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#2051 MAY 17 - 19, 2011

The Skanderbeg Division

and Yugoslavia Nr. 3
By Saimir Lolja British intelligence operations in pre- vica underlined that the German occu-
war Albania. The first group of British pation would end soon and called
Laid out below is an inclusive analy- SOE officers entered Albania in late Albanians to be prepared politically
sis on the specifics of the “21. Waffen- April 1943 and directly joined the par- for the peace conference that would
Gebirgs Division der SS Skanderbeg”. tisan (communist) forces. In wartime follow the end of WW2. Tahir Zajmi
The elucidation on this subject utilizes Albania, the communist forces began brought fresh insight as to how grave
Albanian archival data presented by gaining strength due to support and was the danger coming from Yugoslav
Shaban Sinani in his publication in guidance by Yugoslav and British SOE factions, no matter what the political
the Albanian language, “Jews in Alba- emissaries. That assistance included force they belonged to. He recalled the
nia: The Presence and Salvation, Nai- continuous military supplies, weapons, massacre carried out in January 1943
mi, Tirana, 2009”. This study has clothes, training, and money provided by Serb-Montenegrin Chetniks when
become necessary due to an oscillation to them by British SOE. they burnt the town of Bihor and killed
in the “number of Jews deported or On 2 August 1943, the Communist 4700 Albanians of all ages. In the end,
victimized in Kosova by Skanderbeg Party of Albania and the National the Congress elected the Central Com-
Division”, as reported in the publica- Front (Balli Kombëtar) met at the vil- mittee of the 2nd ALP with Chairman Cuff Title of the 21. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderbeg.
tions of different authors. The oscilla- lage of Mukja in respect to the contin- Rexhep Mitrovica, Deputies Musa She-
tion itself is a corroboration of the lack uation of war against the occupying hzade and Kolë Margjini, and active
of a comprehensive research in the forces and the future of ethnic Albania. members Sheh Hasani, Asllan Boletini, 20 September 1941. To reach the objec- was concluded that Germans would
Albanian archives and the full story of As advised, the CPA objected to the Tahir Zajmi and Qazim Bllaca. The tive, Albanians had to be kept inside form a division of the SS named
Skanderbeg Division, not to mention inclusion of Kosova into Albania at first mandate of the Committee would the borders prior to the invasion by “Skanderbeg” that would be armed,
the perspectives of some authors who the end of WW2. However, for the be to establish an organized military the Italian army in April 1939 and all fed, dressed, trained and com-
spent sleepless nights propagandizing sake of unity, a compromise was force that was critical for the protection Albanian efforts for unifying Albanian manded by the Waffen-SS. Its order
against Albanians and anything Alban- reached by allowing the population of of Albanian lands and population. provinces in one entity had to be shat- of formation was issued in Berlin
ian. The cases wherein the “deeds” of Kosova after the war to decide by ref- On 16 October 1943, a National tered. The responsibility for imple- on 17 April 1944. Bedri Pejani tried
Skanderbeg Division have been erendum which to join. As a result of Congress began in Tirana. It reestab- menting that policy was assigned to to convince Germans that 150000
assigned outside the time limits of its advice from both Yugoslav and British lished the Independence of Albania, British investment entities in Southeast volunteers 18-24 years old would
existence and the cases of assigning SOE agents, the CPA denounced the declared Albania to be neutral and on Europe. In Yugoslavia Nr. 3 and Alba- be ready to enlist into the Skander-
photographs to Skanderbeg Division agreement some days later and then, 8 November 1943 it elected Rexhep nia the communist forces executed the beg Division. The German authori-
must be addressed. immediately, communist forces began Mitrovica as the Prime-Minister of task, whereas in Greece the National ties did not believe him because
From the time of the invasion of attacking nationalist forces. After that, Albania. As a result of that, Bedri Republican Greek League (EDES) led such a number was demographi-
Yugoslavia by the German, Italian and the nationalist forces and the German Pejani was elected the Chairman of by Napoleon Zervas carried out the cally impossible. In a communiqué
Hungarian armies in April 1941 to army had a common enemy: the com- the 2nd ALP. Bedri Pejani, primarily a work. of 5 May 1944, Herman Neubacher,
November 1944, most of the Alban- munist forces. nationalist, also corresponded with A meeting of Joseph Stalin, the Reich III representative in the
ian-inhabited areas that had been pre- In such an atmosphere of national Comintern. The Italian army had Bedri Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston region, called Bedri Pejani “not a
viously taken away from Albania and disunity and treachery, the Congress Pejani jailed in South Albania until 13 Churchill took place between 28 normal person” and noted “the only
given to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia of the Second Albanian League of September 1943. Xhaferr Deva was November and 1 December 1943 in intention of Albanians was to defeat
joined Albania. The province of Kosova Prizren (2nd ALP) took place in Prizren the Internal Minister in the govern- Tehran, Iran. British and Soviet Armies Serbs and Montenegrins”.
was organized in the Prefectures of from 16-19 September 1943. The Italian ment of Albania between October 1943 had already occupied Iran between 25 The Skanderbeg Division was
Mitrovica, Prishtina, and Prizren. The army had just capitulated on 8 Sep- and June 1944. The book “Rescue in August and 17 September 1941. Here, one of the 44 divisions fielded dur-
county of Ulqin in Montenegro became tember 1943 and the 2nd ALP was Albania: One Hundred Percent of Jews combined with the enthusiasm of Stal- ing WW2 as part of the Waffen-SS,
part of the Prefecture of Shkodra; the against Nazi-Fascist occupiers. The in Albania Rescued from Holocaust, in, Churchill made possible the first out of which 28 were composed of
county of Tetova in Western Macedo- 2nd ALP was on the same course as Brunswick Press, 1997” by Harvey decision of the Tehran Conference to non-German recruits. At the time
nia became part of the Prefecture of the First Albanian League of Prizren Sarner confirms that Xhaferr Deva supply equipment and commando when Skanderbeg Division began
Prishtina, and so on. Only the Southern (10 June 1878 – 1881), which was refused to give the list of thousands of operations to aid the partisans of forming, there were already in op-
Albanian Province of Çamëria, occu- formed by Albanians representing all Jews to Nazis when they so requested Yugoslavia. On 24 May 1944, in direct eration three other Waffen-SS Di-
pied by Greece in March 1913, did not Albanian lands. The 1st ALP fought and even reminded them that such a consultation with Yugoslav emissaries visions in ex-Yugoslavia filled with
become yet part of Albania throughout for the protection of Albanian lands request was interference with the inter- and British OSE officers, the CPA held local recruits: “7. SS-Freiwilligen-
WW2. and population against the decisions nal affairs of Albania. a Congress in Përmet with the same Gebirgs Division Prinz Eugen” with
In direct involvement and relying of the Congress of Berlin (13 June - 13 The nationalists knew well what organizing model and purpose as com- a majority of German recruits from
on intelligence work of previous July 1878) and the attacks by neighbors the Yugoslav emissaries, under the munists did in Yugoslavia. It laid the Vojvodina along with Serbs, Croat-
Yugoslav consulates in Albania, directly helped by the Russian Empire. patronage of British OSE officers, were foundations for the future communist ians, Hungarians and Romanians,
Yugoslav communist emissaries Due to restrictions in time, the organ- conspiring with the Albanian commu- Albania in complete imitation of what totaling 21120 men; “13. Waffen-
formed the Communist Party of Alba- izers of the 2nd ALP were mostly from nists against the Albanian national the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in Gebirgs-Division der SS Handschar
nia (CPA) on 8 November 1941. The Kosova, Sanxhak and Western Mace- cause. From collected intelligence, consultation with British OSE had (Kroatische Nr. 1)” with 90% of re-
seeds that Yugoslav communist envoys donia. The Albanian situation in 1944 including Comintern channels through done in Jajca, Bosnia, on 29 November cruits from Bosnia and 10% from
planted in Albania and the intelligence was similar to that of 1878 and the Bedri Pejani, they were also aware of 1943 [simultaneously with the Tehran Croatia, totaling 21065 men; and
networks they established in the open 2nd ALP had as the first article in its the aims of the Soviet Union and its Conference] for the future communist “23. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der
until 1948 were so malicious that even program the permanent unification of motive for helping the southern Slavs Yugoslavia or Yugoslavia Nr. 3. Among SS Kama (Kroatische Nr. 2)” with
now their fruits and buds leak poison all Albanian regions and their protec- and moving 12 million Soviet soldiers other decisions, the Congress of Përmet recruits from Bosnia, totaling 2199
and blood. On its side, the British tion by the use of arms. The head of into the heart of Europe. The events announced that the future communist men. In Greece, the German army
organization known as the Special the organizing council of the 2nd ALP, before and after the end of the bloody Albania would recognize the borders had recruited, equipped, dressed
Operations Executive (SOE) operated Musa Shehzade, condemned the atroc- war confirmed their worries. Immedi- preceding the occupation by the Italian and trained 22000 Greeks and or-
in wartime Albania in accordance with ities committed in Albania by the Ital- ately after WW2 ended for Kosova army on 7 April 1939. For any nation- ganized them in units known as the
ian occupiers and acknowledged the and with the help of Albanian com- alist, that was the seal of national Security Battalions. These were ex-
Albanian political and armed resistance munist divisions, the Yugoslav com- treachery by communists, because all tensively engaged both in the holo-
against that occupation. Then, he munist divisions massacred 50000 the Albanian lands chopped off in 1913 caust and fighting against commu-
defined the German army as an occu- Albanians in Kosova, first those who would be left outside the Albanian nist forces known as the Greek
pying force in transit and requested were directly involved with the 2nd border again. People’s Liberation Army (ELAS).
that it work to the benefit of the Alban- ALP. Their massacres did not differ Hence, the 2nd ALP fervently SS-Brigadeführer Josef Fitzhum
ian national cause. Other speakers fol- from those reported by journalist Leo needed support in the form of a commanded the Skanderbeg Divi-
lowed suit. Freundlich in 1913 in his series “Alban- strong military force for the sole in- sion from mid to end of April 1944
After the capitulation of the Italian iens Golgotha”, at the time when tention of the defense of Kosova. and SS-Brigadeführer August
army on 8 September 1943, a provisory Yugoslavia Nr. 1 was being brewed. However, the options and time for Schmidthuber and his Deputy SS-
Albanian administration was estab- The British Foreign Service bro- that purpose were too thin. The only Obersturmbannführer Alfred Graf
lished in Tirana. Its delegation, com- kered Yugoslavia Nr. 1 before WW1 solution was to establish a military commanded it from early May to
posed of Bedri Pejani, Rexhep Mitro- and Yugoslavia Nr. 2 in 1929 [that force with the help of the German early November 1944, at which time
vica, Xhafer Deva, Rrok Maloku, Xhelal ceased to exist in 1941], and then bro- army. The 2nd ALP assigned its the Skanderbeg Division was dis-
Mitrovica, Mazhar Sopoti, etc., took kered Yugoslavia Nr. 3 all through Chairman Bedri Pejani to negotiate banded. Though Skanderbeg Divi-
Arm-Patch Insignia of the 21. Waffen- part in the Congress of the 2nd ALP WW2. The first group of SOE agents with German representatives for sion was under the complete au-
Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderbeg. and delivered speeches. Rexhep Mitro- was dispatched to ex-Yugoslavia on this. After intense negotiations, it thority and direct command of
 9
#2051 MAY 17 - 19, 2011

Waffen-SS officers, the heads of the

2nd ALP were hopeful of a military
unit with Albanian soldiers on the
ground to protect Kosova and ready
for any eventualities that might
arise after the war. However, things
did not go as they wished.
In total, from April to November
1944, there were 11389 potential re-
cruits, but more than half were not
accepted due to their health condi-
tions. As part of the agreement,
4000 Albanian prisoners (Bedri Pe-
jani requested 8000) were released
from the Dachau concentration
camp for the purpose of mobiliza-
tion into Skanderbeg Division. They
arrived in Prishtina on 10 May 1944.
A few thousand German sailors
from the “Kriegsmarine – Navy”
who had lost their ships also became
part of the Skanderbeg Division and
constituted its trusted operational
core. Less than 2000 Albanian re-
cruits from “13. Waffen-Gebirgs Di-
vision der SS Handschar” in Bosnia
were also pulled into Skanderbeg
Division; these later deserted as did
all other recruits. After the disband-
ment of Skanderbeg Division, its re-
maining German soldiers and offi-
cers joined the “7.
SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs Division
Prinz Eugen”.
The first military order “to care
for the security of Kosova” was given
to Skanderbeg Division on 29 April
1944. Units of Skanderbeg Division
participated in fighting only in the
military operation “Draufgenger” in
Montenegro in July-August 1944.
There is no document ordering
Skanderbeg Division to conduct ar-
rests (including those of May-June
Left to right: Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill on the verandah of the Soviet Embassy in Tehran during the Tehran Conference.
1944), deportations or killings.
Skanderbeg Division was yet in re-
cruitment and formation process in Order of Battle (15 May 1944) beg Division was fully disbanded. tion, Naimi, Tirana, 2009” by Sha- had been made in Serbia, Montenegro,
May 1944 and 4000 emaciated Al- There is an original German doc- ban Sinani. The “Transportenliste” Kosova, Macedonia and inner Albania,
XXI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps
banians had just arrived on 10 May ument, dated 13 July 1944, which can be consulted either in this book and covering a time span from May
1944 in Prishtina from Dachau con- 2. Regiment “Brandenburg” states in one small paragraph: “The or at the Central Archive of Albania 1942 to August 1944. In addition, the
centration camp with the intention 181. Infanterie-Division SS-Div., between 28 May and 5 July under the reference “Fund 153, Year arrests had been general in terms of
of enlisting to Skanderbeg Division. 297. Infanterie-Division 1944, arrested 510 Jews, commu- 1944, Dossier 172, Pages 10-38”. All persons, location and time. The major-
Those 4000 Albanians would have nists, helpers of partisans and sus- through its existence, the Skander- ity of the arrests were carried out dur-
required thousands of guards to Order of Battle (15 June 1944) picious persons in political respect. beg Division received no orders to ing June-July 1944, which was the
keep them in line. XXI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps They were taken in custody in Di- arrest or kill anyone, including exact period that the German army
Throughout its existence, deser- vision’s prisoner camp and 249 of Jews, because though it was under was conducting big military operations
2. Regiment “Brandenburg”
tions of Albanian recruits were com- them transported to Germany for total Waffen-SS command, it was throughout wartime Albania and sur-
monplace and constituted the main SS-Polizei-Regiment 5 (in Serbia) labor”. This document does not not reliable or ready for operations. rounding countries.
cause for the demobilization of Feldkommandantur 1040 (in Montenegro) specifically refer to Skanderbeg Di- It was assigned primarily to guards’ The Skanderbeg Division neither
Skanderbeg Division. Its units were 181. Infanterie-Division vision. Also, by definition, an “SS duty. Therefore, the only orders it took part in the holocaust nor was it
not stable enough to complete train- 297. Infanterie-Division Division” was made up of Germans received were the following orders intended to do so. The German army
ing and become operational. In a 21. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Skan- or other Germanic peoples, while a for guarding 801 persons trans- accepted its formation as a fighting
report dated 30 June 1944, Herman derbeg” (Albanische Nr. 1) (forming) “Division of the SS” was made up ported by train from Prishtina to force against partisan (communist)
Neubacher wrote: “SS forces (not of non-German recruits. Sajmishte near Beograd. The date forces and the leaders of 2nd ALP
the Albanian authorities) are trying According to the records in “The of order of implementation was 18 intended it to become a military force
to recruit Albanians into Skander- Order of Battle (15 July 1944) House of the Wannsee Conference” August 1944. The information about in training, capable of being used after
beg Division”. In early September XXI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps (www.ghwk.de/poln/katpol8.htm), the “Transportenliste” follows: the war for the protection of Albanian
1944, Skanderbeg Division had 6491 2. Regiment “Brandenburg” it is written: “The German XXI
volunteers - truly volunteers be- 181. Infanterie-Division Corps arrested 510 persons in May
cause most of them never ventured 1944”. Here, it says the “XXI Corps” List Date of writing the list Transportation Date Total persons Jews
297. Infanterie-Division
from their homes. By the end of and not the “21. Waffen-Gebirgs- List I 09.08.1944 18.08.1944 238 1
21. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Skan-
September 1944, desertions brought Division der SS Skanderbeg”. Re- Annex I to List I 13.08.1944 No date 13 0
derbeg” (Albanische Nr. 1) (forming)
the number to 3994 recruits, some ferring to the aforementioned Or- List II 09.08.1944 18.08.1944 249 40
of whom were even unarmed. In a ders of Battle, the “XXI Corps” had List III 05.08.1944 18.08.1944 151 0
report dated 2 October 1944, Her- Order of Battle (31 Aug 1944) no Skanderbeg Division in its Order List IV 09.08.1944 18.08.1944 150 1
man Neubacher called the forma- XXI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps of Battle of May 1944 and other
Total 801 42
tion of this Division a terrible mis- 181. Infanterie-Division units of “XXI Corps” handled the
take, because, as he wrote, “…they 297. Infanterie-Division arrests. In the Order of Battle on 15
[Albanians] do not know any disci- 21. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Skan- June 1944, two more experienced Of the 42 Jews noted on the lists, lands and population.
pline. They only register for taking units were part of “XXI Corps” two Albanian women were noted as Yet, both plans failed to materialize
derbeg” (Albanische Nr. 1) (forming)
the arms that adore a lot and then whilst Skanderbeg Division was still “Ihr Man ist Jude – Her husband is during the existence of Skanderbeg
go away with them to their under formation. Jewish”, two are noted as “Sohn - Son” Division. Moreover, the Albanian
homes...”. In the Order of Battle on 15 May The arrested persons waiting for and three as “Tochter – Daughter”. administration had no command or
Referring to www.axishistory.com, 1944 and prior, Skanderbeg Divi- transportation by train can be Thus, there were only 35 Jews in the authority over the fragile Skanderbeg
the date of formation of the “XXI. sion did not exist. In the Order of checked by name, birthday, place “Transportenliste” of August 1944. The Division. After the German army occu-
Gebirgs-Armeekorps” as part of Battle on 28 September 1944 and of arrest, job, date of arrest and rest were communists, partisans and pied all of Kosova in September 1943,
“2. Panzerarmee” was 25 August afterward, the Skanderbeg Division cause of arrest on the original doc- helpers of partisans, bandits and polit- it was absolutely unsafe for Jews to
1943 and its first Order of Battle had already ceased to exist. As seen, uments known as the “Transporten- ical opponents, Albanians and ex- live there. The years of war had shown
came on 5 September 1943. Only Skanderbeg Division was continu- liste” of August 1944. The “Trans- Yugoslavians. Of the 42 Jews, only six them a safer place and Jews had
the following three Orders of Battle ally in a state of “being formed” and portenliste” have been published for were resident Jews living in Kosova already been relocated there: to inner
reveal Skanderbeg Division and its as such it was militarily unreliable. the first time in the book “Jews in before April 1941. The lists also indicate Albania.
actual situation: In early November 1944, Skander- Albania: The Presence and Salva- that the arrests of the 801 persons (Edited by Cheryl John.)