2.4.2010 by Atahualpa.

ALBANIA UNDER PRINCE WIED

The Photo Collection of the Dutch Military Mission to Albania
1913-1914

Acknowledgement

Each of the Dutch officers sent to Albania in 1913-1914 to set up the gendarmerie of the newly created Albanian State was seconded to the Balkans not only with his normal military equipment, but also - to our good fortune - with a camera. The men recorded what they saw and experienced at a defining moment in Albanian history: the nation’s late independence after five hundred years of Ottoman rule, the arrival of a new German sovereign to reign over his tiny Balkan kingdom, and the country’s descent into chaos precipitated by domestic strife, the Balkan Wars and the outbreak of World War I. Many of the photos of the Dutch officers have survived the decades to be presented here. Most of the pictures have never been seen by the general public before.

Prince Wied and dignitaries in Durrës in a funeral procession behind the coffin of Colonel Thomson. (Lodewijk Willem Johan Karel Thomson )
16 June 1914

This photo collection, first published in the album Writing in Light: Early Photography of Albania and Southwest Balkans, Prishtina 2007, contains many unique views of a lost world, ones which are sure to captivate all those interested in Albanian and Balkan history. We are grateful to the families of the Dutch officers, many of whom preserved the collections of old glass slides and offered them generously for this publication. Thanks go, in conclusion, to others who have helped make the collection available, among whom: the Netherlands Institute for Military History (Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie) in The Hague and its documentalist Okke Groot, as well as Durim Bani (The Hague), Jolien Berendsen-Prins of the Thomson Foundation (Groningen), Kastriot Dervishi (Tirana), Gerda Mulder of the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Rotterdam), Harrie Teunissen (Leiden) and Richard van den Brink (Utrecht).

History of the Dutch Military Mission to Albania, 1913-1914

Albania was part of the Ottoman Empire from the age of the Turkish conquest of the southwestern Balkan Peninsula in about 1390-1400 to the final collapse of the once mighty realm, then known as the Sick Man of Europe, in 1912. In the course of these five centuries, most of the originally Christian population had converted to Islam and adopted the customs and lifestyle of the Orient. Albanians also made a substantial contribution to the Ottoman Empire. Many viziers, grand viziers (prime ministers) and high administrative and military figures ruling the Empire were of Albanian origin.

It was in the last decades of the nineteenth century, a period of sharp decline in the fortunes of the Ottoman Empire, that an Albanian national movement arose. For the first time, ethnic identity became more important among the educated population than religious affiliation or imperial glory. The Albanians increasingly longed for autonomy and self-determination within the Empire - the thought of political independence was as yet a distant dream. This movement, known as Rilindja (Rebirth), crystallised in the so-called League of Prizren in the years 1878-1881. Yet despite the awakening of a national movement, Albania was to be ruled from Constantinople for another thirty years.

In July 1908, the Ottoman Empire was finally shaken out of its lethargy by the Revolution of the Young Turks. This internal revolt initially received substantial support from Albanian leaders in Istanbul and Thessalonica. Nonetheless, soon after it had occurred, most educated Albanians came to realise that, with regard to demands for Albanian autonomy within the Empire, the Young Turks were no better than the old. With none of their grievances met, Northern Albania and Kosova were in almost constant revolt from 1909 to 1912…………………..

(1) Wilhelm zu Wied, Denkschrift über Albanien, Berlin 1917, p. 12-13.
(2) Edith Durham: Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle, London 1920, p. 265.
(3) Wilhelm zu Wied, Denkschrift über Albanien, Berlin 1917, p. 21.

 http://albanianphotography.net/en/dmm.html

Kommentar: neben dem Antiken Turm in Durres, steht heute das Ehren Denkmal für Colonel Thomsen, der am 15 June 1914 bei Kämpfen im Raum Durres starb. Zu diesem Zeitpunk verteidigte er in den Hügeln nördlich Durres, die Öl Quelle auch mit Österreichischer Hilfe.  Auch 2009, gedachte der Holländische Botschafter und die gesamte Albanische Marine Spitze, dem Wirken von Colonel Thomsen in Durres.

Thomson in Albanië

Albanien am Vorabend des

1. Weltkrieges

Dr. Peter Müller, Hofheim - www.peter-marxheimer.de

Dr. Peter Müller: Zwischen Autonomie und Abhängigkeit – Albanien am Vorabend des 1. Weltkrieges – Vortrag Hamburg 2009

Albanien am Mittwoch, den 28. November 2012

…………………………………
http://www.dafg.de/2009/AL%20am%20Vorabend%20des%20WK2.ppt.

Albania and King Zog: independence, republic and monarchy 1908-1939

http://books.google.de/

 Fotos aus dem 19. Jahrhundert

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2.4.2010 by Atahualpa.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Kosovo: Feith Provides Clarity

Just when you think that the recent rhetoric from the EU might suggest a new, more pragmatic approach to the north, we can count on the EU Special Representative, ICR Pieter Feith, to bring us back down to earth. Various outlets are reporting his March 31 comments on the scheduled May 30 municipal elections to be held by the Serbian government in north Mitrovica and Novo Brdo. Feith reportedly made clear that he would not recognize these elections. “As the International Civilian Representative, I want to stress once again that we will focus on the elections organized by Pristina authorities.” He also suggested that the new EU office in north Mitrovica was part of the EU’s commitment to support his so-called “strategy for north.”

Belgrade was quick to react. State Secretary for Kosovo Oliver Ivanović told the press that Serbia is “not asking for his support or approval for the elections….[Feith] does not exists for us neither as an organization nor as a person.” Ivanović reportedly said Feith had “discredited” himself with his strategy to impose Pristina’s rule over the Serb majority north.

EU Envoy to northern Kososo Giffoni had been trying to separate his newly opened “Europe House” from Feith and his strategy.

On a related matter Tanjug reports that EULEX has had no luck trying to convince the Kosovo Judicial Council in Pristina that Belgrade might appoint the Serb judges that would work in the North Mitrovica court should there be agreement to reopen it.

http://outsidewalls.blogspot.com/2010/04/kosovo-feith-provides-clarity.html

Geschrieben in Balkan (Englisch) | 1 Kommentar »