The renowned researcher and historian, Dr. Uran Butka, publishes documents on the orders of Enver Hoxha, where he writes: "Albanian nationalists and reactionaries, inside and outside the borders of Yugoslavia, are to be mercilessly annihilated, without tolerance..."!

The Tivar massacre, or more broadly, the Tivar tragedy, is one of the largest, bloodiest and most treacherous atrocities committed against Albanians. It has been spoken and written about in a one-sided and incomplete manner, because the direct participation of the communist government of Albania in this massacre has not been taken into consideration, due to a lack of data and documents, but also to concealment of the truth. The Yugoslav state, although it was the designer and perpetrator of the massacre, has accepted it, even if it was accidental and incomplete, but has nevertheless drawn some conclusions and some responsibilities. While the Albanian state, implicated in this massacre, inflicted against its own people, has been silent for half a century, covering it with oblivion and complete irresponsibility, all the more so since the first act of this tragedy, where thousands of innocent Albanians were massacred and killed, was played out within the territory of Albania. This massacre was planned and carried out by the Yugoslav communist state in agreement and cooperation with the Albanian communist government.

The political and military platform of this anti-Albanian action was Čubrilović's infamous project of 7 March 1937 and 3 November 1944, which unfortunately also became the platform of the National Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia: "There are two ways to ethnically cleanse Albanians: to exterminate them or to deport them". For Čubrilović and those who massively implemented genocide against Albanians, this was only one side of the coin. The other side was the colonization of the vacated Albanian lands, with Serbian, Herzegovinian, Montenegrin and Macedonian settlers through the army and national liberation councils.

These anti-Albanian and anti-human criminal projects became a program and concrete action of the Yugoslav Communist Party and the Yugoslav National Liberation Movement against the Albanians. In early November 1944, the commands of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army were given, by the highest party and military bodies of Serbia, directives to "kill at least 50% of the Albanian inhabitants" (Kosovo Archives, F. OKKM k.10/29, 335 no.1)

This genocide was openly manifested in the form of mass murders of Albanians in Kosovo and other Albanian territories by the forces of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, the OZN and by Chetnik-Dragist detachments, as well as the mass displacement of Albanians from their lands. This war against Albanians, the Yugoslav Communist Party propagated as a war against the "great Albanian reaction", against the "collaborators" of Nazism, etc. Kosovo was considered and treated as reactionary, counter-revolutionary, irredentist, which had to be subjugated and ethnically alienated.

But, in the conditions of the Second World War and immediately after it, this complete subjugation and ethnic cleansing was extremely difficult for the political and military leadership of Yugoslavia, because the people of Kosovo and other Albanian regions were all on their feet, aware and armed to defend the Albanian identity and national borders, despite the anti-Albanian and criminal policies and practices of the Yugoslav Communist Party and the Yugoslav National Liberation Army. Tito and the Yugoslav leadership were not interested in another war. They could achieve this more easily and more secretly, with the help of the propaganda and weapons of the Albanian National Liberation Army.

This cooperation between the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and the National Liberation Army of Albania to fight together, to subdue the anti-Serbian reaction in Kosovo and to re-conquer it with the help of the Albanian military forces, was requested as early as March 1944 by the commander of the 2nd Assault Corps of Yugoslavia, Lieutenant General Peko Dapčevič.

Tito, in his capacity as the commander-in-chief of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army, requested Enver Hoxha to transfer the formations of the Albanian National Liberation Army to Kosovo and Yugoslavia, to fight against the “occupiers and reaction”. This request of the General Command of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army, formulated at the end of May, was repeated in July and August 1944. The Yugoslav Military Mission in Albania, consisting of seven military personnel, headed by Colonel Velimir Stoinić, coordinated the actions of both sides. This request was repeated on 26 August 1944 by the UNÇ.J. Headquarters for Kosovo and the Dukagjin Plain, signed by the commander of this headquarters, Fadil Hoxha and commissioner Boško Çakić. (Archives of the Albanian National Liberation Army, General Staff Fund).

The Albanian side proved ready. After killing thousands of nationalists of the Balli, Legality and northern leaders during the civil war in Albania (1943-1944), the commander-in-chief of the UNÇSH, Enver Hoxha, on September 12, 1944, ordered the 1st Army Corps to prepare and immediately send two brigades to Kosovo. (Documents, General Headquarters, vol.II)

On this same date, Enver Hoxha's lieutenant, Miladin Popovic, wrote to Liri Gegë, the plenipotentiary of the Central Committee of the Albanian Communist Party for the I Corps: "Notify Pavle (Pavle Joviçeviç, my UB note) that the two Albanian brigades will soon head for Kosovo. Just don't let it be revealed"! (AQSH, Fondi 14) The sending of the Albanian partisan brigades to Kosovo was kept secret even from the British, although they were allies and were helping the National Liberation War in Albania and Yugoslavia. Enver Hoxha instructed Dali Ndreu, the commander of the I Corps:

“The British should not be told the objective of the V and III brigades, which will go to Kosovo”. (AQSH, P.14). Powerful nationalist political and military organizations had been created and were operating in Kosovo, such as the Balli Kombëtar, the Irredentist Movement, the Second League of Prizren, and later the “Besa Kombëtare” and the Albanian National Democratic Organization (ONDSH), which had with them almost the entire Albanian people of Kosovo and other Albanian regions. Muharrem Bajraktari and his nationalist forces also collaborated with them. Under these conditions, Josif Broz Tito called upon the brigades and divisions of the Albanian National Army “to fight against the enemy and reaction”, but he used them mainly in the war against “Albanian reaction”. Enver Hoxha knew well why the Albanian national liberation brigades were called to Kosovo, so as a obedient vassal and conscious of what he was doing, he ordered the brigades of the 1st Division: "To mercilessly annihilate Albanian nationalists and reactionaries, inside and outside the borders, without showing even the slightest tolerance." (AF Archives, file 45, v.1944)

PHOTO GALLERY

In November 1944, the 5th Division, which included the 3rd, 5th and 25th Brigades, and the 6th Division (brigades VI, VII, VIII and XXII), also joined the war after returning from Sandzak and Bosnia, where they fought against the Germans. The political commissar, Ramiz Alia, says in an interview that he was in Bosnia when the massacre occurred. This is not true. On March 3, 1945, he and the 5th Division were in Mitrovica, then throughout Kosovo. (Document dated 3.03.1945 of the General Staff)

The V and VI Albanian divisions were placed under the command of the V Army of the Yugoslav National Army. The operational order of the V Army of Yugoslavia also included the following Albanian divisions:

"All reactionary forces that you will meet, surround and crush at all costs...! Disarm suspicious people and those who do not want to mobilize willingly, burn the houses of traitors who resist and make a fortress...! Seize the goods of escaped criminals. It is emphasized to the villages you pass that the village that becomes a shelter for bloodthirsty people will be punished..."! (AQSH, Fondi.181, d.45). The orders for the attack against the forces of Adem Voca and Shaban Polluzha, who refused to leave Kosovo, at the time when they had started the massacres against the Albanian population in Mitrovica and Drenica, were given, on February 1 and February 5, 1945, by the commander of the Kosmet Operational Headquarters, Colonel Fadil Hoxha and the political commissar, Lieutenant Colonel Kristo Filipovic. (Historical Archive of Yugoslavia, k.1411)

The Drenica massacre and the disbandment of the 7th Kosovo Brigade that left for Srem were the prologue to the Tivar massacre. On February 8, 1945, military rule was declared by order of the Supreme Commander of the UNC of Yugoslavia, Josif Broz Tito. The divisions of the UNC of Albania became part of the establishment of the military regime in Kosovo, for the suppression of the Kosovo resistance, for the Yugoslav reconquest of Kosovo and the strengthening of the Yugoslav government. They remained in Kosovo and other Albanian territories even after the Germans had left Kosovo and Yugoslavia, from February 1945 until December 1945, that is, for 10 months, until Kosovo and other Albanian territories became part of Yugoslavia and until the elections were held, where the National Liberation Front of Yugoslavia won.

We also confirm this with the Radiogram of Reiz Malile, deputy commissioner of the Vth Division: "On the occasion of the elections to be held on November 11, 1945 here in Kosovo, hold special conferences with the Kosovars. On election day, deploy armed forces not near the polling stations, but ready for anything unexpected. The reaction may attempt to sabotage the elections. Therefore, be careful. Period."

The greatest assistance for the recruitment of Albanians, but also for the surrender of hundreds of deserters, who fled the Yugoslav army and surrendered in good faith to the brigades and battalions of the 5th and 6th Divisions of the Albanian Army, was provided by the commands of the divisions and brigades of the Albanian Army, which were placed under the orders of the Yugoslav General Command. As has already been revealed from archival documents, the 5th and 6th Divisions of Albania were in Kosovo, during the months of March and April 1945, when the violent mobilization of the Albanian population in Kosovo and other Albanian territories took place and when three columns (echelons) with Albanian recruits left for Tivar on 24-27 March 1945 and the other three columns on 19-24 April 1945.

The close cooperation and involvement of the divisions and brigades of the Albanian National Army in the mobilization of Albanian recruits and their delivery to the Yugoslav Army is evident and documented. We have in our hands archival documents with radiograms from the headquarters of the 5th and 6th Divisions, signed by Political Commissar Ramiz Alia and commanders Gjin Marku, Rahman Parllaku, etc., sent to the General Command of the Albanian National Army during the months of March-April 1945 and onwards, as well as the lists of names of Kosovo Albanian escapees and volunteers, which were delivered by the headquarters of the 5th and 6th Divisions to the Yugoslav Army.

The first list contains 190 people, mainly Albanian volunteers who surrendered from the prefectures of Mitrovica and Peja. The second list contains 104 names of Albanian soldiers who fled from the Yugoslav army, but also Albanian volunteers who joined the 5th Division of Albania. The third list, attached, contains 131 Albanian volunteers who surrendered. (AQSH, P.14, d.206, v. 1945). Likewise, the lists of the 6th Division and the partisan brigades of Albania, which called on the Albanians of Kosovo to join them, but which treacherously handed them over to the Yugoslav army.

Here is Enver Hoxha's answer:

"The fugitives surrendered to your Division, send them to the 52nd Division of Serbia." (AQSH, p.206, v.1945). As a result of this interdependent military interaction, the Kosovo Albanian volunteers and mobilized, who believed in the calls of the Command of the 5th and 6th Divisions of Albania, treacherously surrendered to the OZNA and the Yugoslav Military Command and ended up as cannon fodder in the death columns, which the Yugoslav army removed from Kosovo and sent to be annihilated in Tivar or beyond.

Several battalions of the 46th Division and a battalion of the 27th Serbian Brigade were assigned to accompany them, as well as a group of 50 soldiers from the 4th Army, then from the 10th Montenegrin Brigade, showing how much importance the Yugoslav authorities had attached to this march, which was to end in a massacre, in which the hosts and the escorts themselves would participate. Yugoslav military source data show that 13.323 Albanian recruits were mobilized and sent to the Adriatic front. There were no Serbian, Montenegrin or Macedonian recruits. Why? It is known, to annihilate only Albanians. Why did they pass through the territory of Albania, when there were other routes to Istria?! To annihilate them together with the Albanian army. The Albanian government, first, allowed the columns of the Yugoslav army to enter and pass through the territory of Albania, outside of any control and to act as they pleased. "The cause of the pre-prepared massacre of Tivar is also the party and state leadership of Albania, headed by Enver Hoxha. It allowed the mobilized Albanians, without any weapons in their hands, to pass through the Albanian territory, along the road of death, called the 'Great Albanian Golgotha'" - stated the well-known historian and activist, Zekeria Cana.

From the report of the headquarters of the 4th Column of the Yugoslav Army, dated April 8, 1945: "The echelon went well until Kukës. In the vicinity of Kukës, an incident occurred, when one of the group of the column threw a bomb at our guard. This caused chaos and, in this chaos, a group of 10 people managed to escape. Thus, while fleeing, they encountered the Albanian army patrol, which stopped them and called on them to surrender. To this call, they did not respond, but continued to flee. The Albanian soldiers opened fire on them and killed two people on the spot, wounded two others, who later also died. (Yugoslav War Archives, p.1411)

As can be clearly seen from this document, the extermination of the Albanian recruits of Kosovo was carried out in cooperation between the military forces of Yugoslavia and Albania, in this case within the territory of the Republic of Albania. In a document of the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs we read: “Thousands of innocent Kosovars were shot en masse, illegally and without trial, by the organs of the UDB. Koci Xoxe participated in these unprecedented massacres against the population of Kosovo, at the beginning of 1945, when in his capacity as Minister of the Interior of Albania, he authorized the officers of the UDB to shoot illegally and without trial, on Albanian soil, more than 1000 innocent Kosovars” (Ark. Min. Jaše, v.1949, D.191).

This massacre within the borders of Albania is also confirmed by the general military prosecutor, Bedri Spahiu: "Rankovic's executioners, who are known for their all-fascist crimes against the ordinary people of Kosovo, continued these massacres against them along the road from our border in Kukës to Ulcinj, killing hundreds of them. This was a bloody road of ordinary Kosovar villagers inside and outside our land all the way to Ulcinj" (Bedri Spahiu, Pretenca në tdajin e Koci Xoxe, viti 1949).

The authorization (permission) for the entry of columns with Kosovo recruits and the annihilation of more than 1000 innocent Kosovars, as the above documents describe it, was initialed by the Albanian Minister of the Interior, Haxhi Lleshi, but the Albanian authorities billed Koci Xoxe as a "scapegoat", in order to assign him all responsibility for this massacre.

Obviously, this is the most anti-national and shameful act of the Albanian communist government, not only at the time when this massacre was carried out, but also for half a century, when it was completely silent due to complicity.

This is also proven by the statement of Zoi Themeli, chief of the People's Defense Division of the 3rd province (Shkodër), who admits that the mobilized Kosovar recruits were "killed en masse by the Yugoslavs on the road, in Albania, without any guilt", that the Albanian recruits who fled the columns to save their lives and surrendered to the Albanian state organs were returned by the Albanian state organs to the Yugoslav commandos, from whom they met their death.

Zoi Themeli also claims that the surrender of Kosovar recruits to the Yugoslav authorities was done by order of the highest leaders of the Albanian state, regardless of the fact that the recruits were Albanians and had committed no crime. The Albanian government not only did nothing to protect and secure their lives, not only did they not protest the mistreatment and mass murders of Albanians within the borders of the Albanian state, but they also handed over to the Yugoslavs those compatriots who were trying to escape from the death columns. (MB Archive, D. 1623)

But the greatest tragedy happened with the second column, part of which was recruit Azem Hajdini - Xani, who experienced the horrors of the Tivar Massacre, but by chance escaped death and bore witness to this national tragedy. “When we entered the territory of Albania, we were overjoyed,” says Azem Hajdini, “thinking that from now on we would be escorted by the soldiers of our state, Albania, and that we would not experience the atrocities, as we had repeatedly experienced in Kosovo by the Serbs, Montenegrins and Macedonians. Very soon, therefore, we were convinced that there was no room for joy here either, because the pre-prepared scenario continued to be meticulously carried out and because along the way through the territory of Albania, the escorts increased the torture and murders against us. They no longer considered us as their comrades-in-arms, nor even as prisoners of war…! They did not even consider us as a herd of cattle.” (A. Hajdini, Open Letter).

According to the data of the Yugoslav archives, in Fushë-Arrëz 126 Albanian recruits were killed in a state of agony, while they were sleeping. A cunning, inhuman massacre, contrary to all morality, religion and law. “When we passed Puka, they took out three young Albanians from the column, dressed in national clothes, and shot them in front of the column as well as a squad of Albanian soldiers. And, surprisingly, while we were crying with sorrow, the soldiers of the Albanian squad accompanied their shooting with applause”! (A. Hajdini, Masakra e Tivarit).

In Gomsiqe, 36 recruits fell into the deep canyon and died, and 14 were wounded. The same thing happened in Vau e Dejës, on the Drin River and the Buna River, and in Shkodra; hundreds of Albanian recruits died and a large number of wounded were injured. In the Shkodra barracks, 11 Albanians were shot, while at the Buna crossing, 18 others. At noon on March 31, 1945, in the small town of Tivar, a trap was set, according to a pre-prepared plan, for the annihilation of all Albanian recruits.

The massacre was assigned to the Montenegrin X Brigade, precisely in Tivar, an Albanian city that was part of Montenegro.

The massacre began at the entrance to New Tivar, then reached its peak in the courtyard and in the premises of the Tobacco Monopoly building. According to calculations, it turns out that in Tivar alone, 1.560 Albanians from the second column of the Montenegrin X Brigade, commanded by the criminal Markovic, were killed. Other columns, with Albanian recruits mobilized mainly in the Albanian areas of Gostivar, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Kicevo and Skopje, suffered the same fate during the march through Albania.

According to Yugoslav and Albanian sources, it turns out that 2.947 - 3.447 innocent Albanians were killed and disappeared in this massacre. But according to the testimonies of survivors, this number exceeds 4.000. Of these, according to documents from the Albanian Archives, over 1000 Kosovo Albanians were killed along the road from Kukës to Shkodër. According to Azem Hajdini and other witnesses, 1.500 Kosovo Albanians were killed and disappeared throughout the territory of Albania. The 50-year silence of the Albanian communist state and the criminal leadership of Enver Hoxha, but also of Kosovo leaders, such as Fadil Hoxha, Xhavit Nimani, Mehmet Hoxha, etc., was another attempt to hide the truth and complicity in this massacre against their compatriots.

For the perpetrators of this massacre of Balkan proportions, no responsibility has been taken so far, no lessons have been learned, on the contrary, its executors have been praised and honored and the crime has been hidden. Therefore, it has been repeated on an even larger scale, up to our days. Crime, at any time, must be identified and punished, otherwise it will punish you again. A nation cannot be completely free if it does not know its history, it cannot be cultured if it does not distance itself from any kind of crime and violence, it cannot be peaceful and progress if it is not at peace with itself and with others.

Crimes with tragic national and international dimensions, implications and consequences, such as the Tivar Massacre, must be illuminated, balanced and judged fairly, not only to reveal the historical truth, but also to establish responsibility and punish the crime, so that it does not remain as a threat, as an unerased stain, as an open wound and as an active hatred between people and between nations, but turns into a lesson, a liberation and a good understanding on the path towards peace and European integration. Memorie.al