By Auron Tare
Part Two
Memorie.al / In April 1939, Italian military troops invaded Albania, which after a short resistance surrendered its arms and accepted the fate of a small country on the brink of a great war. The Italian aggression and European indifference towards this invasion has been a point of debate in many historical writings and analyses. In general, everyone has agreed with the fact that no one in Europe was interested in upsetting the balances established in a Europe dominated by the dizzying rise of Nazi Germany and the dreams of fascist Italy for the construction of a new Roman empire. But apparently, from the publication of some documents coming from the American Military Intelligence Archive, it appears that not everyone was indifferent to the Italian invasion of Albania.
Continued from the previous issue
TOP-SECRET
DIRECTIVE No. 29
Objectives of German operations in Southeastern Europe:
to push the British back from the Balkans, as well as to create the conditions for air operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, and to advance further under the codenamed operations “Mercury”. With exceptions noted below, it will be Italy’s task to guarantee the security of Greek territories in the future.
In particular, the German authorities must be careful not to act as intermediaries, if the Greeks request this. For the distribution of materials, an agreement with the Italian military forces will be reached to ensure their distribution routes.
Below are the tasks of the German military forces:
Army:
The following forces will remain in Greece.
Those forces that is necessary to guarantee the securing of the supply bases for operation “Mercury”. They must be concentrated locally.
One division near Thessaloniki. This division must supervise the island of Lemnos, as well as all the islands under German occupation. However, the area and islands that will be used as starting points for operation “Mercury” must be guarded until this operation is finished. All German forces that are not necessary, according to this document, must be withdrawn as quickly as possible.
The High Command of the Italian military forces will be aware of the operation for the capture of Greece and must communicate with the general of the command of the 12th Division for all details. As general of the Command of Troops in the Balkans, he must move his Command to Thessaloniki as soon as the situation of operation “Mercury” allows this.
I expect the chiefs of the respective Commands to report to me on the measures taken regarding this directive, as well as on the agreements made with the Italians.
Signed
Adolf Hitler
The most interesting fact in the testimonies of General Albert Jodl at the Nuremberg Trial was the testimony that the German leader, Adolf Hitler, was against the invasion of Albania by fascist Italy. Today, in the new testimony that comes from the documentation of the American Army Intelligence, we have the data of one of the most important German personalities for Balkan affairs, Herman Neubaher.
Neubaher, the German plenipotentiary for the Balkans, during questioning by American Intelligence experts, who were interested in obtaining data from all Balkan personalities who had collaborated with the German authorities, also testified about some of the Albanian collaborators.
In it there is quite a lot of information on the German perspective towards the Balkans, where undoubtedly Albania occupies an important place. Although Neubaher has left a book of memoirs about the period of his engagement in the Balkans, the documents that come from the American archive are very interesting and quite special, since they were taken under the conditions of the American army investigation.
Among the Albanian personalities about whom Neubaher testified before the authorities of the American Military Secret Service is also one of the people with a quite debatable history regarding his role in collaboration with the Germans. A number of articles and historical testimonies have been written about Xhafer Deva, which blame him in the eyes of post-war history.
But he left a mark in history for two quite climactic moments in the period of the German occupation: the creation of the SS Division “Skanderbeg” and the massacre of February 4. Interesting is the fact that the American authorities, despite the information about Deva, did not arrest and convict him in connection with his political activity in favor of the German cause.
Of course, the massacre of February 4 is a black stain on Deva’s political career, but his anti-communist and in particular anti-Serb political activity may have been tolerated by American Intelligence officials, who saw him as a potential person against communist influence in the Balkans.
With the declassification of a series of documents of the time, we now have a more accurate picture of some of the issues related to persons who escaped from Albania and to pro-German activity, such as the case of Xhafer Deva.
The Americans, seeing that the communist danger would be the most serious threat to American interests in the future, tolerated or engaged many pro-German elements, known as anti-communists, placed in American Counterintelligence operations.
The most well-known case is the intelligence network known as “General Gehlen’s Service”, a network of the German agency, which after the war was put at the service of American Intelligence against Soviet interests. On Xhafer Deva’s activity in emigration, there is not much data so far, but apparently, even though with a pro-German past, Xhafer Deva was left free.
He lived in Vienna for a long time and later moved to America, where he also died. His American wife, the former director of the library of the University of California, passed away only two years ago, without publishing anything from Xhafer Deva’s memoirs, which according to some of his acquaintances are still in manuscript. Although Xhafer Deva belongs to the losing side of the war, his efforts for a free and independent Kosovo from the Serbian regime should be appreciated and the documentation of this period should be viewed with considerable interest.
Xhafer Deva belonged to that class of Kosovar intellectuals who saw salvation from the Serbian yoke in Germany’s support, a viewpoint that history proved wrong, as much as the internationalist solution that communism would give to this issue.
SECRET
GI No. 36
QUARTET
United States Forces
European Theater
Army Intelligence Service Center
APO 757
INTERMEDIATE REPORT (CI – IIR)
- 36
Prisoner: NEUBAHER, HERMAN
29 January 1946
DAHAVER DEVA (Xhaver Deva)
Xhaver Deva was introduced to Herman Neubacher
(the German Plenipotentiary for the Balkans) by Obst von KOHOUTEK (see paragraph G (9) in Belgrade, in September 1943.
DEVA, about 40 years old, is an Albanian Muslim. He is from the district of Kosovo, Serbia and has studied in Albania. He is a determined Albanian nationalist with strong anti-communist feelings. He wears glasses and at first glance appears to be no more than a high school teacher. After the Italian capitulation, DEVA organized the Albanian National Committee, which proclaimed the independence of Albania on 14 September 1943.
The Committee elected a provisional government and DEVA sought official German recognition through Neubaher. NEUBAHER emphasizes that they allowed free elections for the representatives of the National Parliament.
The Parliament elected the Council of Regency, as well as formed the Permanent Government. DEVA served as Minister of the Interior under Prime Minister Rexhep Mitrovica in governments, the provisional and the permanent one.
He considered as his primary objective revenge against the communists. He represented the Kosovars (Albanians from the province of Kosovo in Serbia) in the Albanian government.
According to Neubaher, the population of this district supplied the most active elements in Albanian politics. They were nationalists and opposed any kind of intervention from outside. In general they were wealthy and, as a result, were against communism.
Besides the head of the Regency, Mehdi bey Frashëri, DEVA (and not Prime Minister Mitrovica) was the most influential person in Albania. When Fiqiri Dine founded a new government in May-June 1944, Deva resigned as a result of an illness.
He went to Vienna to be treated, as well as for medical consultations. During the summer of 1944, DEVA became president of the “Kosovar League”, an Albanian nationalist organization, which did not accept Serbia and Montenegro.
He considered as his mission the organization of a nationalist center in Albania for “Greater Albania”. To fulfill this mission, he had to remove the old pro-DRAGES groupings and the beys, pro-Italian groupings in Kosovo, which in fact were very influential.
These leaders represented an outdated Levantine mentality, which allowed the influence of clan chiefs. DEVA thought of staying in Kosovo after the German withdrawal, in order to fight against Tito’s forces.
He was forced to give up this idea, since the German authorities could not supply him in time with the necessary materials and ammunition.
As a result, DEVA came to Zagreb in November 1944, from where he subsequently flew to Vienna together with Neubaher. He participated in the formation of the Albanian National Committee in Vienna, under KITZBUHEL, as well as with the members of Neubaher’s office.
He attempted to go to Switzerland in May 1945 and, as far as Neubaher knows, he managed to cross into Switzerland. Before he left for Switzerland, DEVA and Neubaher conversed about the possibility of inserting Deva into Albania through Southern Italy or Northern Greece.
On this possibility, Neubaher told Deva that; “report to General SCOBIE and give him my best regards and try to see the situation of Albania from Northern Greece”! / Memorie.al
