Who We Were; Who We Are is a text with links to oral history interviews with members of the Roma community. It was published in 2004 by a team of researchers – Sebastian Šerifović, Adem Osmani, and Afërdita Berisha – led by Bobby Anderson. Anderson kindly  gave us permission to include it in our living archive. This project was sponsored by the Open Society Institute Roma Culture Initiative, with the logistical support of Communication for Social Development and Balkan Sunflowers. 

By Roma, which is the Romanes word for “man,” or “us,” the researchers meant to encompass Roma, Ashkalija, and Egyptian, as well as a variety of sub-groupings, identified by the individuals interviewed as: Gurbeti, Muhadjeri, Arlija, and Bugurdjije.  There is no better way to introduce the publication Who We Were; Who We Are than with the words of Bobby Anderson in the introduction:

“This project is a document of what has been lost. It’s about a language choked with

foreign words; traditions often followed by rote; a people removed from their past,

trying to preserve the things they have left that make them Roma. It’s about a people

who have lived in Kosovo for hundreds of years and have never been afforded a true

place there by others. It is said that the Roma version of history is simply the earliest

memory of the oldest member of the community. And when they die, they take their

history with them.”

Two or three teachers were killed in the first school that was opened. I remember we went there with Fehmi Agani. It was somewhere in Dukagjin, I don’t remember which village, where they made a house available and immediately they killed them – the owner and two or three others, the teachers…Surely the names are somewhere. But I know that the first killings happened immediately. Because they tried to stop the momentum. They had no possibility to stop parallel education…There was an initiative and we once even held discussions in the faculties to try to return to the university. I remember that we went [to a meeting] in Mitrovica. It was that former leadership, together with Minir Dushi, I think, or I don’t know who it was, but without success. We knew that it was only a formality, just so it couldn’t be said that we hadn’t held talks.

[Shkolla Normale, November 30, 1968]. When Xhavit Nimani took the floor… it was already very late, almost 8 in the evening…I got angry and spoke arrogantly, I said, ‘Enough, do not tire us.’ …For this day, for this speech, I had prepared myself. I had memorized some things by heart. Ali Boletini taught them to me, as did Hamëz Shala and Halil Alidema. They made me repeat the words. ‘Ask for the flag. Because the partisans fought in the anti fascist war with this flag, ask for it. Ask for the development of the country. Ask why Trepça is being exploited.’ …And Ali never spoke loudly, he said, ‘Do not be like Halil who bangs on the table, you do not bang on the table. If you are there, you must present the demands.’.. Point by point, like reciting a poem, I mentioned all of those things… After I finished with my final sentence, I said, ‘Comrade Xhavit, it is useless to keep us. Until those in prison are released we have no intention to end the strike, the boycott of lessons.’ …On December 4,  they were released. That was our victory. But the possibility to speak, to say things, to demand, was greater…an inspiration that it was indeed possible to make even political figures like Xhavit Nimani back down.

I was lucky: I had done my specialization together with Angela Merkel’s husband at the Moscow University. […] Some of the professors who taught us there, English-speaking, American professors, had taught me earlier in Zagreb. I distinguished myself very much. Believe me, when I went to see Merkel after I became Minister of Albanian-language schools [for the Government in Exile], the Serbian state seal was still dominating. I took the seal of the Republic of Kosovo and told them… As soon as he saw the request with my name, her husband asked, ‘Were you at Moscow University?’ The government’s secretary came running, together with Merkel’s staff, and said, ‘ Merkel will receive you at this hour.’ Ilaz said, ‘So fast? Not even two hours have passed.’ I said, ‘He recognized me as a professor.’ I hadn’t even reached Merkel yet when her first question was, ‘Were you at Moscow University?’ I said yes. ‘You were there with my husband.’ I told her, ‘You know, there are many Albanians here. We’ve opened Albanian-language school courses in Germany. I see that the Serbian Republic’s seal still dominates. We have the seal of the Republic of Kosovo. We are a republic now.’ She said, ‘No problem.’ A few days later, half of my teachers and students came to me saying, ‘Minister, Professor, look, the stamp has arrived: Republic of Kosovo.’

Live, work and be fair and honest, honesty wins over everything. Earn the money with your sweat, not with lies. If someone hires you, go, take your pay, but do your work fairly, so they can come another time and hire you again. I have the case of a former secretary at the Utility Company, now she lives in Niš. Every year she would call me to go and mow her lawn in Prilužje. Aren’t there others that can do it? Yes. But she saw an honest person in me and she would only hire me. Price was never an issue. When she would ask me, ‘How much?’ I would tell her, ‘As much as you want to give me.’

In the seventh grade, after the expulsion of Albanians to Turkey began…I had a deskmate, Nazmije, I don’t remember her last name. When the letter came that she absolutely had to go to Turkey,  it was an extremely heavy event which left such an impression that I will never forget it. Every time I remember it, somehow I get very emotional. All the people of Mitrovica would go out to the train station. It was the Belgrade–Skopje train. Because there had also been an agreement with Skopje, that they should go to Skopje where they were given some kind of papers, permits called vesika. Then Turkey accepted them and… that atmosphere was so heavy, that all the people cried. Those who were leaving cried, their relatives cried, the people cried. No one knew what kind of fate was awaiting them…That experience with that classmate was very hard… We went to the train to see them off, the crying and screaming went on. It was very sad. I don’t have any nostalgia for Turkey because our people suffered. They never opened schools, they didn’t let them speak the language…

Roma music was everything! I always loved music. When I got married in 1995, during the peak of inflation, I had a huge wedding. I even wanted a helicopter, but couldn’t get it!… Yes, it was [one of the biggest weddings in the Pristina region]. I prepared two oxen and five sheep. We had everything:  fish, barbecue, drinks. I even brought a brass band from Vranjska Banja in Serbia, 10 musicians! I paid them 100 German Marks upfront with help from my cousin Jashar,  may he rest in peace. I loved music. I worked, saved, and did it properly… Definitely my wedding [is the most unforgettable memory].

One morning, all of a sudden, you see four or five Albanians in our yard…they were friends with my father too, but the friendship disappeared, man, because they were in our yard with knives and things like that, trying to look for their things… I’m not saying that things didn’t disappear during the war, but…even though my father and my mom were saying, ‘We didn’t take anything from you guys, please, we’re friends’… what they saw was a trunk with these clothes from a wedding and …they saw that these clothes did not belong to them but to my mom, and I remember the moment when they were taking all the things outside, they were putting them on the ground, they didn’t care, and they left it like that…I will never, ever forget the scene that I saw after they left. I saw my mom sitting there, you know, making sure that everything was settled again, you know, as it was before, it was a nightmare.