Skip navigation.

Labris

Banka hrane

 
Srbija 2020

Kosovo’s Adolf, KURIR and my friend Ed

Strike a poseStrike a poseIt was interesting to see an old ‘story' appear in last weeks tabloids and re-reported by news agencies on Mitrovica's Adolf Hitler. I suppose it's only fair as we've already had the ‘Serbian adolf' http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/1998/98-10-29.rferl.html so its right that we should have an Albanian one too.

But I have to raise my hands in responsibility for this ‘scoop' which has finally made its way onto the pages of the Serbian media. I plead guilty to being the individual who tasked dear Ed the British (or should that be Scottish) travelling blogger with a visit to a certain establishment in Southern Mitrovica.

Adi and Bini togetherAdi and Bini together

The photos of Adolf came my way some six months ago - a colleague of mine visited Mitrovica and could barely believe his eyes when he chanced upon the Jehona kafana. Adolf himself was happy to pose and to pretend he was truly was Adolf Hitler and speak admiringly of the man. When I saw the photos I had my doubts even though I trust my colleague completely - too absurd to be true surely?

Some months later a somewhat bedraggled Ed (after an unfortunate incident in Moldova leaving him broke) appears in Belgrade. I showed him the photos and his reaction was similar to mine, incredulous - why would anybody sane aspire to be mankind's personification of evil? And the photos look odd anyway, surely fakes?

Whilst Ed was in Belgrade we debated Kosovo. I put forward my view that Kosovo was / is for me above all a human rights issue and that the human rights situation needed to be remedied before status resolved. The right to nation state status can or should not be granted on the basis of ethnic cleansing and further if the situation for minorities in Kosovo is bad today, under the noses of the internationals, what would happen to Kosovo's minorities when the incentive to ‘behave' was removed completely?

Of course I recognise(d) this isn't an argument to keep Kosovo within Serbian borders. It is much more about ensuring that the solution of Kosovo is about people and not about nationalism or romantic nation state building which does not interest me in the slightest.

Ed supports an independent Kosovo. One evening after missing the last bus we enjoyed a marathon discussion on the topic walking back to my place from Belgrade city centre. He broadly supported my views on human rights but thinks the best solution is an independent Kosovo. He also viewed Kosovo independence as inevitable which (when we cut the crap) is not an argument in itself but is true enough. The lesson the nations of the Balkans have learnt is that if you hold on long enough with a majority eventually you will be recognised.

We agreed to disagree on the issue and he parted some days later for Kosovo. In the meantime I mused doing a post on Adolf on B92 but decided against it. On the one hand I was very interested in how long it would take for the Serbian media to pick up on the story and how people would react. On the other it probably wouldn't be too long before somebody wrote letters accusing me of working for BIA or similar. Did I really want to be at the centre of a potential circus?

A couple of days later I received a phone call from an unrecognised number - a strangers voice told me to hold, then Ed announced that he had arrived in Mitrovica but couldn't locate Adolf. I gave him the best information I had and the rest is history.

Contented AdolfContented Adolf

Ed saw and spoke to the ‘greatest' war criminal in history and even took a few of his own snaps. I decided to leave the story alone and waited for Ed to write something about his experience online.

Some 10 days ago I saw that the story in Serbia finally broke in KURIR newspaper.

http://www.kurir-info.co.yu/arhiva/2007/mart/10/V-04-10032007.shtml

Except the newspaper got a number of elementary facts wrong. If any anybody from Kurir is reading this please note Ed is not an American and he is not a journalist either.  Further you did not gain my (or his) permission to publish the photographs. (Nadam se da mozete da razumete mada ako ima potrebu ja sam na raspolaganju ukolko treba prevodilac).

UCKUCK

Conclusion? Obviously I'm a ‘victim' of self-censorship. Obviously the Serbian (and Kosovo Albanian) media are very slow in picking up a story and when the story is reported it is full of inaccuracies. Obviously there is scope for photos like this to be abused. Obviously there are crackpots on all sides.

 


DodatakVeličina
Hitler 1.jpg273.73 KB

Cut the crap

I think we should all CUT THE CRAP!
Government (but which) in particular!
Or quit the shit!
Whatever!

As for Kurir, I just can't stand to hold it in my hands, just feels dirty. However, I do agree that there are Adolfs on both sides. But each side should deal with their own one first.


A ne, ne, dečko... you

A ne, ne, dečko... you picked a wrong blog for this post, my friend.


Kako mislis? Slobodno...

Kako mislis? Slobodno...


For a start, how many

For a start, how many comments is there on this post?


Evo

josh jedan primer slichnosti


Mozda si u pravu mada mislim

Mozda si u pravu mada mislim da 'pre svega' ili 'for a start' treba da se odnosi na tekst a samo posle toga na koliko komentara.