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Eradication of an ancient culture...
The Destruction of the Churches of Kosovo
by Jared Israel
[Posted 25 December 2000]
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In 1998 Robert Gelbard, the State Department's Special Envoy to the Balkans, made this statement about the Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës (UCK) or Kosovo Liberation Army:
"'We condemn very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UCK is, without any questions, a terrorist group,' Gelbard said."
-- Washington ready to reward Belgrade for "good will": envoy, Agence France Presse -- English, Feb 23, 1998, International news
Since NATO seized the Serbian province of Kosovo in June 1999, completely opening the border to Albania, the gangster-terrorists of the KLA have been installed as government leaders with the official approval of NATO and of the UN organization in Kosovo. That is not hyperbole. [2]
[News story on Kosovo "Prime Minister" starts here]
BELGRADE, July 19 (ONASA) - Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi has abruptly terminated an interview with Belgrade weekly NIN after being asked whether Albanians were practicing a form of apartheid against Serbs in the province. He had earlier said that he had been proud to be a member of the outlawed Kosovo Liberation Army...Rexhepi also played down allegations of the former Kosovo Liberation Army having had a criminal or terrorist role...Rexhepi claimed to be certain that no indictments had been raised by the Hague Tribunal against former KLA commanders now occupying senior government posts in the province. Nor had Hague Prosecutor Carla del Ponte ever mentioned the names of leaders of Albanian parties in the province or asked for documents about them, he said. "According to the information we have, and believe me it is from reliable international sources. [3]
[News story on Kosovo "Prime Minister" ends here]
KLA terrorists have forced around 300,000 people to leave Kosovo - Serbs, 'Gypsies,' Slavic Muslims, ethnic Turks, Croatians, Jews and ethnic Albanians loyal to Yugoslavia. Those Serbs who have remained live under nightmare conditions. The KLA has systematically attacked Serbian Orthodox churches, monasteries and graveyards. More than 110 Serbian Orthodox churches have been badly vandalized or reduced to rubble. [4]
These buildings were not only treasures of Christianity, masterpieces of an ancient Church; they were also works of art. They belonged to the world.
And they were also at the heart of the culture of a people, the much maligned Serbs.
Many of these churches had survived 500 years of Muslim rule under the Ottoman Empire. They survived Austrian rule. They survived World War II, when Kosovo was ruled by ethnic Albanian fascists allied with Mussolini and Hitler.
They were destroyed under UN/NATO occupation.
Before you tell yourself, "It's not NATO's fault. They can't be everywhere," consider this fact: the terrorist KLA has been desecrating churches since NATO moved into Kosovo in June 1999 - that's four and a half years ago. Many churches were attacked more than once. Yet not one terrorist has been arrested, let alone put on trial. Not a single arrest.
Nor has any terrorist been arrested for driving hundreds of thousands of people out of Kosovo. This although NATO has intimate knowledge of who the terrorists are, where they reside, their command structures. Indeed, the terrorists are presently organized in the UN's Kosovo Protection Corps. They get regular paychecks. (Your tax dollars at work.) NATO officers preside over their crimes against Serbs and other 'incorrect' ethnic groups. [5]
Why has NATO unleashed its KLA proxies to destroy these exquisite churches?
Because according to the geostrategic plans of the US and European establishments, the Serbian people must be broken as an historical force. And the attempt to break the Serbs - physically and culturally while attempting to demoralize them politically - this attack on the Serbs is used to consolidate the power of the most racist part of the Albanian population. These are the political descendents of the Albanians who sided with Hitler during World War II. They invented the phrase "ethnic cleansing" to describe what they wanted to do in Kosovo, which was to 'purify' humanity [sic!] by ridding it of Serbs: [6]
[Excerpt from 1982 NY Times starts here]
"The [Albanian] nationalists have a two-point platform," according to Becir Hoti, an executive secretary of the Communist Party of Kosovo, "first to establish what they call an ethnically clean Albanian republic and then the merger with Albania to form a greater Albania. "
-- New York Times, Monday, July 12, 1982; "Exodus of Serbians Stirs Province in Yugoslavia"; by Marvine Howe, Special to the New York Times; Dateline: Pristina, Yugoslavia[Excerpt from 1982 NY Times ends here]
Hitler encouraged the idea of Greater Albania when he put Albanian fascists in power in a large part of the Balkans during World War II; and NATO is following in the Nazis' footsteps today.
Meanwhile the churches are destroyed to prove the power of the fascist faction among Albanians, to prove to ordinary Albanians that the fascists have NATO's backing. The fascists tell other Albanians, "See? We eradicate their culture but no one gets jailed. NATO is with us! But publicly we should act violently dissatisfied and demand even more. Then NATO can 'give in' to us!"
In a May 1999, op ed piece for the 'N.Y. Times,' President Clinton wrote:
"The people of the former Yugoslavia have lived together for centuries with greater and lesser degrees of conflict, but not the constant 'cleansing' of peoples from their land." (NY Times, May 23, 1999)
Clinton purported to be criticizing the Milosevic government. But his claim that the Serbs practiced ethnic cleansing in Kosovo is a lie, staged for the camera. [7]
Perhaps Mr. Clinton was making a cynical joke, attributing to NATO's victims the crimes of NATO's child, the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army, which has, with the help of NATO and UN officials, destroyed so many of the churches of Kosovo.
Jared Israel
Editor, Emperor's Clothes
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"... All these barbarous acts by the Albanian extremists have occurred in the presence of the United Nations and International Peace Forces (KFOR), not in a time of war but of peace. The Serbian Orthodox Church and its historical and religious heritage are exposed to systematic destruction and extermination in the very presence of the most powerful armed forces of the world and in the very heart of Europe.
"The Kosovo Albanian gangs of looters and arsonists are mercilessly destroying monuments of worldwide renown which survived centuries of turbulent history. With such a systematic campaign against Christianity, civilization and world culture, Kosovo Albanian extremists show that their goal remains an ethnically cleansed Kosovo without Serbs and their Christian monuments."
-- Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle
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Below is a partial list of churches and monasteries destroyed in five months [as of December 2000, when this information was compiled] by the KLA fascists, protected by NATO. I would like to point out that during the bombing of Yugoslavia, NATO claimed the Serbian government and many ordinary Serbs were driven by hatred of Muslims. But no Mosque was deliberately damaged by Yugoslav forces.
--Jared Israel
Emperor's Clothes
Vandalized and Destroyed Churches in Kosovo
1. The Medieval Holy Trinity Monastery (the church was
frescoed) near Musutiste (Suva Reka), 14th century,
plundered, set on fire and completely destroyed by
explosives.
2. The Medieval church of Dormition of the Mother of God,
(painted in frescoes), built in 1315, in Musutiste,
burned and afterwards torn down.
3. The Medieval St. Mark's Monastery, near Korisa,
Prizren, built in 1467, looted, set on fire and totally
destroyed by explosives.
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The Holy Trinity Monastery near Musutiste. Built in the 14th century, it was looted, burned and soon afterwards blown up, July 1999. That was one month after NATO (KFOR) took over Kosovo. There have been no arrests.
4. The Medieval Monastery of St. Archangel Gabriel (with
frescoes) in Binac village, near Vitina, 14th century,
looted and burned.
5. The Medieval Monastery of St. Joannicius of Devic (painted
in frescoes), near Srbica, 15th century, demolished and
robbed.
6. The Monastery of Dormition - St. Uros (14th century,
reconstructed in 1996), Gornja Nerodimlja, blown up with
a mine and torn down.
7. The Monastery of St. Archangel (14th century,
frescoed, reconstructed in 17th century), Gornja
Nerodimlja, set on fire and blown up with a mine, the
graveyard has been destroyed, the pine dating from 14th
century has been cut down and burned.
8. St. Nicola's church (old church, reconstructed in 1983),
Donje Nerodimlje, demolished, set on fire, and blown up
with a mine.
9. St. Stephen's church (14th century, reconstructed in
1996), Donje Nerodimlje, situated at the graveyard,
demolished, set on fire and blown up with a mine.
10. The Presentation of the Virgin church in Dolac, near
Klina, built in 1620, (with frescoes), burned, the Holy
Throne demolished, afterwards mined and demolished by
explosives.
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The church of the Holy Virgin Hodegetria was built by Dragoslav, the then chief court governor, and his family, in 1315, in Musutiste, about 10 km southeast of Suva Reka in Kosovo. His inscription above the entrance was one of the oldest and most beautiful Serbian epigraphic texts of its kind. It was an edifice with a semi-dome, had an inscribed cross in the ground plan and a semi-round apse. The wall was built of alternating rows of bricks and stone cubes. The frescoes of the Musutiste School, painted between 1316 and 1320 and famed for their plasticity and the saints' typology, were known as the best examples of Serbian art. That earned them a place in the company of other mature artistic works of the Palaeologus era from the first quarter of the 14th century. In the altar area there was a unique portrait of the South Slav educator, St Clement of Ohrid. In the northwestern corner of the naos there were figures of holy women, the warriors SS Theodore Tyro and Theodore Stratilates, angels, and St Paneteleimon. Two throne icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary dated back to the year 1603.
11.
St. Nicola s church in Slovinje village near Lipljan,
founded in the 16th century, reconstructed in the 19th
century, utterly destroyed by explosives.
12. St. Apostles Peter and Paul's church in Suva Reka,
dating from 1938, demolished and afterwards razed by
explosives.
13. The Holy Trinity church in Petric village, near Pec (from
1993), destroyed by explosives.
14. The Presentation of the Virgin church in Belo Polje (near
Pec), from 16th century, reconstructed in 19th century,
demolished and set on fire.
15. The Cathedral of St. Uros in Urosevac, built in 1933,
demolished, its interior set on fire.
16. The church of St. Elijah the Prophet, in Vucitrn,
built in 1834, plundered, demolished and partly burned.
17. The church of St. John the Baptist, Samodreza, near
Vucitrn, old church - reconstructed in 1932, demolished,
burned and torn down.
18. St Parasceva s (St. Nicola s) church in Drsnik near
Pec (frescoed), dating from 16th century, ruined, its
interior set on fire.
19. The church of the Most Holy Mother of God in aklo
village, near Pec, from 1985, destroyed and burned.
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St. Elias Church in Smac, near Prizren in Kosovo. Built in 1996, it was damaged by explosives and then vandalized in July 1999. Since these pictures were taken, it has been razed; rubble remains.
20. The Holy Trinity church in Velika Reka village, near
Vucitrn, dating from 1997, demolished, set on fire and
nearly destroyed.
21. The Holy Apostles church in Petrovce village, near
Kosovska Kamenica, demolished and set on fire.
22. The church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Podgorce
village, near Vitina, demolished and burned.
23. The church of St. John the Baptist, in Pecka Banja,
near Pec, from 1996, demolished, its interior set on fire.
24. The church of the Most Holy Mother of God in
Djurakovac, near Pec, built in 1997, demolished.
25. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, in Djakovica,
built in 1998, vandalized, its interior set on fire, a
priceless mosaic over the entrance destroyed, completely
razed by explosives (July 24-25, 1999).
26. St. Nicola s church in Osojane village, near Pec,
demolished.
27. The church of St. Elijah the Prophet in Bistrazin,
between Prizren and Djakovica, reconstructed on the old
foundations before 1941, during World War II ruined by
Albanian fascists, afterwards reconstructed for the
second time in 1988, now completely demolished.
28. St. Demetrius church in Siga, near Pec, reconstructed
in 1937 on the medieval foundations, completely razed.
29. St. Elijah s church in Zegra village, near Gnjilane,
from 1931, demolished and then completely burned down;
the roof collapsed. Also, two church buildings were set
on fire, and crosses and tombs in the graveyard were
destroyed.
30. The church of the Holy Unmercenaries (old,
reconstructed in 1991), Novake - Prizren, demolished and
set on fire, the tombs around the church ruined.
31. The parish church in Krusevo, near Pec (old,
reconstructed), broken into and partially burned.
32. The Monastery of Sts. Cosma and Damian, the
Unmercenary Healers, in Zociste (with frescoes), from the
14th century, looted and demolished, the greatest part of
the residential building burned.
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33.
The parish church of St. John, in Grmovo, near Vitina,
first set on fire, then completely destroyed by
explosives (July 25, 1999).
34. St. Nicola s church in Kijevo, near Klina, built in
the 14th century (painted in frescoes), leveled to the
ground, crosses and tombs in the graveyard ruined.
35. The church of St. Mark, the Evangelist, (on the
foundations of the old church of Presentation of the
Virgin) in Klina - Metohia, destroyed by explosives.
36. St. Nicolas church in Ljubizda, near Prizren, from
the 16th century, plundered and demolished; the parish
center was set on fire.
37. In the same village, Ljubizda, the church of St.
Elijah, the Prophet (16th - 17th century), situated at
the graveyard, reconstructed on the old foundations,
looted, demolished, its interior set on fire, mined, the
graveyard around it destroyed.
38. St. Petkas church, in Dobrcane village, between
Gnjilane and Kamenica, burned, the roof collapsed.
39. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Pristina (a
new one), first the terrorists tried to set it on fire;
later, on August 1, 1999, explosives were placed at four
sites: two mines exploded, and the other two did not.
40. St. Elijah s church (new, 1994), - Smac village, near
Prizren, set on fire, demolished, its interior mined, but
not all the explosives exploded.
41. The church of St. Basil the Great (19th century), -
Gornja Srbica, near Prizren, burned and torn down.
42. St. Petka s church (recently built), Zaskok village,
near Urosevac, blown up with a mine, torn down.
43. St. Nicola s church (old, reconstructed in 1985),
Gatnje village, near Urosevac, first wrecked then blown up.
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44. The church of the Most Holy Mother of God (old,
reconstructed), in Gornje Nerodimlje, Kosovo; demolished and torn
down.
45. St. Elijahs church (broadened in the reconstruction
of the old church), in Nekodim village, near Urosevac,
demolished and set on fire.
46. The church of the St. Apostles Peter and Paul, in
Talinovac, near Urosevac (recently built), vandalized,
its interior set on fire, the graveyard around it
destroyed.
47. The Holy Trinity church, in Babljak village, near
Urosevac, demolished, its interior set on fire.
48. The church of the Nativity of the Mother of God,
Softovic village, near Urosevac, demolished and burned.
49. The parish church in Novi Kacanik - destiny unknown.
50. The church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother
of God (old, reconstructed), in Korisa village, near
Prizren, razed to the ground, the old site of the church
and the graveyard, destroyed.
51. The Church of St Jeremiah in Grebnik was built in 1920 on the base of the ancient church. Around the church were several-hundred-years-old oak-trees and an ancient cemetery. The church was razed to the ground and the terrain was bulldozed over.
52. The Church erected in 1969 in the village of Kos. Stone crosses and tombstones from the old cemetery were wrecked, the church door smashed and the interior vandalized.
53. The Holy Trinity Church in Zitinje. Built in 1980 on the foundations of an old Church. During the restoration an old and damaged inscription was discovered within the ruins of the old church and was built into the new edifice. Damaged.
54. The Church of St. Petka was an old, restored sanctuary in the vicinity of the Serb village of Klokot. Mentioned in writings from 1381. The church interior was burned and on 27 July 1999 it was blown up.
55. The Church of St. Lazarus near the river Belicnica in the village of Belica. Built in the 14th century. Was a single-nave and vaulted church with the remains of the narthex in its front. Around the church are the old and the new cemeteries. The church was robbed and burned.
56. The Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah in Pomazatin, erected 1937. Pulled down in 1941 but renewed in 1964. During 1982-1985 the doors and windows were wrecked. Since NATO's arrival, the roof and the interiors were burned and parts have been destroyed by mines.
57. The 14th century Church of St. George, in Rudnik was restored in the 16th century. Frescoes date from the same period. The church was destroyed by explosives.
58. The Holy Trinity Church in Donja Ratisa near Decani was old and underwent restoration in 1935. Albanian fascists destroyed it in 1941 but it was renewed in 1992. Seven attacks were launched on it between 1996 and 1998. Since NATO's arrival it has been burned and completely destroyed with explosive devices.
59. The Church of the Holy Apostle Luke was erected in 1912, in Vitomirci. Built of marble, with one dome. Today the church stands vandalized and burned inside.
60. The Church of St. Elijah in Podujevo. Built in 1930. During World War II Albanian fascists destroyed the dome and desecrated the church. Restoration works were completed in 1971. Vandalized and burned inside.
61. The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the village of Gornja Pakastica. The foundation, dated from the 14th century. The new church, built in 1925 on the old foundations, has been vandalized and partially burned.
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The Presentation of the Virgin parish church in Bijelo Polje
near Pec in Kosovo. Built in the 16th century. Reconstructed in the 19th century. Looted and set on fire shortly after NATO and the UN took over Kosovo, June 1999.
62. A side chapel was built on the foundations of an old church at the present-day Serbian cemetery in Kosovska Mitrovica. Crosses and tombstones have been vandalized.
63. The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. In 1943-1944 the church was used as a prison where the Fascist Albanian regime kept Serbs interned before sending them to work camps in Albania and Italy. Burned and desecrated.
64. The Church of St. Nicholas in Prizren bequeathed by King Dusan to the Monastery of St Archangel in 1348. The church was in service until 1795 when Mahmud-pasha Busatlija looted it. Restored in 1857. The church treasured icons dating back as far as the mid-14th century. It was mined with twenty explosive devices. Five went off. Considerable damage.
65. The Church of the Holy Savior in Dvorani at the foot of Mount Rusnica; included a 1603 icon. Mined. Destroyed.
66. The Church of St. Elijah in the village of Lokvice at the foot of Mount Cvilena. It was built on the foundations of an older church, in 1866. It houses an 18th century icon collection. It was mentioned in writings from the 13th century. Blown up.
67. The Church of Holy Knez Lazar at the Serbian cemetery in Piskote, near Djakovica. The single-dome church was built between 1991-1994 to the designs of the architect Ljubisa Folic. It is partially demolished. The parochial home was burned.
68. The Church of St. Petka stood once in Binac. A new church was built on the old foundations at the cemetery, in 1973. The terrorist KLA destroyed it with explosives.
69. The Church of St. Petka in Gojbulja, at the foot of Mount Kopaonik. The new church was built at the village cemetery, on the remains of an ancient, 1-2 m high wall, in August 1986. The preserved arch, which vaulted the western narthex, was added, too. The old walls had traces of fresco plaster on them. There are also the remains of an old Serb cemetery from the first half of the 18th century. All desecrated.
70. The Church of St Nicholas in Stimlje, at the foot of mount Crnoljeva. Desecrated.
71. The church of St. Archangel, on a hill above Stimlje. It was built between 1920-1922 on the foundations of an older church. Thoroughly renovated in 1977, today it stands desecrated.
72. The Church of the Holy Saviour in Meciceva Mahala at the foot of Mount Ikona. Looted and burned.
73. The Church of St. Petka, west of the village of Musutiste. Looted and burned.
74. The Church of St Archangel, in Musutiste. Burned and partially demolished.
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The Parish Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Suva Reka. Built in 1938. Vandalized and later blown up by the KLA, July 1999.
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Footnotes and Further Reading
===========================================================
[1] Regarding the
charge that NATO and the UN installed the KLA in power in Kosovo,
see "How Guilty are NATO and the UN for Terror in Kosovo?" at
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/taylor1.htm
[2] * Regarding the disastrous effect of NATO's
opening of the border with Albania, see "Gracko survivors blame
NATO," at
http://emperors-clothes.com/misc/grack.htm
* Regarding the gangster character of the KLA, see
"Concentration Camps and Gangster/Terrorism in Kosovo," at
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/reporter.htm#a
* Regarding the charge that the UN is fully aware of the gangster
character of the regime they have installed, see "How will you plead
at your trial, Mr. Annan?" at
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/howwill.htm
[3] Global News Wire; Copyright 2002
Onasa News Agency;
Onasa News Agency; July 19, 2002; Headline:
Proud To Be Kla Member, Says Kosovo Prime Minister
[4] * "Driven from Kosovo!" Cedomir
Prlincevic,
the leader of the Jewish Community in Pristina, was one of some
30,000 people driven from a huge housing development in Pristina,
capital of Kosovo Province a week after NATO took over the city -
and in front of NATO troops, including a British Major. The
interview can be read at
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/ceda.htm
* Agim K. (name withheld) is a Kosovo Albanian refugee, now living
in Belgrade. Though few Americans know it, thousands of Albanians
led to Belgrade when NATO (and the KLA!) took over Kosovo. The
interview makes clear that he issue in Kosovo is the politics of
racism. Agim K. resisted - refused to help racist thugs - and he and
his family were threatened. Albanians have been a prime target of
the fascist-terrorist KLA. See "A stranger in Belgrade," at
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/albanian.htm
* "Nightmare by Design: How NATO Changed a Kosovo Town into a Racist
Hell - Interviews with three Serbian women from Kosovo..." This
article should be read by every citizen from a NATO country.
http://emperors-clothes.com/misc/savethe.htm
[5] The transformation of the terrorist KLA
*overnight* into the peace-loving Kosovo Protection Corps is one of
the things discussed in * "Stranger than Fiction: NATO and the US
Sponsor Terror in Kosovo and Macedonia," at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/nocrime.htm
* The accusation that NATO is presiding over terror in Kosovo is not
an exaggeration; it is the plain truth. Everyone should read the
interviews in "Nightmare by Design: How NATO Changed a Kosovo Town
into a Racist Hell - Interviews with three Serbian women from
Kosovo..." Every citizen from a NATO country should know what is
being done in his or her name. In our opinion, this is essentially
what NATO has in mind for Israel.
http://emperors-clothes.com/misc/savethe.htm
[6] * During World War II forces politically
identical to the KLA ran a Greater Albania, under the Nazis and the
Italian fascists. See, "The roots of Kosovo fascism," at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/thompson/rootsof.htm
* We have a whole collection of news reports on Kosovo from the
1980s. They show that, before the media was mobilized to attack the
Serbs, everyone reported that it was Serbs, not Albanians, who were
victims of racism in Kosovo. The articles are all on one page. The
one about the origins of the term 'ethnic cleansing' is at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/benworks/1980news.html#BM9
[7] * Discussed the
creation of an imaginary character, the genocidal 'Media Milosevic.
"KLA Attacks Everyone; Media Attacks...Milosevic?" at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/expan.htm
* In this second interview with Cedomir Prlincevic, the historian
and Jewish leader driven from
Kosovo, Mr. Prlincevic charges that the supposed expulsion of
Albanians during the bombing was a fraud, staged for the camera.
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/keys.htm
http://emperors-clothes.com/reports/index.htm
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