Monopoly Massacre

Monopoly massacre
Part of World War II
a photo of the Tetovo Monopoly
Location
Date
Target	Albanian civilians suspected of being members of Balli Kombetar
Attack type	Mass murder by rifles and execution by knife
Deaths	300
Perpetrators	Macedonian Partisans

The Monopoly massacre (Albanian: Masakra e Monopolit) was the mass execution of many Albanian men accused of being a part of the Albanian collaborationist force Balli Kombetar, which took place in 1944 by the Macedonian Partisans. The German forces had almost completely withdrawn from the Albanian-held Macedonian territories by the end of August 1944, leaving the Partisans to enact reprisals against Albanians, who in the previous years of the war intended to incorporate Macedonia into Albania.

Background

On September 8, 1944, the secretary of the Regional National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Macedonia, Vidoe Smilevski-Bato, in a letter sent to the General Staff of the "National Liberation Movement (Albania)", requested that Albanian troops be sent to facilitate combat operations. He would praise the great role of the Albanian partisans, in order to help the plan of the Macedonian forces to liquidate the "reactionary waste" of Xhem Gostivari and Mefail Zajazi.

Although it was expected that the Communists of Tirana would take a reprimanding attitude towards the Slavic-Macedonian reprisals on the Albanians, they nonetheless sent Partisans to Albanian villages outside the political borders, such as in Tetovo and other cities of Albanian Macedonia, inciting the fratricidal war.

On the other hand, Skopje, in coordination with Belgrade, on October 24–25, 1944, abducted 40 boys from the Orthodox village of Volkovi in Tetovo, under the pretext that it would arm them and send them to the Syrmian front, in the war against the Germans. A few days later however, their corpses were found on the shores of Vardar River.

Massacre

The Macedonian Partisans, being under the direct influence of national liberation army of Yugoslavia, on November 19, 1944, surrounded the buildings of the Tobacco Monopoly in Tetovo, where within a few days they gathered over 10,000 Albanians from the city of Tetovo and the surrounding villages. The concentration of such a large number of people in a few days was done with measures of violence and terror. Men, old and young, were kidnapped from their homes and taken at a gunpoint to the concentration camp in the Tobacco Monopoly in Tetovo.

The prisoners were kept in inhumane conditions, with thousands of people being held in the dark rooms of the monopoly. Many of them died, while many others, according to the lists prepared by the communist leaders, had been liquidated without trial or guilty veridct, throwing their dead bodies in some canals not far from the monopoly. Those who protested were shot in the head.

Mass killings not only occurred in the Monopoly facility in Tetovo, but also in Gostivar and Kičevo. Some of the Albanian leaders of the Partisan units had raised their voices in the face of this situation, but the highest political authorities in Macedonia, especially the Headquarters of the first Macedonian brigade, declared that the fate of the Albanians imprisoned and tortured in the Tetovo Monopoly, as well as thousands of other Albanians, was only in the hands of the Yugoslav Partisans.

Despite the strict measures to keep secret the actions of the Yugoslav Partisans in the Tetovo Monopoly, the Albanian nationalists had realized what was happening in the camp, so they had made some attempts at some combat action to approached the camp. This was impossible due to the concentration of large forces led by General Ilic, commander of the 48th Yugoslav Division, who had surrounded Tetovo with 17,000 soldiers, armed and authorized to open fire against every Albanian.

In the first days of January 1945, officers of the Macedonian military units had entered the Monopoly camp in Tetovo and had selected about 500 young Albanians capable of fighting, who would fight in the formations of the Seventh National Liberation Brigade at the Syrmian front. In the first opposition shown by two young Albanians from Tetovo, they opened fire.

The Macedonian political and military authorities tried to cover up the atrocities.

Aftermath

Nexhat Agolli from Debar, who had a high position in the communist hierarchy and in the new government, together with his brother, Qemal Agolli, as well as other communists, such as Haqif Lleshi, Sali Lisi, etc., had raised their voices to Serbian and Macedonian leaders, such as Svetozar Vukmanovic-Tempo and Lazar Kolishevski, for the release of the 10,000 Albanians who were kept locked up and under torture in the Tobacco Monopoly facility in Tetovo, with no hope of rescue. According to some data, in one night more prisoners were taken from Monopoly and liquidated near Tetovo, just as it happened in Gostivar, Kičevo, Debar and elsewhere. Albanians were accused by the new Macedonian government as "collaborators of fascism".

Statue of Nexhat Agolli

Nexhat Agolli's intervention to the Serbian-Macedonian political leader succeeded in saving thousands of Albanian lives from certain death. The gesture was noticed by the new government. Soon, the Serbian-Macedonian UDB arrested him in his apartment, subjecting him to inhumane torture, forcing him to betray the sacred national cause and his illegal comrades in Pristina and Skopje.

Agolli was not one of those who could remain indifferent, neither to accusations nor to anti-Albanian crimes. He raised his voice for Albanians to be given the promised rights and freedoms, national equality and their historical symbols, the right to use the language and the right to educate the Albanian masses in their mother tongue, equality of representation in the legislative and executive power and linguistic.

With special dedication, he ensured the opening of the Albanian Pedagogical Course in Skopje, in addition to those that were opened in Prizren and Pristina and were assisted by several dozen teachers from Albania. In 1945, he opened the elementary school "Liria" in the Albanian language, while later in cooperation with his comrades, he published the newspaper in the Albanian language "Flaka".

Agolli became even bigger through the confrontations with the government between 1946 and 1949. His thoughts and attitudes were not closed in themselves, they found their reflection in the organization of illegal and programmed activity, the essence of which was and remained the nationwide Albanian union.

Agolli, having strong connections with other prominent Albanian activists in Kosovo, had attracted the attention of the central UDB of Yugoslavia. For this reason, in May 1948 he was dismissed from the executive functions of the Macedonian government. On midnight on April 15–16, 1949 he was arrested in his apartment. Ten days later, on April 27–28, he was brutally executed in prison, while after midnight his lifeless body was taken out in the Skopje square, where the secret police fired a volley of bullets at him allegedly killing him on the run. His life and contributions were showcased by Professor Shaban Braha from Tirana, in a symposium on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of his murder.

See also

• List of mass executions and massacres in Yugoslavia during World War II
• List of massacres in North Macedonia
• Balli Kombëtar

References

This article "Monopoly Massacre" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Monopoly Massacre. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---