Part Three
Zymer Neziri: The group that was active in Rugova was a group that worked a lot and had almost conclusive results for every case. There were not many cases, but it was good luck because in 1970, the Besëlidhja[1] took place in Rugova, and the process of revenge and killings stopped in that Besëlidhje. This influenced that fact that in Rugova there were not many cases, there were a few cases. This was the most special case that happened in Albanian areas, the Besëlidhja of Rugova, together with another Besëlidhje which was organized in the same year in Malësia e Madhe, in the part that remained under Montenegro, with the headquarter in Tuzi. Of course both these besëlidhje helped a lot.
Let’s go back to the case of Rugova. In Rugova, the team was lead by Isa Nikçi, an Albanian Language and Literature professor, also by Sali Lajqi, who later becomes the commander of Brigade 163 Rugova, then Zyrafete Muriqi and some others who were active there. We thought of making the gathering as early as possible because there was a need for the ground to feel good, I mean, not to say, “Let’s forgive the bloods and let’s not let anyone know about it,” because police siege was very rough. And people’s movements were very little during such sieges, there even was a lack of movement, and we said,“However, let’s do it,” and we spread the word that the gathering was being held.
But, what happened? The police, as they say, controlled the entrances of Peja, so that many people didn’t manage to make it to there. Some of them gave up while others were forced to give up. But however, that gathering gathered around 7000 people and that was it, how to say, the first breakdown of Yugoslav police in Peja and its region, because the gatherings were held nevertheless. I mean, it was impossible to stop them. Their aim was to stop that gathering, their aim was to scare people in order for them not to go and the second one to stop them from going there. The case of the camera is very interesting, how we had a camera there. All of them failed and in the end one of them, Qerim is his name, now he is living in Switzerland, Qerim Sheli, said, “I will put a camera,” “How are you going to do that?” He said, “Very easily.” He met one girl whom he didn’t know in the street, grabbed her by her arm, “If the police asks, what are you two, tell them we are engaged.” They didn’t even know each other, “We are engaged,” with the camera on his arms, “We are not going up there in Shtupeq, but we are going for a walk.” And they left towards the right side of those plateaus in order to of course go down and join us after. That’s how it happened, that’s how we had the camera, you know, in Shtupeq, one of the cameras.
The gathering of Shtupeq was not that big compared to the other gatherings which gathered tens of thousands of people, 100.000, 200.000 to 500.000 people, but the greatest of this gathering was that it was a breakdown of Yugoslav police’s struggles to stop the gatherings. A breakdown of them and at the same time it was a great triumph for every activist in the field and at the same time a great triumph for those who had forgiven [blood] and wanted to do the ceremonial forgiving in that gathering. Professor Anton [Çetta] was in that gathering, he participated, he held a speech, he greeted. Professor Zekerija Cana was in that gathering as well, he was the right arm of professor Anton in the field. But there were also other university professors, teachers, students, pupils, lectors, farmers and so on. And those gatherings were undoubtedly the ones who gave power to the Reconciliation Movement, because they kept stimulating, how to say, the Movement, to organize them in almost every region. And they were organized and successful.
But the detail that is usually not mentioned at all but which is very important, especially nowadays when life is getting materialistic , when everybody is tending to equalize everything with the Euro, or not, with money. At that time, there was no reward for any of the girls or the boys. Sometimes they didn’t even have money to buy water, but as they say, they had to wait until they reached a spring, let’s say, or a natural fountain in order to drink water. They didn’t even have money for food. Many times we ate our food in our hands, let’s say, some leaf of bread with some cheese. And the greatest problem of the Movement was with cars, the gas was expensive. Yes, it was a great pleasure when someone gave you ten liters of gas, let’s say. But, even this part stands in the spirit of what is called a real human movement first, then a national [movement] of that youth. Nobody cared about money for 26-27 months as the Movement lasted. No, and of course, it was this that brought it very clear in the face of history as a modern movement, as a human movement, as a human movement, but why not, also as a national Movement.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: How many cases were reconciled in Shtupeq, and what, what kind of disagreements were they?
Zymer Neziri: Yes, the disagreements were the same as the ones in other areas. Some of them were mainly of a scale, what it’s called?, that it shouldn’t have happened like that, but when the blood gets warm, as they say, the unexpected happens. There were also cases, I mean, of family misunderstandings, of a more extended circle, there were also cases of bloods, how to say, that were called bloods at that time, blood forgiving for deaths that happened in traffic accidents. I mean, there were various, but the main thing was that the team was welcomed, it was welcomed by each family, it was welcomed very well, and the team was really without, how to say, it was tireless and worked a lot. And then after they were done with their region, that team worked in Podgura, I mean in the villages of the region of Istog. They worked in valleys which partly belong to Klina, now, in the Valleys of Peja. They worked in the village of Reka, until Reka e Keqe, but they also worked in other regions, wherever there was a need. And this is how the teams worked, when they were done with their region, they went to the other regions and helped the Reconciliation Movement.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Did your studies serve you to reconcile people, I mean, to better know the case?
Zymer Neziri: To be honest, how knowledgeable a professor was at that time, even those who knew as much as a student knows became almost equal…Let me mention the case…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: I thought about studies of certain regions.
Zymer Neziri: Of course they were useful. But in the precise cases when it came to, let’s say to the one that is called, that is called, investment, moral investment, human investment, national investment for reconciliations, that’s when, that’s when the voice of the young generation came up, of course it was way more efficient. Let’s say the case, let’s say the case of Hava, Hava Shala, the case of Myrvete Dreshaj, but also of the others, as I said, of Zyrafete Muriqi and many, many other girls who were active in the Movement. It was very interesting, a girl speaking in a men’s oda, talking to men, about men’s concerns, bloods caused by men, and also of course because of women. Their true voice was a very important voice, in the gatherings, as I said in the oda with men, but also in the gatherings where there were tens of thousands of people, but also [the voice] of the boys [was important]. That is why I am saying that the most refreshing thing in the Reconciliation Movement was the voice of youth, their own age itself, but also their voice, their word. Of course all of them leaning on the national and social field. We have to agree because we can live better and we have to reconcile because that’s how it will be easier for us to liberate, you know, from, from the occupier and…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Was the women’s participation in the Movement encouraged, or did it happen in a spontaneous way?
Zymer Neziri: No, it was en…it was, there was spontaneity and at the same time there was not, I am talking about the youth group. I don’t remember boys having had an advantage, there were cases when girls had an advantage, I mean, the group of girls was a very active group. Of course they were mixed groups, they were mixed together, but the group of gender, I mean, the group of female gender especially the one of young age was very pretty significant (smiles), even in the sense of the number of members. If they were not more than boys, at least they were equal to them. But also other women, teachers, other teachers, women who were part of the Movement, students, professors, of course this group was smaller. But the group of students was a very big group, it was very big, of course as I am saying, it didn’t differ from the group of boys at all, that it [the group of boys] was bigger than the ones of girls. The opposite, they were equal. And as I said, their word was very important.
When I was in the gatherings, let’s say, one of the girls spoke, let’s say a student, I knew that their word was way more effective than one of two boys speaking together. But they listened to them very carefully and took the reasons, they took the reasons with their hearts, because it was difficult in some cases if you didn’t weaken their hearts and touch their soul. I mean, the case should be weakened, how they say, in that sense, to weaken the soul of that one in that sense, and glorify it in the other hand that he says, “Yes, yes, we forgive the blood.”
So, the role, the role of women in the Reconciliation Movement was truly of the highest rank in history, I am saying this because women participated in Blood Feuds Reconciliations even earlier, but less than this time since they had no right to be part of men’s gatherings. As we know, in the League of Prizren, during Rilindja[2] and after, also before, in the gatherings of 600 years ago, but even earlier, especially in the times of Skanderbeg, I mean, his struggles for Albania’s freedom, the woman stands equally to the man, you didn’t have this in Europe. You didn’t have this in Europe, they had the right to speak among men, even the shepherdess, not to talk about the ones from royal families, of course they had that right, but the shepherdess had the right as well, if they were gifted by nature to be smarter than a man, as they say, they were even better than men.
This tradition continues in the Reconciliation Movement as well, I mean in this last phase of the reconciliation, in 1990, the past century. And I believe that in the near future a special study on the woman’s role on the Reconciliation Movement will be conducted, a role of really important weight for history as well as for Europe itself. Europe, I mean, and the tradition, the European tradition of equality, gender equality.
I told you that the students, teachers and women who were part of the Reconciliation Movement, who were activists, I told you that their role had a very important weight, from time-to-time it was of a decisive weight. But what you’ve heard, what professor Anton said, many other activists have said it as well, that the girls, the women activists of the Reconciliation Movement, entered more easily into the families, especially into the women’s world, you know, the mothers who had remained without their sons, the wives who had remained without their husbands, the sisters who had remained without their brothers. They reached them in an easier way. They spoke to them in an easier way and their work in this case was, you know, really, really great and when the family was prepared to forgive, of course the first attempts and results came exactly from the women’s world. And I think that this was the double role of the women activists, I mean they did double the work because they went deep into the family. And of course when a “Yes” came from the mother for her son, then another “Yes” came from the sister for her brother, another one from the wife who had remained without her husband. This was a great “Yes,” it was a decisive “Yes,” that made that blood be forgiven and that made those families not remain in enmity any longer, or as they say, in enmity.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You mentioned that during the years of the Blood Feuds Reconciliations Campaign there were families that gave you besa. Could you tell us about that?
Zymer Neziri: There were not many cases that remained unforgiven. There are regions where there is no case left, but there are also regions where there are cases that remained unforgiven. But in those cases, I mean, we had no result each time we attempted, once, twice and many times, we had no results, but however this one that you are mentioning was a result, because we were told from those families that, “Don’t worry, we are not even considering killing them, and they have our besa and if there is a need, we will give them the besa again.” I mean, “We will not avenge blood during the time of the Reconciliation Movement.” And it’s true, they kept their promise.
I don’t know a case, during the ‘90s, after the beginning of the Action for Blood Feuds Reconciliations which later turns into a Movement, after February 1, 1990, that someone avenged blood. I don’t know, I mean, there were not [such cases]. Even though I am the one supposed to know, professor Anton as well, our team here in the Institute, since I was the one responsible for the Movement’s archive. This was the good within the bad, the bad was when the blood wasn’t forgiven, but the good was that they gave their word that they will not avenge blood, or in the traditional way, they gave the besa, just the way it is given today, and in these families, I mean, people go out freely, finish their daily works in the market, their daily works in the land, you know, they are under besa. So, we didn’t have the chance [to reconcile] but still, this was the other face of the medal of the Movement, that it was not completely successful, but however, it had its successes, killings are not going to happen exactly because of its success.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You mentioned that the Institute of Albanology was the main pillar of…that supported the Action for Blood Feuds Reconciliation. Could you speak about the role of the Institute in a more detailed way?
Zymer Neziri: Yes, since professor Anton came from this Institute as well as Zeqa, Zekerija Cana and the late Muhamet Pirraku. I am mentioning this trio because they are deceased, but there were also others who came from this Institute and of course this Institute had another name, another name. In the sense that it was a greater voice for the struggles it was doing, because this Institute really, beside the Reconciliation Movement and other actions, during the ‘90s, this Institute published 88 times. While we were working without salaries and in occupation conditions, we also worked outside this Institute, in a private house in Kodra e Diellit, and this is a record case of what is called the intellectual, research, scientific world, to publish 88 times. Even in comparison with the Academy of Sciences in Tirana and the one in Pristina or with all the faculties within the University of Pristina. I mean we were the ones who went out in the field every day since we were not doing anything else, so we went out and researched. We had to publish Gjurmimet Albanologjike [Albanological Research], our magazine which had begun in 1971 in three series and is fortunately still being published. It was the time when the 45th issue just came out of print, we were working, we were working without any money because there were no salaries.
But, when it came to the printing house, we had some backing, but not for all that needed to be paid, we went, let’s say to Theranda, Peja, the region, and elsewhere. We had a friend to whom we went after dinner and collected [the money], someone five [Deutsche] Marks, someone ten Marks, someone fifteen, we collected the money and gave them to that printing house so that the book could be published. Then we distributed it in the field for the children and for the schools as well as for the children. In other words, the Institute had a popular voice in this respect, that is why, that is why the workers were ready to be in the field. And like this, it became the central pillar with professor Anton Çetta the central pillar of the Reconciliation Movement within it. This Institute had its special merit because as I said, the archive of the Movement was founded here, this is the place where the data was collected, where the first books about the Movement were composed, of how the notes should be kept, and fortunately, a big part of those papers are saved today in the archive of the Institute, while another part of them is saved in the archive of professor Anton.
That is why the weight of this Institute was multiple, not only in the Reconciliation Movement, but in the Movement in general, I mean, in the National Movement, until the last, war when a part of what is called the emergency drug store was situated here, of course, with the knowledge of only two or three people, but until then, there was direct engagement in the war as well as for mothers in labor, an engagement for the newborns. My colleague Emin Kabashi took care of this repart together with Flora Brovina. And this Institute, for real, these merits which are not extraordinary but are ordinary for an institution and its people, they were really great, and then the post-war came, the time when we were paid back in a very bad way with UNMIK and with others who did just the same thing as UNMIK, with our ministers from the first one to the last but one, the last but one, who executed the law which was the law, the law that discriminated intellectuals in Kosovo the most, where the employee of the Institute is paid 39%. The aim is, leave if you have a place to go, and for you who aim to come, there is no place for you to come.
Then the embargo, with the recruitment of the new generation of researchers and now the situation in the Institute is almost a quarter smaller than what it was in 1999. But however, the merits are really great for this part of the history of Albanians, because this institution was really great, it was assigned with great tasks before history and albanology. That is why it stands proud today with its around 600 publications which it conducted during its journey since its founding in 1953 to today. We have to take into consideration the interruptions it had, so, also taking into consideration the interruptions and the prohibitions it had. But today this Institute, I mean, for its historic merits, which weren’t, I mean, which weren’t that little, but let me repeat again, they were a duty towards history and albanology, are not respected nowadays. They are not respected by the government of Kosovo nowadays, they weren’t respected yesterday, they weren’t respected since 1999 and after, because this Institute was considered to be the second centre of European Albanology, this Institute lives badly. The library that you had the chance to see earlier {addresses to the interviewer} with the given books has survived for 17 years now. They are not 17 times, the times that this Institute has bought books, no, it has nothing to buy them with. It has nothing to buy them with, because the state says, “I don’t have it! And whether you buy books or not is your business.”
Erëmirë Krasniqi: How did you and the institute spend the war, if you could describe that?
Zymer Neziri: The first time when students and teachers of all faculties were forcibly taken out [of the buildings] and the University was occupied, this, this time. Of course they told the Institute, “Leave!” And they went out from the Academy of Sciences as well, but this Institute said, “No, we’re not leaving.” Letters with red lines, as they call them, were delivered to us, we delivered them back, we are in our building, the Institute is ours, it belongs to us with papers [titles] and we will continue our work here. And we survived, I mean, in the time when all the institutions of Kosovo were occupied, we were here.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You returned at that time…
Zymer Neziri: No, we didn’t return, we were here, we didn’t leave at all…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: I mean, did you return to work here in the Institute?
Zymer Neziri: No, I didn’t. I returned in the time, in 1990. They fired me from the bank and then I spent here, I spent the time here together with professor Anton, in 1991-1992. And the Movement for Blood Feuds Reconciliations came to its end on May 17, 1992, I didn’t have the status [of employee] yet, because they were afraid someone would wake up as a phantom and unite Yugoslavia again, and I got given the status back in June, 1992. I mean, precisely on June 26, 1992, I had the status, even though I was here, I was active in the Movement as well. And at that time the Institute, the Institute was standing very good with the internal organization it had, and that was called, I mean, the versatility that was evident within in order to resist, I mean, to say, “No.”
But, when we reached the bad point, when we were expecting, I mean, the moment they would attack us, that’s when we took 17 bags of the archive, the best part of what we had, the rarest books we had, and took them out during the night, after midnight. Then we put them in some points in the city, of course we photocopied them in order for what was called the fat of handwriting in the Institute, its core, to be out, and we successfully did that. Then we decided to take the books out, we took a truck of 15 tons, we took flour sacks and some Chemistry students helped us, we got so tired, it was the month of Ramadan. Some of them were fasting and we loaded almost 300 bags. The police patrol came, “What are you doing? “We are loading books.” “Who do they belong to?” “They are ours.” “Where are you sending them?” “We are taking them out, we are sending them to the warehouse.” “Alright.” The other patrol came after, with the same questions, “Stop!” The other one came, “Unload the truck!” This was the hardest part because we were tired and had no more energy left. The book, it’s heavy as a rock weight, we unloaded around 100 bags, they left.
The time of iftar[3] came, we stopped at this…how do they call the bakery here in Kodra e Diellit, the first bakery there, and took some food, we took whatever we found first, we ate enough and then we loaded the books again. The patrol didn’t come, after midnight we sent them to Lagjja e Spitalit in a family’s house there, and we put them there (coughs). Some of them woke up in the syfyr[4] time, they helped us, they kept us for tea (smiles) and like this. Then they didn’t, they didn’t interrupt us with the books anymore. In the first stage we were really, really prepared, with the removal of the papers, handwritings and the rare books. In the first stage we were really, really successful, but what happened after? There happened other [things]. The decision came again with three red lines, 1994 found us here, we spent 1993 here, yes.
I mean this Institute in that period of, of the occupation of all cultural, educational and scientific institutions in Kosovo to the Academy of Sciences, this Institute survived thanks to insisting on not giving up the building of the Institute. At some point they lost their patience with us, and of course they organized their paramilitary units that came here and swore, but also broke the windows with rocks, time-after time they threw molotovs towards the upper floor. I mean we continually were the target of the hooligans, or the police, however, we still kept going. But, what happened? Just before the Institute was occupied, they put a machine gun in the kindergarten here in front of the Institute, in the upper floor, the mezzanine like this {shows with hands}, and they constantly controlled us from there with the barrel, how they said, with the weapon’s barrel and cameras at the same time. And of course they were wondering, “What do they do here? They resist this much with only one pencil in their hand. No one resists in Kosovo but they do.”
We stayed here until five in the morning, we were guarding, five of us. There were fifty of us staying here until midnight, I mean, we stayed here in this hall and in the other halls. In the morning we continued normally, the police of course surveilled us and on March 8, 1994, we realized that something had changed. I was on guard that night, the main guard and in the morning I went to my flat to sleep, but I stayed here until three. And we said, “What’s going on? There is something going on.” We noticed and at three they told me, “Go, take a little rest.” They said, “if something happens, we will call you on the phone and tell you if they come.” I went to my flat, I only took my coat off and I laid down the way I was and caught some, as they say (smiles) sleep. It didn’t last long, it lasted so short, too short, because my wife came and said, “They are calling, they came.” She didn’t know what, “They came,” meant (smiles). I took the coat in my hand and caught the first bus in the lagje of Qafa, I came here.
Yes, I came here and found them in front of the door, around ten more had came, they were already inside, they had beaten the employees , the one in service, and they had taken a big chain, a thick one and a big lock, they had put it and had closed the Institute. What did we do then? We broke the lock (smiles), got inside, bought a new lock, then we locked the door ourselves with another lock. I mean, this was the other action. We told the women and some old men here in the hall downstairs, professor Idriz Ajeti who was the director of this Institute, our professor was among them, he became the rector of the University, and we told him, “Professor, go.” Yes, we also asked professor Anton and some others, “Go,” we had disabled people and people who walked with a limp, one of the researchers and another one from the administration, we told them, “You as well, go.” “No, let whatever happen to you, happen to us as well.” And women didn’t leave, neither did men, no one left. We were over 44-45, I guess, there were 43 of us precisely, if I am not mistaken. There were 15 of us drinking coffee in my office and discussing when we heard a very big shout coming from the entrance downstairs.
They had broken the door for the second time now, the door that we had broken before, the same door that was locked by them, now they broke our lock (smiles). Yes, and they beat, how to say, the employees they met there, the director among them. He said, “I am the director.” “You are?” “Yes.” And they beat the director, they bloody beat them, they broke his jaw, they broke his teeth, his nose and made the man wash in blood, they did the same with the others. Then they went up to the library, just where you were {addresses to the interviewer and the cameraman}, they made a line there as they call it szpaler,[5] in the left and in the right and you had to go through it, of course they beat all of those who went through it. We tried, let’s say, to defend one of our women colleagues with another man colleague, of course they beat her less and us more. We went like that to the stairs. I found professor Anton at the stairs, in the first landing, he was laying on the floor with his head down, and his legs this way {demonstrates}, I took him, and I asked the colleague, Emin, “Can you take the professor?” He said, “Yes,” and left towards the garden.
Down on the other landing, I met professor Idriz, “Professor, are you fine?” He said (smiles), “Yes, yes, where is the door?” {shows with hands}. The door was right there, close to him. He was beaten in the third floor, right where we are at now, I mean, in the director’s office. One of the assistants, “Nemojte profesora!” you know, “Don’t beat the professor!” They pulled him by his hair and bend his head like this {shows with hands}, they pushed him down on the floor as well. This was the Institute’s struggle, you know, in, I mean, on March 9, 1994, when we went to the door. One of the colleagues, Ragip was his name, Ragip Mulaku, one of the best employees of the Linguistics Department, probably as he was defending himself, they thought he wanted to fight with them, they grab him by his hands and bend them {shows with hands} turn them around, they throw him down, they put their feet on him and punish him very much, really hard.
Again, another woman colleague, her name is Myzafere, Myzafere Mustafa, says, “They killed Ragip.” Sadri Fetiu, the director, we were inside, we were still here, I mean, we had not left, and I said, “We should not leave !” “No,” she said, “I want to. Let them kill me.” He was covered in blood and together with Myzafere and with, the three of us got inside, but they were already done with Ragip. They didn’t set him free just because we entered, but they set him free nevertheless. When we went near the windows, next to the door, they attacked us so badly, I fortunately raised both my hands {shows with gesture} and defended this part like this. That is how we got out of there, all covered in blood, with our teeth broken, with our jaws broken, with our hands broken, with our legs, our bodies injured, we went out. They had locked the entrance near the traffic light, up there close to the students canteen, and there were no cars or people at the traffic light down there either.
But when we went out, just as we left for the hospital, to get first aid, when we went out there, the streets were full of people, people circulated, oh my God, it gave us the impression that it was a holiday. We were of course covered in blood, we continued our way to the hospital where each one of us needed to get first aid at, and like this, I mean, we experienced the re-occupation of the Institute and they didn’t allow us to come back here anymore. Then they gave us the Institute back just before the war began, according to some agreements which were also a game of Serbia and the others of course. But that didn’t last long, until that time we worked in Kodra e Diellit, my office within which I was responsible for twelve workers, was twelve meters square, the exact space that belongs to you in prison if you go there. But, we worked there in three shifts, that is why I said we had many results, extraordinary results, and today we deserved to have a better status today (smiles) in 2016, better than the one we have.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Shall we talk about the war, how did you and your family spend it?
Zymer Neziri: Yes my family, of course my large and close family here in Pristina didn’t spend it well, because during that time, there were many people and many families that had to flee Pristina, especially the ones of us who were in worse financial situations than others. At least for the biography we had, but also the activity of very deep circumstances, of how they call it, of what is called the connection with the headquarters of the brigades, connections, connections with the soldiers at the frontline, we had, we had to take more care. Let’s say, they suggested me to leave, I said, “No, I am not going to leave, because that’s how I will become a bad example for 600 families in the lagje of Qafa, I am not going to leave.” And imagine, a family misfortune happened exactly at that time, and it was not a very small one, my wife broke her arm, yes, while trying to clean the boiler, her feet slipped and she fell down on this part {shows with hands}, she broke it in two pieces. And now, it was all covered in a plaster cast {shows with hands}. Our children were little, one of our sons was ten while the other was eleven, our daughter somewhere around that age, I mean, it was a family that couldn’t face Serbia empty-handed.
But we were giving a moral and national example, to not flee. And this lasted as much as it lasted. And you know, NATO’s bombings started, in the time of the bombings, we spent the first night in our apartment. Yes, I had calls coming from Germany, America, Switzerland and other areas. “Please, don’t curse your children, if you leave, at least let them survive, cause you are cursing them as well.” Alright, I went across the street, to one of my relatives there, we spent the second night there and I changed my mind, I wanted to go out and return to my apartment again. And the five of us went out, my wife, three of our children and I. We crossed the street and entered, when we came, my big son said, “Father, the milicia[6] are at our entrance.” Alright, we returned and entered through another entrance, we went upstairs to the last but one floor, at one of my friends’ and spent some time there.
After two or three hours, we went out. I told my son, “You continue that way, I will continue this way.” I mean, in order to check whether the entrances are safe or there are policemen. And my son comes out and says, “No,” he says, “They are not there.” The police had gone upstairs and asked people to give them chairs to sit on, yes, I mean, there were no police until on the second floor. My son said, “They are not there,” and we went upstairs. When we went upstairs, my wife said (smiles), “The Milicia are inside.” “Where are they? She says, “They knocked on the door.” “What did they ask for?” “Chairs.” She said, “They needed them for the orphanage.” Because it’s not that we had very good chairs, she said, “And they went upstairs.” We had no idea what was going on. They had come, two patrols of 24-hours police, I mean, to patrol and guard.
One, one of them in the entrance and the other in the sixth floor, they came because of the sixth floor, because there was a police commander living on the sixth floor, of the rapid reaction police, one whose name I never forget, his last name either, Bajraktarević. And now, because of him, I mean, they were guarding, one of them downstairs and another one upstairs. And now, I mean, they located a headquarter, because it seems like their friends in NATO had notified them of the day of bombings and they had removed some of their commands from the point which they attacked from, from the commanding center in the garden of the Ministry of Internal Affairs now. And that man, I mean, was located there before the bombings of NATO, yes, I mean, they had already known and later on it turned out that a French general had betrayed, and he had notified, I mean, what was left of Yugoslavia at that time and told them that, he told them, I mean, that there will be attacks over, over Serbia.
Now the problem was how to get out of, of, of, of the building. My wife together with the wife of the only friend who opened his door for us, he was one floor under us, because no one dared to go upstairs, I mean, without the knowledge of the police, and one of them went to the bakery Te Sahiti, that is how it is called, and the other…a little garbage, we became, I mean we became two families in that tiny apartment of 30 meters. Plus, they had an old man sick with kidney disease, I mean, he was in a, in a not very good condition. The fourth day passed, and in the fourth day, I mean, the whole matter was taking me out of there, not the family, but me, because I was the one to put everyone in danger.
And there was a policeman from Bosnia who they rewarded with an apartment there, I mean, a policeman who had probably massacred people in Bosnia, and he was one, a man who didn’t know what the police was, he followed you from behind just like a dog once he saw you. Yes, yes, he didn’t look at you in a professional way and then tails you, yes, just like the police does. And it was dangerous, let’s say, for him to know that I was there. Let’s say, because some other policemen…so they said, “Let’s see, let’s do something,” and we went out of there. In fact I went out, and the wife of my friend, of my friend, I am saying, a man to whom I owe, as they say, my whole life and my children, for having the courage to accept me and my family inside. There was a point in the street we saw, you know, from the window, and if you didn’t stop there, that meant that there was no danger, and if you had to stop, you had to always stop at that point.
And we followed my wife and his wife, because if, I mean, there was danger, we noticed the danger. I took the signal, I mean, the signal that there was not, that the police were not at the door, because a gun was fired. They left their checkpoint and went to the middle, because in the middle of the garden there was another roofless car, with a machine gun that rotated there. Again the other unit, they filled the warehouse down there, I mean they made a warehouse for weapons down there where we had, I mean, where the garages are now. I went out, when I went out she almost fainted, and said, “Oh my God,” she said, “They will call us traitors for our lifetime.” “If they catch you.” “Yes, don’t worry at all.” I went through the tunnel. I crossed the street, I went to the family where we stayed earlier, the family’s last name is Iberdemaj, they are my relatives from the village of Shtupeq and you can imagine, a flight distance of eighty meters, I mean, my family was moved from that point to the other in over eight hours, I mean, in order not to be noticed. Go to the bakery, take a child, go back and leave the child to the corner, go there again, come here alone, go out with the other child after lunch, the other one, I mean in order not to be noticed.
We went there, we settled down, they welcomed us, there was enough room and we spent two-three nights there until a gang of paramilitaries came and robbed the family that was wealthy, they robbed all of our things as well, all of our papers, with the barrel of the gun here to the throat {shows with hands}, I even took my little son, I was afraid he was a bit too big, I said, “Leave the little one with me,” to my wife, “take the other one.” Yes…and they were done after some time and said, “Get lost, get out, you have five minutes!” And we went out, around 17 of us because there were already three families there, we went out, the patrol stopped us, “Where are you going?” You didn’t know where to say you were going to, we told them that they kicked us out, he said, “During the curfew?” They left, then we decided to return. But not return and be noticed by them, but spread around the lagje of Tophane and get inside of it slowly as if we were stealing, and we did so, we gathered together at some point.
We spent that night, we spent another night, but what happened? Others came, they came in uniforms, in military uniforms, there were paramilitaries among them, and they acted just like the first ones, but they said, after they were done, they said, “You only have three minutes! We are not the ones of five minutes.” I mean, they knew that there was someone before them there and we went out again, and the same thing happened to us again, the patrols stopped us and said, “It’s a military curfew, no movements are allowed.”
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Didn’t they direct you towards the trains, or somewhere?
Zymer Neziri: But listen, that patrol right away (smiles), I mean, right at the exit of the house, at the exit of the house…no, we weren’t going to the train [station], we decided, we decided, we decided to remain there, but we decided that both our wives and the children should go. But of course, when we had the chance, we checked and it turned out that it was safe for the car to move, but it couldn’t move because its tires were flat, he didn’t have a reserve tire and like this, I mean, this new situation was created. Then again we acted just like the first time, we went there playing alive or dead and we didn’t give any signal after midnight. We spent another night there.
The next night something not good happened there, just because of me, with one of those who came there. He started going crazy and said, “See, just because of Zymer, they will kill my wife, my children and me,” because you know, “Zymer didn’t behave, he did something wrong, he did wrong to Yugoslavia, and if Yugoslavia finds out I am living here, they will kill us too.” And just as I was taking my first sleep, my wife came to me and said, “Filan went crazy.” Then I went to talk to him and said, “Yugoslavia deserved much more than what I did to it, but I couldn’t do more, I did, but I couldn’t manage to do more. As for you, may you, your wife and your children have health, because you will surely survive because I don’t put you in danger.” And I told my wife, “As soon as we see the dawn, I will follow you, you know, from the roof upstairs, you will go out, you will take our son with you as well, the big son, yes, and you will walk towards the bakery.” I mean, it was at around five in the morning and “If you don’t stop at the checkpoint, I will know that the street is safe, and I will go out with the little son,” he was ten years, and I said, “and we will leave from here.”
I had a connection in the lagje of Qafa, to go to some family that was coming from Vushtrri and that had one, with one paralyzed man in the family, they were the only ones who had remained in the lagje of Qafa in this, in the third building, and my wife got along with the other woman who was, she was the sister of my friend’s wife and she told us that if we reached the point where we had no other solution, we would have a shelter at their place. I left there. I went out, my wife didn’t give any signal that there was the police, I went out with the little son and just as we approached the building A, the first one, I mean we walked for around 50 meters, and left towards the building B, “Father,” he said, “milicia,” my son…just in the direction where my wife left , how to find a way to go to the bakery, there was a bunch of policemen, around seven or six of them, I said, “They have nothing to do with us.” We continued, they couldn’t imagine that we went out at that time, and we got closer, we entered that building, the C building. They welcomed us in that apartment, when my wife went there for the second time she sent the other child, the other one, the other one. Then again, we walked for a whole day, I mean, in order to come together in a 200 meters long street.
Yes…and we only came together in the evening, in the evening, in the evening…the door knocked just as they served the sofra,[7] and it knocked for a pretty long time, the owner of the house went out and I saw a police cap or a military one at the door, like this {shows with hands}, I saw it, I mean, a uniformed person, I mean, I only saw the cap, but I couldn’t see anything more than that, because during the conversation, he moved from the corner from which I could see. Turned out that he was a Bosnian who at the time worked for the custom, as a customs official, he said, “Neighbor,” he said, “Things are not looking good for you,” he said, “Neither are ours, Bosnians,” he said, “Ours are not that good,” he said, “But, your businesses are very bad, you only have one advantage because the group that robbed and raped in the direction of the stadium and in that part of the station” he said, “That group is not anymore, the police itself removed it, something else.” He said, “You have nothing more.” He said, “You have no reason to stay here!” And we were forced to leave from there in the morning, I mean, from the lagje of Qafa, we left towards the train station, of course, with great pain. We met two or three police patrols but none of them stopped us. There was no man alive at the train station, and once the train arrived, I don’t know, it only took 30-40 minutes, not more, it seemed like people were coming out of the ground.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Which day of the bombings was that?
Zymer Neziri: This was the date, the 3rd, April 3, yes. And we jumped in the railway carriage, but of course the others did so too, and I helped them to jump in and we were around over 20 people in one like hen-roost, yes. So this is how this journey was, one of the most difficult journeys of my life, not for myself, but because of my wife, because as I told you, she was all dressed on one, {shows with hands} on one side with a plaster cast, the children were small, I mean, of a very young age, and of course the other pain was for Pristina and also for Kosovo. We travelled like this, we passed Fushë Kosova, Ferizaj, Kaçanik, until Bllaca. We passed Bllaca, I spent five days and nights there, it was a great misery, I mean, of what is still called Europe, with the Macedonian police, especially with them, with the deaths of the people, I mean, tens of people died. There are over five hundred graves there, there were also newborns and whatnot?! It was terrible, it was hell.
Then from there they said, “No, cholera is spreading and we will set them all free,” because they used not to, they didn’t allow you, and then we travelled during the whole night to Korça, to the stadium of Korça. The buses turned back from there. We had very bad conditions on the buses, it was also there, I don’t want to end up in stories and drama again. You can imagine, people couldn’t do their physiological needs and you had to take a bottle and do your physiological needs in a bottle, and throw it out, and so on and so on. I mean, you had a worse status than the ones in prison. The journey was too long, I don’t know which road they took, I guess they passed through Ohrid and Korça.
Then we went to the doctor because of my wife. “No, the administration should give you the papers,” until they gave us the papers to go to Tirana or Durres, but there were no apartments in Tirana and Durres. We found an apartment the price of which was as high as during the summer holidays (smiles), yes, the owner of the apartment was even a soccer player who was living in Italy, from the Qendro family. But we had no money, but we had the opportunities to have it, because my brother was living in Germany, my nephews were in Switzerland and America, so we had the opportunities to have it.
Because we had some, but even that little money we had was taken from us on the first night, in the first robbing, and then of course in the hospital of Durres, the treatment was very good there. I continued to Tirana, I went to the Institute more often, I met the boys in the who had mobilized, I kept the connection with them. Then the ones of our 136 Rugova brigade resurfaced and set-up the military hospital there, with the help, again, of the General, as I said, Kudus [Lama]. This was the part that of course hurts, but the most painful part was that Pristina had no organization for self-defense, Pristina had not. The boys of the unit BIA[8] which was very small, they had no opportunities, and this part was not planned at all, that Pristina should be emptied. This was the most painful part, very painful, but the war was the way it was, now they can bring the vipers out, “It could have been like this, that, like this…” It’s over, I mean, as a historic process, it’s closed. But this doesn’t mean that the problem of Albanians with Serbs is also closed.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: When did you return from Albania?
Zymer Neziri: Yes, we came back… yes, the bombings came to their end, I was in a mission which was organized with the people who had fled Kosovo from the Academy of Sciences and the Institutes, I was in the mission for a few days and we returned together with them, of course, at the time of the return. You know what conditions it was on, and our families outside of Pristina? There were two members of my family killed. In the large circle of the family, the kushëri[9] as they call it, there were four members massacred as well. One of them was a political prisoner and he was sentenced to death after the Second World War, he spent his time in prison, came out, and they took him. His older son said, “Don’t take my father,” he was an old man, around seventy-years-old. He said, “No, your father is speaking too much.” And it’s true, his father spoke too much, because he was deaf, he went deaf because of the big tortures in prison, he didn’t know how to coordinate his tone when he spoke to others. “Yes, the old man speaks too much, come here, you as well.” He stands up, the second son, “Don’t take my father and my brother because they are old, take me,” you know, to be shot. “Okay, come, but we are not setting them free.” The other one who was my age stood up, his name was Shaqir, and said, “Set them free, take me.” And they said, “Come, you as well.” And they took the father with the three of his sons and massacred them in a house at the entrance of Zahaq, with the eyes with…then they burned them as well, so when we buried them, we had to arrange the three corpses ourselves.
This was the part that was experienced by many Albanian families in the last war, it’s a war that has ended, but a war such as the centuries old conflict with Serbia, many wars, many battles, hasn’t ended because Serbia doesn’t want to stop, and they don’t know and they don’t even have the slightest will to say, “I did wrong, I am going to stop now,” just as the whole Germany knew after Hitler.
[1] Besëlidhja, League, is an agreement whose goal is the common good, as such it rests on the solemn commitment of the participants for common actions. In Albanian national history, the first recorded alliance of this type is the Besëlidhja e Lezhës [League of Lezhë], a military alliance of feudal lords in Albania forged in Lezhë on March 2, 1444, initiated and organized under Venetian patronage, with Skanderbeg as leader of regional chieftains united against the Ottoman Empire.
[2] Rilindja Kombëtare (National Awakening), the nineteenth century Albanian national movement.
[3] Iftar, meal consumed after dawn, breaking the fast during the month of Ramadan.
[4] syfyr, pre-dawn meal during the same month.
[5] Polish: Spazler, fence. Otherwise, a ceremonial alignment of two rows facing each other. In this case, gauntlet.
[6] Serb: Milicia, literally police.
[7] Low round table for people to gather at communal dinners, sitting on the floor.
[8] BIA [Bahri-Agron-Ilir] unit was a KLA unit for freedom and liberation. It was named as a sign of respect after people’s heroes Bahri Fazliu, Agron Rrahmani and Ilir Konushevci.
[9] Kushëri is a way of referring to distant relatives without having to name the distance in order to keep them all in the closer circle of the family.
