Written by: Ibrahim Berisha
Colonization of the Kosovo Plain: Pristina
The Serbian policy of colonization since 1912 aimed to create practices of Serb dominance by forcibly removing Albanians, if not completely, to create ethnically mixed villages, on one side, and on the other, pure settlements with Serbian and Montenegrin settlers. In 1922, Pristina was surrounded by a settler population. New settlements were created, or the population structure in the villages of Pristina was changed. There was a strategy to build homogeneous Serbian settlements around the entire city, so they were settled en masse, settlers were brought in, also benefiting from great favors: unlimited power, houses, land, mountains, animals, work and agricultural equipment and tools, family and individual financing. Villages with Serbian and Montenegrin settlers around Pristina, after the Serbization of names, where they were settled: Pristina 150 families, Fushë-Kosovo 154, Obiliq 86, Lipjan 10, Pomozotin 46, Miloshevë 68, Devet Jugoviq 71, Lebanë 9, Dober Selë 28, Bardh i Madh 24, Miradi e Epërme 83, Hajvali 49, Zllatar 20, Vrellë 108, Radevë 6, Medvec 13, Vragoli 12, Sllatinë 34, Harilaq 24, Batusë 4, Lepi 4, Magura 25, Qagllaviće 5, Suha Doll 131, Kryshefc 18, Orllovic 84, Mazgit 12, etc. In the Gracanica district, Serbian and Montenegrin settlers were settled in 24 large and 22 small localities. This includes settlers, not counting administrators and government officials, from gendarmes to tax collectors.
Goddess on the Throne and 1500 Colonist Women
The symbol has been following Pristina like a gift since 1956. The Goddess on the Throne figurine today represents the sign of the city's cultural and historical identity. Its dominant image, eyes and ears similar to those of UFOs, is as imposing as it is mystical. It was preserved in the ground for 6 thousand years until, during the excavation of the foundations of a cotton spinning factory, where over 1500 women, mainly Serbian colonists, from Niš, Vranje, Leskoc, Prokupje, etc., were to be employed, it was accidentally discovered. What was this figurine, whose ancestor's hand made it, to whom did it belong if not to gain the historical right to this city, or, at least, for its cultural prestige? Its mystery is greater than the mystery of the urbs of Pristina. This emotional meaning led to its theft from the Kosovo Museum in 1999, and its captivity in the Folk and Ethnological Museum in Belgrade for four years. The figurine entered into major international auctions and was returned to the Kosovo Museum in May 2002, after international pressure to identify it more with a political and diplomatic triumph than a cultural one.
The spinning mill, once, where other archaeological treasures were buried.
The Goddess is a statue of a woman that speaks of a tradition in which the role of women, despite today's misconceptions, lived in this region with active civilization, so it was. The message of the statue of the Goddess on the Throne, spoken with public rhetoric - reminds us of the central role of women who lived in this region, where even today they work to gain that position, not excluding the capital of Kosovo. The question is whether it can be functionalized as "a symbol of inspiration to create a modern society, in which it is not thought that it is unnatural for women to hold power, in which there is essential equality and in which women join men as equal partners at the center of social and political life".
Muhajir Mahalla: The Philanthropist Kadirie
The genocide of Serbia and Russia, in the Sandzak of Niš and the settlements where Albanians lived, forced the survivors to settle everywhere, up to Syria, but most, due to the proximity to their settlements, stopped in Kosovo and the surrounding regions. Also in the years 1877/78 in Pristina, 500 Muhajir families from these settlements were settled, creating the Muhajir Neighborhood, which to this day preserves fragments of identity, with feelings of original cohesion. The Muhajirs gave a new dynamic urban component, patriotic as well.
The solidarity of Prishtina residents with the families who settled in the eastern part of the city was great. They were helped with "hajrati" facilities and services by well-known families in the city.
The mosque that was built in this neighborhood was a gift from Mrs. Kadirie. The mosque took the name of the donor: Kadirie Mosque. The donated property of the Pristina lady also breaks a stereotype, built by "Serbian science" adopted by that of the Albanians, that in this Empire, women did not have the right to property. Women in Pristina were also owners of houses, lands, premises, and farms, as evidenced by the cadastral documents in the Central Archives of Turkey, in Ankara.
Humanist Minife Topërlaku
In a small, old, one-story house, lived a woman, alone, but never completely alone. A humanist, perhaps one of the most humanists that Pristina has ever had. She lived throughout the 20th century. The noblewoman, Minife Topërlaku, as best she could and in poverty, took in, raised, educated, and made twelve orphaned and abandoned children her own, during her lifetime: Sylejman, Shyqyri, Xhelal, Vlakë, Lumnie, Advina, Nazmina…
Urban identity
Legends are as repetitive as the loss and rebuilding of the settlement. Ancient Ulpiana-Prishtina today that survived major earthquakes, two massive fires, the plague and small and large wars. The shadow of the plague has remained even today in memories from generations of stories, with the toponym "Plague Tombs". One of the human and cultural symbols of Albanians, Pjetër Bogdani, lived but could not withstand the plague or plagues, this, not only the epidemic in Prishtina. Where is the monument to Pjetër Bogdani in Prishtina? An inherent meaning of the Prishtina identity.
A devastating plague for the people of Pristina occurred on November 20-24, 1944, when the urban part of Pristina was massacred: no sign anywhere, except for the crime memorized in the name: Strelishta /Firing Site/ in Tauk Bahçe.
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