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The pre-World War I Jewish population of Kosovo is not known with any certainty, but it was very small. Records suggest it may has been as high as 3,000 people. It appears to have declined substantially, although we are not sure why. Yugoslav records suggest a population in Kosvo of about 400-600 Jews. After the Axis invasion (April 1941) and the Italian seizure of Kosovo, the primary target of the Italian ethnic cleaning effort in Kosovo were the ethnic Serbs. Mussolini and the Italian Fascists were not lke the NAZIs virulently anti-Semetic. The NAZIs pushed the Fascists to enact anti-Semetic laws before the War and as the War progressed demanded more stringet actions against Jews. The NAZIs in Yugoslavia pressured the Italians to round-up Jews in their occupation zones and turn them over. Here the Italians temporized. The NAZIs occupied Serbia and began rounding up and killing Serbian Jews. Some Serbian Jews were able to elude the NAZI round-ups and fled into Italian-controlled Kosovo. The Italian authorities set up an internment camp using an abandoned school in Priština, the Kosovo city where much of the small Jewish population iived. The Italians held the Jewish refugees there for 10 months. Eventually the Italians moved them to the Pristina prison. Here the prison authorities permitted the Jews to remain in family groups. They were kept separate from the other prisoners. They were not kept locked in cells all the time, but allowed out into the courtyard during the day. Here we see some of the Jewish prisoners in the courtyard (figure 1). These Jews complained about the poor conditions in the prison. Germans reportedly retaliated by shooting half of the Jews in the prison. We do not understand this because Pristina was within the Italian zone of control and had been annexed to Albania. Just why the Germans carried out this action we are unsure. The Germans apparently demanded that the other Jews in the Pristina Prison be dealt with. The Italians loaded most of the Jews at the Prison on trucks and tranported them out of Kosovo to Kavaja in Albania proper. The Italians did turn 51 Jews from the Prison over to the NAZIs who eventually killed them. The Italian police arrested more Jews (July 1942). One report indicated five families who were also transported to Kavaja. We are not sure how the Jews in Kavaja were treated. One report indicates that they had to report to the police daily. After the Italian surrender to the Allies (September 1943), the Germans seized control of the Italian occupation zone of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo. The Germans like the Italians sought to exploit Albanian nationalism against the Serbs and Partisans who were organizing an increasingly effective resuistance movement. (Yugoslabia is along with the Soviets the only two countries to develop a militarily effective resiantance movement.) The NAZIs organized the 21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS “Skanderbeg,” (April 1944). The Division was primarily composed of ethnic Albanians (including Kosovars). The NAZIs ordered Albanian fascists (we are not sure precisly who)to round up the Jews still left in Pristna. Onecreport suggests that they interned 1,500 Jews. Such a number must have included many refugee Serb Jews. Their property was plundered and most of the individuals rounded up were transported to Bergen-Belsen and Treblinka. One report suggests that some survived because a misrouted train was intercepted by advancng Red Army troops.
Very little information is available on Jews in what is now Kosovo and the wider Balkan area duing the Roman and medieval eras. Virtually all that is known is the discovery at Ulpiana (just outside Priština) of what is believed to be a Roman-era synagogue. This would be one of the oldest known synagouges in Europe. Some limited information is available during the Ottoman period. A Turkish cadastral tax census of the Branković lands (Meaning most of modern Kosovo) showed a relative equal population of Serbs and Albanians (1455). Only one Jewish dwelling was noted in Vučitrn by the Turkish Census. This suggests that almost all of Kosvo Jews are related to the expulsion of the Sephardic Jews. The Ottomans provided santiary to Jewish refugees expelled from Spain and Portugal and Marinos targeted by the Inquisition--The Sephardic Jews (15th and 16th centuries). Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire in particular welcomed Jewish refugees. Jews became involved in trade between the various provinces in the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkan provinces like Kosovo. The population of Serbs and Albanians does not seem to have changed much duyring the period of Ottoman rule. An Austrian Census noted a relative equal distribution of Serbs and Albanians (1899). Jews wee included in a category of other groups. The pre-World War I Jewish population of Kosovo is not known with any certainty, but it was very small. Records suggest it may has been as high as 3,000 people. The Jewish population of Kosovo appears to have declined during World War I. We are not sure at this time just why. It appears to have declined substantially, although we are not sure why. Yugoslav records suggest a population in Kosvo of about 400-600 Jews.
Jews were given full civil rights in the Yugoslav kingdom organized around the Serbian monarchy after World War I. We do not have much information on anti-Semitism during the inter-War period. The most anti-Semetic group was the outlawed Cratian nationalist movement--the Ustache. A 1921 Census showed that the population of Kosovo was 75 percent Muslim. We are not sure why the population shifted so significantly during World War I. The Census reported 427 Jews.
The invasion of Yugoslavia or Operation 25 is somtimes described as a Axis invasion, in fact it was almost enitely an all German operation. All the serious fighting was done by the Germans who in sharp contrast to Workd war I secured a stunibgly swift victirt=y with virtually no casualties. The Wehrmacht launched a three-rong attack on Yugoslavia aimed at taking Belgrade and the Luftwaffe began the terror bombing of Bekgrade orderd by Hitler to punish the Serbs (April 6). The swift German victory was due to superior German preparation, tactics, and equipment. The Yugoslav Army was affected by ethnic divisions the country. Zagreb radio announced the establishment of an independent Croatian republic under their nationalist leader Ante Pavelic (April 10). A major factor in the German victory was that the Yugoslav Army attempted to defend the entire country rather than concentrating forces. The Axis countries (Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria) proceeded to occupy and deismember defeated Yugoslavia. Germany's Axis allies play a minor role in the campsaign. The Italian and Hungarian Army launched limited attacks on Yugoslav positions (April 11). The Bulgarian participation was to occupy Mancedonia already taken by the Germans. King Peter fled the country (April 14). The Yugoslavs surrendered only 11 days later (April 17). Former Foreign Minister Cincar-Markovic signed an armistace with the Germans.
E ven in the south, including Kosovo it was the Germans who pusued the campaign even though the Italians were much closer in Albania with a substantial army. It was the Germans from the east that moved into Koso in force. German forces seized Pristina. The Germans before turning Pristina and the rest of Kosovo over to the Italians
began seizing Jewish property and conscripted Jews for forced labor. The Germans in Kosovska Mitrovica (northern Kosovo) closed Jewish shops and stores and ordered Jews to wear a yellow band so they could be identified. Some reports suggest that Kosovars collaborated with the Nazis in these anti-Semetic measures. We are unable to confirm this. German security units cooperated with the Greater Albania nationalist movement orgganized the Balli Kombetar--the Albanian Kosovo Committee. The Albanian Committee reportedly cooperated with the German security units. Dzafer Deva, the leader of the Mitrovica district, ordered the seizure of Jewish property (May 20, 1941). Jewish businesses had been previously put under the supervision of members of the Albanian Committee. We are unsure at this time just how far these measures had progressed, but given the small number of Jews in Kosovo, such operations would not have taken very long.
We are unsure just when the Germans withdrew from Kosovo and the Italian replaced them. We do know that the Italians seem to have been in contol by August, but the transfer probably occurred earlier. The Italians proceeded to create a Greater Albania goverened by an Albanian administration under their control. Greater Albania included the Albania that the Italians seized earlier (1939) and expanded with Yugoslav territory (Kosovo, Western Macedonia, Kosovo, Metohija, and southern Montenegro. Problens were encountered drawing the border with the Bulgarians who also moved into Macedonia. The Italians turned the civil authority and administration over to the Albanian speaking Muslim Kosovars. Albanian-speaking Muslims dominated or were present in considerable numbers in Western Macedonia, Illirida, Kosovo-Metohija, Kosova, and southern Montenegro
Here the Italians helped set up Albanian language schools, Albanian newspapes, and an Albanian radio network.
They established an Albanian governmental and political administration. For security measures, the Italians helped create Vulnetara (an Albanian paramilitary force) and an Albanian police units. Albanian became the official language in the Yugoslav areas of Greater Albania (including Western Macedonia or Illirida).
The Albanian national flag, the double-headed black eagle on a red background, was flow throughout Greater Albania. The Albanian Lek replaced the Yugoslav Dinar.
After the Axis invasion (April 1941) and the Italian seizure of Kosovo, the primary target of the Italian ethnic cleaning effort in Kosovo were the ethnic Serbs. We are not sure of just what the Italians planned to do in the Yugoslav areas of Greater Albania. The Albania security forces seem to have pursued this effort beyond what the Italians planned and Italian authorities reportedly restrained them.
Mussolini and the Italian Fascists were not lke the NAZIs virulently anti-Semetic. The NAZIs pushed the Fascists to enact anti-Semetic laws before the War and as the War progressed demanded more stringet actions against Jews. The NAZIs in Yugoslavia pressured the Italians to round-up Jews in their occupation zones and turn them over. Here the Italians temporized.
The NAZIs occupied Serbia and began rounding up and killing Serbian Jews. Some Serbian Jews were able to elude the NAZI round-ups and fled into Italian-controlled Kosovo.
The Italian authorities set up an internment camp using an abandoned school in Priština, the Kosovo city where much of the small Jewish population iived. The Italians held the Jewish refugees there for 10 months. Eventually the Italians moved them to the Pristina prison. Here the prison authorities permitted the Jews to remain in family groups. They were kept separate from the other prisoners. They were not kept locked in cells all the time, but allowed out into the courtyard during the day. Here we see some of the Jewish prisoners in the courtyard (figure 1). These Jews complained about the poor conditions in the prison. Germans reportedly retaliated by shooting half of the Jews in the prison. We do not understand this because Pristina was within the Italian zone of control and had been annexed to Albania. Just why the Germans carried out this action we are unsure. The Italians trasported the remaining Jews to Albania, presumably to keep them outside of German hands. The Italians did turn 51 Jews from the Prison over to the NAZIs who eventually killed them.
The Germans apparently demanded that the other Jews in the Pristina Prison be dealt with. The Italians loaded most of the Jews at the Prison on trucks and tranported them out of Kosovo to Kavaja in Albania proper. The Italian police arrested more Jews (July 1942). One report indicated five families who were also transported to Kavaja. We are not sure how the Jews in Kavaja were treated. One report indicates that they had to report to the police daily.
The Badoglio Government secretly surrendered (September 3). The United States was preparind to land the 82nd Airborn in Rome to protect the Italian Government from the Germans. Both the King and Bodaligo were affraid of the German reaction when the Italian surrender was announced. The 82nd Airborn commander, General Maxwell Taylor secretly entered Rome at night to meet with Badoglio (September 7). His Division was on the runway ready to go. Badoglio demanded a larger force. Taylor ordered the drop canceled and unformed Eisenhower. Eisenhower then comunicated to Bodaloigo that if he did not announce the surrender that the Allies would. Eisenhower announced the surrender at 6:00 pm (September 8). Badoglio did not go on the radio until 8:30 pm. [Katz] It was in fact an unconditional surrender. Badoglio called it an armistace.
After the Italian surrender to the Allies (September 1943), the Germans seized control of the Italian occupation zone of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo. The Germans like the Italians sought to exploit Albanian nationalism against the Serbs and Partisans who were organizing an increasingly effective resuistance movement. (Yugoslabia is along with the Soviets the only two countries to develop a militarily effective resiantance movement.) The NAZIs organized the 21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS “Skanderbeg,” (April 1944). The Division was primarily composed of ethnic Albanians (including Kosovars).
The NAZIs ordered Albanian fascists (we are not sure precisly who) to round up the Jews still left in Pristna. Onecreport suggests that they interned 1,500 Jews. Such a number must have included many refugee Serb Jews. The Pristina synagogue was nurned down and never rebuilt. The Jewish archive were destroyed. Jewish homes and businesses were plundered and their property stolen. Jews were reprtedly forced to wear the yellow star, but we do not have the detailds here. armband in some parts of Kosovo. The individuals rounded up were transported to Bergen-Belsen and Treblinka where most were murdered. One report suggests that some survived because a misrouted train was intercepted by the advancng Red Army troops.
About half of Kosovo's Jews were apparently killed in the Holocaust, although this is a little difficult to estimate because so many Serbian Jews fled into Italian-controlled Kosovo. Thus during the War there were more Serbian Jews in Kosovo than local Jews. The number of Jews involved in the Holocaust in Kosovo was small in terms of the large Jewish population in Poland and several other countries. The issue is of interest in the subsequent history of Yugoslavia. One question is who was responsible for the ethnic cleanding campaign in Kosovo aimed at the Serbs. Was it the Italians or Muslim Kosovars/Albanians. And the same topic comes up with regards to the German occupation and the recruitment of a SS division. Also of interest is the relative culpability in the killing oif Jews in Kosovo. Here it is clear it was the Germans and not the Italians that were involved. What we are less sure abour is the participation of the Muslim Kosovars and Albanians. It is true that Muslim Kosovars and Albanians joined the SS division, but the division's leadership including the officers were Germans. Thus the existence of the division in itself does not answer the question.
Less than half of Kosovo’s pre-World War II Jewish population of 1,700 survived the Holocaust. After the War, an organization was founded in Belgrade to assist the remaining Jews in Yugoslavia--the Federation of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia. Most after the War-time experience chose to immigrate to Israel (1948-52).
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