Isuf B. Bajrami: Albanians in the Holocaust Before the Jews

ALBANIANS IN HOLOCAUST BEFORE JEWS

By Isuf B. Bajrami

The Albanian Golgotha

Leo Freundlich, a Jew who protested the massive extermination of Albanians by Serbs in 1912–1913, was one of the first to publicly denounce what he called the “Albanian Golgotha.” According to him, the Holocaust against Albanians was committed by the Serbs, who killed 500,000 people. His book “Accusation Records” constitutes the first testimony of the collective destruction of a European people before that of the Jews.¹ In this book, Freundlich documents the massacres committed by the Serbs in Albanian territories, emphasizing that over 250,000 Albanians were massacred in the ethnic north of Albania during autumn 1912.²

The only copy of Freundlich’s book “Accusation Records”, which contains the protest against Europe that did not react to protect Albanians during the massive annihilation, was found in the Harvard University Library in the USA in 1982 by researcher Safete Juka, who lived in America.³

Freundlich, residing in Vienna, was among the few intellectuals who kept collections of all major newspapers of the time, which reported the annihilation of at least half a million Albanians by the Serbs in 1912–1913. Revolted, he raised his voice against what he called the “Albanian Golgotha,” accompanied by massacres that the world had never seen before. He wrote: “I condemn violence exercised unjustly against any people. Whoever does not do this today should not be surprised if tomorrow he becomes the victim of another Golgotha.”?

Only after 10 years, in 1992, was this book published in three languages, thanks to the extraordinary help of the German Hans Peter Rullmann, living in Hamburg. The English edition was made possible by Steve Tomkin, a Croat born in Kosovo. The Croatian translation and publication was made by Dr. S. Leban, born in Bosnia. Meanwhile, the Albanian translation was realized by Riza Lahi, under the sponsorship of Xhaferr Kastrati from Kosovo and the care of the printing house “Eurorilindja” in Tirana.?

Historical Context: Serbia, “the Cat That Wants to Become a Lion”

After the Treaty of San Stefano between the Ottoman Empire and Russia, the Albanian nation was put in extraordinary danger, since Serbia, the Balkan ally of the Tsars, sought to expand its territories to become a Balkan and European power, despite having only 900,000 inhabitants. If the Russian and Serbian plans in the Balkans failed until 1911, it was not due to the Ottoman Empire, but because the Albanians, through the League of Prizren in 1878, did not allow it and resisted with arms.?

From 1906 to 1912, a series of uprisings for Albanian independence, mainly in the north of Albanian ethnic lands, were suppressed with violence and barbarism by Turkish troops. With the start of the Balkan War, Albania was half devastated, and Serbian troops, in the name of the war against the Ottoman Empire, carried out conquests accompanied by massive massacres against an unarmed population. According to the European press, 250,000 Albanians lost their lives, while other data suggest the figure could be as high as half a million.?

From 180,000 km² with a population of around 2 million at the end of the 19th century, by the 1930s only 80,000 km² remained, most of it outside the Albanian state.?

According to modern historians, the Slavic expansion, accompanied by massive displacement and demographic changes, took territories from various peoples (Germans, Hungarians, Albanians, Romanians, Armenians, etc.) over an area of about 1 million km², of which one tenth belonged to Albanian territories. The Albanian ethnicity, on the verge of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, lost more than half of its territories.?

The regions of Tivar, Hoti, Gruda, Pazar i Ri, Sandžak, Niš, the surroundings of Manastir, as well as the loss of the regions of Janina and Chamëria, which were depopulated or forcibly assimilated by Greece, constitute the most brutal campaign of Slavic expansion against the oldest people in the Balkans. One of the books shedding light on the massive displacement of Albanians is Leo Freundlich’s historical book **“Albanian Golgotha.”¹?

Witness to Serbian crimes in 1912–1913 was also Mother Teresa, then a child. She saw with her own eyes how the Serbs poisoned her father, while other family members escaped to Tirana.¹¹

Albanians in Holocaust Before Jews (Notes of German Journalist Hans Peter Rullmann)

In 1913, on Easter Sunday, shortly before the outbreak of the Balkan War, the Viennese writer and Israeli Leo Freundlich published the book “Accusation Records.” It includes accusatory documents recounting the massive barbarities committed by the Serbs in the northern Albanian regions, about 80 years earlier or 30 years before World War II.¹²

Rullmann argues that the first European Holocaust was planned and executed by Serbia against the Albanian people. Freundlich describes the events from mid-October 1912 to March 1913. He writes that in less than five months, the Serbian army and Chetnik bands “brutally and in the most inhumane manner that the boot of the occupier has ever shown, committed barbarities beyond description. Hundreds of thousands of unarmed men were slaughtered, women were raped, the elderly were killed, hundreds of women were burned and flattened to the ground.”¹³

According to Rullmann, during the European wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, there were no intentions to collectively destroy any nation. In the worst case, one country tried to conquer another. Before the Serbian war against Albanians in 1912, nobody attempted to eradicate an entire people. In 1912, when the catastrophe was happening, Freundlich had a premonition that Serbian rule against the existence of a nation had historic dimensions. He was aware that this sudden turn against civilization and the human spirit would not fade if the world did not punish it immediately.¹?

Freundlich Describes the Massacres

The way the Serbian army acted in 1912–1913 against Albanians during the Balkan War constitutes the first case of mass annihilation of one people by another. Although the Serbian Kingdom was informed that the International Boundary Commission would work to determine borders once the situation calmed down, the Serbian army ignored the warnings of the great powers and continued occupying non-Serbian territories. On October 22, 1912, the Serbian infantry captured the city of Pristina in Kosovo. Then it continued its attack in two directions: from Skopje and from Prizren to enter the Drin Valley. After a month, on November 20, 1912, the Serbs occupied almost all of northern Albania, and on November 29, 1912, the vanguard of the army was positioned in Durrës.¹?

The Serbian war against Albanians was not a conquest but a campaign of ethnic cleansing, aiming to show the world that Albanians had disappeared from the Balkans in a short time. For this reason, they called Albanians Turks and used this justification either to expel or massacre them.¹?

Freundlich describes the Serbian massacres in autumn 1912–spring 1913 in Albanian territories (Kosovo, Macedonia) as follows:

“Hundreds of thousands of slaughtered bodies floated in river streams. Those who could escape disease, hunger, infantry bullets and artillery shells, were gathered in certain places and shot in the head. The worst fate befell those who hid in their homes. After careful checks for looting and gold, they were easily found and slaughtered like pigs. The greatest torture was inflicted on Albanian women, who were raped, tied, used as decoys, covered with straw and burned alive. If they were pregnant, their bellies were cut with bayonets and the child was pulled out, placed on the tip of the bayonet or the spikes. After the massacre, the Serbs drank wine, sang and danced. There were cases where during the slaughter they collected blood in cups and opened the feast with it.”¹?

After the Crimes: Edith Durham Begins to Hate Serbs

While Albanians were being massacred in their homes, the Englishwoman Mary Edith Durham worked for the “Macedonia Relief Organization.” When she first stepped into the Balkans, the English historian and anthropologist admired the Serbian people, like many others in the West. But, as the British Member of Parliament Aubrey Herbert noted, “it was only the cruelty of the Serbs that turned her love into contempt.”¹?

After the repeated massacres, she openly opposed the Serbo-Montenegrins: “I wrapped the gold medal given to me by Prince Nicholas, making it clear that I could not accept a medal from those who had friendship with Abdul Hamid and received his decorations and money.”¹?

She wrote to the Montenegrin prince that his successors “are much more brutal than the Turks” and that she could no longer keep the “St. Sava” decoration. She communicated her decision in the English and Austrian press, announcing that she would return the order at the first meeting with the Serbian King Peter.²?

Data on Albanians Before Serbian Massacres (Ami Bue)

Ami Bue, a botanist, geographer, and geologist from France, born in Hamburg at the beginning of the 19th century, traveled to the Balkans in 1836–1837, then part of the Ottoman Empire. After returning to Germany in 1840, Bue compiled his impressions of travel in four volumes, each about 400 pages. His scientific accuracy was valued even by Serbs. Academician Aleksandar Beli? wrote that “Bue’s books are a true encyclopedia, incomparable in accuracy with any other publication of this type.”²¹

According to Bue, Serbia in the first half of the 19th century had less than 900,000 inhabitants, while Albania had over 1.6 million. In his geographical analyses, ethnically pure Albania was an area of about 180,000 km². He notes that there were far more Albanians than Greeks in the peninsula and at least twice as many Albanians as Serbs.²²

Chronology of Serbian Crimes Against Albanians

- Spring 1912: About 6,000 Albanian families are forcibly displaced from the Niš region toward Turkey. At the same time, Montenegrin massacres begin in Hot and Gruda.²³

- 12 November 1912: Daily Chronicle reports that 2,000 Albanians in the Skopje region and 5,000 near Prizren were slaughtered en masse.²?

- December 1912: French newspaper Humanité reports that in Drenica and Palikura all residents were killed, and mass graves with human skulls were found like gravestones.²?

- 1913: 300 Albanians are massacred in the Luma region. Frankfurter Zeitung reports that children were burned in straw before their parents, and then parents were killed with rifles and bayonets.²?

- Spring 1945: 40,000 Albanians in Kosovo are killed under the pretext of being anti-communists.²?

- 1930: Assimilation of Albanians in Sandžak is completed.²?

- 1949–50: About 300,000 Albanians are forcibly displaced from eastern Kosovo border areas after the Turkish-Yugoslav agreement.²?

- 1989: Over 6,000 Albanian children in primary schools are poisoned by the Serbian army.³?

- March 1998: 32 residents of the village of Ra?ak are massacred.³¹

- March–June 1999: During the Kosovo War, about 1 million Albanians are expelled from their homes and over 12,000 women, men, children and elderly are killed.³²

- 2000: Eastern Kosovo (Preševo, Medve?a – Bujanovac) remains occupied by Serbia; over 300 Albanians are killed from summer 1999 to summer 2000.³³

Serbian and Western Historiographical Debate

The Serbian Debate

Official Serbian historiography and many Serbian studies present the Balkan War as a justified war of liberation from the Ottoman Empire and minimize the violence against Albanians. In this narrative, the reports of Freundlich and Durham are often considered biased, politically motivated or exaggerated. Violence is presented as a war consequence, not as planned ethnic cleansing.³?

The Western Debate

Western historiography, especially after 1990, accepts that the violence was massive but remains cautious about numbers and terminology. It demands the use of multiple sources and triangulation, but faces limitations due to the lack of documents. Authors such as Noel Malcolm, Mark Mazower, Norman Naimark, and Donald Bloxham emphasize analyzing violence as a regional phenomenon and using a methodology of the history of violence.³?

Comparison of Ottoman and Diplomatic Sources

Ottoman sources include administrative documents, prefectural reports, statistics and consular reports. They offer the perspective of internal administration, but are limited by the lack of documentation, political influence, and translation challenges. Diplomatic sources (consular and ambassadorial reports) offer external and often more impartial perspectives, but are limited by the political interests of reporting states, second-hand information, and lack of access to some areas.³?

Methodology of the History of Violence

The history of violence requires a specific methodology, because sources are often fragmented, politicized, and affected by trauma. The methodology includes:

Source Criticism

- Who produced the source?

- For what purpose?

- What are the author’s interests?

- Are there elements of propaganda?

Triangulation of Sources

- Comparing Ottoman, diplomatic, and contemporary testimonies (medical reports, humanitarian missions, journalists).

Demographic Analysis

- Use of population statistics, when available, to assess losses.

- Caution is needed because records are often incomplete or manipulated.

Analysis of Violence as a Process

-Identifying mechanisms of violence (massacres, rape, burning, displacement).

- Analyzing the organization of violence (army, militias, administration).

Ethics and Trauma

- Recognizing collective trauma and preserving victims’ dignity.

- Avoiding sensationalism and politicization of violence.

This methodology is essential to understand how violence is produced and documented, especially when discussing genocide and ethnic cleansing.³?

Terminology: Genocide vs. Ethnic Cleansing

Genocide (UN Convention 1948)

The UN Convention on Genocide (1948) defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.³? Genocide requires clear evidence of intent to destroy and proof of violent acts aimed at destroying the group. In the context of 1912–1913, there is evidence of massive violence and ethnic cleansing, but proving the intent of complete destruction is legally difficult. However, some authors, including Shaban Braha, argue that Serbian violence constitutes a genocidal process, interpreting it as a systematic attempt to destroy Albanians.³?

Ethnic Cleansing

Ethnic cleansing refers to the use of violence to change the ethnic composition of a territory. In this context, forced displacements and civilian massacres in Kosovo, Macedonia and northern Albania are part of a deliberate process to change demographics. This term is more suitable for the period, as it does not require proof of intent to completely destroy, unlike genocide. Ethnic cleansing allows a clearer analysis of processes, mechanisms, displacement and assimilation.??

Holocaust as a Historical and Metaphorical Term

The term “Holocaust” historically refers to the extermination of Jews by the Nazi regime. Its use for the events of 1912–1913 is debatable because it gives a specific legal and historical meaning that does not belong to that period. In Albanian discourse, the term is used metaphorically to emphasize the intensity of violence and collective trauma. For academic purposes, it is essential to distinguish between metaphorical and legal usage.?¹

Shaban Braha and the Evaluation of Genocide

Shaban Braha, known for his book on genocide, interprets Serbian violence as a deliberate and systematic process against Albanians that meets the elements of genocide under the UN Convention. Braha argues that mass displacement, massacres, and forced assimilation aimed to destroy a national group, not as random victims, but as part of a plan to erase the identity and population of Albanians in certain areas. This interpretation is part of a wider historiographical debate, where some authors see the process as genocide, while others see it as ethnic cleansing.?²

Footnotes

1. Leo Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha (Vienna: 1913).

2. Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha.

3. Safete Juka, Harvard University Library, 1982 (report on the discovery of the only copy).

4. Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha.

5. Hans Peter Rullmann (German edition), Steve Tomkin (English edition), Dr. S. Leban (Croatian edition), Riza Lahi (Albanian edition), 1992.

6. Historical context: League of Prizren (1878) and Albanian uprisings; Ottoman repression (1906–1912).

7. Demographic and territorial losses of Albanians until the 1930s.

8. Modern historians on Slavic expansion and territorial loss.

9. Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha.

10. Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha.

11. Testimony of Mother Teresa (reported in various biographies).

12. Hans Peter Rullmann, notes on Freundlich’s 1913 publication.

13. Rullmann, notes on Serbian barbarities.

14. Rullmann, notes on historical significance.

15. Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha, description of Serbian advance.

16. Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha, characterization of ethnic cleansing.

17. Freundlich, Die Albanische Golgatha, description of massacres and torture.

18. Aubrey Herbert, quote about Edith Durham.

19. Edith Durham, High Albania (London, 1909).

20. Durham’s statement in English and Austrian press.

21. Ami Bue, Reise in den Südslavischen Ländern (Hamburg, 1840).

22. Bue, geographic and demographic analysis.

23. Forced displacement of Albanian families from Niš (spring 1912).

24. Daily Chronicle, 12 November 1912.

25. Humanité, December 1912.

26. Frankfurter Zeitung, 1913.

27. Killings in Kosovo, spring 1945.

28. Assimilation of Albanians in Sandžak, 1930.

29. Displacements of 1949–50 after the Turkish-Yugoslav agreement.

30. Poisoning of Albanian children in 1989.

31. Ra?ak massacre, March 1998.

32. Kosovo War, March–June 1999.

33. Eastern Kosovo situation, 2000.

34. Serbian historiography minimizing violence.

35. Western historiography: Noel Malcolm, Mark Mazower, Norman Naimark, Donald Bloxham.

36. Comparison of Ottoman and diplomatic sources.

37. Methodology of the history of violence.

38. UN Convention on Genocide (1948); Shaban Braha’s interpretation.

39. Terminology of ethnic cleansing.

40. Metaphorical use of the term “Holocaust” in Albanian discourse.

41. Shaban Braha, Gjenocidi serb ndaj shqiptarëve (Pristina).

The Land of Leka;02.02.2026