For a contemporaneous account of the events, see "Eerie Quiet Follows Assault in Kosovo," an article published in the Washington Post by Jeffrey Smith (9 March 1998): Washington Post article: "Eerie Quiet Follows Assault in Kosovo" Washington Post article Eerie Quiet Follows Assult in Kosovo
and for a contemporaneous article about the burning of the site, see this New York Times article "Conflict in the Balkans: In Kosovo, Serbs Burn Birthplace of Albanian Revolt" by Carlotta Gall (22 March 1999: New York Times article, "Serbs Burn Birthplace of Albanian Revolt"
NATO began airstrikes in Kosovo 2 days after this New York Times article was published.
It was a moving experience, not only seeing these scarred buildings but even more so speaking to people who lived through these experiences - and hearing from them first-hand about the events that unfolded here and throughout the region.
Earlier on this blog I mentioned that my daughter and I had checked out every book in Pinellas County Public Library Cooperative related to Macedonia.
One of the books we read together was One Boy from Kosovo, about a boy her age who fled Kosovo and was living in the refugee camp in Macedonia.
And now here we were, driving through the countryside in Kosovo, listening to what it was like when the families were forced to flee their homes (if they were able to flee their homes...) from people who lived through it. (Here is the Amazon site with a review of the book: Amazon - One Boy from Kosovo. And this is our blog post with a picture of the book - Macedonia Books from Pinellas County Libraries)
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| portrait of Adem Jashari on the scaffolding |
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| relatives still live on the site - here are new homes in the compound |
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| the view of the memorial park from the house |
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| there are memorial stones for each of the family members killed in that attack |
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| there is a museum that is a part of the complex as well - but we arrived not long after it closed for the day |
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