupation and administration in Tetovo and other cities and towns in
Western Macedonia which were annexed to Albania. By furthering and advancing
the agenda of the Greater Albania ideology, the German occupation forces
ensured that their military occupation of the region would be safeguarded
and assured. The German Army in 1998-2001 would play a similar role in the
Kosovo and Macedonia conflicts. NATO would pursue an identical policy to
that of the Italian/German occupation forces during the 1941-1944 period.
The Greater Albania ideology would serve the same purpose again, expediting
the military occupation and establishing a proxy army that would act on
behalf of the NATO occupation forces. The racist and separatist Greater
Albania ideology would be sponsored and furthered by NATO, like it had been
by the German/Italian forces, to expedite the occupation and military,
economic, and political control and exploitation of first Kosovo-Metohija
and then Macedonia.
The UCK seeks to re-establish and re-create the Greater Albania created by
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini from 1941 to 1944. History is being
repeated and replayed in Macedonia.
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