Kosovo during World War II

Kosovo during the Second World War was in a very dramatic period, because different currents clashed, bringing constant tensions within it.

During World War II, the region of Kosovo was split into three occupational zones: Italian, German, and Bulgarian.

[1] During occupation by Axis powers, Bulgarian and Albanian collaborators killed thousands of Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins.

After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, most of Kosovo was assigned to Italian-controlled Albania, with the rest being controlled by Germany and Bulgaria.

Around between 70,000 and 100,000 Serbs and Montenegrins were deported or sent to concentration camps throughout the war and 72,000 Albanians had settled in Kosovo from Albania.

[3] In the Nuremberg trials, it was established that the SS Skanderbeg committed crimes against humanity in Kosovo against ethnic Serbs, Jews, and Roma.

[5] During the New Year's Eve between 1943 and 1944, Albanian and Yugoslav partisans gathered at the town of Bujan, near Kukës in northern Albania, where they held a conference in which they discussed the fate of Kosovo after the war.

Both Albanian and Yugoslav communists signed the agreement, according to which Kosovo would have the right to democratically decide whether it wants to remain in Albania or become part of Serbia.

The Albanian Kosovar military leader Shaban Polluzha, who first fought with Yugoslav partisans but then refused to collaborate further, was attacked and killed.

The Kosovo Albanians, who had been promised self-determination if they joined the partisans, rebelled and martial law was declared.

The first prefect was Iljaz Agushi,[16] then in order, Riza Drini, Miftar Dibra, Tahir Kolgjini and Hysen Prishtina.

[23][24] On November 12, 1941, with a special decree of the General Viceroyalty, following the proposal of the Minister of Education, Ernest Koliqi, numerous schools were added to the already existing ones.

The Ministry of Education, in order to cope with the extraordinary needs for hiring contract teachers, gave the teaching staff salaries of 250 to 300 Albanian francs per month.

[22] By 1943, in Kosovo and Albanian-controlled parts of Macedonia and Montenegro, 511 Albanian primary schools were opened, consisting of 19,121 students, who were taught by 487 teachers.