Albanian-German relations

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Albanian-German relations
Location of Germany and Albania
GermanyGermany AlbaniaAlbania
Germany Albania

The Albanian-German relations were subject to strong fluctuations due to the changing political conditions in Albania and in the two German states . While the Albanian people striving for independence received little support from the German Empire , the young Albanian state was presided over by the German Prince Wilhelm zu Wied for six months in 1914 . In 1943 the Wehrmacht occupied Albania, but at the same time set up a local government. After the Second World War , a partisan war against the German and Italian occupiers in Albania with great casualties among the civilian population, the Socialist People's Republic of Albania recognized the GDR under international law on December 2, 1949 . Diplomatic relations were established in 1952, but after 1961 they were practically frozen for over 20 years. In the mid-1980s, the FRG established diplomatic relations with Albania.

The reunified Germany and the meanwhile democratic Albania intensified the cooperation. Germany supports the transformation process in Albania as well as its integration into European structures and is its largest bilateral donor in the field of development cooperation . Both states are members of NATO .

Albania has an embassy in Berlin as well as an honorary consul in Hamburg and an honorary consul general in Germering near Munich . Germany, for its part, operates an embassy in Tirana .

history

Exchange before the founding of the state of Albania

The Albanian settlement areas were successively occupied by Ottoman troops in the 15th century, despite the sometimes successful resistance of the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg . It was not until the 19th century that Southeast European peoples belonged to the state against the background of the Ottoman decline ( Sick Man on the Bosporus ) . At the Berlin Congress in 1878, representatives of the major European powers and the Ottoman Empire discussed the fate of Southeast Europe. In July 1878 the Albanian League of Prizren sent a memorandum to the representatives of the great powers in Berlin. The league demanded that the entire Albanian settlement area should remain as an autonomous province under Turkish rule. Congress ignored this request; The negotiator in Berlin, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , stated apodictically that an Albanian nation did not even exist, which is why such a demand was irrelevant.

A German prince rules Albania

Prince Wilhelm in front of the palace in the capital Durrës (1914)

In 1912 the independent Albanian state was proclaimed. The great powers including Germany recognized the new state at the London Ambassadors Conference in December 1912. However, they doubted that the Albanians could rule themselves and therefore reserved the right to appoint a prince . The German Prince Wilhelm zu Wied was raised to this office because a Protestant German was considered neutral and had no national interests of his own. In 1914 he headed the newly established Principality of Albania , the first independent Albanian state , for six months . Kaiser Wilhelm II , who had stayed in Corfu several times , had advised Wilhelm zu Wied against accepting the office and gave him little support. He wanted to prevent a German prince from "embarrassing himself" there and noted that "a robber state [in itself] could never become viable". Nevertheless, a consul general was ordered to Durrës .

Interwar period

After the First World War , Albania's future was uncertain. After other states, Germany also recognized Albania in 1922. In 1923 a chargé d'affaires was appointed for the diplomatic mission in Tirana - initially unilaterally. The embassy was later downgraded to consulate for a few years for cost reasons. Despite certain interests in Albanian natural resources, Berlin, which gave the Italians priority, limited itself to promoting trade and the German language - the latter primarily through student grants. Germany also approved the occupation of Albania by Italy in April 1939.

German occupation

German soldier in Albania during World War II

During the Second World War , the Wehrmacht occupied Albania from 1943 to 1944 after Italy had surrendered. However, Albania was allowed to declare itself independent, was considered neutral and was recognized by Germany in September 1943. Nevertheless, in addition to the consul general, there was a German plenipotentiary general in Albania, a military administration, a special representative of the Foreign Office and a representative for economics and finances, all of whom had a direct influence on the situation in Albania. The German Reich made use of during the occupation of the Albanian mineral resources such as chrome , oil , magnesite and lignite and the gold reserves of the state. The fighting between the Wehrmacht and the Albanian partisans was costly for both sides: around 2400 German soldiers were killed, around 1800 of whom are known by name. There were also attacks and massacres of the civilian population. In 2006 a German military cemetery with 56 graves of German soldiers from the Second World War was inaugurated in Tirana .

During the cold war

During the time of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, close relations with the German Democratic Republic were maintained. The GDR supported Albania with loans, potatoes, infrastructure projects and factory buildings, Enver Hoxha visited East Berlin in January 1959 . After Albania's break with the Soviet Union in 1961, however, relations with the GDR were almost completely broken off and the ambassador withdrew. However, trading continued to a small extent: the GDR obtained chromium and copper, crude oil, wine, vegetables and fruits, Albania imported fertilizers, chemical raw materials, medicines, agricultural machines, trucks and electric motors, and later also machines for textile factories.

In the 1960s, individual communist circles were formed in West Germany that were oriented towards the policies of the then Albania and China. From them emerged in 1968 in the course of the 1968 movement, the KPD / ML under the leadership of Ernst Aust . In the period that followed, this established close relationships with the Labor Party of Albania . The Albanian embassy in the GDR supported a group of East German Marxists who were opposed to the SED in establishing contact with this party.

Relations with the Federal Republic of Germany suffered from the consequences of the war, the opposition between the political systems of the two states and the isolationist policy of the dictator Enver Hoxha from the start . The liberation struggle against the fascist occupiers played an important role in the ideology of the Albanian communists. Franz Josef Strauss visited Albania in the mid-1980s, allegedly privately. After the death of Enver Hoxha, Albania opened up slightly, so that the Federal Republic could establish diplomatic relations with Albania as the last state in Europe. In 1987, Hans-Dietrich Genscher stayed in Tirana for a few hours . The construction of an embassy in Tirana began that same year. In July 1990, one month after the work was completed, over 3,000 Albanians fled to the embassy. After two weeks they were able to travel to Western Europe thanks to international mediation .

Relations with the GDR were also intensified again at the same time. In 1986 the Minister of Foreign Trade flew to Tirana to conclude a trade agreement. From 1988 ambassadors were exchanged again, so that the albanologist Peter Schubert was the last GDR ambassador in Tirana. In 1989, Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer visited Albania.

After the collapse of the socialist regime

In 1994, Germany undertook to the Albanian government to take back over 450 tons of toxic waste . The partially banned pesticides from the GDR, which had passed their expiry date, had been delivered to Albania as fertilizer aid. In addition, both countries signed a war graves agreement on April 14, 1994, which came into force on January 7 of the following year.

On March 14, 1997, during the lottery uprising, the Bundeswehr evacuated around 100 people with helicopters from Tirana, which had fallen into anarchy and turmoil similar to civil war. During the air evacuation, known as Operation Libelle , there was an exchange of fire with unknown shooters on the Lapraka airfield - the first battle by German soldiers since the Second World War.

Diplomatic Relations in the 21st Century

German Embassy in Tirana

Gerhard Schröder was the first Federal Chancellor to visit Albania in September 1999, where he met Prime Minister Pandeli Majko . A few months after the war in Kosovo, Schröder thanked allies for their cooperation on a trip to the Balkans.

In February 2013, the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle made a state visit to Tirana and spoke about the fact that Germany wanted to support Albania in moving closer to the European Union , but that further reforms were necessary in Albania. With a view to the parliamentary elections in Albania in 2013 , Westerwelle appealed for compliance with European standards.

On April 1, 2014, the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama met German Chancellor Angela Merkel on an official visit to Berlin . The subject of the discussion was the political and economic situation in Albania as well as in Southeast Europe. Merkel emphasized that a European perspective was important for Albania. For his part, Rama pointed out to his counterpart the reform process in Albania, how corruption and crime are being fought, how a legal system is built and how independent the judiciary is. A return visit was planned for the same year, but only took place in 2015. On August 28th, at the invitation of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the eight heads of state and government of the Western Balkans met for the first Western Balkans Conference in Berlin. One of the topics of the conference was the rapprochement between the Western Balkan countries and the European Union. The conference is also intended to initiate a process of reconciliation, especially between the successor states of Yugoslavia. Merkel, Edi Rama and José Manuel Barroso met for a joint press conference after the meeting.

In July 2015, during a two-day trip to the Balkans, Angela Merkel made a short visit to Tirana, where she met Edi Rama and President Bujar Nishani . She pledged support for Albania's accession to the European Union, but - despite a request from Rama - did not give a specific date for accession. She also stated that Germany would not recognize asylum applications from Albania. Rama promised Merkel to shape a reconciliation with Serbia based on the “ Franco-German model ”.

During a visit to Tirana in June 2016, then Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier recognized the “impressive progress” that Albania had made, especially since the change of government in 2013. At the same time, he expressed his support for the further reform plan and welcomed a far-reaching reform plan that had been announced Judicial reform; for this he also recruited support from the opposition PD .

"We on the German side, we have not only observed this reform process in recent years, we also respect it."

- Frank-Walter Steinmeier

In November 2016, Rama was once again a guest at Merkel in Berlin. The Chancellor declared that she wanted to continue to support Albania on the way to the EU and recognized the important reforms.

The German-Albanian Agreement on Social Security came into force on December 1, 2017. This coordinates the respective pension insurance systems and allows insured persons who work temporarily in the respective other country and pay pension contributions there to receive them in their home country.

Emigrants

Around 11,000 Albanians from Albania live in Germany. However, most of the people of Albanian descent come from Kosovo , with a smaller proportion from North Macedonia and Serbia . Germany took in the first Albanian refugees in 1990 and 1991 after they had occupied the German embassy or fled across the Adriatic on freighters .

2200 inhabitants of Albania lived in Germany once before 2011, but have returned. No information is available about the number of Germans in Albania .

The number of Albanians applying for asylum in Germany increased significantly in 2015. In the first half of the year, 21,672 Albanians applied for asylum. The recognition rate is 2.6 percent. The governing parties CDU and SPD demanded that Albania be declared a safe country of origin.

Organizations

Several non-governmental organizations such as foundations and associations in Germany and Albania take care of economic, cultural and social exchange between countries and peoples as well as reconstruction and development in Albania.

The German-Albanian Friendship Society (DAFG), which was founded in 1971, has been active for the longest time. Among other things, she published numerous books and organized exhibitions and still regular events.

Honors

In 2014, the eighth integrated secondary school on Skalitzer Strasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg was named after the Albanian Refik Veseli , who saved a Jewish family from Yugoslavia from the Holocaust during World War II and was awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations from Albania .

See also

literature

  • Marenglen Kasmi: The German occupation in Albania 1943 to 1944 . In: Center for military history and social sciences of the Bundeswehr (ed.): Potsdam writings on military history . tape 20 . Potsdam 2013, ISBN 978-3-941571-24-2 .
  • Marenglen Kasmi: The German-Albanian Relations 1912-1939 . In: Journal of Balkanology . tape 49 , no. 1 . Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2013, p. 60-86 .
  • Thomas Kacza: How the German friends of Albania came together and their walk through the ages . Private print, Bad Salzuflen 2015.

Web links

Commons : Albanian-German Relations  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tobias C. Bringmann: Handbuch der Diplomatie, 1815-1963: Foreign Heads of Mission in Germany and German Heads of Mission abroad from Metternich to Adenauer . KG Saur, Munich 2001, ISBN 978-3-598-11431-1 , p. 5 ( excerpt from Google Books ).
  2. ^ Albania's relations with Germany . Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  3. ^ Albanian Embassy in Berlin (German and Albanian) . botschaft-albanien.de. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  4. ↑ Representations in Albania . Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  5. ^ German Embassy in Albania. In: Foreign Office. Retrieved May 5, 2019 .
  6. ^ A b c d Matthias Dornfeldt, Enrico Seewald: The German diplomatic missions in Albania from 1913 to 1944 . In: Journal of Balkanology . tape 45 , no. 1 . Harrasowitz Verlag, 2009, ISSN  0044-2356 ( online version of the article ).
  7. ↑ a b c d e Marenglen Kasmi: The German occupation in Albania 1943 to 1944 . In: Center for military history and social sciences of the Bundeswehr (ed.): Potsdam writings on military history . tape 20 . Potsdam 2013, ISBN 978-3-941571-24-2 .
  8. ^ Final report of the German armed forces in Albania. In: albanianhistory.net. Robert Elsie , 1945, accessed March 29, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b German war cemetery in Tirana. In: German Embassy in Albania. Archived from the original on May 31, 2016 ; accessed on August 2, 2015 .
  10. ^ A b Christiane Jaenicke: Albania: a country portrait . 1st edition. Ch.links, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-96289-043-8 , pp. 49 f .
  11. ^ Christiane Jaenicke: Albania. A country portrait . Ch.links, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-96289-043-8 , pp. 24 .
  12. ^ A b Siegfried R. Krebs: On foreign trade between the GDR and the SVR Albania. In: German Albanian Friendship Society. March 4, 2019, accessed on March 11, 2019 (with reference to the book Havanna, Beijing, Bonn. A GDR foreign trader remembers (Berlin 2013) by Dietrich Lemke ).
  13. ↑ Dietmar Kesten, Gelsenkirchen: On the history of the KPD / ML (Central Committee). From the mid-1960s to 1970; Part 1: The early phase ; Dietmar Kesten / Jürgen Schröder, database project Materials for the Analysis of Opposition (MAO)
  14. ↑ Dietmar Kesten, Gelsenkirchen: On the history of the KPD / ML (Central Committee). From the mid-1960s to 1970; Part 2: From Blinkfüer to Red Morning, from the Red Guard to founding the KPD / ML; Dietmar Kesten / Jürgen Schröder, database project Materials for the Analysis of Opposition (MAO)
  15. ↑ Michael Steffen: Stories from the Truffle Pig. Politics and Organization of the Communist Federation 1971 to 1991. Association A, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-935936-07-9 (Dissertation at the University of Marburg , download , PDF, 20.5 MB), p. 36 f.
  16. ↑ Michael Steffen: Stories from the Truffle Pig. Politics and Organization of the Communist Federation 1971 to 1991. Association A, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-935936-07-9 (Dissertation at the University of Marburg , download , PDF, 20.5 MB), p. 98
  17. ^ History of the party from today's Albanian perspective: Gjermani, endrra per socializmin shqiptar , Koha Jonë, November 3, 2008
  18. ^ Tobias Wunschik: The Maoist KPD / ML and the smashing of their "Section GDR" by the MfS (BF informs 18/1997). Ed. BStU. Berlin 1997 , pp. 11, 12, 18, 22
  19. ↑ Werner Bartels: The beginnings of the German Embassy Tirana. Federal Foreign Office , accessed on May 5, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Export ban on toxic waste worldwide - chronicle up to 1995 with an outlook. Greenpeace, June 1, 2003, accessed February 11, 2016 .
  21. ^ Dpa : German toxic waste secured in Albania . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 244 , October 20, 1994, pp. 6 ( FAZ archive [accessed on February 11, 2013]).
  22. ^ Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge
  23. ↑ Operation "Dragonfly". Tirana '97: The Bundeswehr's first battle. In: RP Online. March 14, 2007, accessed on October 27, 2013 : "For the first time after the Second World War, German soldiers were in combat - they fired exactly 188 shots, according to the later accounts."
  24. ^ Walter Mayr: Lili Marleen in Tirana. In: Spiegel Online. September 27, 1999, accessed July 9, 2015 .
  25. ^ Foreign Minister Westerwelle visits Albania and the FYR Macedonia. In: Foreign Office. February 21, 2013, accessed March 1, 2013 .
  26. ↑ Merkel: We are seeing progress. In: Bundesregierung.de. April 1, 2014, accessed August 31, 2014 .
  27. ↑ Edi Rama takim historik me Angela Merkel, merr garanci për statusin dhe ekonominë, erë e re në marrëdhëniet mes dy vendeve. In: Ikub.al. April 2, 2014, accessed August 31, 2014 (Albanian).
  28. ^ First reforms, then EU: Western Balkans Conference in Berlin. In: The world . August 28, 2014, accessed August 31, 2014 .
  29. ↑ Merkel stands up for Albania , Handelsblatt of July 8, 2015
  30. ↑ Chancellor Merkel is turned into art in Albania , welt.de of July 8, 2015
  31. ↑ Steinmeier promotes judicial reform in Albania. Federal Foreign Office , accessed on June 15, 2016 .
  32. ↑ Martin Patzelt : Why it is good that Angela Merkel supports Albania on the way to the EU. In: Focus Online. November 29, 2016, accessed November 30, 2016 .
  33. ^ Deutsche Bahn, telephone bill. These new rules apply from December 1st. In: Express.de. November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017 .
  34. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Number of foreigners in Germany by country of origin (as of December 31, 2012). In: Statista. October 2013, accessed on October 27, 2013 : "Albania: 11,383"
  35. ↑ Roland Kirbach: "Germany was my dream". Albanian refugees. In: The time. October 19, 1990, accessed February 7, 2013 .
  36. ↑ Ines Nurja: Censusi i popullsisë dhe banesave / Population and Housing Census - 2011 . Results Kryesore / Main Results. Ed .: INSTAT . Pjesa / Part 1. Adel Print, Tirana 2013 ( document as PDF [accessed March 12, 2019]).
  37. ↑ Migrants from Southeast Europe: The Errors in the Debate on Balkan Refugees , Spiegel-Online from August 5, 2015
  38. ↑ Federal Office sees "wave of migration" from Albania , welt.de of 7 May 2015
  39. ^ German institutions in Albania. In: German Embassy in Albania. Retrieved May 5, 2019 .
  40. ^ History of the DAFG. Retrieved February 11, 2016 .
  41. ↑ School is named after an Albanian. In: Berliner Morgenpost. January 23, 2014, accessed January 28, 2014 .
  42. ↑ Pictures from the naming ceremony October 8th, 2014. Refik Veseli School, October 8, 2014, accessed May 5, 2019 .