From Sefedin Krasniqi
Part Two
-Communist crimes in Kosovo, just like in Albania-
Memorie.al / The beatings, terror, persecutions, imprisonments, and killings suffered by the village of Zhilivodë (now Trimor), especially the family, friends, and loved ones of Aziz Zhilivoda, I have often heard recounted in the men’s chambers of this village. Despite the freer and occasional breathing space resulting from the changes that came to post-World War II Yugoslavia, we never dared to express or write freely about them in newspapers or books. This time, Faik Krasniqi, the second son of Aziz Zhilivoda, speaks exclusively.
Continued from the previous issue
The imprisonment of Aziz Zhilivoda’s family
Then the grandmother addressed Ali Shukriu with these words: – “Take your hands off me, you son of a dog! You have guns, cannons, and an army; go after Aziz if you can catch him.” At that moment, Sherif Tërstena’s wife fainted, because she had been tortured in Mitrovica, even before being brought to Vushtrri. All the fingernails on her hands had been torn out. While Sherif’s mother still had wet clothes, because they had thrown her into the Ibër River while coming to Vushtrri. After these words, Ali Shukriu and Rasimi went out.
We continued life through prisons
– In the winter of 1947, the time was approaching for our uncle Hajriz’s wife to give birth. Uncle’s wife was released and went to her father in the village of Brezhnicë. Sometime in April 1948, we received news that she had given birth to a son. From prison, we baptized him with the name Ahmet. (This refers to Ahmet Krasniqi, the future Minister of Defence of the Republic of Kosovo and commander of FARK). We continued prison for a while in Vushtrri, and part of the time also in the infamous prison of Pristina. In 1949-1950, we were sent back to Vushtrri prison. After the Serbs filled the prisons with Albanians, they sent us back to a private prison (private house). In September 1950, we were released from prison and returned devastated to Zhilivodë.
Even after prison, the chases and persecutions did not end. We were also in great destitution. The greatest help with food and clothing was given to us by our maternal uncles from Hade. But Bajram and Selim Zuka from Likoshan imprisoned the nephew Xhemajl Preniqi from Hade and our friend Isë Preniqi from Hade. The Serbs also imprisoned many men at that time, such as Ilaz Xhemajl Dervisholli with his brother Sadik, many men from the village of Dobrashevc and the Morina neighborhood of Akrashtica of Vushtrri, then our great-grandfather’s maternal uncles from Kutllovc of Shala e Bajgorës. Thus, all our friends and loved ones suffered, filling the prisons from Niš to Goli Otok.
Our family had no rights, neither civil nor human. They even lost the right to education. We were only engaged in heavy physical labor. When we went to work our land, we had to report to the communist councilors of the village, so they would know where we were. This situation continued until after the Brioni Plenum in 1966, where the Slavo-communists settled accounts among themselves. After the Plenum, we breathed more freely and completed our education privately. I, Faik, son of Aziz, finished primary school, secondary school, and higher education, all privately. Likewise, my younger brother, Shaip. Later, both of us were employed in the Kosovo Electricity Economy. But later, the persecution of our family resumed. I was fired from my job.
Shaip was operated on for a brain hemorrhage and later immigrated to Sweden with his whole family, where he remains now. After the 1981 demonstrations, the Serbs imprisoned uncle Hajriz’s son, Behxhet, who since 1977 had been enlisted by Xhafer Durmishi in an illegal organization working for the good of Kosovo and its freedom. Behxhet served nearly two years in prison. In 1992, after the high-voltage electricity pylons that pass through Zhilivodë and carry electricity to Montenegro were destroyed, the Serbian police of the village of Zhilivodë increased their oppression.
Thus, in addition to the beatings nearly to death suffered by Shefki Islam Krasniqi, Jakup Bajram Krasniqi, Hashim Bejtë Krasniqi, Hajra Galan Krasniqi, Rrahim Hysen Krasniqi, etc., the whole village was forced to leave their homes and, for three months, took refuge in the mountains of Qyqavica. Behxheti, thanks to Shefki Islami, escaped this terror and fled to Germany, where he remains today with his immediate family.
Memories from prison
During the time we were in prison, 1947-1948 in Vushtrri, our uncles Hajriz, Qerkini, and Qerimi had leg irons put on them, weighing 45 kg each. Qerkini and Qerimi were sent to Mitrovica prison, then to Pristina prison and were sentenced to three years each, which they served in Niš prison. While we remained in Vushtrri prison. I want to emphasize that in 1948, we suffered for a morsel of bread.
Care for food was taken over by Aunt Fatë, my father’s sister, and Jakup, the son of uncle Qerkin, who suffered the most, because he was young (13 years old). Jakup and the wives of Qerkini and Qerimi were free. While we were in prison, OZNA was stationed in our tower with 110 soldiers. After ethnic cleansings, Albanians were removed from police jobs for absurd reasons, such as: why are you not married, or, why are you married, etc.
The prison commander was a certain Dinë Bajraktari from Gjakova. He brought us corn flour to make porridge, just enough to keep us from starving. I feel a family obligation to say that even our children’s children owe it to remember with high respect Dini, who unfortunately later also suffered, because he was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. After some time, I heard that Dini had sheltered the fugitive from the mountains of Karadak of Gjilan, Hasan Ali Kereniku. After Dini’s imprisonment and sentencing, Hasan Aliu was ambushed and killed in 1958. I say these words to pay public homage, because we owe a debt to Dinë Bajraktari.
After the communists came to power, not even a plis (white woolen cap) for an Albanian’s head can be found in this land!
After the Serbs took over the prisons, they tried everything to defeat the Albanian people. They filled the prisons daily with Albanians from various parts of Kosovo, especially from Artakoll, Drenica, and Shala, etc. But at night, darkness seemed to devour the Albanians. Some of them were killed and massacred by the Serbs in front of the Priest’s house, near the Vushtrri fortress. Later, these mass graves were discovered during the construction of the new medical center in Vushtrri. In Vushtrri prison, I also remember some other men, such as: Sherif Tërrnava and Veli Aliu from Zhilivoda, who knew about the meetings of the Ballists. Veliu had been kept in a bin of the Badiviks of Vushtrri. Barefoot and frozen, they brought him to the prison cell. The flesh of his feet had fallen off from the cold.
Dini brought us some pickled cabbage from the city, and our grandmother, Sherife, with Dini’s help, secretly treated Veliu’s feet with cabbage, hiding from the prison commander. Uncle Veliu stood like a man and accepted nothing. Had he accepted anything, they would have shot at least 120 people, from Bardh to Kollë. I also remember another very sad case. One day, they brought an old man who had materially helped and sheltered the Ballists. OZNA, with its collaborators, had raped his 18-year-old daughter. The old man was from a village in the municipality of Vushtrri and came from a very generous family. After the rape, the girl became pregnant. She was tortured so cruelly that to escape death, she confessed that her father had raped her.
The old man was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and from shame over the accusations the Serb concocted against him, he died in Niš prison. The girl gave birth to a son while being transported to Mitrovica prison, from where all contact with her was lost, and her fate was never known. They also brought to prison a certain Bajram Pasoma. He was a capable man. They imprisoned him in Vushtrri one day when he came to buy a white plis. After walking through three or four shops selling plisa, none suited his taste, and he shouted: – “Fuck the Englishman, the German, the American, and all those who brought Tito to power, because not even a plis for an Albanian’s head can be found anymore in this land”!
For these words, Bajram was sentenced to three years in prison. From torture, he went mad in Vushtrri prison. Mad, he would shout: – “Tomorrow Mustafa Zhilivoda is being killed (my great-grandfather), tomorrow Sherife is being killed (my grandmother), etc…!” Grandmother was very scared. Seeing our miserable condition (us Aziz’s children), without bread or other things, she often said: – “Oh God, I will break the neck of Allah, what has he done to us…!!!” She thought that the God of Albanians was greater than the Allah of Muslims. When later it came to her mind, she would say: – “Oh God, do not hold it against me!”
The nephew of Aziz Zhilivoda, Colonel Ahmet Krasniqi
Colonel Ahmet Krasniqi (1948-1998), finished the Technical School, Mechanical Engineering branch in Pristina. In the second year of high school, a competition was announced for the Military Academy. We were sitting in the tower, us sons of Aziz and Ahmet. I was reading “Memories of Hoxha Kadria”, chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Liberated Albanian Lands. While reading, I came to the chapter “The Pledge of Junik”, where all the Albanian leaders were called. A pledge had been made to stand up for Albanian lands. In that pledge, also participated the colonel of the Skopje gendarmerie, Bajram Curri.
It occurred to me that without trained military cadres, Albanian lands will never be liberated. We sat down to talk, and in our tower, it was decided that Ahmet, after finishing Technical High School, should go to the Military Academy. The next day, I went to Pristina to consult with some friends about Ahmet’s further education. The greatest influence on his education came from Metush Krasniqi from Dajkovc and Hyrije Hana from Gjakova, who lived in Pristina. Also from his friends, Sabri Novosella and Shefqet Jashari-Strofci.
When we submitted the documents in Vushtrri, the military affairs officer at the municipality was a mean Albanian. He refused to sign the documents and called us a reactionary and Ballist family. The documents were returned to the Regional Headquarters. There was a major there. He asked us why we hadn’t had the documents signed in Vushtrri?! We explained that in Vushtrri they rejected us on the pretext that we are a Ballist family and that our sons have no right to study at the Military Academy. We took advantage of the opportunity and asked the major how long our family’s punishment for these matters should last, and whether this family defeat and contempt would ever ends?! We also said these words to the major: – “These forms of discrimination against minors and the children of our fathers were condemned at the Brioni Plenum, and our wish is to integrate into society.”
We told him our sufferings and vicissitudes from the beginning until after the Brioni Plenum, and we told him that we have no need to wash and re-wash ourselves before anyone. Throughout the time we spoke, the major listened attentively. At some point, he signed the documents and, without a word, wished Ahmet well for his enrollment in the Academy. Ahmet began the Military Academy in Belgrade. During his studies, besides us sons of Aziz, Ahmet was also helped by his friends who gave him courage, boosting his morale to finish the Academy. Among them were Metushi, Hyria, as well as his friend Mehmet Gjoshi, etc., whom I mentioned above.
After graduating from the Military Academy in Belgrade, he was assigned to military duty in Zagreb, Croatia. There, we sons of Aziz visited him often. His friends Metushi and Mehmeti also visited him. Facts about Ahmet’s biography and activity until the disintegration and destruction of Yugoslavia can be found in various military archives of Croatia. The Croatian press several times wrote about how Ahmet Krasniqi disarmed the Gospić barracks and handed them over to Tuđman’s Croatian forces.
After the war in Croatia, with the fall of Enver Hoxha’s dictatorship in Albania, Ahmet went to Albania and contacted Aziz Zhilivoda in Elbasan. Then he made several visits to Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Norway, always with the purpose of organizing Albanian officers for the liberation of Kosovo. Later, with the beginning of the war in Kosovo, he was appointed Minister of Defence and commander of FARK by the government of Bujar Bukoshi.
Then, in my opinion and according to many writings published in our press, due to various factions of the KLA in Kosovo and elsewhere, the agreement in Norway with Adem Demaçi and its non-implementation, regarding the merging of the armies: FARK and KLA into a National Army of Kosovo, upon Ahmet’s return to Tirana, an assassination attempt was made on him and he was killed in the most brutal manner.
We, Ahmet’s family, declare that we did not appoint Ahmet minister to usurp the properties of Kosovo and the people. Ahmet was appointed Minister of Defence by the government of Bujar Bukoshi, which emerged from the vote of the people of Kosovo. From this, it follows that Ahmet also had the people’s mandate to organize the liberation of Kosovo. It falls upon the government of Bujar Bukoshi, the Supreme Headquarters of FARK, the Ministry of Defence, and especially the authorities of Tirana, to shed light on the murder of the minister and the son of our family. One truth is undeniable.
Even after the sufferings in prisons, persecutions, and mistreatments throughout our family’s history, it never happened that we turned our guns against Albanians. So we owe no revenge, no blood, nor debt to anyone. Therefore, this cruel act has shocked us greatly. Hence, we expect from the relevant Albanian political factors of Kosovo and Albania, investigations to illuminate this murder.
To our astonishment, the military and political leaders of the KLA did not see fit to even console us as a family! As if they were pleased by Ahmet’s murder?! Despite this fact, our sons whom we had in KLA formations, we did not withdraw from the war, believing that the freedom of the nation is sacred. But neither did we organize ambushes or backstabbings, nor will we ever. But now after the war and freedom, we are ready to confront the former military and political organs of the KLA at any time, to explain the killing of Colonel Ahmet Krasniqi.
After all that has been said above: regarding our entire family biography, the persecutions, the terror we experienced as a family and beyond, we, the sons of Aziz Zhilivoda and his family, stand firm. But also, to open a debate with the gentlemen we mentioned above, i.e., with the former political and military leadership of the KLA, in a constructive and objective manner, without masks, we are ready to confront them at any moment. As a family, we have no need to wash ourselves or give account to anyone.
The honor, resistance, and sacrifice belong to the entire Albanian people of Kosovo. It is a fact that the gun returned dignity to the people, not to profiteers from the people’s misfortune. As a family, we bow before all Kosovar mothers, the fallen sons for Kosovo’s freedom, and all the victims of the war. Memorie.al
