Saimir Lolja: Nikola Tesla, a legacy of the Albanian nation

Nikola Tesla, a legacy of the Albanian nation

By name, Nikola Tesla was not a Serbian. His family was from Sanxhak inhabited by Albanians even today. His father was illiterate and one day became a Christian orthodox priest named Milutin. His mother’s name was Gjuka, an Albanian name.

Due to the Serbian expulsion against Albanians especially in the mid-19th century, his family relocated to the village of Smiljan in western Croatia. Nikola Tesla was born there on 10 July 1856.

The Albanian tongue was not publicly in use and the Albanian schools were prohibited in century XIX. Therefore, Nikola Tesla showed to know the Serbian and German languages taught in public schools.

His family had preserved the Albanian folk costume as a dear and sincere legacy of their origin. The costume that Nikola Tesla dressed is typical for Northern Albania or Dardania. He dressed that costume before he left for Prague in 1880, then to Budapest and Paris, and arriving in New York in 1884.

Nikola Tesla died on 7 January 1943 in New York, USA.

Saimir Lolja