Oral-history catalogue
Testimonies
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Remzije Limani Januzi
The 1981 demonstrations and the imprisonment of women
Born in 1959 in Pogragjë (Gjilan), a student of Albanian language and literature in Prishtina from 1978. According to the archive's biography, she was arrested in 1981 and sentenced to six months, and about a year later to a year and a half. The interview covers taking part in the 1 April 1981 demonstrations, investigations and the imprisonment of women political prisoners, clandestine networks in student dormitories, and emigration to Switzerland, where she founded the women's association “Nëna Terezë”.
Personal testimonyNaser Kuka
Underground youth groups and two political imprisonments
Born in 1961 in Kaçanik. According to the archive's biography, he was sentenced in 1982 to four years for political activity and arrested again in 1988, receiving another four-year sentence; in 1994 he left for Germany. The interview covers underground youth groups in the early 1980s, the events of March–April 1981 and the wave of investigations, trial, prison, his family's hardship and political activity in the diaspora.
Personal testimonyMehmet Hajrizi
From the Revolutionary Group of Kosovo to Rambouillet
Born in 1948 in Strofc (Vushtrri). According to the archive's biography, in 1973 he co-founded the underground Revolutionary Group of Kosovo, which sought republic status for Kosovo, and served nine years in prison. In the 1990s he headed the Central Council for the Financing of Kosovo, and in 1999 he was part of the Kosovo delegation at Rambouillet. The long interview (about seven hours) covers the repression of his family, underground organisations, the 1981 demonstrations, the financing of the parallel institutions and the war period.
Personal testimonyNerimane Kamberi
Reporting the Trepça miners' strike, 1989
A journalist, translator and writer born in 1967 in Preševo. The interview, part of the “Miners' Strike 1989” collection, covers her reporting on the Trepça miners' hunger strike in February 1989 — including going down into the mine — her work as a translator for foreign journalists, student mobilisation, the blood-feud reconciliation campaign and the war years.
Personal testimonySelim Krasniqi
The parallel gymnasium in private houses
A teacher born in 1956 in Junik, active in the parallel education system of the 1990s. The interview, part of the “Home Schools of the 1990s” collection, describes the Albanian-language gymnasium held for years in Lismir and in private houses, police harassment of pupils, families' support in paying teachers, his work as a correspondent in 1998–1999 and documenting the missing after the war.
Personal testimonyFlora Brovina
Doctor, poet and women's rights activist
A paediatrician, poet and activist born in 1949 in Skenderaj. The interview, part of the collections on the March 1998 women's protests and women's activism, covers her childhood in a politically persecuted family, work as a journalist at “Rilindja”, the 1990 poisoning of schoolchildren and her dismissal from the hospital, the founding of the Women's League, women's protests and her imprisonment in Požarevac and Niš.
Personal testimonySlavica Jovanović
A village's “parallel” lives and leaving after the war
A Kosovo Serb lawyer born in 1967 in Gušica (Viti). The interview gives a Serb perspective on the 1990s and 1999: Serb and Albanian communities living “in parallel” in the village and at university, starting work in April 1990 and the dismissal of Albanian staff at her company, warnings of war, the NATO bombing and leaving for Serbia after the war.
Personal testimonySinan Ramić
A Roma experience of the war and its aftermath
A Roma man from Çagllavica, born in 1966. The interview, part of the collection “Silenced Voices: Roma Experiences of War and Displacement”, covers family life in Çagllavica and Plemetina, fear during the 1999 bombing, the insecurity of Roma after the war and relatives leaving for Montenegro, and relations between Roma, Serbs and Albanians today.
Personal testimony