Activism
[Cut from video-interview: the interviewer asks the speaker about her life as an activist.]
Zahrije Podrimqaku: When I went to high school, you know, we had a closeness with friends, with male and female friends, we respected each other. I mean, we listened to each other, we supported each other and we were more closely tied than are students today.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Where did you go to high school?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: The gymnasium.[1]
Kaltrina Krasniqi: In which city? In which place?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: In Drenas, I finished high school here in Drenas, but apart from schooling I also had family obligations, because I was the oldest child, my father worked in this enterprise, It was called Zagreb …at the time, of Zagreb. So, there was work in the field, in different cities, he was almost always far from home, then in the end he came to Obiliq. However, I dealt with household obligations and the household budget, I dealt with the household economy since sixth grade.
So, during high school I participated in protests, at the time we showed solidarity with the miners of Trepça. On February 20, 1989, I was a student in the third, or the fourth year, I remember that I took part in those protests. In ‘89, on February 20, ‘89, the protest of the miners took place. When the miners entered the cave, we showed solidarity with them and I took part in those protests. Also, I took part in the protests that happened on January 31 in the year 1990 in Drenas, here at the train tracks, where three people were killed and around 26 people, as far as I remember, were wounded at the time. My activities, for example, and my engagement then, in the ‘90s I was engaged with the Women’s Forum of the Democratic League for the first time. I was chosen as the leader of the women, at the time the meetings were held at the family’s of Hysen Elshani, where it was close for us, because at the time we only held meetings among families, or meetings in schools that were free, that we had the opportunity to use.
In my political activities, apart from protests, I took part in the protests as a student, I started in the ‘90s, I said it already. I mentioned earlier that when she was the head of the Women’s Forum, Vahide Ibrixhi, an Albanian language professor…she came and asked, because in every village she created leadership, or for example, in every sub-branch she asked thoroughly about the families, in order to engage the girls who come from big families, girls who are well behaved and hard working. And when she asked in my neighborhood, the neighbors directed her to me and said, “If you want a hard worker, someone who works, and a well behaved girl,” they said, “there’s Zahrije here.” They told her my name and professor Vahide came directly to my family’s, to my father. She came to me, and I said, “Without asking father, I can’t.” Then she came to my family’s in the evening and asked father, she said to him, “You have to give me your daughter, because they told me good things about your daughter. And I asked everywhere in this community, you know, I’m interested in engaging her in political activities.” Since then, it was called the Democratic Movement (LDK),[2] I mean, the whole nation was there, they were in support of this movement. And my father said, “I,” he said, “Zahrije, she has now finished high school and has enrolled in the university in Peja. But I didn’t have the means to send her to school, because of the current situation, for students…” At the time they were in basements, where [classes] were held in houses. “ The situation is such and my travel is far, a big family, I have an obligation to my brothers to build them houses.”
My father was the oldest in the family and had to contribute to his own family, to build houses for all his brothers as he would for himself. And this is why we moved to Drenas at the time and he financed and invested his economy until he built houses for all the brothers, all of them. And he said, “I won’t obstruct her, I’m worried about high school, but about activities, I won’t obstruct her, let her judge for herself. First, she should know that contributing to the nation is good, but it’s also dangerous. Let her decide for herself if she can handle it, this young girl, she could be jailed, if she can handle violence.” Then my father said, “Hey, the police, prison, she could die, she even, she may even remain a maid because of the contribution she gives, she’ll have to go into families’ homes and villages.” He said, “She could also end up unmarried because people’s mentality is backward, because of her engagement, because she’s very hardworking and her engagement makes her…let her evaluate all this. I would like to give her a deadline.” He said, “If she can endure this, then she’ll give you an answer.” And the next day I went to the office, to the professor, and I said that I’m ready to get involved in political activity to serve my people, since my parent also gave me permission.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: What kind of activity was it?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: The activity at the time was a broad activity of great importance for our country. After the meeting was held, you know, I gathered the girls who were educated and were my age and older, all of them. And from there I, you know, I was supported by the people, they elected me the head of the women of the Democratic Movement of the time. And we held regular meetings with women in neighborhoods, in oda,[3] we took advantage of weddings at the time. And of main importance at the time, we registered the population in the village, Çikatova e Re, where I was the head of the Women’s Forum for women at the time, during the ‘90s. We knew the exact situation at the time, how many residents the village had, how many were women, how many were men, how many children. I mean, we registered all the boys at the time, how many males were soldiers, because it’s known that at the time Serbia killed young men soldiers in different ways. And they blamed them by saying, “No, he committed suicide,” “No this, no that,” and all the youths came back in coffins.
There were many cases mostly in Drenica and this case, then we held meetings with people, we spread propaganda for no family to send their son to the army any more. We held meetings with women as well, and we advised women and girls not to get into early marriages, not to marry girls without their consent, and to remove backward customs at the time for girls, women. When they married, for example, not to make requests that would economically harm the family, not to buy gold, as they bought in the past, or to make a dowry, the dowry the girls worked on. You know, when a bride was taken [by the broom], almost her entire family was economically weakened, it was weakened when a bride was taken. And at the time, in every meeting with women and with girls that we held, we advised them not to ask to buy gold. A ring is enough, a necklace, a pair of earrings, but not to buy gold like they did in earlier times. Removing backward customs in clothing for brides, for example, not to have the bride [kiss] hands, because these aren’t our customs, these are customs from the time the Turks ruled here in Kosovo. Not to buy twelve meters of dimia[4] anymore, like they did before, buy twelve meters of dimia, a gold vest, and chains, and a two-meter-long qystek,[5] as they were called at the time. I mean, I’ve also forgotten them myself, on all these issues we worked endlessly with people to improve them and have them go and live a more progressive life.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Did people accept these [changes]?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Yes, they accepted them. During the time when I was the head of the Women’s Forum in my village, professor Vahide was at the sub-branch and Flora Brovina was at the central level, the head of the Democratic Movement for women at the time. One day, because some documentation of mine survived the war and I had minutes, in ‘91 I even organized a meeting for doctor Flora Brovina… We took advantage of women’s days as well at the time, I mean, women’s days such as the Mondays of weedings, we used women’s days. There we found women, we found girls there to talk to about everything, about the education of girls.
I helped many girls with their schooling at the time when their parents stopped them. We reconciled families, disputes, we advised women not to cause them, because a woman has the greater role in the family, she’s the pillar of the family. And she can play an important role in [ensuring] that disputes don’t happen, at the time, to avoid disagreements, eliminate disagreements, not to have it come to the killing of a brother, there were many brothers’ killings at the time. Then there was revenge between families, if a situation of this sort arises, then the family takes revenge on the [other] family because of it. We worked very hard in this direction. I had the opportunity to reconcile many families in oda, the village and men and women supported me, they supported me a lot.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: What were usually the problems?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Well, problems, either about land boundaries, or other things, usually property, Most were about property, or about girls, or if girls had problems with their husband’s family, and here placed also in the context of problems in a family, among friends. And this is why it was very important for women to play their role as the pillar of the family, I mean, as the organizer of the family to create as good a life as possible for their family and to raise both daughters and sons with better education, and to eliminate the old customs that were in Albanian families before.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Did you have problems in developing that political activity? The LDK at the time was an illegal organization?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Yes, it was a problem, because the police, if one were to encounter the police they would arrest you and take you for an informative interview. Besa, besa,[6] there was also physical abuse, everything. Then, alongside my activities in this movement I was chosen to the leadership of the branch in Drenas later on, because of my activities. In ‘92 I also have an acknowledgement there that I can show you. And at that time I was awarded with an acknowledgement , I was the most committed activist. I mean, I was a hard worker and did never-ending activities, I always never stopped in the village I lived in, here in Çikatova e Re which is now called Drenasi Tre.
Alongside this, the Council for the Protection of Rights[7] heard my voice and that I was active, when I take on work, I take it on with responsibility. Shaban Shala came to my family’s, he’s now dead, I regret that he left life very early. We worked together at that time and he got me engaged in the Council for the Defense of Rights. And in the Council for the Defense of Rights, I was initially engaged there as a Council associate. Then, with my work I quickly joined the leadership of the Council of Drenas, where Agim Vrallaku was, at the time, the chairman of the Council. So, Shaban Shala was the vice-chairman, there were other activists, Gëzim Sheshani, there was Ibrahim Hajdari, there was…
The Council had its own activities in all villages, and in the villages it had its own activists. If not two, if not three, depending on how the village was, more. Because then there was a great repression of the Albanian population, mostly in Drenica, where families were mistreated, they were raided. We had to go to each family’s home and get a statement, take photos of the case if they were mistreated and right away give…I mean, right away give an interview in Pristina, to inform the inner structures of the Council, as well as the Committee for Information of the Democratic Movement at the time.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: For you was it, during this time you were very young, was it problematic for you to be engaged in this activity?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Yes, it was problematic, because I was a young girl and at that time there were a few young girls, even though when the Leadership was created, for example, many girls were engaged in that Leadership. And I was the head of that Leadership, however, slowly each one left their job and the women were eliminated, they’d either get married, or they’d find the work difficult, or… nevertheless, I didn’t know how to give up because I took it on with responsibility and I wanted, simply, work, be active. I really wanted to contribute to my people, and all the challenges I had and worries and problems as a young girl at the time, I mean, they couldn’t stop me or discourage me from my activities.
Life in Drenica, for the entire population, the economic situation was poor. Overall, I can say it was poor, because unemployment was high. You know, people had all been fired from their jobs, the Feronikel Factory, the Poultry Factory here, the Tailoring Factory, I mean Kluzi, at that time it was, the OP-Drenica workers, as they were called at the time, and everyone at the time was supported by…they had help from the Nëna Tereze[8] society, at that time they were helped. There was solidarity aid from emigrants abroad who sent money, and also sent goods, because at that time, now, for example, I can mention, we and the Gynecology Hospital, even though most of the time they were Albanian, violent measures came late to the hospital. But I remember when at the time, through… people who had businesses, enterprises, helped a lot, private businesses, where we collected, where we collected detergent for the hospital, slippers, robes for women who gave birth in the hospital. We got resources there to buy drugs and we helped the hospital at the time directly as the Women’s Forum. [We helped] even the wife of doctor Ibrahim Rugova give birth to this young girl who’s now a member of Parliament, she was born at that time in Drenas.[9]
And the people were mostly involved in farming , because everyone was fired from their jobs. We also registered the number of people who were removed from their jobs at the time. Education was supported by self-financing, because I was part, I mean, I was also involved in the Municipal Committee for Financing, where I also collected the wages of educational workers at the time.
But the abuses here were great, because there was a greater amount of repression from the Serbian police in Drenica. Because Drenica even in earlier wars is known as a region that didn’t endure, you know, submission. It isn’t…a people that never submitted to the enemy, and because of this, Serbia always had more of an eye on Drenica. And there was fear, basically, I can say in most of Drenica at the time. We, in the Council, did a lot of work at the time. There was a case in which guerrilla groups, I mean, of the army [Kosovo Liberation Army], that did the attack, here at the train tracks, where police were killed at the time, I remember it was around 10:30, at night.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: The date?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: The date, the time, and now I’ll tell you the date because I started, because time has passed and…The first case, for example, in which an attack was conducted, was done on September 27, ‘92 at the bus station, they were killed there, they were killed, or they were wounded. One police officer was killed, another was wounded, I don’t remember the case well, and with this case the police immediately conducted its own action in which it raided families in Çikatova e Re, in Krajkova, and so on and abused many people at the time. And the engagement had to be very high, because one had to go and get, apart from information, take photos of the person, develop the photos and submit all this to the Council for the Defense of Rights, at that time the head of the Council was Adem Demaçi.[10] And other members of the leadership was also Shaban Shala, who was a member of the leadership at the time in the Central Committee. There was Sami Kurteshi, there was Shukrije Gashi,[11] from the women, we had with Shukrije a very, very good cooperation.
And so, we then created a file. Every delegation that came and visited the Council, we had material and we had photos of cases that had happened, of beatings and frequent physical abuse of family members at the time, who were raided in their homes to collect weapons. Families, even if they [Serbian authorities] heard that some from their family was engaged also in the underground, I mean, was active to contribute to their people, they tracked them down. They also had their own people, it’s known, because even with us, our activity was difficult because not all families accepted it. Not all the families accepted us, either to shelter material, or…I myself, as an activist, had to hold all the Council material and that of the Council for Financing and the Council for the Defense of Rights, I had to keep them in my family’s home and keep them safe.
The case of the second attack in Drenas, after the attack of ‘92, was on May 23, 1993, at the train tracks. In this case, which happened at around 22:30, at night, I heard the shots right away and the police forces came from…from Mitrovica and from Pristina. And police forces filled up [the space], there were around 1500 police officers at the time. Every person who encountered them, who didn’t know about the incident that had then taken place, was abused at the time, was forced to lay on the ground, they kicked people, because one had to…I followed the case right away, right away when the case happened at that time, this case was very severe, and I informed bac[12] Adem. I informed Fehmi Agani[13] at the time, who was a member of the leadership, Xhemail Mustafa[14] was a member of the committee. When the case happened, just for it to be heard and become, you know, for the news to spread as quickly as possible, one had to inform all the people, who knew where the key places were. We had phone numbers, I didn’t have a phone in my home, but I either used it at the neighbor’s or whoever had a phone, I would go to them and request the phone and gave the information.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Who conducted these attacks?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: The Serbian police, ah, at the time the people didn’t know it existed, you know, we activists had a bit of knowledge, we knew about the activities of the Kosovo Liberation Army back then at that time.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: So, these attacks in ‘92, ‘93, were they…?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Now it’s clearly known, for example, that the attack on the bus station, at the time, was conducted by Adem Jashari,[15] Hashim Thaçi,[16] Ramiz Lladrovci[17] who today is…and other participants. And the police, early in the morning, apart from all night that it…people from all sides were abused, whom they encountered, you know, where the roundabout is here today in Drenas, ryqi as it was called at the time. The Serbian police checkpoint was placed in the middle of the center of Drenas, then. There was no other road to pass by, the roads were connected there and every person who was abused in the early morning, because that night, all night I was informing, I mean, talking directly with Pristina, because phones in Drenas… I tried to inform my head of the Women’s Forum here, Vahide Ibrixhi, who was a woman and could never get a phone here. But in Pristina you could get it easier, and here they cut the telephone connections in Drenas, but information was carried to Pristina.
And that night, I followed the case all night, I mean , I was awake in my house and prepared the material. I sheltered the material of the Council for the Protection of Rights, materials from the Municipal Council for Financing, because the offices at the time also belonged to the Municipal Council for Financing and the Council for the Protection of Rights and the Council for Education – you know, all the parallel institutions at the time, which functioned under the power of Serbia, that we worked in for our people, they for their state – all the offices were, they were in my paternal uncle’s house, where Shaqir Podrimqaku is now living. This was after they took our offices that we had at the BVI Council [The Self-Governing Association of Interest] of Education that was there, which was called at the time the former BVI of education, since they took it away from us. And since I was an activist myself, I proposed my uncle’s house and in this way all of the offices were in my uncle’s house. And my house was near and out of fear of being raided, that they would open up the office there, I took all of the material and sheltered it. Now early in the morning, at 7, Drenas was filled with police officers.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: This was in ‘93?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: In ‘93, when this case happened at the train tracks they were so prepared, around over 1500 police officers were all in bulletproof vests, they were armed to the teeth, the Serbs. They had a great number of forces at the time, and they came for a surprise raid. I had two younger brothers at the time, Martir and Rilind. And I had stuffed all the material in the couch, in the bed, and I put my brothers to bed, and I said, I spoke to mother, I said, “Mother, please don’t let them, for the sake of the children, let them, the children, be on obstruction, to prevent them from finding the material. Then they could arrest me and they could beat father.”
They went through Çikatova e Re systematically, when that day they raided 114 families. And after they entered in my family’s house, they tried to break the door of the oda, where I had all the photos. It was called the men’s oda at the time, all the photos of all the heroes, from Isa Boletini,[18] in order, Ismail Qemali,[19] Skënderbeg, I had put them up all on the wall, they were all framed. He tried to hit the door and mother yelled at the police officer, “I’ll bring the key now and open the door,” she said, “but please, I beg you, don’t break the door!” She yelled in a very high tone of voice to the police officer, and he hit the door and broke it. And he took all the frames, he broke them by throwing them to the ground, he said, “You’re keeping terrorists here.”
After the raid in the house, all done, when they went to the room, to my mother, they tried to approach the children and my mother said to them, “Do you have children?” When she mentioned it, “Do you have children?” she said, “If possible,” she said, “don’t you see that the boys are sleeping there?” She said, “Check there wherever you want, but don’t wake up my sons!” And they were afraid, the children. And they protected [the material], and it did not matter that they were not asleep. But they stayed put, and mother approached them, then the police didn’t touch the couch, that’s how the material of the Council was saved from there. The moment they finished the entire search, what’s in the clothes, the dishes in the kitchen, they checked everything, they put everything on the ground, the clothes, everything they found there in the house. And when they finished with my family, then they went to the neighbor’s. My father didn’t happen to be there. With his brother they happened to be at their maternal uncle’s.
And in the neighborhood there were men, because where they found men, they took the men, they searched them. After the search they put them in their cars, in the small army tanks, to take them to the police station where they took everyone. And the moment the neighbors close by, when they lined up the men of the neighbors, the Elshani family there, I took the camera and at the time I photographed them with their hands up against the wall. In this case and now after the war a son of theirs, Afrim, mentioned me, he said, “Zahrije, good job. You also,” he said, “were a devil.” He said, “What courage you had. When I saw you,” he said, “we were up against the wall,” he said, “when I saw you with a camera in your hand, I almost went insane. Now,” he said, “they’ll see her camera and they can kill us or, who knows what they can do to us.” I had the courage, simply put.
But as soon as they finished with their family, thinking that they had finished with the other families, the family in front of us, the family of Muharrem Elshani had a phone at the time. And now I [had to] inform Shukrije [Gashi] at the Council there, in the Council for the Protection of Rights on what the police were doing, how they were searching and what they were doing by taking away men, because they took men, now I saw that they took men from every family and I went to inform [the Council] on the phone. The neighbor with his wife wasn’t there, he had only two girls at home and they were still searching the family in the attic. And I went into the house and when I got in I picked up the phone, I remember when his daughter said to me, “Dada[20] Zahrie, sit, sit, sit, because the police are in the attic. Don’t’, don’t dare talk on the phone because they’ll hear you.” And I put down the phone for a moment until they left. In this way, the whole search happened, they finished the search, I visited families soon after.
I remember when I went to the family of Ejup Hasi, he had many sons, I don’t remember whether he had seven or eight, but I know he had many, they were a big family. And the wife of uncle Ejup was fainting, “They took my sons and they’re going to kill them.” Because when they came in, they asked who killed the police. “Do you know who killed the police?” Because the minivan was full of police, it was completely destroyed from bullets. People were even saying at the time, they said that they had been brought from Bosnia just to set up the incident. However, the incident was (laughs) true, you know, it was a direct attack by the Kosovo Liberation Army, the guerilla groups at the time, who were underground and at the time operated as guerilla groups. And I said to that wife of axhi[21] Ejup, “Oy dada Leme,” I said, “don’t worry and calm down.” I said and I helped her refresh, because she had fainted. And when I said to her, I said, “Because they haven’t only taken your sons, they’ve also taken [men] from every home they entered, they took all the men.” They took boys, even a twelve year old called Burim Deliu, whom I remember at the time was also taken to the police station.
They released all the men in the evening, at around five, they didn’t release them until then and they beat them. They said that at that time blood was spilled, the walls of the police station were all bloody, such great abuses occurred in Drenas, that when people were released at that time from the station, they then had broken ribs, or damaged parts of their bodies, they were beaten that badly. And so I [went] house to house, where they did the raids, I went and got the information of all the men with their names, whom they had arrested, who was pillaged, someone [had] 500 Euros [taken], because they had found their money. I swear the necklaces women had with lira, in old times that had nine lira pieces, they took them, gold, they took everything they found in those homes. I registered all of this that morning, the moment when the field activists, Shaban Shala, Agim Llaku, Jakup Krasniqi, came directly to the people, after we went through them in order, I had everything ready.
There was this journalist at that time, Hamide Latifi and Zeqir Bekolli. I remember all the data, because we didn’t have an office, and all the activists were in my family at the time, and…by year of birth, how many were taken, how many families were raided, all the information… I was the first to spread the news about this incident. But my family was my support (laughs with tears in her eyes), they supported me. My mother and father and sisters supported me a lot. I carry a great debt to my family because I often caused them problems and sent friends there, my mother never hesitated to prepare food, my sisters never hesitated, they took very good care of me (cries), I’m sorry.
After a time I had to, after people were released from the police station, a doctor had to be sent to all their houses and among the doctors there was only doctor Hafir Shala, who today is missing (wipes away tears and swallows)…who helped people (speaks with heavy breathing) with drugs and with everything together. With Shaban Shala they brought Doctors without Borders from Pristina and we went to all the families, we distributed drugs to all the people who were abused in the [police] station at the time.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Do you want to rest a bit?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: No let’s continue!
Kaltrina Krasniqi: What were the ‘90s like, after ‘93? You were active most of the time in Drenica, right?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Yes! Most of the time and during the entire time I was active, you know, in the municipality of Drenas and in all the villages in the municipality of Drenas.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: How did the ‘90s continue, from ‘93 onwards?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Well, they were difficult, because they started firing workers from their jobs, I mean, there were obstacles to educating students as well. Then because of the severe situation in which parents were in now, they had also had obstacles in sending their daughters to school. However, we were always side by side and close to the people, either with…and at the time we also gave scholarships from the Municipal Council for Financing. We gave ten scholarships for students. I mean, with the resources we gathered from the Municipal Council for Financing, apart from the wages for the educational workers that had to be ensured at the time, we also handed out scholarships. We handed out ten scholarships. At the time we helped girls from businesses, we gathered scholarships from private businesses for their education, so that they wouldn’t have to abandon their schooling halfway through, not to remain uneducated.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Did they close all of the schools here?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: With schools…they were open. There were pressures to close them, for example, the high school several times, however, there was still no one who could stop the students. You know, the determination at the time was for Albanians to never follow the orders of Serbs, I mean, of the occupier, even though many sacrifices were needed to protect them [the students].
After the incident of ‘93, which was a severe case, the Council for the Protection of Rights at that time, from the year 1993, with all of the material it had, I mean, the abuses in Drenas, we created the Hague file at the trial of Slobodan Milošević. You know, we were the first municipality at the time to create a file. In ‘93 Agim Rrellaku, Shaban Shala, myself, Shqipe Ahmeti, worked to complete the file. And we submitted the original file in the Council in Pristina, we had a copy here in the Council in Drenas. I mean, since ‘93 we raised an indictment as the Council for the Protection of Rights from Drenas against Slobodan Milošević, at that time for the abuse in our municipality.
Connected to this incident, there was a lot of abuse of activists as well. For example, on May 28, immediately after the case that happened on the 23th, on May 28, Shaban Shala was arrested with his brother Emri Shala, where they were abused in the cruelest way in the police station, so that when they described it, they tied them with their legs up {gestures up with her hand} and they abused them with their heads down {gestures with her hand towards the ground}, abusing them physically.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Was the population of Drenica constantly exposed to violence?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: The population of Drenica was constantly [exposed] to the violence of the Serbian state at the time, however despite their constant abuse, nobody could stop the activists. Many people worked. At that time many people were engaged, I mean, a great sacrifice was made.
Apart from the Council for the Protection of Rights, I was also engaged in the institution of the Municipal Council for Financing at that time. It was an institution that was created at the time to directly fund Albanian financing. I want to mention here that I got engaged in 1993 in the Municipal Council for Financing at the time and I did, at the same time, I was also a coordinator of the Council for Drenas for gathering the paycheks of educational workers at the time. With the Council, for gathering wages only for the region of Drenas, because the Council was organized into seven sub-Councils. I mean, for example, the Council of Drenas included Çikatova e Re, Drenas Njishi was included, Dyshi was included, Pokleku i Ri was included, Vaseleva and Pokleku i Vjetër.
All these villages included the Pokleku school, the school where Rasim Kiçina is today and is called the school of Pokleku, I mean, the Fazli Graiçevci school, the school of Gllobari, because Gllobari was also included. And I had an obligation and responsibility towards these three schools, you know, to gather the educational wages as a coordinator, as a director of this sub-branch for gathering wages. Here we had to organize with the activists we had in the field, for example, in the village of Çikatova e Re, many activists at the time helped me in gathering wages time after time. For example, there was Qazim Shala, Hasan Elshani who helped me in gathering wages, there was this Qerkin Berisha, there was Nezir Gashi. However, in most cases, helping me with gathering wages in Old Çikatova, were Afrim Gllareva and Halim Bajraktari, who today is a martyr of the nation.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: How were the collections made?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: The collection of this money, for example, I went to Çikatova e Re, I called the activist who was engaged as a partner of the Council and we went house to house, meaning to oda. Then, at that time, the decision was that each family, the Municipal Council for Financing released a decision that families that had someone abroad had to pay around 180 Euros per year, 180 Marks, because the resources were in Marks at that time; and families that didn’t have anyone employed paid two Euros per month, 24 Euros a year. For the whole year it was 24 Marks per year. And we had to collect them from each family, in some places where one had to explain this financing. To convince people one had to go through the oda until the head of the family was convinced, be it the woman, or the man. However little they had, they were asked then for their wallets to give resources. Men were directly asked more.
And we gathered these wages, they were submitted to the Council. Then the sum was rounded up, one part we took from the three percent,[22] back then it was from the migrants, a direct contribution of the migrants. I mean, 150 thousand Marks, 150 thousand German Marks would completely go towards 950 educational workers at the time, to give them wages. But there was daily activity that had to be done in each family. I mean, it was known that activists felt responsibility, that they took things to heart. And in cases when they were at risk of not paying wages, for example, we, all the activists of the Council, took on daily activities as a campaign, when the head of the Council was Jakup Krasniqi at that time. Later on, they also gave me the responsibility of the cashbox. I mean, on June 8, 1995, I was also the treasurer at the municipal level who held all of the payments of the educational workers. But apart from wages and the cashbox that I was responsible for in the office, I never left the field. Because I had responsibilities towards the field where I had been appointed as coordinator.
For example, one had to wake up early in the morning. You had the plan that was made for gathering wages, for going to Poklek and Vaselievë, because a village took, there were bigger villages that took two days until you finished all the families, but there were villages that only took one day. For example, Poklek had 120 families and when you entered Poklek you had to arrive at seven in the morning. I left the house, I ate a meal, I woke up early and got ready. I ate breakfast, because you can’t ask for food from a family in the morning. You could eat an obrok,[23] lunch for example, when you found it served, or there were cases when a family invited us and said to us, “Since today you’re in the field in our village, for lunch you’re with us. Finish your activities, you’ll have lunch with us and then you continue working.” Because we couldn’t go home to eat because it was far and the work would be left half done.
And for the work not to be left half done, not to have the activity left half done, we ate food among families. At seven I left my house, I went alone from Drenas, I mean, to Çikatova e Re, where I had a house in Poplek in the fields. But back then there was security, because people were very self-aware. Believe me, I’m very grateful to those people because their families received me well. I never had problems. In my bag it happened that I had 3500 Marks that we had gathered from a day in a village. I went alone. There were cases when people expressed a desire to accompany me home in their cars, but most of the time we walked on foot at the time. Because not all of the families even had cars. Only those with someone abroad or who had a business had it, not like today for example. And one had to thoroughly go through the village, house to house, to gather the funds. It was a difficult case, because it felt personally difficult.
For example, I met a family that always had [material goods], and it was difficult for me to go out and beg. A certain Hasan Barleti said to me in Çikatova e Re, an old man, he said to me, “Whose [girl] are you?” I said, “I’m Rama’s.” He said, “I mean, tell me who your grandfather is!” I said, “I’m the granddaughter of Hydë Rama.” And everyone knew my grandfather as generous and he had a big oda, he was very good with money. In a matter of one, two seconds, when he held his head, “Kuku,[24] Hydë Rama, what a man he was (laughs), and his granddaughter goes out and besg for money” (laughs). And here I just stopped. I didn’t get hurt from people because (laughs) people didn’t understand things at that time. When he finished, I said, “Axhë, I want to tell you…” and I gave him a bad example.
I took a few girls whom I noticed during activities when I gathered funds in Çikatova e Re, and now I said, “Is it better to do what they are doing?” I said, I explained the entire case. I said, “Like myself, because I haven’t gone out to beg for myself. 950 workers’ families are supported from me, from my work…educators, 950 workers’ families, how many members? I mean, almost half of the population is supported by my sweat.” I said, “So, I’m proud because this is a contribution for the people and for education.” I said, “Because these teachers, they too know the road of emigration, they know how to go abroad. But,” I said, “in order not to close the schools, not to have the students and youth become illiterate and uneducated, we’re doing this work for that purpose.” I said, “And this is the aim for us, not to have education lag behind, not to have our schools close down, and not to say thank you to Serbia and extend our hands to her, but we,” I said, “with our organization, with our volunteer work, will show that we love our state and that we want to build a state”.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: How many years did you do this work?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: Ten straight years.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: From which year until…?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: From the ‘90s up until the moment I was imprisoned, I was in prison until June 8, ‘98. I did neverending work and I never stopped with activities. I loved activism. I had a pride in my heart and when I did good to people, for example, I help whomever I could among the people, with a scholarship or with aid, I liberated them. Because we at that time… for example, clothes, we engaged families to clean the children’s clothes who had grown up, who had new clothes left, to iron them, to give them to us so we could send them to poor families. It was humanity at the grassroots level. People supported us in every organizing activity we undertook. And here, what I was saying with regards to finances, even the old man was obliged to call me into the oda and say, “Come, you’re welcome, just come inside the oda to drink coffee.”
Then I went inside, we had a long discussion and he apologized for the words he said to me. Because he experienced a woman going into houses as tragic (laughs). “instead of,” he said, “getting engaged, getting married somewhere, having children,” he said, “you’re going through houses asking for (laughs) money.” When I explained the cause, he was convinced and I convinced him, and he managed to apologize to me. However, overall I had a great time, because people received me very well, always. Even the head of the Council for the Protection of Rights asked me once, Agim Grellaku, all the colleagues were there, all the activists, the majority of them, and he looks at me like this (shows the way he looked at her). I was the only girl. I mean, in the Municipal Council I was the only girl and I was the youngest of all. Everyone else was a man. And he said to me, “For God’s sake, tell me honestly, how are you doing among families?” I said, “For God’s sake, do you want me to tell you honestly? Now I’ll tell you.” I said, “Where I enter, I leave like a niece with uncles.” However, I said, “And I myself behave well with them.” There were cases when I went to a person and said, “If you have a debt you have to repay quickly, I’ll wait, I’ll go to other families, because I’ll come to a solution with other people, but you don’t feel hard pressed. You’ll give me the money next time. What’s important is for you to meet your obligations to your country. Now you don’t have [money], you’ll fulfill it later, it’s nothing.”
However, there were cases, there were people who had to be given a receipt maybe for two Marks, just because they said, “Let my name also be written in the computer, to have the name in the computer that I’m also contributing to my country” (laughs). And one had to issue a receipt for two Marks. So, there were villages that were economically poor, they paid less. However, Drenas in general paid well. Pokleku i Vjetër, close to Pokleku I Ri now, were the most organized. However, the activists here as well, for example I can mention, at that time there was in the beginning a teacher, a certain Hysnie Blakaj, who is now in Germany, and had her in-laws [living with her] as a newly bride now, as a wife, and they wouldn’t bother her. She helped me, then there was Dalip Haxhiu, Nexhmedin Haxhiu in Poklek helped me. There were many people when I went to the village to gather money, I mean, funds, the wages for the educational workers, there were two people, three people, four people.
It was the school principal who later became engaged and later never left me, the director of the school Rexhep Cërrvadiku, who every time I went to Poklek he never…the director himself never left me, he came to the families with me. However, Poklek at the time was leading with money, because they gave the most. So much that, when I went to the Council to submit [the funds], [Poklek] was the first, leading in regard to wages, because schools received their wages as soon as the villages collected funds. There were cases… professor Jakup at the time asked me, “Zahri, can we leave Poklek? I’m sorry, because they gave funds and all, but we have other schools lagging behind and we want to give to others as well, because we have a lot of debt in wages.” About the resources in the Municipal Council for Financing, as a woman I was the most successful of all the members of the Council. However, I had two reasons, because I could contact men and women (laughs). That was what made my job easier at the time.
And I entered without a problem in the oda of the men, but I went to the kitchen with women also without problems. There were families in which women helped as well and they supported me urging their husbands to pay and, “Don’t let Zahrije go because this can’t be done, how come this girl who is so young is giving her contribution, and you must pay your obligation.” There were women, where the woman herself convinces the man to give funds. However, all the people who were informed, I mean, when you explained it well, most people were in support of any organization we carried on at that time. It’s known that there were those at the time who did not have [means] and we understood.
But there were examples at the time, now for example, [ one] said, “I would pay, [but] I don’t have money,” he said, “because I have turkeys, I have chickens, I’d pay 24 Euros.” I won’t forget one instance, a person said to me, “Zahrije, if you have money I’ll sell you my turkey, my turkey is 24 Euros and I’ll pay your fees.” And that’s what I did. I brought the turkey home (laughs). I said, “Here’s the receipt, I’ll tell my father that I bought it and my father will give me money.” I said, “I’ll give you the receipt and my father will give me the money at home,” I said, “and, I’ll take the turkey home.” And the accountant at the time was Dibran Bajrakti, he’s no longer living. He was a very good person. He was also a very good activist and supported me a lot. Because Jakup was the director, Dibran kept the accounts, Ahmet Morina was the treasurer earlier and from there I took on the cashbox as the treasurer. Now, the moment when on the same day I was elected treasurer, you know, professor Jakup, because I call him professor Jakup, resigned as the head of the Council. He said, “I can help you whenever you’re in the field, gathering [funds], whenever you undertake actions,” he said, “but now I have to be engaged in education.” He took on the task of director of the Educational Council at the time and Izet Ibrahimi was elected the head of the Municipal Council for Education. I mean, the same day I was elected treasurer, on June 8, ‘95, Izet Ibrahimi was elected the head of the Council for Financing.
I helped everywhere, there wasn’t an institution at the time that functioned where I didn’t contribute. However, I really neglected my family, you know. Yes, I had support from my sisters and my parents and my brothers, I had a lot of support, they supported me a lot. I want to mention an incident for example, the school in Çikatova, at that time it almost did not work in developing teaching. And the head of the activity at the time was Hasan Elshani and there were…I was the head of the sub-branch of Çikatova e Re and we undertook the organizing. One part…and we undertook, with the approval of the Municipal Council for Education, of professor Jakup, the collection of special funds and did not submit those funds to the Council. But they weren’t funds committed to pay wages that the Council for Financing had at the time, they were voluntary funds outside those wages, the part that people had an obligation [to pay]. We collected from whoever could give cement, some gave gravel, some offered stones.
The school at the time didn’t have a toilet. Meaning, at that time with the contribution of people, some offered funds, some gave gravel, some gave cement, meaning we did the organizing and we built six WC in the schoolyard, which the school uses today as well, we constructed them that well. We worked better at that time with volunteers than our rulers lay down roads today (laughs). However, the organization was successful. When we took on organizing they supported me a lot as well. All the male activists at the time said, “Let Zahrije lead us because Çikatova e Re has lots of income,” I mean, it was like Dushanova, [they came] from all sides, around 53 villages came to Çikatova e Re, people [came]. Because nobody could hold Çikatova e Re, as the head of Çikatova e Re, one person, two, until the moment I took it on. When I took it on as the head, at the time, I held it until the end, when I was jailed. I held the leadership of Çikatova e Re because people didn’t oppose me and I always [got] the votes, one vote was against me once, because all the votes were unanimously given to me, but of course because of my work. I worked a lot, and they saw my engagement, and they also supported me a lot.
It was our own contributions, and construction back then was done voluntarily, we never paid a handyman for building those six WC that we built at that time. [Among those] who worked at the time, today I thank Adem Heta, Nezir Gashi worked, Et’hem worked, whose name I don’t remember. Axha Et’hem of Çikatova, of Baksi, the Baksi family, who came there. A certain Fazli Salihu also worked, to whom I’m very grateful and I feel indebted towards those people and when I go to the municipality I try to help them because of the contribution they gave as volunteers at the time. But also for the aid they distributed for Nëna Tereze at the time, for people, for every family I identified and registered, the head of Çikatova e Re at the time was Dastan Heta. We had a very good cooperation amongst ourselves, but they also respected me as the leader. It happened, for example, Dastan was the head of the association, he told me, “Zahrije, do the registration, that list that you gave to me verifies that you’re able to go inside the family, to check whether their children are well or not. I’m ready to execute it.” And he executed it.
And I want to mention a case for example, when I went to Drenas Two, to Drenas Two, as an activist for gathering funds. At the time we had Bajram Bajraktari. In Gllobar I’m sorry I don’t remember that young man, he is a professor, I don’t remember his name because I would like to mention it, but when I write the book, I won’t forget to write it down, to point out his name (smiles). And I remember that incident, I went to look for the activist at home. The time was, it was a Sunday and Bajram wasn’t at his home, his mother said, “Well, he went somewhere to see..,” or to a wedding…I don’t remember well. And in order not to waste the day, I went to his house to get, to begin gathering wages in Drenas Dy. Then I thought, where to go, where to go, I went to the house of the family of Ali Bajraktari. Ali Bajraktari was a good person, he was someone who also contributed in earlier times. Bac Dibran was a relative of his, Ali was his paternal uncle, and where to go, where to go…because one had to choose [the right] people to go out into the field with at that time, because families wouldn’t let you in with no matter who.
And when I entered the house a child told me… I, “Is it possible to…is your grandfather here?” He, “Yes.” I said, “Call him for me, Zahrije Podrimqaku is calling him.” And bac Ali appeared at the door, and I said to him, “Bac Ali, today I’ve come to focus on Drenas, to gather the wages. Bajram,” I said, “doesn’t happen to be here, he’s our partner in the Council, he isn’t [here]. Going home… I feel bad to have the day go to waste. As such, I have a request of you,” I said, “if you would help me.” “Please,” he said, “whatever depends on me, I’ll help you.” He said, “Should I give you money?” I said, “No, not that, you’ve met your obligations. But you have many sons, if you could give me one of your sons to accompany me today to the houses, to families, so that I don’t go alone, since Bajram isn’t here.” And what did he do? He called his sons and grandsons, he lined them all up. And keep that in mind, he smiled, thinking that I wanted to choose one of the young sons, do you understand, since I was a woman, a young girl {winks} (laughs). And I went here, and I chose, he said, “Which one did you choose?” I mean, I chose the oldest son, Murat, Murat Bajraktari. I said, “Well, I chose this one.” And he started, he said, “But why this one, he’s old, whom do you need?” I said, “For me, this one who has the authority to gather funds. Nobody knows these youths because it wouldn’t be a problem. But if bac Murat accepts, I would choose bac Murat.” And he laughed, and laughing he said, “No, Murat will go today.” I said, “Maybe I made you lose a worker, maybe you had a work plan for your sons to work today at home, but I would take bac Murat.”
And so that day in the field with bac Murat we gathered around 1500 Marks within a day, during that entire time. And he came and accompanied me and of course it was his village, and he was a local, he also knew the people, which families have [money], which families don’t, because it was difficult to put families who didn’t have [money] in a rough spot, to go in and ask for money. In order not to make them stand out one had to go in and say why we came, but, “We don’t intend to impose on you because we know your situation.”
So, the people, I wanted to say, even though they didn’t have activists there, when we went to the villages, we didn’t go back but we also chose a person who had authority in the villages. The families, like I said earlier, there were cases, in which you went with an activist who wanted to help and he knew the family and knew their biography, but they didn’t give money. Maybe the reason they wouldn’t give you money was the person you brought with you. I failed many times, because as I said earlier, Çikatova e Re always had newcomers, people who had moved there and nobody knew each other well, because it was a place inhabited by all the villagers who had come there. And when I took on the cashbox, I had to do it for him. The moment I became engaged in [keeping] the cashbox, I became now the person responsible for gathering funds at that time in 2003…it was 2005[25] when I took on the cashbox, one had to find a family member whom people love and who doesn’t cause problems with people when you enter their yard.
And thinking, and thinking, there was the family of Shaban Bajraktari in Çikatova e Re that supported me in every action and [the family] of Islam Bajraktari. I mean, because for the families, even to eat one had to choose when you entered the oda, for example, when meal time arrived. And to support you and encourage the others, one had to choose the families. And after I took on the cashbox, I had to find another person to engage as a partner of the Council in my place. Afrim at the time, Afrim Gralleva, was engaged directly in the Council for Financing, for gathering, you know, gathering funds among businesses along with Aziz Morina. In their area of responsibility, they had all the businesses that were in the municipality of Drenas, these two had to gather [funds] among the villages.
And every member of the Council had an area, Ferat Shala had the area of Llapushnik over there, Selim Shabani had the sub-council of Obria on that side, and Fehmi Haradini had Fushetica in this area here. Izet, even though he was the head of the Municipal Council for Financing, as he was named the leader, had the Komoran area. I mean, all of us had separate areas, we divided villages for gathering funds. And now I thought, I said, “I want to go, Ramadan Bajraktari has many sons and they’re a well-known family, because they didn’t appoint a non-desirable person for gathering funds.” Nobody opposed them on this, and I went to the oda of Ramadan Bajraktari and said, “I took…maybe you heard, the Council has engaged me, they gave me responsibility over the cashbox of the Municipal Council for Financing as treasurer. Now I keep the field, but only on Saturday and Sunday because every day the way I kept it, I can’t keep the field any more for Çikatova e Re as well,” I said, “when I come and when I leave, in Çikatova e Re too, I’ll still help. I came to ask you, give me a son of yours, whichever one of your sons who you know isn’t lazy and is well-behaved, give him to me to contribute,” I said, “Bac Rama, because you have plenty of sons.”
He started laughing, “You came precisely to me?” I said, “Look bac Rama, I could also go to other families, but I said that at this time, not everyone accepts you in families. Every activist…activists who belong to great families, to good families, have their own value because no one can oppose them.” For example, to say, “You have this flaw in your family, or this. And you don’t need to come to my family or give me advice or [ tell me] about organizing to contribute or for you to tell me something about contributing to the state of Kosovo, to the Republic of Kosovo.” And after I addressed him, I said, “One of your sons, whomever one you want.” And he looked at all his sons and started laughing and said, “This imam.” He had a son who is now a martyr of the nation, Halim Bajraktari. He finished school to become an imam, and he gave me Halim.
Halim was a very good boy, he was a very determined boy, and when we went in…we started, he and I, the first time we started gathering funds in the village, he hesitated. “Come on,” he said, “you go home, I’ll go to the door to go in and ask for funds.” He was six years younger than I, I took his hand, “Come on Halim, because you’re my brother. We’re brother and sister, and if they kick you out, they’ll kick me out too. And don’t be afraid, wherever I go, in a house, in a house, through the chimney, through the chimney, in the kitchen, in the kitchen, you’ll come” (laughs). And so, people never opposed us. They loved him a lot and he was very determined. Now, later on he put on a uniform as a [KLA] soldier, and he now is a martyr, he was killed in the village of Llapushnik in Granella.
I mean, with [the fact] that one had to choose people, because you had problems if you went among families with no matter who. I had an incident, I was lucky, for example the people of Drenica knew my father’s grandfather Hydë Rama’s very well. They knew him because of the great oda he had, he was generous and, as my grandfather said, we supported many families at the time, around four-five villages, with bread, because they had a lot of land, and all the land was watered from a water source. They had around 25 hectares of land and 10 hectares of mountains. And when I entered a house, I explained whose I was, and whose granddaughter I am… “Ah, the granddaughter of Hydë Rama, come in.” Everywhere they placed me at the head in the oda, wherever I entered they respected me a lot. However, what I’m saying is the family plays a big role, because I mean, with the work of my great-grandfather and forefathers, whom they know, and my grandfather, who were worthy people… My grandfather was defiant in oda. He wasn’t educated, but he was very much a politician (laughs). But in the oda he challenged them so much that they said, “When Tahir Hydi spoke, around one week later, that’s when the village understood what he wanted to say.”
Eh, the activists of good families, they played their role and they had, I mean, they achieved more success. The work of the Municipal Council for Financing of education at the time, of educational workers, was obstructed a lot by the Serbian police, by the Serbian power of that time, which was determined to make the Council disappear and not function. However, our organizing, our determination made it so that we continued our work, to make Albanian language education function, at that time with the program of the Republic of Kosovo, even though Serbia stopped paying educational workers and left them without wages. Only one the part of the administration, I mean, the cleaners, resigned, they were paid with wages in the beginning. And in the beginning they showed such solidarity, that when all the workers in the administration were paid, when they got their wages, they split those wages in half with the educational workers in the beginning. When the Council was established, when the Council for Financing was created, the organizing was done, there wasn’t any more…meaning there wasn’t the need to split their wages, they split their wages with the teachers only for a time. July 2, I mean, July 2, 1997, was the holiday of…
Kaltrina Krasniqi: In ‘96?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: In ‘96, on July 2, 1996 the office of the Municipal Council for Financing at that time in Drenas was raided, there I was arrested. My stamp was confiscated, all the material of the Council for Financing, meaning, all the finances. And they confiscated, it was…the wages gathered within a day, 3145 Marks at the time and 2525 Dinars, they took from me in the cashbox. They didn’t manage…we had the office of the treasury in the school…we didn’t have our offices where we stayed and organized meetings and gatherings, but our second floor was special, the former cabinet of Defense was [dedicated to] education, where the arms and police were at that time, that’s where our office of the treasury was. And when one had to work at the treasury, to go do the work of the treasury, we did the balance of the funds and everything had to be done in the school.
And that day was July 2, and the director said to us, “Everyone do their activities and be at work tomorrow.” And well, I told director Hyzeti, I said, “Director, tomorrow July 2 is a holiday, it’s possible the police will attack us because of the holiday.” He said, “Zahri, tomorrow everyone has to be at work no matter who you are in the organization. And you have to be at the treasury.” Because in the school of Dobroshevci we managed to gather half wages, because when funds were gathered we also gave half funds to the schools. So on that moment when bac Aziz submitted the funds he gathered from businesses, and one contributor, somewhere around…two contributors paid around 800-700 Euros that they owed. They managed to gather those funds, because there weren’t any in the cashbox and we always balanced the funds in the evening and got them out of the cashbox quickly and sent them through the schools. Half wages were given to one school, half and half, one part in Dinars, one part in Marks. And the treasurer now knew how to distribute all the Dinars equally, what were Marks, all the Marks in equal parts, so that within a day we managed. I wrote the receipt, I just waited for the treasurer of Dobroshevci or someone else to come and get the wages, because it happened that people who did not have a treasurer came, an educational worker or an individual would come.
The wages, in order for us not to get caught, always had to be carried through the schools quickly and be distributed to workers. And that day, the guard down at the school, I was on the second floor, he couldn’t make it, he didn’t notice the police on time to tell me, so that I could remove the funds, hide them. They came, they found the money on me, straight to the office and they took out these 3145 Euros, 2525 Dinars. They took the material from the treasury, they took them out, meaning, the evidence, that they took out that much money. And they had raided the office here at my uncle’s house, near my house, the house of bac Sheqa, where we had our offices. They had also raided there, they took the computer of the Council for the Protection or Rights, so all the activists were raided and their offices, and they took me to the station, they had also taken professor Jakup Krasniqi and they interrogated him and Izet Ibrahimi and Imer Elshani. All the activists were interrogated there, and they took me and Jakup to the station.
They kept me for five hours, almost all day, they kept me at the station for almost five hours and abused me. Not physically, they didn’t abuse me that day, but they did it psychologically, threatening me with, “You work…you, a female, how? You don’t mind your own business…What do you work for?” All sorts of words, words that are not to be mentioned or said, they threatened in other forms and so they took the money that day. And after a time, the Council for the Protection of Rights with the foreigners sued the police. And they managed to allegedly create their own group, to question us because the Council for the Protection of Rights sued because the Council’s computer was confiscated.
After a time they called all the activists in for an informative interview in the police station, and on that occasion they took me to the station four days straight. And from that moment, this is the moment during all of my activities, when I felt very bad. I mean, I didn’t feel bad because I was afraid when they took me in for informative interviews, they took me to the station, but I felt bad in front of the people whose money was confiscated, because that was the people’s sweat, it was the people’s citizens. How could I have the face, now I couldn’t convince myself at all, I said how do I have the face to go out and ask for educational workers’ wages, when the police took them from me. I took it very hard. Because I said, people took that money from food for their family and gave it for the educational workers, and the Serbs took it from me. Meaning, it was the incident where I, as a young person at the time, took the confiscation of the money very hard because they were direct contributions from people. This was the only reason I felt bad and was very worried.
However, professor Jakup spoke to me a lot at that time, because he supported me a lot and he supported me so much because he saw my contribution, that I never stopped. There were occasions, weddings at my mother’s brothers, when her brothers married, do you believe me that she didn’t go to the weddings. My mother wanted to take me to weddings to her family, I said, “No mother, because it is Saturday, Sunday and I want to take advantage of it, on one Saturday or Sunday I gather wages for a school. You go the wedding freely, because I don’t want to go to the wedding, I want to go out and gather funds, the wages of educational workers because educational workers are waiting”.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Did they physically abuse you then?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: No, not physically, only informative interviews, I was taken roughly four times for this incident when they raided and found the money.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: What happened in 1997?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: I want to mention an incident there, then after the Council sued for the incident in which they took the computer, and the Council for the Protection of Rights, they called all of the activists to go to the [police] station. They went upon an official call. Professor Jakup went to an informative interview at the station. The head of the Council, Izet Ibrahimi, Ferat Shala went at the time, Selim Shabani, Gëzim Shishani, Ukë Krasniqi, all of these people were in the police station regarding the Council event. I mean, Ymer Elshani and i were questioned on this raid, Ymer Elshani said to me, this is the poet whom, with his whole family, Serbia…only one girl from the family survived, they burned them in the Poplek incident on April 17, ‘99. And he said to me, “Oy Zahrije?” I said, “Yes, bac Ymer.” Because I was the youngest, I mean I always called older people bac. Those who were my age, I called brother, and so to find support as the only woman with them at that time, and for their support of me I respected them a lot. But at the same time their respect towards me was also the same.
And he said to me, he said, “Are you listening to me? You and I are not going to the police station at all.” I said, “I hear you.” Not that I was afraid, but since he said it, bac Ymer was older, “I hear you.” And they were all there, and professor Jakup came, when he came after he had finished, he said, “It wasn’t dangerous, no.” He was thinking that I was young and whether Zahrije was afraid. And when they left, we were in the office, when Xhafer Qorri came with another police officer. I forgot his name, because I knew the name of that Serb as well, but this Albanian was Xhafer Qorri.
And I was in the office, Idriz Hajdari, bac Ymer was also there and then they came, “Do you have official invitations?” “Yes.” “What are you waiting for?” Bac Ymer said, “If you need us badly, come get us.” He said, “We don’t have a reason to go there.” He said, “Get up, come on, get in the car and straight to the police station.”On that moment Idriz Hajdari followed him, I said, “Idriz Hajdari doesn’t have an invitation.” Idriz was a young man and I felt bad for him, he was young and what if they physically abused him, he was also a bit temperamental, a temperamental type. He said, “Why are you the boss?” He addressed me (laughs). He said, “Are you the boss, or I am?” He said, “I say, come on!” I said to him, “Don’t come because you don’t have an invitation. Only bac Ymer and I have invitations.”
And when we went there to the station, we got out of the car, going into the police station, Idriz Hajdari said to me because he always called me aunt, you know. He didn’t call me by my name but called me aunt, because that grandson of the Elshanis of Baiza thinking that I was also from Krajkova, of the Elshani clan. And now, he called me aunt. “Aunt,” he said, “please, after you.” And I said, “You’re giving me an advantage here where they beat you?” I said, “You’re giving me preference here? Give me preferential treatment somewhere else not here where they beat you” (laughs). And there we laughed.
I remember bac Ymer, I’ll never forget that incident, he went and combed his hair before he went and fixed his tie, he said, “A bit official Zahri? Maybe they’ll have a bit of mercy on us if we look a bit different. When they see we’re also older…” I said, “No, come on, no. Come on, because the others passed by fine, it will go fine for us as well” (laughs). This was the case of the Council for Financing, but in this way the Council for Financing was attacked and it was illegal for Marks to be found in the pockets of an ordinary person, let alone for an institution to deal with them. And the gathering of funds started until ‘98, I mean, and here when we did…in ‘98, when the checkpoint was placed in Drenas, there were such great abuses, that the incident of Likoshan of February 28 happened, in ‘98. And for the first time, this encouraged me, for example, all the sacrifices I made, my biggest desire was to join the Kosovo Liberation Army.
My engagement with the Kosovo Liberation Army was directly connected to the incident in which teacher Halil was killed, on November 26…November 27, the eleventh month of 1997 the incident happened, in Rezana e Re, there were there were direct attacks from the Serbian military. I mean, the machinery of the Serbian Army directly encountered the soldiers of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Now they lost everything they did there, because the winners were our soldiers and those who took over positions there. Wherever they went down the road, wherever they went down to schools, they shot with automatic weapons and teacher Halit, I mean, Halit Geci, was killed while walking into a classroom at that time with a notebook in his hand.
We as the Council at the time, we went with Ibrahim Makolli, Limka, Halime Morina who is now still alive. She was a very good activist and very hardworking and supported people in the field a lot, apart from the municipalities also the municipality of Drenas, she supported it a lot. They came from Pristina, they took us, they picked me up at the Council in Drenas and then we went to the village of Llausha. There we met [KLA] soldiers seated in an oda, and they told us about the entire incident. The wounded in this case, were none of our soldiers, apart from the killing of teacher Halit. We took the information, notes, we took photos there, and from this case the request came to me directly from the soldiers, that, “We need women to contribute, because they can move more easily, especially when we have to carry either a case for arms, or uniforms, from a city, to take them to the places where the soldier stay, whether in the family, in the oda or wherever the soldiers were sheltered”.
And here, I mean, on this moment, they and I decided that they should not call me by my name, “Find [a nickname], when we call you on the phone, or here, we will not mention your name not to endanger you.” And I said, “I don’t have a pseudonym, because my people, when I go out to gather the wages of educational workers and every action I undertake, they call me malësorë”[26] (laughs). And this name was given to me by the father of Shqipe Ahmeti, Arif Ahmeti, they almost all called me malësorë, I mean, on the basis of the work I did here.
And here, always after they called me, or contacted me, they never called me Zahrije again, just malësorë. However, the Serbian police had found me. I remember an incident, when I left the bus station they sent them to take…That was a small mistake of theirs, because I said to them, “Have you read books, because it can’t be done over the phone, because phones are tapped, one’s voice can be recognized.” However, they made some mistakes there and maybe that was why I fell into the hands of the police later on. The moment they said to me, “You Zahrie are going to go get a bag with uniforms, a woman from Gjilan will bring them,” I have it written here, “a certain Dije Lohaj and you’ll go out and take them. There are uniforms, bullet proof vests, some military equipment, there’s a chance there might be also some small bombs in the bag. Will you go and get them?” I said, “Yes, yes I’ll go.”
And that day I went to the bus station, I went to get it as they told me at one o’clock. They didn’t describe to me…they didn’t give me the name of that girl. But they said, “She’s a girl dressed in jeans, she has this kind of jumper, her face is thin, her hair is long up to here {touches shoulder}, and you’ll take the bag from her.” And I went to the station and based on the description, on how they had described that girl, I looked for her. And while looking for her, wandering there at the roundabout of the buses, I said I’ll get a newspaper and hold it in my hand, to pretend like I’m reading something. The person working in the shop knew me, the person who worked in the shop was from Rezalla I think, as far as I remember from Likovc, I don’t know. He said, “I know you girl,” he said, “I know you very well. You’re an activist, you’re from Drenas.” I said, “Yes. Where are you from?” He said, “I’m from Rezalla but it’s not important for me to tell you, it’s important that I know you and I’m telling you, do you see those people straight over there, turn your head and look over there.” I said, “Yes.” Two tall people, one in jeans, the other in sweatpants. He said, “They are inspectors and since you’ve arrived, they’ve been watching you.”
And that incident was for example, when he said that to me, I said, “Very well, will you get out of the shop then? Come and let’s walk around together because I came to finish a task and without finishing the task, either way, if they intend to arrest me, they’ll arrest me here and…I won’t go without finishing the task I came to do. But if you can, come out and accompany me as if I’m hanging out with you, or talking to you.” And then this boy went and we walked around. They followed us while leaving, while walking. I saw the bag, I saw the bag, but not the girl. And I said, “You go now, because I found the bag.” I was looking and approached the bag, because one could see the bag was a big bag, the kind of bag used to bring goods from abroad. My father, when he went abroad to trade, carried big bags, almost the same bags. And I said, “This must be the bag.”
When while looking at the bag and observing it, that girl came, trrak,[27] this Shehadija approached me. And she said, “Are you the girl who is looking for me?” I said, “Yes, that’s me,” when I saw her in jeans, thin, the way those boys described her to me. And she said, “Here’s the bag.” I said, “Come help me then, let’s take the bag and put it on the bus.” There she said, “I swear I can’t, I can’t lift it, people carried it for me onto the bus, I can’t even carry it.” I said, “Come on you, because I’ll lift the bag, I’ll lift you as well, just weigh it a little to one side.” I said to her and she started laughing (laughs). We put the bag onto the bus where the luggage goes, we closed it, the bus was filled. He watched me, he noticed me, I’m sure the driver of the bus noticed the inspectors. And he went and opened the trunk of the bus and took out my bag. I said, “Why are you taking it out?” He said, “I won’t let this bag on because as soon as I leave, look at the entrance there at the exit,” he said, “the police there always do a thorough check and you’ll cause problems for me and the people and everyone, you’ll cause me trouble.” I said, “Leave the bag, it’s nothing, I have a responsibility for that bag. It is nothing. An aunt from Germany sent me clothes, I have an aunt and she sent them to me. One typewriter, I don’t have anything in it.” “More,” he said, “I won’t let the bag on the bus and I won’t let you on.”
I saw that he was determined not to take me on the bus to Drenas to come here. And there I said to this girl, because she wanted to leave right away, I said, “No, you can’t leave without knowing what happens to me.” And we grabbed the bag, again she said to me, “But I can’t carry it because it’s far away.” I said, “You’re going to help me with this trunk straight where the bridge is today, the roundabout, when you go under the bridge to go to the road to Drenas.” I said, “We’ll go out straight there,” I said, “and then you go home and there’s no problem.” I said, “I’ll lift the bag, you just grab the bag, I’ll lift the bag.” I grab the bag, she takes one side. We went out to the road there. As soon as we got out on the road, I stopped on the sidewalk, she was waiting there, I said, “Now you go!” And I was looking at the cars to see if there was a person, someone I know from Drenas driving, or a person who is a family member.
When I looked, a 101 was coming…and I looked to see if it was the inspectors in their car. When I looked, an orange color 101, it had a green blanket in the back seats. And there I said, “This is a family person.” Trrak, for the first time in my life I put my hand out to a car as a girl and I went out, trrap. I almost went out onto the asphalt when I put out my hand. He said, “Please, what’s the matter, what problem do you have?” I said, “No, I don’t have any problem, but if it’s possible, since you have a free car,” I said, “to take me. I’ll pay you to take me to Drenas.” “But where, Drenas is far.” I said, “I’ll pay you ten Marks,” at that time it was a lot. And now, I had money to pay. I said, “I’ll give you ten Marks, take me to Drenas.” “Yes,” he said, “I have, in Sllatina, my store is in Sllatina, until the store there.” But before I said, “Will you take me?” I said, I asked him, “Where are you from, boy?” He said, “I’m from Sllatina.” I said, “What last name do you have?” He said, “I’m a Zogiani.” I said, “Are you any sort of men, you Zogianis?” I said to him, he said, “Well we are, but now I don’t know, we’ll see.” You know (laughs). I said, “Very well, then you’ll drive me, I’ll pay you, and so on.”
Then he said, “No, I go until Sllatina.” I said, “Can you take me to Koretica? I have an aunt there with the Bekollis, at the house of Zeqir Bekolli. My aunt is with Zeqa’s brother,” and [I said] nothing else, “and I’ll pay you, and I’ll pay you to get there. It’s close to you there.” He said, “Very well, it’s not a problem, get in.” I said, “Very well get out them, help me put this bag in the trunk, because I can’t live the bag by myself.” He got out, helped me, and we put the bag in the trunk and left for Drenas. When we left for Drenas, before we came to the roundabout in Fushë Kosova, there’s a road that goes this way {explains with hands} which today is…I think the faculty is around there. The house was somewhere in the middle, and that road took you to the Sitnica river, to the bridge. I mean, you pass all of Fushë Kosova and so on through Batusha.
He said, “But I don’t know this road.” I said, “I know it, it was good for us to go this way, not to go in,” because I thought they’d tell them over the phone, with talky-walky as they were called then. They’ll tell the police that that activist is coming and to wait for her. I said, “They’re definitely waiting for me at the roundabout in Fushë Kosova,” where the police were stationed. And we went through that village, we came out towards the river, to the bridge, to the Sitnica river and we went straight towards Drenas. And now, I was always watching the cars in the rearview mirror. And we arrived to Krikova, the place which is called Kroni i Mretit in Koretica, down there where the business center is over there. On the way I saw a brown Mercedes and our two inspectors in the mirror. Come on, I said, because I didn’t know how to tell him now, how to explain it to him.
While I was thinking, while thinking, I said, “Let’s go!” We got closer to the aunt’s at the Bekollis, the Bekolli lagje.[28] “You boy,” I said, “I’m an activist”…as we were approaching, while talking, before I saw the inspectors, before he told me, he started, “Can I talk to you about something?” Like men, you know what they’re like, “I like you a lot, you are very, a girl very…well behaved, you’re a very good girl. I think I’ve seen you somewhere. Where are you from?” I said, “I’m from Drenas…” and so on, and so on, “my aunt sent me some clothes.” On the way, while we were arriving, then he said, “I’d like to discuss something with you and…” in that aspect he certainly was unmarried…I didn’t ask. And now I said to him, “Come on, this time I don’t have time, the next time we meet” (laughs), I said to him.
And now I was constantly looking at the mirror. When I saw the inspectors, then I said to him, “You boy, I’m an activist with the Municipal Council for Financing and I’m being watched by the police. There at the station the police followed me, I’m letting you know, but don’t be afraid! I’ll take all the responsibility for whatever happens. And for the bag, I’ll take responsibility. You should be determined to say you don’t know her, you don’t know where she’s from, but I drove her for money.” I said, “Here are the ten Marks.” He said, “No, I won’t take them! No, since the situation is like this, I’ll never take them.” And he didn’t take the money. I said, “And you turn here!” “The road,” when we got close to Koretica, I said, “the road is here! My aunt is here. Take me in front of the doors here! Come out and we’ll take out the bag together and you’ll continue your journey.”
I said, “They took your registration information, they’re going to follow you, to go to your house to ask all about me, but don’t cry. You stick to your words. Say, she paid me ten Marks and I don’t even know her or where she’s from.” And we went out and he started getting a bit afraid and he said, “Kuku, my sister how…how come you didn’t tell me, how could you do this to me.” But I said, “But you don’t worry, because either way I had to come with something. I take the responsibility. And if they try to arrest you, I’ll say, here I am, he has no guilt in this regard.” I said, “You don’t worry about this.” We went before the doors of the Bekollis, there to my aunt and they passed our car about five meters before our car and they stopped, I saw that they were writing. I said, “You know what? They’re more scared than we are.” But I said to him, “Get out!” to him, this son of the Zogianis. I said, “You come out, and help me with the bag. If they think,” because these relatives of ours are a big family, I thought not to cause them problems, “of arresting me, let them arrest me here.”
Wait, wait, wait, we opened up the trunk and they didn’t move at all from the car, but they stayed in the car. Then I said to him, “Grab the bag just behind…” the yard was divided by a wall, I said, “just behind the wall, and I’ll close the door, and you continue your journey.” I said, “And they well fly behind you. They won’t leave you without questioning you. But you don’t worry, stick to your works, nothing bad will happen to you.” And there I dragged the bag, the handle broke, because the bag was heavy. Nobody was in my aunt’s courtyard and I took it to the chicken coop, I hid it there. And I went in to my aunt, and I said to my aunt, “Find me some other clothes, to change.” I said, at least for them not to recognize me from my clothes to change into something. And from my aunt I took a jacket with a hood like this {shows the hood} and I changed my clothes and I said to her, “Find Burim for that [incomprehensible], have him bring a cart.” We took the bag, we put it onto the cart and I said to the boy, “You go ahead with the cart, I’ll go after you pass the asphalt and come out down there and go…” my other aunt was right in Balavi, because I said, “They’ll come here, they’ll surround the house and raid it.” I said, “I’ll change locations from there.”
After I changed my clothes, I took my aunt’s clothes and I covered the bag with a blanket, in the cart, I said to the boy, “Get up and stay there in case they open the bag to see what’s in it, it’s not allowed, it’s forbidden to open the bag.” “No, auntie,” he said, “Selam [aleku], until you arrive at your aunt’s [incomprehensible]. I’ll stay in the yard.” I went down to the fields, then I went another way and observed the terrain until I went to the other aunt’s. When I went to the other aunt’s I said, “Do you have a room with a key?” She said “Yes!” I said, “Find the key and come help me with this bag.” We took the bag, I put it in the room, I locked it with the key. I wanted to secure the bag for them not to detect what was in the bag and not to be noticed for where I am and what I am and with what I am connected, what activities I’m doing, apart from the legal activities they counted: the Council for Financing, the Council for the Protection of Rights, and other institutions.
And here I wrote a letter, I sealed it will with glue and I gave it to the daughter of my aunt. I said to her, “Go to Drenas and don’t give it to uncle Rama, nor my father, nor aunt [incomprehensible] but give it directly to uncle Arsim, [mother’s] oldest brother.” Because the oldest brother, Arsim helped me everywhere, either with a car for transportation like a driver, or…he supported me. Because I would not come out to my parents about the issue of the army, because I thought if a word escaped them, they were endangered, they would endanger me and I would endanger other friends. And so, this girl brought it, she gave him the letter and tells my brother and says, “Like this, like this the inspectors followed her. I changed locations from the older aunt there to dada Shehide, from there I went to Balavi to the other aunt and I’m here tonight. If someone comes, if someone asks you, know that I’m here. Come get me here.”
Now, she, my aunt, knew that I was sleeping here and got up from [incomprehensible]. And I, in my thoughts, said, “Aunt! Does someone have a phone here?” She said, “Yes, a neighbor has one. They’re outside here.” Then, only the families… usually, in villages there were no phones, the only ones that did, had sons abroad [and had it] to talk to them. Because a lot of people didn’t have [phones] like today. And now, “Come on…” I said, “put on your coat and take me straight to that family, because I don’t know [them].” I went with my aunt, I closed the bag in the room and I had their phone number in Llausha. I just called them on the phone, and I said, “I’m the person you sent on the trip, I’ve arrived! I’m here tonight. I arrived well.” And I hung up the phone. No name or nothing. And they understood. And now they thought I was here, in my home, you know? And they went to my brother armed. They said we arrived, this, and this Zahrije brought uniforms for the soldiers. He said, “No, Zahrije sent me a letter. She isn’t here. But I’ll go with you and we’ll go.” And they came to Korotica to the Balavi’s. But in the evening, darkness…it had already gotten dark.
And I [incomprehensible] I got away from there, after they came to get me and take the bag…my aunt’s husband wasn’t there, just my aunt with her children. “Go back,” [I said] to my aunt, “go back and go back.” She didn’t go back, it was pointless. She noticed something. She was simply curious, “Here I’ll help you.” I said, “You go back, here we’ll say goodbye to you, because Arsim will help me.” I put the bag in the trunk with my brother. They had automatic weapons in the car, I mean, they were armed with uniforms, the soldiers and my brother with them. We put the bag there, when she went to go and open the door…when she opened the door she saw the soldiers (laughs) and went like this {lifts eyebrows}, she retreated. “Oh, sister,” she said, “how come here?” I said, “Sister, I don’t want to hear a word. Your husband, be careful not to make a mistake in telling him, nor anywhere, don’t talk anywhere.” I said, “As far as I’m concerned you can talk, but they’ll take away your brothers, because me (laughs), because they can’t catch me. They’ll cause problems for your brothers (laughs), they’ll cause trouble for your brothers.” [incomprehensible] My father and other brothers…I was talking about my uncles. I said, “You trrak, shut up, and don’t make the mistake of saying anything to anyone.”
And we continued our journey there, through Vasiljeva, a shortcut, we went through all the mountains there without coming down on asphalt at all, here straight to Poklek. When we came to my home, my brother came out and said, “Are you coming Zahri?” I said, “No, more![29] All this hardship and all this suffering, with the inspectors following me all the way to Koretica…I’m curious to see, was was my effort for? I want to go there” (laughs). And we went, there was…we went…this teacher, I don’t remember his name…to his home. Yes! Skender Rreci. In the family of Skender Rreci, I ate dinner there, his wife served us dinner, all the soldiers were there. And they took them, they put on the uniforms, they had binoculars, bulletproof vests and four bomb. But only for soldiers…for around ten, 15 soldiers, there were uniforms in that bag. But this was an incident that I’ll never forget.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Then they arrested you?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: They had photographed me there at the bus station, they had photographed me there together with Shehadije…with the bag, while we put the bag on our back, the photo because…the moment they arrested me, they showed me that photo.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: When did they arrest you and where did they arrest you?
Zahrije Podrimqaku: And now, this happened after a year. The arrest happened after a year. I’m telling you, because now I also did other services. I was in the village of Demjan. I remember the name of that person, a certain Halit, who was a former political prisoner, where the soldiers took me there to a certain Ibrahim, I took a bag filled with arms…with these…dynamite sticks. It was gunpowder. All five sets of fuses, they were tied. I took a bag there to Ibrahim and this Halit accompanied me and from there I went to…all the mountains of around Pashtrik, five villages, in the mountains of Pashtrik, all mountains up there almost to the border where this Ibrahim had his house…where I got that gunpowder. There was a lot of snow, in the winter, oh great God! It was December, December of ‘97…or was it the beginning of January, I don’t remember well. But wherever you walked…broom, broom, broom…but I had sturdy boots (laughs), because I got them in Pristina, I got them precisely for the military.
What happened was, I was in a protest with Agim Vrellaku, we went into a store and I had money, because my father worked a lot, he was a great worker and traded in the market. After they fired him from his job he worked in the market. But he never let us suffer for money. He always gave me [money]. “Here’s the money, take as much as you want, leave as much as you want. You’re just a woman and your father is giving you the opportunity to never submit to any male.” He always told me to be myself, he never left me without money. “No,” he said, “because if you end up without money, you can deviate and suffer the consequences, so you should have more money than those who work with you.”
And there in the protest, I had money with myself. When we went into the store, Agim was looking at me, Agim Vrellaku was the head of the Council, I was with him and I said to the salesman, “Find me a pair of boots that can withstand mud, snow and rain.” He said, “But they’re expensive, oh girl!” I said, “But how much could they be?” He said, “100 Marks.” I said, “Here’s 100 Marks.” And I took those boots, I took them just for the army. I still have them there at my mother’s, I keep them as memory. I told them (laughs as she talks ), “Don’t lose them!” I didn’t manage to wear them out (laughs), they arrested me then. And so, when I went to the mountains of Pashtrik, there was snow, you would think you would not break through it, up to here {shows with hands}. Brram, brrap, brrap, all five, six villages and I didn’t get tired.
On one occasion this Halit said to me, he said, “Very well, you! How can you do this journey on foot with me as a girl. How do you trust me? How did you manage to trust me?” It was to contribute to the fatherland as a girl, my contribution should be valued two-three times more than that of a man, because women have different challenges, what a woman experiences, and there are different obstacles that people pose to you, but I was determined and never stopped from my activities. When he asked me this question, for a moment I was hurt. Because I said, “What is this person thinking?” You know? I was young and he knew that I was an activist. I trusted him because he was a former political prisoner, for example, in ‘81, he was imprisoned for the events of ‘81. And when he said, “How can you, five, six villages all this way through the mountains, going up the mountains?” We went through the mountains of Pashtrik. He said, “You’re doing [the journey] with me, and how can you trust me?” I said, “Very well you friend, you are a father of children, you’re married, I could be your daughter. This is where my trust is. And plus people in this world came with din e iman,[30] as old people say here.” I said, “And man, first of all I trust myself, I have faith in myself. And when I have faith in myself, no one can do anything to me.” And during this journey, he then turned and apologized for the words that he said, “I apologize. I apologize, I just wanted to see how you would react, and you reacted very harshly, and so on. Don’t be hurt and don’t be offended, because I respect you as a sister…” I said, “It’s all fine, between you and me. The journey I’ve started is a contribution to the national cause and I respect you as a brother.” I said, “I am also an activist, I have ten years of activities and among men I’ve always felt like a sister with many brothers.” And he was surprised by my words and apologized several times.
When we went to the oda, to Ibrahim, we took this bag there and we talked. And he was talking about someone, “He had a house, very small…” usually these families near the border were [incomprehensible], they were also victims…I mean, they also cooperated with the enemy. He was telling, he said, “And so on, and so on,” he was telling them, “this house belongs to someone who carries mail to Albania and Kosovo over there and works with the Serbs.” I said, “I will carry out this amanet[31] for you.” And he gave us that bag with gunpowder fuses and that night I slept over at the family of this Halit. It was a big family, I mean, the mother with this dress with wooden boards that women had in those areas,[32] and they received me well and everything. Now in those areas they don’t make tea, but they had the kettles on the gas stove for a guest from Drenica. And they got up (laughs) to make Russian tea for me (laughs) even though I wasn’t a big drinker of tea, you know? Because we always had fruit in Krekova and we used fruit more.
And now I spent the night there and that older woman with working clothes, to me, determined, gave it to me. “Take it, take it!” I said, “No, you keep it here because there’s no war here, because we in Drenica have war and I can’t take it because they are burning houses there. And there are raids there every day, arrests of people and one doesn’t know what will happen.” I said, “It’s better for you to keep the national dress. I enjoy these Albanian national costumes because they’re an old tradition of ours, but for a long time I’ve been unable to take them and to be burdened with them, because I’m doing other work (laughs). I don’t have time to wear these.” And that older woman now…was very burrënore[33] and received me so well.
The next day Halit accompanied me to Gjakova by bus. I didn’t know that there was a checkpoint in Klina. But I was prepared with clothing. I had a black coat down here {points to her knees}, a flat scarf this wide {shows size with hands}, over around two meters long, and when I wrapped myself in it, I became just like an old aunt. And more simply, one had to improvise. I…Halit accompanied me, he got me on the bus all wrapped in that scarf…and I was wearing dimia,[34] with the boots I bought for the army, but I also had the scarf I had prepared, for example to look like the old aunt of the house to improvise with clothes…to lose trag,[35] to make them lose my traces. And here, on this occasion, when I arrived in Klina, I saw a punkt[36] filled with Serb police. Mmm. I had a woman close by with children. I was sitting by the window, the bag, I just put clothes in the bag, the chair like this and I covered it with the jacket and the scarf and I wrapped myself in it. And there I took from my documents, I took out the Serbian identification card. We just had these identification cards, they were Yugoslav…and I prepared it and put it aside.
I said to that woman, “Bring the child closer this way my sister, because I have something dangerous in my bag. And lean on my shoulder somehow and also all the kids by me, and I want to look like I’m sleeping. “Nothing,” she said, “don’t worry.” I said, “Because this time, if it it’s kismet to survive, that’s good, if it isn’t I’m a goner here, I’m through” (laughs). And there I leaned against the window, all wrapped up like an old aunt and with that coat and I covered the bag as well, and that woman helped me a lot. She brought all her children close to me in that chair there, I pushed and gave her space to sit with her children as well on the side of my legs. And that woman protected me a lot, that woman whose name I don’t even know, or know where she is, or who she is, and here I was up against the wall thinking about God and at that point I said the Shahada[37]…even though I never prayed or anything but…praying to God and saying, “Oh God, I’m working for a just cause and for my people who are oppressed and for my own rights. And God willing, oh God, now God will save me.” And thinking this and saying the Shahada and praying non-stop to God…in my thoughts but not aloud, because I pretended I was sleeping, but I was thinking directly about prayers to God.
And the police entered, the bus stopped, they took identification cards from everyone and checked what the names of the people were. They didn’t ask for my identification card, because I pretended to be sleeping. He just extended his head like this, that woman told me…that woman just told me, because I couldn’t see because I pretended to be asleep with the scarf almost like this {shows how the scarf covered her face} eyes covered, leaning like this…but I was also tired, because I happened to stay up all night without sleeping where we slept over at that economically stable family, talking. And we passed the checkpoint there.
When we passed the checkpoint there, when we arrived in Llapushnik, I got off in Llapushnik. Because in Komoran I knew there was a checkpoint, and here in Llapushnik I got into a car to my village and from my village then my brother came, and I went to my house there and sent them. And from my house, then I sent them to Llausha, I gave them to the army there. But this was…God helped me every time I worked for the nation (laughs), because I went through many (laughs) different incidents and different dangers. But God always saved me. And…because one now forgets the events and there are many events that need to be told because…(breathes deeply) one now forgets even the events that one should tell and so on. But regarding this, this activity, this great contribution, but I’m telling you that women’s contribution, on the basis of what I’ve experienced, on the basis of the journey I’ve walked through, for me women who contribute to the Albanian people should be valued twice as much as men. Because apart from the contribution and the hardship and the sweat, women have also another challenge, different challenges that they experience differently from the other gender.
It’s worth mentioning another incident, for example the incident of Likoshan on February 28, ‘98, when the incident happened in Likoshan.[38] And in Likoshan, with all the members of the Council for the Protection of Rights and the team of doctors who were [there], Dr. Hafir Shala was in the team of doctors, today he is missing…Doctor Arsim Haxhiu, there was a nurse, an Eldira Ahmeti and my brother Arsim Podrimqaku. We went to Likoshan with a truck from the hospital, I think the driver was Xhavit Musliu, who drove the truck. We went to Likoshan and we went to help those families and when we went there, all the women were gathered in a room in an old house, the wall of that house was around 50 centimeters, I remember like it was today, it was thick. And first we visited the bodies, all those bodies, the doctors took notes, doctor Hafir and doctor Arsim. Doctor Afir usually took notes on where they were wounded, where they were all wounded and…doctor Arsim, with my brother, took off all the clothes of the bodies that were there, apart from the bodies of the Likoshan family that the police took with themselves. We photographed them and took down the information, notes, of everyone and there Doctor Arif and the parent of these four brothers addressed me…of these two twins who were of the Qerezi, whose sons were killed and himself.
Because the families of the Qerezi of Likoshan were together, in one [separate] place from the women. They all begged me to go to the women, because the women were going crazy. And I went directly to the women there. They had, I remember like today, two sofra[39] laid out and no one near those sofra. All far away, two krelane me duqa[40] as they used to bake with corn [white] flour, and peppers in cream on the sofra, and no one sitting and eating because of their grief, because of their cries. There I spoke to the women, I spoke to that old woman whom I did an interview with, I don’t remember her name, because apart from the 24 victims who were there, there was also a woman, a Rukija, a pregnant 24 year old, almost at the time to give birth. I mean, and I don’t know with what…I’ll never know, but according to what they said, with dum-dum bullet her head was completely flat. The head was all deformed, completely flat in this way, and it was deformed.
And that night, apart from giving first aid, Doctor Arsim gave, doctor Arif, injections to the women and girls, whoever wanted to take them, there were some who didn’t accept them. We also gave them drugs. We stayed until late in Likoshan, I mean, it was terrible there. All young men, each one more beautiful than the other. The Likoshan [Ahmeti] family, all of them, one by one, they had massacred them, behind their house over there. And…as one witness said, two young men, close by, on the roof of a house there, who survived, close to the chimney, they had seen that terror with their eyes. Those boys are alive today. And I took down their names in the statement, everything we observed, we created a file with photos, with everything, with the entire incident.
All of Kosovo became known from that incident in Likoshan and the burial itself, for example, thousands of citizens were at the burial. It was a severe case, as I said. And there the activists were, each of them, some with teams of doctors, some went to Likoshan in other forms, and Shqipe with Ilfete Spahiu. Because in the Council for the Protection of Rights there were many women, there was Elmije Blakaj, I mean, a partner in the field there, Shqipe was responsible for the area of Drenas, for the Council for the Protection of Rights and Ilfete joined later on, I mean, in 1995, she joined the Council for the Protection of Rights for the first time, she was a student, at the time, in the Law Faculty. She was also in Likoshan when we went, we met, she was there with Shaban Shala, they were in Likoshan, Ilfete. And I was with the team of doctors. Later then, Shqipe was with Ilfete, they even happened to sleep over at the Likoshan family.
But it was a very severe case, it was a great terror. And so all the people there, their sisters, they had one in Switzerland, for their brothers, because ten men [were killed], all young, each more beautiful than the other. She said , she said publicly, the day she came from Switzerland and when they were buried, “Had they been at the front, not all ten of them would have died.” You know, her brothers. So it was a very heavy case, the incident of Likoshan, but the incident of Likoshan happened and the people, everyone, all the people rose up in support of the Kosovo Liberation Army. But however strong was the people’s desire to fight, there weren’t arms.
Before the incident of LIkoshan happened, the [KLA] army sent me to Pristina to Agron Ramadani, meaning it was two weeks before the incident of Likoshan happened. I went to Pristina to Agron Ramadani, they sent me, “Go to Agron, he has some arms and he’ll give them to you.” And I took the taxi driver, I paid him and went to Agron and he gave me the weapons. He said, “Does that person know what you’re here for?” I said, “No, the taxi driver doesn’t know what’s here.” We put them in the car, I came to Drenas. When I was coming towards Drenas, here were the buses usually stop, when students come to get on the local bus to go to the faculty, this part here – I don’t know what it’s called, before you go under the Pristina bridge, here at the entrance, here, by the Technical School and there was a store there – it turned out the police were there.
And on that moment they were stopping cars, stopping them one by one, you know, , to search them. On that moment, before they got to our car, the car they searched before ours…they did, they searched it and they went back to buy cigarettes from the store, and there we passed and came to Drenas and we brought them, I mean, the weapons that Agron had, to send them to Llausha as agreed with the soldiers. And…then, during the night, in my family, since I sent them to my family, during the night when everyone was sleeping, with my brother, with this Arsim – we had a big car, my father got it for 17,000 Francs from Switzerland, it was brought to us, [by] a certain Rrahim from Damanek and it was a very good car, yes, underneath you could hide whatever you want, underneath the car – and my brother took them, he tied them up there. And at around one in the morning, since our parents were asleep, they didn’t know anything, with my brother we sent them and we started that car and we sent them to Llausha.
While we were transporting them the police was already watching, I mean, when we went there as well, the [KLA] soldiers were surprised, how we were able to send them all the way there. Because in a way, as a woma , and who knows how they evaluated you, whether she can perform the tasks or not, whether she can be trusted with things and can carry such great responsibility. And so, after we left the weapons, they begged us, “Will you come to eat a meal, to stay?” We said, “No, nobody knows we came, if something were to happen.” And we closed the doors, we left everyone asleep, not one, we didn’t notify anyone. As we were coming back, they shot at our car from the bus station in Skenderaj, and my brother is a very good driver, because he’s also an instructor at a driving school, and…he knows how we managed to escape the attack, when they attacked us with arms there and we survived. We finally made it home, we went in to go to sleep, the family knew nothing and heard nothing (laughs), because the running car wasn’t really heard, but we also opened the doors slowly and we closed them slowly.
And…after the Likoshan incident, the massacre of Poklek i Ri happened on May 31.. And the massacre of Poklek i Ri on May 31, when it happened, I mean, it was a police officer with the name, he was called by the pseudonym Lutka. His pseudonym was Lutka, in the notes of the Council I knew his name from the statements that we close with names and last names, we observed everything. That data is still in the Council today. Who knows how fast he was moving when he collapsed, here in Poklek and he said, he called the forces, “Because the terrorists shot at me, Albanians and the KLA shot at me.” And a great number of forces came, they went thoroughly through Poklek, this area, the neighborhood of Poklek i Ri. And I observed the entire incident from a distance of 500 meters, and I informed the Council right away about the incident that happened and I passed on the information to the Council and the Committee for Information, to Xhemail Mustafa. They took out all the families at once, everyone, women and children and men.
They separated men on one side, they put them into a room, in a house. And they lined up women and children on the road towards Vasiljeva, all of them. They shot at all the houses, the scene of the incident could be seen from where I was observing it, it could be seen…they were shooting, they had big cans, burning fuel, gas and benzene and they set them on fire. Before they burned them, first they raided them, [they took] televisions, they took furniture, they filled up trucks, first they raided them, [they took] whatever they found of value, of use to them, and they liked. Then they burned all the houses. And after they finished…yes, the men who were detained, the women and children for Vasiljeva, the men they detained, they were all executed that day. After the forces retreated, immediately after the forces retreated, I came to Poklek. And there, when I tried, I was an official of the Council, there were about 20 men there and I told them, there were other people, but I was an activist.
Xhema Binaku, you know, from Gllobar, who now is the director of the administration, was a journalist at the time. And I said to him, “Xhema, you have a duty as a journalist, not to get ready information from me, come to the scene of the incident, I want to go there.” And I begged him and he didn’t come, “No,” he said, “I won’t go, because they were killed, I don’t want to go and be killed.” On that occasion, Izet Binaku came to me, he said, “Here I’ll come and I won’t leave you alone.” I said, “No, you won’t come, you’re a simple citizen and if you are killed,” I said, “no one will say anything about you, because you’re not charged with any kind of duty.” I said, “Stay, you have six children, stay, it isn’t your job to come. Those who have a duty to go,” I said, “aren’t going. I’ll go alone.” I went to Poklek by myself. When I passed the bridge, on the way to Krajkova, there, Qerkin Berisha came up to me. And Qerkin Berisha in that moment…after he came up to me, I said, “Why did you come too?” He said, “No, I swear, I will never leave you.” When we passed the roundabout, which today is in the center of the city and connects the road, we went out onto the sidewalk.
Here the roads were full of small army tanks, police cars, all armored cars, everything, coming on the main road to the station. And we, walking like that, and there, Qerkin addressed me, he said, “Don’t be offended Zahri, I want to tell you something. Sister, can I hold your arm as if we are,” you know, “spouses,” he said, “maybe they’ll think that, in case something happens to us.” And there I said, “Oh, freely,” I said, “give me your hand and take my arm Qerkin, because I don’t have such complexes, I don’t suffer from such complexes.” I said, “But I swear it’s pointless, my brother, because they recognize me from an airplane. They know me like a red coin [They know me very well]l, because they’re used to seeing me like this every day in the field and in activities.” He said, “Yes, but maybe they are outsiders, at least they’re not from Drenas and don’t know us.” I said, “It’s not a problem at all.” And there we came together, straight on the road, because there was no other possibility to hide from them.
And when we entered Poklek, here we noticed, I mean, how they had taken people, they left them one meter and a half from each other in the places, in those places where they executed them. There blood was spilled, one could see the traces of blood, I mean. And around a meter away from each other, and one could see when they were dragged and loaded onto the trailer. And now, of those ten people one was found, an Ardian Deliu, his body was found behind his house. He had a bullet here {touches her neck} and one straight to the forehead {touches her forehead} they shot him from a close distance with a revolver. Surely all the other bodies were loaded [onto the trailer]. One could see how the blood was spilled, because they were found on the gravel, at the house of one of Plluzhina here, higher up. Pants were found there, and a belt, and teeth, and hair and I mean, one of them resisted there and they massacred him.
But it was a grave case, the houses were burnt. The blood there was fresh, one could see that. And there, a dog was there, a very big dog and he did bark at Qerkin, straight to me and it looked directly into my eyes, to attack me. And if Qerkin wasn’t there, that dog, would have, would have killed me there. Because the dog was also certainly drugged, because that dog was terrified, from the banging, from the fire, there was so much fire coming out. And Qerkin took out a plank of wood and threatened the dog, and then the dog ran and went into its doghouse. We looked at all the houses, one by one, and took notes from people and everything just to get current information. Then the next day we came, we took photos. We didn’t have a camera at the Council, I took a camera, went to Rasim Musliu, I asked him, I said, “Come on, do you mind coming with me,” I said, “it’s your camera, you know how to use it,” I said, “and I’ll take notes and you’ll take photos.” I bought the film myself, the camera was his. I bought the film myself so I would have it, if needed. We used five rolls of film, which we used to document the entire incident. And with that film and the statements we took from people, we created the entire file.
[1] A European type of secondary school with emphasis on academic learning, different from vocational schools because it prepares students for university.
[2] Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës (LDK) – Democratic League of Kosovo. First political party of Kosovo, founded in 1989, when the autonomy of Kosovo was revoked, by a group of journalists and intellectuals. The LDK quickly became a party-state, gathering all Albanians, and remained the only party until 1999.
[3] Men’s chamber in traditional Albanian society.
[4] Dimia – billowing white satin pantaloons that narrow at the ankles, Turkish style. They are made with about twelve meters of fabric.
[5] Pocket watch with a long gold chain.
[6] In Albanian customary law, besa is the word of honor, faith, trust, protection, truce, etc. It is a key instrument for regulating individual and collective behavior at times of conflict, and is connected to the sacredness of hospitality, or the unconditioned extension of protection to guests. But in this particular context when it’s used twice it translates into “as a matter of fact.” As such the speaker establishes a line of trust, ensuring that what is being said is the absolute truth.
[7] The full name of this organization is Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedom. KMLDNJ is the Albanian acronym.
[8] Mother Teresa, the self-help organization that during the 1990s, at the height of Milošević’s repression, supported the parallel society of Albanians, expelled from all state institutions and services.
[9] Teuta Rugova.
[10] Adem Demaçi (1936-) is an Albanian writer and politician and longtime political prisoner who spent a total of 27 years in prison for his nationalist beliefs and activities. In 1998 he became the head of the political wing of the Kosovo Liberation Army, from which he resigned in 1999.
[11] Shukrije Gashi’s interview can be found on this website.
[12] Bac, literally uncle, is an endearing and respectful term for an older person.
[13] Fehmi Agani (1932-1999) was a philosopher, sociologist and politician, one of the founders of the Democratic League of Kosovo. He was assassinated by Serbian troops as he attempted to flee Pristina disguised as a woman to avoid detection.
[14] Xhemail Mustafa (1953-2000), was a journalist and adviser to President Ibrahim Rugova. He was gunned down in front of his house by unknown killers in 2000.
[15] Adem Jashari (1955-1998), also known as “legendary commander,” was a founder of the KLA celebrated as its foremost leader and symbol of Kosovo independence. He died in March 1998, together with his family of twenty – half of them underage girls and boys – in a shootout with Serb troops during a three-day siege of his home in Prekaz.
[16] Hashim Thaçi (1968-), KLA leader at the 1999 Conference of Rambouillet, founder and leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), served as Prime Minister several times and in 2016 was elected President of Kosovo.
[17] Former KLA fighter and at the time of the interview Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo in Albania.
[18] Isa Boletini (1864-1916), an Albanian nationalist figure and guerrilla fighter. He was one of the leaders of the Albanian Revolt of 1910 the Kosovo Vilajet and became a major figure of Albanian struggle against the Ottomans and Serbia and Montenegro. His remains, originally buried in Podgorica where he was killed, were reburied in the village of Boletin, in the northern side of Mitrovica, in June 2015.
[19] Ismail Qemal Bej Vlora (1844-1919), better known as Ismail Qemali, Ottoman civil servant and prominent politician, a leader of the Albanian national movement and a main figure in the Declaration of Albanian Independence in 1912.
[20] The older sister is usually called dadë/dada, or a respectful term for someone a little older.
[21] Axhi another word for axha or xhaxhai, uncle, used as a respectful term for an older man.
[22] The three percent fund was a creation of the Kosovo government in exile during the 1990s. All Albanians in the Diaspora and Kosovo were duty-bound to pay three per cent of their salary into this fund to finance Kosovo’s parallel institutions.
[23] Serbian: obrok, ration.
[24] Colloquial, expresses disbelief, distress, or wonder, depending on the context.
[25] The speaker is referring to 1993 and 1995.
[26] Literally mountain people but it can also be used to refer to people from Malësia, or Malësi e Madhe (literally Great Highlands), a region largely inhabited by Albanian speaking people, which lies to the East of Podgorica in modern day Montenegro, along the Lake of Shkodra in modern day Albania, next to Kosovo. In this case, it means mountain woman.
[27] Expression indicating speed of action.
[28] Lagje can mean just neighborhood, although more specifically, in the traditional tribal organization of northern rural Albanians, it refers to a group of families sharing a common ancestor.
[29] More, like Bre, is colloquial: used to emphasize the sentence, it expresses strong emotion. More adds emphasis, like bre, similar to the English bro, brother.
[30] Turkish: din e iman, religion and faith.
[31] Amanet is literally the last will, but in the Albanian oral tradition it has a sacred value.
[32] Has women traditional costume is made of a short white shirt and a white linen full –length dress. Long white briefs serve as underwear, the traditional pshtjellak (apron in front and back) in the back has a built-in wooden plank. The jelek (vest) is enriched with beads, mostly red
[33] Burrënore, when a woman has so-called more masculine features. Used to describe a woman who’s not conventional in the sense of stereotypical gender roles.
[34] Billowing white satin pantaloons that narrow at the ankles, Turkish style. They are made with about twelve meters of fabric.
[35] Serbian: trag, trace.
[36] German: punkt, checkpoint. A police checkpoint.
[37] One of the five pillars of Islam, the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and in Muhammad as his prophet.
[38] Between February 28 and March 1, 1998, Serbian security forces launched a series of attacks in the villages of Likoshan and Qirez, in the region of Drenica, in response to a KLA ambush of police officers. These attacks resulted in the killing of 24 non combatants, as documented by Human Rights Watch among others in the report, A Week of Terror in Drenica: Humanitarian Law Violations in Drenica.
[39] Low round table for people to gather at communal dinners, sitting on the floor.
[40] The bread is cooked in the oven in a specific way – which then is taken apart (with hands or fork) at it remains in that lumpy consistency. “Duqa” specifically can be translated into “Lumpy”