Borova massacre

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On July 6, 1943, parts of the 1st Mountain Division committed the Borova massacre . The village of Borova in southern Albania was completely destroyed and 107 people were killed.

massacre

On July 6, 1943, the 1st Mountain Division of the Wehrmacht marched through the Italian-occupied Albania to Ioannina in Greece, as the Wehrmacht feared the Allies would land in Greece in view of the imminent surrender of Italy . On their journey from Korça to the west through southern Albania, a column of cars a little south of Borova at the Barmash Pass was ambushed by local Albanian partisans led by Riza Kodheli . They had counted on Italian soldiers , not German . With the support of Italian units, the partisans were pushed back into the mountains towards evening.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Germans retaliated: They marched through Borova with flamethrowers and carried out a massacre among the civilian population, shot people or had them burned in their houses. The villagers are said to have supported the partisans. Borova then had around 450 to 500 inhabitants. All 100 buildings in the village - houses, granaries, churches - were set on fire or badly damaged by the soldiers. 107 civilians were killed in this most serious Wehrmacht crime in Albania - mainly children, women and the elderly. 47 victims were younger than 20 years, 23 over 60 years old. The youngest victim was only four months old, the oldest killed 73 years. Dozens of other residents were injured; many were still in the fields at the time of the attack. In the village of Barmash south of the pass, which was later attacked, 18 other residents died.

Commemoration

Memorial, in the background the Gramoz

The commemoration of the massacre was upheld in communist Albania . A memorial and a small museum commemorated the crime. The composer Thoma Gaqi published a symphonic poem called Borova in 1972 in memory of the victims.

In democratic Albania from the 1990s onwards, the partisan war and the massacre in Borova are hardly thought any more. The museum was destroyed during the 1997 lottery riot. Since 1996 the German embassy in Tirana has been supporting the village of Borova with several infrastructure projects. The German ambassador repeatedly took part in commemorative events. There were also plans to rebuild the memorial, the center of which is now the 107 graves.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Hermann Frank Meyer : Bloody edelweiss. The 1st Mountain Division in World War II . Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-447-1 ( online at Google Books ).
  2. ↑ a b Owen Pearson: Albania in Occupation and War - From Fascism to Communism 1940-1945 . In: The Center for Albanian Studies (Ed.): Albania in the Twentieth Century: A History . Volume 2. IB Tauris, London 2005, ISBN 1-84511-014-5 .
  3. ↑ a b c Ju tregoj si e dogjën gjermanët Borovën më 6 korrik 1943. In: Gazeta Shqip. July 6, 2008, archived from the original on January 11, 2013 ; Retrieved May 30, 2012 (Albanian).
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Vladimir Misho: The Massacre and Destruction of Borova, 1943. In: Frosina Information Network. August 6, 2004, accessed January 4, 2016 .
  5. ↑ a b Bodo Gudjons: Encounter with Borova . In: Rüdiger Pier, Dierk Stich (ed.): Albania . VSA, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-87975-467-5 , p. 47-51 .
  6. ^ Heinz Gstrein : Walter travel guide to Albania . Walter-Verlag, Olten 1989, ISBN 3-530-29602-3 .
  7. ^ June Emerson: The music of Albania . Emerson Edition, Ann Arbor 1994, ISBN 978-0-9506209-3-0 , pp. 57 .
  8. ↑ a b Borova, ndanë një kujtimi te trishtë. (No longer available online.) In: Revista MAPO. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013 ; Retrieved May 31, 2012 (Albanian). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / revistamapo.com
  9. ↑ Commemoration in memory of a massacre by the German Wehrmacht. (PDF) Address by Ambassador Hellmut Hoffmann. (No longer available online.) In: German Embassy Tirana . July 5, 2015, archived from the original on July 9, 2015 ; Retrieved July 9, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tirana.diplo.de
  10. ↑ Enkelejda Skënderasi: Masakra e Borovës, djali i nazistit: Kërkoj falje. Lexova ditarin e babait, u tmerrova. In: BalkanWeb.com. July 7, 2013, archived from the original on July 28, 2013 ; Retrieved July 29, 2013 (Albanian).
  11. ↑ Përkujtohet masakra e Borovës - Top Channel Albania on YouTube