Part One
[Cut from the video-interview: the interviewer asks the speaker about her childhood.]
Sala Ahmetaj: I was born in the village of Radisheva, municipality of Skenderaj. It is a typical mountain village, the northernmost point, you know, of the municipality. I was born in the year… on July 12 of the year 1950. I spent my childhood at the village and had the typical childhood of a life in an isolated village, I mean, where people lived with many others like a family, all of them. Because, I mean, isolation from other…it was a village quite far from other villages, five to six kilometers from the closest village, and surrounded solely by mountains. Thus I have idyllic memories of my childhood. We used to keep sheep, cows, [our] typical games were very traditional.
I remember for example things that have impressed me the most, the holiday of St. George, when our parents would bring all kinds of herbs from the mountain… or we would decorate the house. They would place them under our pillows, they call them nettles, you know, you probably know {pointing at the ones present} and other herbs. They would sprinkle water on us, early in the morning.
All village girls would come together, I was very young, later on I could not observe these rites, when I started school and left… Yes, they would come together, sing along songs, I don’t know how they called them, you know, the swings, they would make them themselves with a rope and a cushion. My father would go far, to the Mokna mountain peak, near Radisheva. They would walk very far to collect some sort of herbs to bring them for the animals so they would keep healthy, or during the summer. These are the things that have left the most impression in me.
One more detail. My father was self-taught, you know, he was not literate. My mother as well. And they would tell me, for example, it is, at that time my father was a keen enthusiast of education. I was maybe around three or four years old, I was the first child, later I had three brothers and he told me, “If you learn well, I will send you to school.” Which was quite something, you know, 65 years ago in a mountain village. And he had that kind of love, you know, it grew in him during the Second World War. Because, they, you know, in Kosovo in general, there was a big drama during that war, because people did not know which way to go, with whom it was better to side.
And they initially went, joined the forces of Legaliteti,[1] they said, in Peja. And my father told me, “I have listened to a lot of lectures from the officers.” We call them, he called them speeches, good ones. And it was there that his love for school awakened. Then they spoke to them about Skanderbeg,[2] about national history, about everything. And from that moment on, he fed that love. And for example, he named my brother Skender, after the stuff he heard when he was with the forces of Legaliteti. Later they dispersed. And I heard from him for example, back then particularly in the villages, they sang a lot of epic songs, about Muja, Halil.[3] Well, I knew all of them by heart, as I listened to them every evening. Then, GjergjFishta[4] for example, a lot of that is still in my sub-conscious (laughs).
And, you know, besides the rest… and later, after they were dispersed, there were also partisan brigades. But unfortunately that’s what my father told me. Now I don’t know the whole truth, but he said that in the partisan brigades that came to Kosovo, for example, were infiltrated people who were çetniks,[5] as they call them, who were extremely nationalistic and chauvinistic. And they killed many people, especially in Drenica, many, many… without reason, without making any exception or… and this was the motivation for Shaban Polluzha[6] to organize, I mean to stirsome sort of protest against partisan brigades. Because in the beginning, they thought that they [partisans] will be, that they will be the liberators perhaps. And my father and many of my fellow villagers were part of that organization. Some of them got killed in that war. My father survived, however he had terrible stories. As he told us, for example during that time people in Skenderaj walked on corpses, so many [of them]. And you know, they were confused about what was happening.
That organization of Shaban Polluzha was… I mean it did not have, it wasn’t a regular army. Naturally, he had created formations, battalions. I know, people of my village were in the first battalion and the guy who led them was Ymer Fazlija,who is very well known. However, you know, their effort was very difficult … this was one of the reasons for the massacres that were committed. But also the ideological aspect. They did not want communism. And he told me that Fadil had, FadilHoxha[7] had a meeting with Shaban Polluzha in Skenderaj. And he [Polluzha], among others, tells him, he says, “Wewon’t attack you if you stop the killings”- there were so many prisoners there – “and if you set them free.” And those who were lucky to live, you know, they were set free that evening, because every night they killed a certain number of those in prison.
One of those who survived was my uncle, one of my uncles, Ibrahim Spahiu, son of Mullah Ilaz Brojë, that is his name. But he was from Kastriot[8] as they call it now. And he was, you know, he was educated, at the time. He has finished the madrasa[9] in Skopje with Idriz Ajeti[10]and others. And people tell, those who were lucky to live… that meeting of Shaban Polluzha with partisan formations, some of them have survived. And now I don’t know the other details. I know they went near Podujevo. They were attacked by partisans treacherously and many people were killed there. And then it justdispersed as a formation.
Now, about my childhood, as a child I went to school on my own. The school was… my village did not have a school as it was a small mountain village, and it was five to six kilometers toRunik, a locality. And there I, we always went up to there on foot of course. A mountain path, you don’t know, we say where only goats walk, which zigzags a lot, very steep. That path, I was the only girl who walked across the mountain, to Runik. And back then it snowed a lot. Very interesting, now it snows less, or perhaps it seems to me so (smiles). Because for example, while I was going to school, the snow would come up to here {touches the knee}, above the knee. And I had to open arrenë they call it {gestures with a hand}, you know,a path. You know, very difficult.
I was very curious even as a child. Also, in school of course, back then we went to mixedclasses. When I was in first grade, I learnt all the lessons for studentsin third grade too,as I listenedto them, I mean, we were together. Then, when I started in… I too, for example, a dress, for the first time, in fifth grade, I sewed a dress myself. I bought the fabric… I have the photo, but I don’t know if I should… and I bought, you know some sort of basma[11] and I sewed it. I have a photo of my friends and me, I was wearing it.
There was a library in… and that was like a location, not a town, but more like a village … it was like a community place. And there was a library and I constantly borrowed books. I’ve read so many books, you know from the fifth till the eighth grade. And always, you know I wished to get educated and do something. As I, you know, back then even as a child, I had noticed that everyone was illiterate, eighty percent.
I have seen a female teacher for the first time when… in the sixth grade of primary school. She came from Mitrovica, a young one, so certainly back then, she had not finished school entirely since there was a demand for people to work. And I was in sixth grade, she was very beautiful, Sanije Maliqi. I can show it to you, I have a book on female teachers of Drenica. And we would lean onto the windows to see how does a girl, a teacher looks like, you know, since we had not seen it. We thought that there were only male teachers. She, with curly hair, beautiful, and I had read Afërdita,[12] by Sterjo Spase, perhaps dozen of times. It had a girl with curly hair on the cover page. I thought she came out of that novel and she came in humanshape (smiles). And she did love us a lot. She was very loving, very nice. She would often take me where she lived.
Afterwards, when I started seventh grade, two other female teachers came. Moreover, even so, the other teacher was Fadile Zhubi, from Mitrovica. Seeing our curiosity, perhaps even our will, you know, they supported me even more and gave me books. For example, Sanija prepared sweets, some kind of sweets that I’ve never seen before. As you know, back then in the village they only cooked halva, a rice pudding or… or baklava. Much later have these started to enter as…
And, when I finished eighth grade, my father told me, “You will now go to Normale[13] in Mitrovica.” Perhaps it sounds unbelievable to you. We went from Radisheva to Mitrovica on foot, which is six hours walk. And we had an admission exam. There were plenty of applicants since back then there were only few high schools. You know, only Mitrovica and Pristina had Normale school I think. There was no other, I believe not. And you know, there were so many applicants, I was afraid of whether I would be admitted or not. And after we were done they told us, “You should come after a week and check whether you are accepted in the school, in Normale.” I slept there for a couple of days, my mother had a cousin, this guy Ibrahim Spahiu, so I stayed at their place. When I went to check whether I was accepted, I might have looked at the list a few times and still could not believe that I had been accepted. I was ranked sixth in the list (smiles).
And so I enrolled in Normale. I finished it with excellent grades. They selected me as the best student of the school when I was in third grade. And back then it was published, there was a journal,Front, for the whole of Yugoslavia. They selected the excellent ones from all Yugoslavia. Imagine my father, he found out from the headmaster of the school in Runik. He was a Montenegrin. And when he saw him in Runik he told him, Ali was my father’s name, he tells him, “Ali, did you daughter visit you?” “No,” he says, “She rarely comes.” Because back then there were no buses,only one that departed from Peja and did not stop in Runik. Five, seven, eighty people in one bus. And he says, “No, she did not come for a long time.” And he says, “Hold on, I will tell you something nice.” He had seen the journal and told him, he says, “Here, your daughter… you know the council of school teachers, they have…” And when I went, out of desire to tell him, he says to me, “Well, I did find out” (smiles). Later on, when I got to fourth grade, they enabled me to finish two grades in one year. That’s how it was back then, for students who were, you know…
And I, I could hardly wait, you know, I started working as a teacher in Runik a year earlier [than graduation]. That was the greatest dream of my life. And I did other things later, but not something as impressive as that. Because the dream I had for years came true… and I worked a few years as a teacher there, and then I enrolled in the faculty as a part-timer in 1971. I did not have good financial conditions, you know, due to the fact that they only did farming, back then there was no possibility to… and I wished to help my family so my brothers got an education too and my parents, so I enrolled as a part-time student.
The same year I got a job in Runik, electricity came to Radisheva for the very first time. You know, because I finished primary school with… at the time they called it an oil lamp, gas [lamp]. I pinned a nail, on the [wall]… above my head {points with a hand}. I studied with it as late as I could, or during daylight -in Normale as well – when I studied at home. At my uncles’, it was a huge difference you know,sincethey had a television in Mitrovica, and I remember I was watching some American serials. And now, there was a huge difference, you know from the life in the city and in some localities that… Runik had electricity for example, but that was a mountain area and with scattered houses and it did cost a lot to bring it over. And when I started to work, electricity became available, you know. And three or four days before it was completely installed, I bought a TV set (smiles) and brought it over. And that was a joy not only for my family, but for all the neighbors would come to watch it every evening, since it was something special, unusual for them.
Or for example, my grandmother, she was ninety years old, the mother of my mother…because they did not have electricity in Kastriot, now Kostërrc, it’s a village. And she, I mean she was ninety years old, it was something…something strange for her, or unimaginable, a cultural trance. And when she watched television, when the images started to get larger she thought they want to come out of… and said (smiles), you know, she would put her scarf on,out of fear that they would see her. We would tell her, “Loke,[14]they don’t see you. No!” And then she would, “I swear on the soul of…” her brother …”they are coming out!” We would tell her, “No!” Or for example, in the evening, my eldest brother, he got killed, he was a soldier in the last war…and he told her, “Loke, shall we turn it on?” He would tell her that[we were seeing] a big house, and a lot of people, and that it was the evening. But then it was difficult for us to explain, you know.
Very interesting, she was so old, and yet she would look at me with so much love. She liked that… she was different from those who said, “It is not good, because a girl goes astray while at school,” even in my village, everyone. Perhaps it is one of the few villages that did not have fanaticism, very interesting. We all lived without fences, how they make them at… without wooden fences as they call them. They lived, for example they stayed together, they worked the corn together, we harvested the corn together. I did harvest as a child, with a reaping hook. And I cannot say that there was fan [aticism]…there isn’t… of course there are elements of it, it was the same for everyone. But not in the sense that just because I went to school I abandoned the customary codes.
There were perhaps many reasons, since traditionally in Radisheva there was a great resistance against Turkey. My grandfather was imprisoned for twelve years in Turkey. Later on, he fought together with Isa Boletini[15] and he was there when the independence [of Albania] was declared. It is a strange coincidence, as today we have the reburial of Isa’s bones. And my grandfather, he was with him in Podgorica, when Isa was killed. He managed to escape together with Isa’s son. They even brought his horse to Kosovo. Though Isa was killed, Isa’s son and my father survived… my great grandfather, whereas some of my cousins were killed, two of them together with Isa. Perhaps these might be the reasons why.
And then, Shotë Galica[16]… grew up in Radisheva, and the very fact that she was an unparalleled fighter for the Balkans, not only for Albanians. Azem[17]had two other wives, as many had two, three wives, even Isa even… but, Shota was the one who became a fighter, who took the gun, that… Then,[she was] the one who led the unit, you know even after Azem was dead, she, together with a cousin, Mehmet Delia, were leading for years. And perhaps these factors influenced my growing up with a kind of pride, let’s say. My friends used to tell me, they even tell me now, because I had, you know, and continue to have good friends in Mitrovica… I mean, I did not have any wealth but I never felt shy, so perhaps these factors made it possible for me to be… I also have aspirations, I could say, to do something not only for myself. And I am happy (smiles).
I worked ten years in Runik, you know, Runik and then Skenderaj, I worked with my whole being. Perhaps my greatest energy was spent there, and I am happy about this. For example, I, as a teacher… we organized all kinds of things, all kinds, even literary classes, we issued journals, and plays, we staged them ourselves, I did role-playing, for example. We ran competitions with other schools, at the municipal level. We tried hard, you know.
Iused to see myself, perhaps I am not modest if I say it, as a missionary. I wished that my example influenced the education of all the other girls, you know, to show them that being educated makes you more dignified, more skillful, more useful, contrary to the existing, general opinion. I gave them everything to read, all kind of books. Do you know how many books I bought back then? Hundreds! Unfortunately they were all burnt, as I left them in Radisheva, at my brothers’.
So, you know… afterwards when I finished university, I was still working there, first as a teacher in Runik, then as a professor in Skenderaj for two years. Perhaps it might be interesting for you, as I don’t know what is best to…
For example, in Skenderaj, in the year 1976, back then,a national awakeninghad already started, you know, some sort of a national rebirth…of Kosovo, it was then when our national rebirth took place, since we were very late… very, very. When I read this book {the interviewee points to the bookshelf} on female teachers of Drenica in ’41-’71, and in the years such as ’40-’48, all of those who came to Drenica were not fromDrenica, [they were] either from Gjakova, or from Albania, male or female teachers. So it was an absolute darkness.
Then the ammunition factory opened in Skenderaj. I will never forget, I was a professor then. You know it was an unusual celebration of joy. And I assigned my students to write, to write an essay, as it was called then. So, the title [was], “The factory sirens are being heard in Drenica too, this is not a legend“.
And after I finished that school year, it was professor Rexhep Ismajli back then, I had two more [years], and he said, “You girl…” Back then they used to hold exams jointly, in one classroom, not like now (laughs). And there was the wife of Mehmet Kraja, Zize Rexhaj, another who lived in Mitrovica, and many… He said, “We want to keep you at the faculty“. And I sort of…I could not imagine that these two would coincide…He said,”How many exams do you have left?” I had two more exams to graduate. He said, “Once you are done, you will be here.” And this is a part of my youth. I don’t know if I achieved, it is difficult that a person [realizes] every… you know, everything that you wish for, or perhaps at this moment I cannot recall the rest of quite important things (laughs).
[1]Legaliteti(Legality) was a nationalist pro-monarchic Albanian movement that was active during the Second World War. It demanded the return of King Zog, who had fled the country upon the Italian invasion.
[2]Gjergj Kastriot–Skanderbeg (1405-1468) was an Albanian nobleman and leader. Taken hostage as a boy by the Ottomans, he served the Empire until 1443 when he became “the Chief of the League of Albanian People” in the League of Lezhë. He led a resistance to the Ottoman Empire for the next 25 years until his death, and is considered a model of Christian resistance against Ottoman Islam throughout Europe. He is the greatest Albanian national hero.
[3] Muja and Halil are two brothers, protagonists of the songs of the frontier warriors, (këngët kreshnike) an oral epic of folktales and legends based on mythological or historical events, which is sung in men’s chambers (oda) in Kosovo, especially in the northern mountains, accompanied by lahuta (lute).
[4]Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940) was an Albanian Franciscan brother, a poet, an educator, a politician, and a national hero, the author of Lahuta e Malcis(The Highland Lute), an epic poem of over 17,000 verses.
[5]Serbian movement born in the beginning of the Second World War, under the leadership of Draža Mihailović. Its name derives from četa, anti-Ottoman guerrilla bands. This movement adopted a Greater Serbia program and was for a limited period an anti-occupation guerrilla, but mostly engaged in collaboration with Nazi Germany, its major goal remaining the unification of all Serbs. It was responsible for a strategy of terror against non-Serbs during the Second World War and was banned after 1945. Mihailović was captured, tried and executed in 1946.
[6]Shaban Polluzha was the leader of volunteer forces in Drenica. He joined the partisans, but in late 1944 he disobeyed orders to go north to fight Germans in Serbia, having received news that nationalist Serbs and Montenegrins were attacking civilians in Drenica. He fought against partisans forces until early 1945, when he was killed.
[7]Albanian Communist partisan leader from Gjakova, who held a number of high posts in Kosovo and Yugoslavia, including the rotating post of Vice President of the Federal Presidency, the highest leadership post in Yugoslavia under Tito, in 1978-79. He retired in 1986, but was expelled from the League of Communist on charges of nationalism.
[8] Formerly Obilić.
[9]Muslim religious school, the only school where teaching could be conducted in Albanian until 1945.
[10] Albanian writer and academic.
[11]Basma is a thin cotton fabric with a simple pattern, colored and with various flowers.
[12]The speaker is referring to the novel Afërdita by Sterjo Spasse, published in 1944. Afërdita is a city girl, who upon finishing her studies is sent to teach in a mountain village, where she struggles to emancipate the local “backward” population. Spasse wrote a sequel, Afërdita përsëri në fshat (Afërdita returns to the village) in 1955. Both books were a huge success.
[13]The first Shkolla Normale opened in Gjakova in 1948 to train the teachers needed for the newly opened schools. With the exception of a brief interlude during the Italian Fascist occupation of Kosovo during WWII, these were the first schools in Albanian language that Kosovo ever had. In 1953, the Shkolla Normale moved to Pristina and later on in other cities.
[14] Granny, an Albanian colloquial term for older ladies e.g. grandmother.
[15] Isa Boletini (1864-1916) was a nationalist figure and fighter and a major leader of the armed revolt against the Ottoman government of the Young Turks. His remains, originally buried in Podgorica where he was killed, were reburied in the village of Boletin, in the northern side of Mitrovica, in June 2015.
[16]Shotë Galica, born as Qerimë Halil Radisheva, was an Albanian insurgent fighter and the wife of Azem Bejta, the leader of the Kaçak movement. Galica participated in dozens of attacks against Royal Yugoslav forces in the beginning of the 20th century and the Kaçak movement succeeded to put under their control temporary free zones.
[17]AzemGalica (1889-1924) was born Azem Bejta but took the name Galica from the village where he was born in Drenica. He was the leader of the Kaçak (outlaws) movement against the Kingdom of Serbia first, and then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Bejta’s units put under their temporary control a free zone in the western part of Kosovo. He died from wounds received during a confrontation with royal forces. Together with his companion ShotëGalica, Bejta acquired legendary status as a national hero.