Just come across this channel and have subscribed. These little covered aspects of history are fascinating. Was there an attempt to recruit pow's from the USA ? On the other side the RAF had many nationalities also. Poles probably being the most well known.
Nice video, I just want to add that one reason why Germany was so serious about an "independent" Albanian state was because they needed to control the country with as few troops as possible. Because of this the Wehrmacht was ordered not to mendle with the government too much and let the collaborators do the most work. This led to the Germans being regarded with some form of respect by the population for being "well behaved". The collaborators on the other hand and BK specificaly were losing support quickly due to their use of terror and fusing with the pro-german government wich lead to more support for the communist who were generaly disciplined and often used persuation rather than force to gain materials from the people.
@@virtuallifter2438 only partially true, because in the case of the saved Jews, the Albanian government itself was very much involved going against the order to turn in the list of Jewish families in Albania, and gave order to Albanian border guards to ignore fake papers etc.and let the Jewish families come in and then the local population did the rest. They were sheltered with Albanian families or in abandoned houses where locals send food etc.
Well done. Another fascinating subject and a intriguing, little known aspect of WW2 history. But, very relevant as regards later events in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990's.
I've been on vacation in Mauritius. It is very interesting that there are hundreds of bastions along the coastlines of the island. Build by the Dutch. A subject, in case you run out of ideas 😊.
"Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me" -Michael Scott looking forward for more history from you
Thank you, Stefan, for so diligently researching and presenting such a complex aspect of WW2 political and military history. Albania has always been a mysterious, low-profile country to many outsiders, this video giving a little insight into the way that people thought during those troubled and dangerous times.
@@HistoryHustlethere was no collab, thats greek excuse ehy they massacred and drove out cham people. until now a open issue between albania and greece.
A video about the Cham genocide? Or a video about the Albanian partisans fighting for.Greece? Or a video about Albanian Arvanites being key figures and fighting for the independence of Greece? Did you forget that your heroes of the independece of your country are Albanians?
Sir I enjoyed your video lecture on the Albanian SS Unit. You presented the facts unambiguously. Thank you for producing another brilliant video lecture on the subject. I await your your next offering.
Ss unit of Shqiperie were misguided ignorant people from poor origins.I do not accept they represented the majority of Albanian people.And believe that any of them still alive must be prosecuted for war crimes against innocent civilians.
Good film again Stefan ! War is chaos and unleashes forces that peace keeps largely under control and an example is the Balkans, an area with a tragic history but with such great potential that hopefully will see fruition in the coming years. Albania may have had a sideshow role in World War 2 but the impact on the inhabitants was as tragic as so many other states.
a fragile coalition, in Bosnia they worked together until a catholic Unit HOS/HVO or voijna Policia commited a massacre , on civilians, in Travnik/Vitez Region in the Village of Amici, later they became allies again because of US pressure@@AlbanianManIB
Thank you for showcasing one of the least-known foreign units of the Waffen-SS. Kudos for also mentioning some of the differences between Albanians from Albania vs. the ones from Kosovo.
It was not created in Albania but in Kosovo and its activities were limited within Kosovo. The Germans used the long Serbian terror against the albanian population to recruit but, most of them realised they had been lied to and deserted.
The Albanians from Albania cooperated with fascist Mussolini they attack Greece with the Italian army at October's 1940 and they commit numerous crimes in Epirus and Macedonia in North Greece
Never a dull moment in the Balkans! Something interesting I read in a magazine when I was young, and by that I mean before the internet. The story was about Leka Jr. who was considered to be the King of Albania, was living in exile in suburban South Africa and looked like an ordinary bloke. I was quite intrigued but couldn’t easily find out more. This episode made me go look up the story. What privileged times we live in, being able to access the whole story at the click of a button😊
@@danditto6145are you trying to justify ethnic cleansing of Serbs and all other war crimes by claiming "they did kind of started it"?! Are you aware the WWI was a continuation of the Moroccan crisis? If someone killed Hitler in 1940 while he visited Paris, would that be considered as a terrorist attack and a just cause for continual satanizaton of the French? What about the assasination of Heydrich in Prague, was that also a "dreadful terrorist attack"? Don't forget, Austria Hungary occupied Bosnia, just like Nazis did with the most of the Europe in the XX century. The asassinations of occupiers and tyrants was always a way of fighting by the oppressed peoples all over the world. What's worrying is that someone justifies war crimes and criminals by saying "they kinda started it".🤮
It is naive to believe that the Serbs started the war through Princip. The war was already planned in advance, and a reason was being sought to start it. If you just look at how Franz Ferdinand's visit went, it is immediately clear that he was sent to his death. He arrives in extremely hostile territory on the most important day for Serbs, and then they drive him in a convertible through Sarajevo, and after the first unsuccessful assassination, they return him to the same car to finish the job. Instead of immediately removing him and looking for the assassins, no one did anything, but Ferdinand was driven in a convertible as an easy target. Imagine that they throw a bomb or fire a bullet at you, and then you return to the street as if nothing happened? Where is the logic?@@danditto6145
How is Albania a complex part of WWII? This country both the government and the vast majority of the people collaborated with both the Italian fascists and the Nazis - end of complexity.
''Vass majority of people''' no, they did not. Given that Albania was the *ONLY* European country to refuse to hand over Jews to Nazis, and the fact that it was the *ONLY* country to have more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning, CLEARLY it couldn't have been the majority who collaborated with the Nazis given how many Jews they protected. @@papertoyss
@@eurech There was a resistance movement, which was insignificant. I mentioned collaboration and the vast majority of the people collaborated with both the Italian fascists and the Nazis. Fact!
Pershendetje ! I am surprised you did not know I thought every one in Shqiperia knew.It is something I hope you and your family will always be proud of.Shqiperia has never been bad for the jewish people in that there we jews have always been treated equally.The people of your beloved precious country have been victims of racism they have never been racists against other peoples.Zoti bekofte Shqiperie.
Thanks for this great and informative video. It also sheds a light on the roots of later present situation in Serbian breakaway province of Kosovo. Serbian population there was decimated during WWII and those who fled were not allowed to return by the communists who wanted to appease Kosovo Albanians. Tito had also hard time to keep Yugoslavia together and mainly at the expense of Serbians. The consequence is a present ethnic imbalance in Kosovo where Serbs became a minority. After NATO bombing of Yugoslavia many Serbs fled Kosovo again and were never allowed to return. Today they live in few isolated enclaves under constant harassment and under pressure to leave and this is unfortunately supported by several western governments such as Germany, the old enemy of Serbia.
@@marcoluppo5783 what are you talking about? I’ve never been to Russia. You don’t make any sense. Usually, I don’t respond to idiotic comments but this one time is the exception.
Sure, of course. During World War II, when the entire western Balkans were fighting each other, it was obviously the Albanians who bear the main blame. Serbian Chetniks were, of course, angels of peace who would never have thought of forming alliances with the Third Reich and committing unimaginable atrocities against Croats, Bosnians, and Albanians. Never. Everyone else is to blame except the Serbs. By the way, the Congo is now considered the heart of Serbia too!
First of all sebs never were a majority in kosovo and second of all i dont like how u completely ignored the thousands of people massacred and tortured by serbs both in kosovo and bosnia the thousands of women raped and millions dislocated
My ancestors fought for the Ballist till the last men in Northmacedonia. We fought more for rights and against Slavic colonization that was going on before
@MrPolinikisNever forget that the Greek is existence is the Non-Albanian existence. Without Greece we would be a superpower, without EU Money you are the poorest country
The Skender Brigade made such large massacres and hundreds of thousands of Serbs fled from Kosovo, unfortunately only two years after the war, the CIA has started to finance Albanians with weapons and all the time there were problems with them until America has built its military base
0:59 I have a possible theory for this oblique cap that we see many times... maybe they used to fit better with the hair style at the time and don't disarange the cutline. Obrigado, Stefan! 👽 🍀 🇧🇷
"The few ALBANIAN units raised to fight during the developments of the Greco-Italian War (1940-1941) alongside the Italian Army mostly "EITHER DESERTED OR FLED IN DROVES"." Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (1999). Albania At War, 1939-1945. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, pp. 78-79
Exactly this guy is trying to make it as if there were large groups of Albanians that collaborated. Truth is that Albanians at the time tried to unify what they had, not to attack their neighbors.
@@NikNiki-x9c Cham Albanians were probably some of the worst collaborator groups out there. Balli Kombetar and Albanian units helped massacre and invade Greece and in Kosovo where they killed Serb colonizers. Colonizing is wrong but mass murder is worse
Unfortunately this period is completely erased from the collective kosovar memory. It isn’t spoken about, it isn’t taught in schools and isn’t included in any kosovar history books.
There were several specifically Muslim SS divisions, dubbed by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Hussein, who supported and helped organize the recruitment of Muslim volunteers into the SS. he was then a refugee in Berlin. An Albanian division, the 21st SS Skanderbeg division (6,500 men) and two Croats, actually Bosnians, the 13th SS Handschar division (21,000) and the 23rd SS Kama division (3,793). there was also a Free Arab Legion (in Arabic: جيش بلاد العرب الحرة Jaysh bilād al-ʿarab al-ḥurraẗ) in German: Deutsch-Arabische Legion (Sonderverband 287) formed of Arab volunteers from the Middle East and North Africa from 1941 to 1945. Mainly Iraqis, Syrians, but also other volunteers, later, from the Maghreb. This unit counted at its maximum up to 20,000 men, who fought in Caucase, Greece, Tunisia and yugoslavia.
@@9and7 yes......but muslim....... Bosnian muslim....Handschar SS division was not exclusively muslim, but in majority. And Kama SS division was exclusively muslim.
most of the albanians in the ss ( skanderbeg handschar) wore a specific fez known as the ss Albanerfez. other than that great video. could you make a video about the bali kombetar?
My great grandfather fought during the Greco-Italian war of 1940-1941. We still have as a heirloom an ID of an albanian soldier who fought for the Italians. I don't know how my great grandfather acquired that ID or what happened to the albanian soldier.
Respekt for your knowledge!!!! There was also a Bosnian SS "Handzar" division who was build in Bosnia and Hercegovina and only moslem fighters!!! Like skenderbeg was handzar like ustasa and killed many serbian, jews, romanes etc... Monster!!!!
You should read about SS Handschar too. They also were formed by Albanians and Bosnjaks while using the Albanian legion insignia from WW1 under Austro-Hungary, showing their pledge to the Reich. Albanians whenever they could they tried to exterminate and genocide their neighbours as their neighbours did. The first Balkan war was about that too, Albania pledging loyalty to Ottomans over the Balkans trying to exterminate Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins and Greeks.
@@clintwestwood3539 and let me guess!! You have been gobbling up serb propaganda and washing it down with russian vodka! How is it Albania pledging loyalty to Ottomans when 1389 in Kosovo battle is the last time Serbs fight on the side of the Christian coalition passing on the Ottoman side as vassals AND with a Queen for the Sultan Beyazid and another Queen for Sultan Murad II, undermining the crusades and strengthening their positions in Balkan with Ottoman help. All this while Albanians resisted at least 25 years longer with Scanderbey until defeated after his death, and punished brutally by even banning the Albanian language to be used. They commissioned Turkish, Serbian and Greek schools though. Of course, they need more of the subdued race!! That's why you don't see much Christian population in Kosovo.. all turned serb and greeks for relief! That's how you destroy a people and now that's how you hide your own dirt, by throwing as much trash as you can on the neighbor!!
Wauw! Thank you for this amazing information! I only knew very little off this myself. My father in law (he´s albanian) told me once that a member of his family had joined that division and at the end of the war fled to Germany and stayed there. He never came back and spend the rest of his life in Germany.
My friend do a video about the albanians collobarators in greece and what they did to greeeks and why napoleon zervas (a arvanite like me ) kick them out ! Very good video by the way ❤
I am really getting into Albanian history with a book about Skanderbeg, a history of Albania 🇦🇱, one about Yugoslavia, the Albanian mafia. Thank you for another source of Albanian knowledge
@@predragnicic7138 actually even before the birth of modern Balkan states through ethnic cleansing by Russo serbs ..independent autonomus Albanian states from the Ottoman Empire already existed...
I think is important to underline that there was no Albanian identity before XIX century and there was no Albanian state before. It was the most backward society with enormous illiteracy and feudal structure of power linked to the clan identity rather to the national identity. You can't build the nation without a written language being widespread. Secundo, Albania become selfproclaimed Kingdom with Zog as usurper since coup detat he sucessfuly launched but majority of royal european dynasties didnt acknowledge him as legitimate King. What bothers me is that the authoritarian/fascist nature of the state is missing from the narrative. Z symbolism, Albanian salute , shutdown on freedom of press etc. were the key elements of his regime. To sum up i think that fully developed Albanian national identity appeared in Hoxa regime. Only then the reforms within society were implemented such as women's suffrage, mass education, industrialization so on.
Here in the Balkans we identify ourselves by our native language and religion, not by the state where we live. If your native language is albanian, you are an Albanian , never mind where you live. If your mother is an albanian, and your father is a greek, you will have to choose your identity through you can speak both languages fluently.
@@tatqnadelcheva5509 "The language of the Albanians is unformed and adulterated. In many areas Italian elements have been incorporated into the language, in others Greek and in others Slavonic. Therefore Albanians who live fifty or sixty miles apart do not understand each other. In addition, there are racial differences between the Gegs who live in the wild north and the Tosks in the less rugged south. One would say that they belong to different ethnicities. And indeed this is the case. It would be easy to prove that the Albanians are not one people but half a dozen peoples." Sir John Foster Fraser, "Pictures from the Balkans", CHAPTER XXIV. THE ALBANIANS, p. 257-258)
I am not an Albanian, so I can not answer you precisely. But I have had contacts with different Albanians from Kosovo, North Macedonia and proper Albania and they considered themselves one nation with their own common albanian language. Some people in London do speak Cockney, which other people can not understand, but this doesn't mean that they are Not English or British. At the end if you consider yourself an Albanian you ought to be an Albanian. Have a pleasant time of the day according to your location!
The preface to Gjon Buzuku’s “Meshari” proves you wrong. A gheg Albanian priest, that refers to a clear albanian identity. And this goes back to the kingdom of Arbanon. What youre saying is delusional anti-albanian propaganda.
ILLIRYA kingdom 250 bc ruler agron Kingdom of arbanon arbèria 12 centuries ruler Karl tropoja league of lezhe kastrioti skanderbeg 14 centurie Isa boletini league of prizren 1878 and you say we had no own state 😂don’t steal my wallet polish thief 😂
Thanks for mentioning this. Massacres and ethnic cleansing that Albanian collaborationists commited against Serbs in Kosovo is almost forgotten in history.
In October 1944 it was withdrawn from Greece to the Yugoslav Front and was reinforced in early 1945 by the addition of other Arabs from an Arab volunteer battalion disbanded before its full formation. He ended the war near Zagreb as part of the 104th Fighter Division of the Wehrmacht. The 1st and 2nd battalions of the Free Arab Legion which were not part of the Deutsche-Arabische Lehr Abteilung were used on 2 May 1943 to replace losses and rebuild Grenadier Regiment 92 with a company of light artillery and light pioneers , which was later renamed "Grenadier Regiment 92 (MOT)" on June 5, 1944. The regiment moved to Yugoslavia to fight against the Yugoslav Partisans and became part of Army Group F. The regiment suffered heavy losses during of the Belgrade Offensive in October 1944 and its remnants were integrated into the 2nd Panzer Army, where they were reconstituted as Panzergrenadier Brigade 92 in January 1945. The entire army capitulated to Nazi Austria in May 1945.
Another informative and wonderful historical coverage video about Skanderbeg Waffen SS divisions in Albania 🇦🇱 during WW2. By German invaders... thank you an excellent ( History Hustle) channel and 🙏 Sir Stefan for sharing this incredible video about Albania 🇦🇱
There is a reason why Germans found support from Kosovo Albanians. Due to the opression suffered at the hands of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia(Serbians mainly), the Kosovo Albanians saw the Germans as liberators not invaders. As for the killings it was revenge for the over 200.000 albanians massacred during the Balkan Wars(1912-1913).
@@mildew1 the numbers are between 150.000-250.000 massacred. Even Serbian opposition politicians of the time give numbers up to 150.000. Only the Serbian Government gives low numbers, but ofcourse they would, the were the ones who committed genocide. I know the history of my people my friend and much more. But sure you can give your numbers.
The "Albanese Clan" is one of the oldest and powerful Sicilian family, but their methods are infamous. Other families "look down" on them. I did try some of their products/fruits preserve and were almost 99% natural !!! And this is back in the 70's when they were under Soviet rule.
What has to be remembered is that in what was albania before the nazis that same area saw no Holocaust of my jewish people.There was no betrayal of jews and no deportation of jews as such from Albania to nazi death camps.From kosova sadly yes that happened but not from Albania.Part of my own relatives were albanian jews all of them like all the rest of our community there were hidden by fellow Albanian non jews.Albania is the only country in nazi occupied europe where there were actually more jews at the end of The Holocaust than at the begining.
Yes my grandfather's brother hid a large group of jews in his house basement and he really risked his own life for that but fortunately they were all saved. No jew was handed to germans because the albanian people gave their besa and protected them, I'm talking about Albania.
As a Briton, I always find the obsession with borders and territory that countries and people have when they’re located on continents. As an islander, borders are defined naturally and so politics are more simple. I believe it manifests itself with an obsession with race and belonging, and people in places as diverse as Norway and Hungary people are proud of their ethnic history more than islanders in some ways. You hear Norwegians whose family have occupied the same house for centuries, and that is across Scandinavia. I know a young Hungarian woman whose paternal grandfather was German and she claims to be German, not Hungarian. Considering they were all part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire (not all of Germany I know) I can’t really understand why this detail should be so important, but it is. Blood and soil are not to be ignored it seems, even in our EU inclined, pan-European modern world.
Britain committed numerous crimes around the world (starting on the neighboring island of Ireland) it outright theft and massacres of indigenous people will forever be a stain on the history of that septic country. Britain never contributed anything worthwhile to the countries they invaded and one by one they were force to leave. Incidentally Ireland was the first country and within 30 years the British empire was consigned to the dust bin of history where it rightly belongs. In modern time Britain is a pariah state within Europe because of the stupidity of Brexit 😂😂😂
can you please explain how the border between Kosovo and Albania was decided? How did it happen that Albania didn't end up in Yugoslavia, or that Kosovo didn't end up in Albania? (- This SS Skënderbeu seems to be one reason why comunist Albania wouldn't want them nazis and why Serbs had a very harsh and crude relation with kosovars after taking Kosovo.)
.. sepse gabelo-shkito-avaro-srpët shkelën Marrëveshjen e mbajtur në Bujan në 31 dhjetor 1943 - 1, 2 janar 1944 në të cilen ishte vendosur që pas L2B viset shqiptare të gllabëruara padrejtësisht, nëpërmes terrori, masakrimeve e dëbimeve nga trupat agresioniste e kriminale të Beligradit (korrik 1913) të ribashkoheshin në 1 shtet shqiptar. 👋🏻
The Albanians did the same to the Germans, as the afghans to the Americans; they scammed them. They scammed a much larger empire out of weapons, food and pay, by pretending to be their allies. Never underestimate these mountain people who managed to live on the same land for thousands of years; they know how to survive.
Germans besides of taking the area under their political control had exact 0 interests to do anything in the Albanian mountains, they could ever care less about local conflicts so they were never interested in the territorial aspects of this. If they had interests like they had in occupied Yugoslavia Albania as you know it today would be a way different territory. Comparing Afghanistan retreat with overall German retreat from the Balkans is totally different universe. Also majority Kosovo Albanians did not "pretend" they were real Nazi collaborators and Kosovo Albanians never chase Germans since they look them as a friends who give them open card policy for prosecution the local Serbs and others who not agreed with them. Members of this so called SS division were often robbers, criminals and uneducated villagers while there were some exceptions when famous Albanian families in Kosovo who had relations with Serbs for centuries reject to join such group of bandits.
@rogyn8484 Kosovo Albanians regarded the Germans as allies and if Germans would have won ww2 , Kosovo would have joined Albania and Serbia would be out of the map. Simple as that. Yes most SS Skanderbeg division was made.of middle aged men. Real Albanian warriors were in the Vullnetari formations.
@MrPolinikis Germans were Allied of Albanians. Their victory in ww1 and ww2 would mean a larger Albania and extinction of servs. Simple as that. Greece is also a nation created by Albanians.
@@rogyn8484read Fischer and Malkolm, the above commenter has a good point, Albanians did not care about Nazi policies. World war 1 memories were still fresh and Albanians knew that if they did not compromise, they would end up in the midst of fire from both ends...whether the nazis would win or not, we would survive. We always do. Trying to make Albanians look bad to cover the athrocities serbs commited throughout the centuries toward Albanians, speaks for itself. There is no justification for the genocide of Albanians in Nish all the way to Lume in proper Albania...an episode which is known as Albanian Golgoda is also published by Austrian authors, how 100k Albanians were massacred in few weeks in 1912.
Ww2 was known as "three days of freedom" for Albanians under Yugoslav yoke, because for first time in history after ottoman 500 years of invasion & 30 years of yugoslav oppression, albanian schools were opened, national flag was allowed and institutions were to be utilized by the locals. Ss Skanderbeg had no links to BK and local patriots. It was a more of a mercenary unit where different nationals served, hence the ss division. Germans recruited from all over Europe and Asia to fill in their ss ranks.
@@zoranninkovic697serbia was the first nation to brag about being juden free in europe. I don't know what type of nazi collaborators like the albanians would have more jews after the war than before 🤔
Balli kombëtar fought for the independence against every invader, it was composed of highly educated leaders that had studied in the best European universities...a threat for the communists that started a civil war destroying every other political faction...
Both Germans and Albanians benefit from this regiment Germans had ss Albanians to protect south Europe from communist serbs while Albanians had back their land and nice German weapons
A serbian assassinated the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, that kicked off the most darkest times where tens of millions of people have been killed. Austria-Hungary empire descends from the Holy-Roman Empire, which descended from the Habsburg Dynasty, that hold the claim to be the descendants of the Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great, whose father was an ethnic Illyrian Roman officer. Which Serbians/Slavic people have even wrote books trying to claim Albania's national hero Skenderbey, was actually Serbian. One of Skenderbey's biggest allies and supporters during his 2 decade war against the Ottman Empire was the Habsburg dynasty. The holy roman empire's flag during their reign, was a black double headed eagle with a yellow backdrop. The Albanian flag first raised by Skenderbey and still used today is a black double headed eagle with a red backdrop. Religious texts and theology prophesied of tribes coming from the caucus mountains in Russia that would reign terror and try to claim the holy land.
The regions were not inhabited by "large amount of Albanian people". Be honest in your videos. Every area included in that "greater Albania" had an Albanian majority.
yes .in reality all the autonomous Albanian pashaliks were inhabited by an Albanian majority even before the birth of Serbia which was created through genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population ...supported by Russia
"Greek Thesprotia was not included amongst the territories annexed to Albania and remained under the control of the High Command of Athens because of the German reaction. It seems that, amongst other factors which worked against such an annexation was the fact that, in contrast to Kosovo, the inhabitants of Epirus were by a VAST MAJORITY GREEKS, which could not justify any administrative reorganization in that region." Manta. The Cams of Albania. 2009. p. 7:
Georgios Poulos (Greek: Γεώργιος Πούλος; 1889, Romania - 11 June 1949) was a Greek Army colonel and Nazi collaborator during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II. He was born in 1889 in Romania, hailing from Platanos, Aetolia-Acarnania. He seems to have participated in the Greco-Turkish War, while he participated in the 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt as a lieutenant colonel, leaving the army after its failure. A longtime ultra-nationalist, Colonel Poulos was fanatically anti-monarchist and anti-communist. In 1943, he organised and led the Poulos Verband, the most feared collaborationist death squad in occupied-Greece. During 1944, his forces were reinforced by the Jagdkommando Schubert, a paramilitary unit raised in Crete by the notorious Friedrich Schubert.@@HistoryHustle
After the Byzantines, Serbs, Ottomans, Italians, Austro-Hungarians and Germans, the Albanians will one day say that they were actually the biggest thorn in the side of the US and NATO in the Balkans, as in all previous cases. Mark my words
You are wrong because in all the previous cases Albanians were invaded without asking or deserving it. You expect albanians to comply with their invaders? We just want to be free and we owe US & NATO a lot, our freedom.
Italians tried to blame Albanians for the setbacks in the Greco-Italian war. This is not true, it was because Italy simply didn’t properly prepare for a war in mountainous terrain just before winter. It should be noted that the reason the Albanians committed atrocities against the Serbs is because for many many years Serbs committed atrocities against Albanians. In the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 over 25,000 Albanian civilians were massacred and in the 1990’s there was of Genocide of Albanians committed by the Serbs in Kosovo. And that’s just the tip of the ice berg. Siege of Kruje 1450: ruclips.net/video/657FHezjQlc/видео.html
You conveniently "forgot" to mention that albanians who were not indigenous to Kosovo but settled there by the turks after a failed uprise of Serbians around 1600 , using the ancient albanian recipe of affiliating to the superpower of each era (romans, venitians, turks, germans in WW2) in order to loot, kill and rape unpunished, did terrible things to Serbs for three centuries and stole their most emblematic and ancestral piece of Serbia. This of course doesn't legalize what they did later to albanians , but my friend history is not "black and white" and all "details" should be mentioned, no matter who much they hurt.....
Three centuries? Please don't make stuff up, that's beyond silly. Also Albanians didn't steal no 'ancestral piece' of Serbia. Serbs are descendants of the Sclaveni people who were 7th century settlers to the Balkans. On the other hand, DNA testing, linguists, and historians all agree Albanians are Paleo-Balkan people. What's more ironic is that a majority of linguists agree that it looks like the South Serbia, Kosovo, and North Macedonia is *PRECISELY* where the language evolved. None of these scholars are Albanians.@@odysseasntalias5950
@@eurech I will not debate you about modern albanians being palaio-balcans (Illyrians yes -modern albanians probably not) but originally they didn't live in Kosovo. Slavs (serbs) lived there from the 7th century and they suffered from the albanians from the moment turks settled them there after an unfortunate uprise against the sultan. This is a historical fact. So I am exact when I say that they suffered for three centuries. I don't want to insult you -in case you are albanian- but albanians have been recorded in the collective memory of all balcan nations as intruders , looters and killers , long before fake news and trolls were invented. Is true or not that Albanians always joined the local superpower of the area (romans, venitians, turks ) in order to , violently settle , attack and steal unpunished??. Even in WW2 they joined the germans , even formed SS regiments of very small fighting ability and terrorised the balkans once more....
Countries who joined the dreaded SS are Albania, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Ingushen, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Jordan,Turkey, Turkistan, France, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium, Belarussia, British, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Iran, Iraq, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Romania, Hungry, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, etc. Mostly were actually used as a show which never fought the bloodiest battles for Nazi Germany regime itself. Number were actually too few like the Czechs only one hundred. Poland itself never had Polish SS but yet ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Germans living in Poland served with the SS.
Serbs or Jugoslav corps in Kingdom of Jugoslavia were first on "continent" with resistant units earlier than franch and polish. Also Jugoslav Corps are Highly recognised in NZ, AUS, CAN, UK and US
@danditto6145 Gavrilo Princip was ethnicly Bosnian Serb but he was Austrohungarian Citizen! He was not born in Serbia and he never had Serbian citizenship.Clame that Serbia and Serbs are guilty for Sarajevo asssassination is similar clame Britain is started war against USA Iff American with english or scottish origin kill someone in USA.
Im albanian and i didnt even know the division existed,thanks for teaching us. Also you pronounced skanderbeg wrong the right pronounciation is skënderbeu or if you say skanderbeg you pronounce the letters as they are
Respect to our man here not only for the video cotent and quality but also for having the patience to reply to each and every butthurted Albanian in the comments section. We salute you sir!!🤣
In political view Italy came to Albania 🇦🇱 to protect Albanians. So did germany to protect Albanian borders from serbs and russian communist but they failed cause they lost the war. Anyway that failure was regained in 1998 when nato freed kosova Albanians from serbian killers.
@@HistoryHustlethe collaborators(the government of the time) gave them Albanian passports and identity and use their collaboration and a little authority they had to say "NO" to the request of Nazis to give to them the list of the Jews in the country. In many occasions,they gave money and gold to "buy" the life of some Jews. The majors of cities transported Jews from a location to another safer location. They were collaborators,because they had to think for their own people too. Albanians outside today Albania were being massacred since the end of the 19th century,something that was not happening anymore during ww2. If there was no collaborators,it would be not possible to save so many Jews. Don't take things so superfically,just naming them collaborators and building your own logic without bases and historical facts.
Don't ever forget that every contry conquered by germany at that time has a SS foreign division......... It's not just those idiots..... We Albanians kept a whole Juwe comunity during the whole war and no one was killed or gived to the germans.
@@lenp00 After all, even if it were true that Kosovo was predominantly populated by serbs before and after the WW2 (which no credible non-serb sources support), do you really think Kosovo was totally empty (no people there) when serbs arrived in the Balkans in as part of the wild barbaric slavic hordes around 6th century AD? So, when do we start counting the history?
Many nations collaborated with the NAZIS. Just ask which nations handed their Jewish population over to the NAZIS. Albania and Yugoslavia were the only two who didn't. The presenter of this video is totally biased. When the Albanian King went into self exile it created a power vacuum. Political parties split in 3 factions all vying for control.
@@HistoryHustle you mentioned the term Albanian irredentismis it is an inappropriate term ...Maybe you don't know but Kosovo was taken away from the Albanians at the London Conference in 1913...The Albanian population has suffered horrific massacres and ethnic cleansing not only in those years but even before
@@HistoryHustle or about the Massacres of Albanians civilians in the Balkan Wars??is estimated to be at least 120,000 Albanian civilians ...the Scanderbeg division is a very small fraction of the story not only in the history between Serbs and Albanians but in Albanian history itself that division has a tiny role
@@HistoryHustle and then you didn't even mention that the musolini soldiers were transformed into partisans in Albania forced to fight on behalf of the Albanians until the total liberation of Albania
Very convenient for you to spread propaganda …. and great timing for sure! Albanians protected jewish people because of our code of honour BESA, but what do you know, you read a book and make a documentary about it as its the absolute truth!
@@Ballist88 drück auf Englische Untertitel. Dann geh nochmal auf Untertitel und dort steht dann als Option: Automatisch übersetzen und dort drückst auf Deutsch.
![Gunna - HIM ALL ALONG [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/w7Wf0h1Q8a4/mqdefault.jpg)
PLAYLIST Non-German Axis Formations:
ruclips.net/p/PL_bcNuRxKtpEj8sMLxUerrHbsmyar9lqt&si=p3uLlwhA0L9J6-2k
✅ 👍
Just come across this channel and have subscribed. These little covered aspects of history are fascinating. Was there an attempt to recruit pow's from the USA ? On the other side the RAF had many nationalities also. Poles probably being the most well known.
@@sfactory8253 thanks for replying. Welcome to the channel. Believe there was on paper a SS unit named Washington but only a handful served.
Nice video, I just want to add that one reason why Germany was so serious about an "independent" Albanian state was because they needed to control the country with as few troops as possible. Because of this the Wehrmacht was ordered not to mendle with the government too much and let the collaborators do the most work. This led to the Germans being regarded with some form of respect by the population for being "well behaved". The collaborators on the other hand and BK specificaly were losing support quickly due to their use of terror and fusing with the pro-german government wich lead to more support for the communist who were generaly disciplined and often used persuation rather than force to gain materials from the people.
Thanks for your reply.
Thanks for your reply.
@@virtuallifter2438 only partially true, because in the case of the saved Jews, the Albanian government itself was very much involved going against the order to turn in the list of Jewish families in Albania, and gave order to Albanian border guards to ignore fake papers etc.and let the Jewish families come in and then the local population did the rest. They were sheltered with Albanian families or in abandoned houses where locals send food etc.
Well done. Another fascinating subject and a intriguing, little known aspect of WW2 history. But, very relevant as regards later events in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990's.
I've been on vacation in Mauritius. It is very interesting that there are hundreds of bastions along the coastlines of the island. Build by the Dutch. A subject, in case you run out of ideas 😊.
"History is not written by the victors it's by those who writes stuff down"-max miller tasting history
Good counterquote for those who bring up the cliche quote, thanks for sharing.
I’d argue that history is written by the observer, while the victor writes propaganda.
@@jonathancooper4914 I think so too, especially when the victor has a lot of dirt of his own to hide!
Albania had more Jews after the war than before, the only country in Europe that did that. Many Jewish refugees found safety there.
Believe I mention this in the episode.
Brohr you really do the world a service with your history content. I'm a fan.
Many thanks.
"Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me" -Michael Scott looking forward for more history from you
Interesting quote.
Michael Scott quotes always relevant
Thank you, Stefan, for so diligently researching and presenting such a complex aspect of WW2 political and military history. Albania has always been a mysterious, low-profile country to many outsiders, this video giving a little insight into the way that people thought during those troubled and dangerous times.
👍
MAKE A VIDEO ABOUT THE ALBANIAN COLLABORIST IN GREECE (THESPROTIA REGION -CHAMERIA IN ALBANIAN)
Too niche.
@@HistoryHustlethere was no collab, thats greek excuse ehy they massacred and drove out cham people. until now a open issue between albania and greece.
Lets not forget the Cham genocide by greeks
@@HistoryHustle Please make a video about the genocide of Chams. Greeks exterminated the entire population.
A video about the Cham genocide? Or a video about the Albanian partisans fighting for.Greece? Or a video about Albanian Arvanites being key figures and fighting for the independence of Greece? Did you forget that your heroes of the independece of your country are Albanians?
Amazing footage and staggering research.
Thanks for the post Stefan. 🙏🇦🇺
Many thanks Phil. Have a good weekend.
Sir I enjoyed your video lecture on the Albanian SS Unit. You presented the facts unambiguously. Thank you for producing another brilliant video lecture on the subject. I await your your next offering.
Great to read Fred, thanks!
Ss unit of Shqiperie were misguided ignorant people from poor origins.I do not accept they represented the majority of Albanian people.And believe that any of them still alive must be prosecuted for war crimes against innocent civilians.
Good film again Stefan ! War is chaos and unleashes forces that peace keeps largely under control and an example is the Balkans, an area with a tragic history but with such great potential that hopefully will see fruition in the coming years. Albania may have had a sideshow role in World War 2 but the impact on the inhabitants was as tragic as so many other states.
Thanks for your reply 👍
I literally searched your channel yesterday for Albania content. Were you watching??
Haha, crazy coincidence!
Another fascinating piece Stef. Interesting that Catholics and Muslims served together. There can't have been many units like this
Thanks once else for your reply. Have a good weekend Aidan!
Handschar SS Division was one of many units in NDH that had them serving together.
Albanian Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox fought alongside as an Albanian unit for a long time, including KLA in Kosovo
In the Balkans muslims and catholics have always been in coalition against serbs chetnics, not only during ww2, but during 1990's war also!
a fragile coalition, in Bosnia they worked together until a catholic Unit HOS/HVO or voijna Policia commited a massacre , on civilians, in Travnik/Vitez Region in the Village of Amici, later they became allies again because of US pressure@@AlbanianManIB
Thank you for this episode!
👍
Thank you for showcasing one of the least-known foreign units of the Waffen-SS. Kudos for also mentioning some of the differences between Albanians from Albania vs. the ones from Kosovo.
Thanks, glad you liked the episode.
waffles ss bs ms rs... branberg skaberg landerberg...alterberg...this diuvison tooo many goofee divsons meaninless
It was not created in Albania but in Kosovo and its activities were limited within Kosovo. The Germans used the long Serbian terror against the albanian population to recruit but, most of them realised they had been lied to and deserted.
@@screamingeagle1316the nephew of my great grandfather didn’t desert
The Albanians from Albania cooperated with fascist Mussolini they attack Greece with the Italian army at October's 1940 and they commit numerous crimes in Epirus and Macedonia in North Greece
Never a dull moment in the Balkans! Something interesting I read in a magazine when I was young, and by that I mean before the internet. The story was about Leka Jr. who was considered to be the King of Albania, was living in exile in suburban South Africa and looked like an ordinary bloke. I was quite intrigued but couldn’t easily find out more. This episode made me go look up the story. What privileged times we live in, being able to access the whole story at the click of a button😊
Indeed!
You should do a video about balli kombëtar they were bigger and allies of hitler aswell they did more operations
No wrong balli kombtar we’re Allie’s of nobody but only great Albania they collaborate with no one but fight all
Serbs suffered so much in both world wars.
True.
Well , they did kind of start the first one, shooting the leader of a European empire and thinking there would be no consequences.
even you don't believe in the nonsense you've just written... @@danditto6145
@@danditto6145are you trying to justify ethnic cleansing of Serbs and all other war crimes by claiming "they did kind of started it"?! Are you aware the WWI was a continuation of the Moroccan crisis? If someone killed Hitler in 1940 while he visited Paris, would that be considered as a terrorist attack and a just cause for continual satanizaton of the French? What about the assasination of Heydrich in Prague, was that also a "dreadful terrorist attack"? Don't forget, Austria Hungary occupied Bosnia, just like Nazis did with the most of the Europe in the XX century. The asassinations of occupiers and tyrants was always a way of fighting by the oppressed peoples all over the world. What's worrying is that someone justifies war crimes and criminals by saying "they kinda started it".🤮
It is naive to believe that the Serbs started the war through Princip. The war was already planned in advance, and a reason was being sought to start it. If you just look at how Franz Ferdinand's visit went, it is immediately clear that he was sent to his death. He arrives in extremely hostile territory on the most important day for Serbs, and then they drive him in a convertible through Sarajevo, and after the first unsuccessful assassination, they return him to the same car to finish the job. Instead of immediately removing him and looking for the assassins, no one did anything, but Ferdinand was driven in a convertible as an easy target. Imagine that they throw a bomb or fire a bullet at you, and then you return to the street as if nothing happened? Where is the logic?@@danditto6145
Yugoslavia and Albania is such a complex part of WW2 and yet again Stefan brings another interesting episode about Albania and Kosovo 👍🏻
👍
How is Albania a complex part of WWII? This country both the government and the vast majority of the people collaborated with both the Italian fascists and the Nazis - end of complexity.
''Vass majority of people''' no, they did not. Given that Albania was the *ONLY* European country to refuse to hand over Jews to Nazis, and the fact that it was the *ONLY* country to have more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning, CLEARLY it couldn't have been the majority who collaborated with the Nazis given how many Jews they protected. @@papertoyss
@@eurech There was a resistance movement, which was insignificant. I mentioned collaboration and the vast majority of the people collaborated with both the Italian fascists and the Nazis. Fact!
@@papertoyssnow send your evidence most albanians collaborated
A niche side of the history... I'm Albanian and yet I did not know about this part...thank you!
Thanks for watching.
Pershendetje ! I am surprised you did not know I thought every one in Shqiperia knew.It is something I hope you and your family will always be proud of.Shqiperia has never been bad for the jewish people in that there we jews have always been treated equally.The people of your beloved precious country have been victims of racism they have never been racists against other peoples.Zoti bekofte Shqiperie.
Thanks for this great and informative video. It also sheds a light on the roots of later present situation in Serbian breakaway province of Kosovo. Serbian population there was decimated during WWII and those who fled were not allowed to return by the communists who wanted to appease Kosovo Albanians.
Tito had also hard time to keep Yugoslavia together and mainly at the expense of Serbians. The consequence is a present ethnic imbalance in Kosovo where
Serbs became a minority. After NATO bombing of Yugoslavia many Serbs fled Kosovo again and were
never allowed to return. Today they live in few isolated enclaves under
constant harassment and under pressure to leave and this is unfortunately supported by several western governments such as Germany, the old enemy of Serbia.
Good!!Why did you leave Russia in the first place and came to colonize Dardania?What made you think that was a good idea?
@@marcoluppo5783 what are you talking about? I’ve never been to Russia. You don’t make any sense. Usually, I don’t respond to idiotic comments but this one time is the exception.
Sure, of course. During World War II, when the entire western Balkans were fighting each other, it was obviously the Albanians who bear the main blame. Serbian Chetniks were, of course, angels of peace who would never have thought of forming alliances with the Third Reich and committing unimaginable atrocities against Croats, Bosnians, and Albanians. Never. Everyone else is to blame except the Serbs. By the way, the Congo is now considered the heart of Serbia too!
First of all sebs never were a majority in kosovo and second of all i dont like how u completely ignored the thousands of people massacred and tortured by serbs both in kosovo and bosnia the thousands of women raped and millions dislocated
Pressured to leave? How? By having two state pensions?
By far the best wwii history channel on RUclips
😃
My ancestors fought for the Ballist till the last men in Northmacedonia. We fought more for rights and against Slavic colonization that was going on before
@MrPolinikisNever forget that the Greek is existence is the Non-Albanian existence. Without Greece we would be a superpower, without EU Money you are the poorest country
@MrPolinikisuhuuu... I like these kinds of facts pulled out from the a*s...
thanks bro
Thank you for watching!
Really interesting insight into a more obscure corner of the war.
The Skender Brigade made such large massacres and hundreds of thousands of Serbs fled from Kosovo, unfortunately only two years after the war, the CIA has started to finance Albanians with weapons and all the time there were problems with them until America has built its military base
Posto su Srbi u pitanju onda to nije bitno za zapadne naciste.
Adem Jashari 🇦🇱
another banger from history hustle
Thank you for watching!
0:59 I have a possible theory for this oblique cap that we see many times... maybe they used to fit better with the hair style at the time and don't disarange the cutline.
Obrigado, Stefan! 👽 🍀 🇧🇷
Could be yes! Thanks for sharing 👍
"The few ALBANIAN units raised to fight during the developments of the Greco-Italian War (1940-1941) alongside the Italian Army mostly "EITHER DESERTED OR FLED IN DROVES"."
Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (1999). Albania At War, 1939-1945. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, pp. 78-79
Thanks for sharing.
Balli Kombetar helped the Italians
Exactly this guy is trying to make it as if there were large groups of Albanians that collaborated. Truth is that Albanians at the time tried to unify what they had, not to attack their neighbors.
@@NikNiki-x9c Cham Albanians were probably some of the worst collaborator groups out there. Balli Kombetar and Albanian units helped massacre and invade Greece and in Kosovo where they killed Serb colonizers. Colonizing is wrong but mass murder is worse
@@thebalkanhistorian.3205balli kombetar was active only in albania north Macedonia Kosova sanxhak
Ty 4 ur work
Thank you for watching!
Another obscure but interesting aspect of WWII. Thankyou.
Thank you for replying!
Unfortunately this period is completely erased from the collective kosovar memory. It isn’t spoken about, it isn’t taught in schools and isn’t included in any kosovar history books.
Interesting to read.
Great video as always👍
Thanks!
There were several specifically Muslim SS divisions, dubbed by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Hussein, who supported and helped organize the recruitment of Muslim volunteers into the SS. he was then a refugee in Berlin. An Albanian division, the 21st SS Skanderbeg division (6,500 men) and two Croats, actually Bosnians, the 13th SS Handschar division (21,000) and the 23rd SS Kama division (3,793). there was also a Free Arab Legion (in Arabic: جيش بلاد العرب الحرة Jaysh bilād al-ʿarab al-ḥurraẗ) in German: Deutsch-Arabische Legion (Sonderverband 287) formed of Arab volunteers from the Middle East and North Africa from 1941 to 1945. Mainly Iraqis, Syrians, but also other volunteers, later, from the Maghreb. This unit counted at its maximum up to 20,000 men, who fought in Caucase, Greece, Tunisia and yugoslavia.
Croat. Handschar and Kama were Croat Divisions.
@@9and7 yes......but muslim....... Bosnian muslim....Handschar SS division was not exclusively muslim, but in majority. And Kama SS division was exclusively muslim.
@@9and7in any case, they were listed as Croats and fought under Croatian flags, even though they were composed of Bosnian Muslims. But i mentioned it.
No they were Croatian Muslims. They always referred to themselves as Croats. They only started calling themselves Bosniaks after 1993. @@drfunkestein
most of the albanians in the ss ( skanderbeg handschar) wore a specific fez known as the ss Albanerfez. other than that great video. could you make a video about the bali kombetar?
Its not fez,its called qeleshe or plis in kosovo.
@@rudolfb9359 i know but the germans called it like that
Thank you again.
👍
My great grandfather fought during the Greco-Italian war of 1940-1941. We still have as a heirloom an ID of an albanian soldier who fought for the Italians. I don't know how my great grandfather acquired that ID or what happened to the albanian soldier.
Great video. Thanks. BZ
"Auf 20 Albaner müssen zwei deutsche Unterführer treffen, zwar einer zum Führen und einer hiten zum Aufpassen." Schmidhuber.
Thanks for your reply!
Great research as usual Stefan!
Thanks for sharing.
Respekt for your knowledge!!!! There was also a Bosnian SS "Handzar" division who was build in Bosnia and Hercegovina and only moslem fighters!!! Like skenderbeg was handzar like ustasa and killed many serbian, jews, romanes etc... Monster!!!!
Thank you for this segment. It's the first thing I have ever heard about WWII in Albania.
👍👍👍
You should read about SS Handschar too. They also were formed by Albanians and Bosnjaks while using the Albanian legion insignia from WW1 under Austro-Hungary, showing their pledge to the Reich.
Albanians whenever they could they tried to exterminate and genocide their neighbours as their neighbours did. The first Balkan war was about that too, Albania pledging loyalty to Ottomans over the Balkans trying to exterminate Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins and Greeks.
Ther are in kosovo not in albania
@@clintwestwood3539 and let me guess!! You have been gobbling up serb propaganda and washing it down with russian vodka!
How is it Albania pledging loyalty to Ottomans when 1389 in Kosovo battle is the last time Serbs fight on the side of the Christian coalition passing on the Ottoman side as vassals AND with a Queen for the Sultan Beyazid and another Queen for Sultan Murad II, undermining the crusades and strengthening their positions in Balkan with Ottoman help.
All this while Albanians resisted at least 25 years longer with Scanderbey until defeated after his death, and punished brutally by even banning the Albanian language to be used. They commissioned Turkish, Serbian and Greek schools though. Of course, they need more of the subdued race!! That's why you don't see much Christian population in Kosovo.. all turned serb and greeks for relief!
That's how you destroy a people and now that's how you hide your own dirt, by throwing as much trash as you can on the neighbor!!
Wauw! Thank you for this amazing information! I only knew very little off this myself. My father in law (he´s albanian) told me once that a member of his family had joined that division and at the end of the war fled to Germany and stayed there. He never came back and spend the rest of his life in Germany.
Thanks for sharing this.
My friend do a video about the albanians collobarators in greece and what they did to greeeks and why napoleon zervas (a arvanite like me ) kick them out ! Very good video by the way ❤
I know Ireland was neutral in ww2 would it be possible to make a video about Ireland in ww2 history hustle?
I am really getting into Albanian history with a book about Skanderbeg, a history of Albania 🇦🇱, one about Yugoslavia, the Albanian mafia. Thank you for another source of Albanian knowledge
Thanks for watching.
If you go to National museum in Tirana you will fond how Great Br are forming them from tribes isto state
You think London is founded before Apollonia ,Durrahium ,Berat ,Argirocastra ,Shkoder ,Dagna and many other cities ?@@predragnicic7138
@@predragnicic7138 Albanian principalities, kingdoms, confederations ect have existed for millennia
@@predragnicic7138 actually even before the birth of modern Balkan states through ethnic cleansing by Russo serbs ..independent autonomus Albanian states from the Ottoman Empire already existed...
Cant wait for the comments from Sweden, Germany and Italy
Me too, you always love to hear nationalists who aren’t even in their country.
We will see.
Skanderbeg is the shock troops of the Lindybeige channel from Skandinavia.
Interesting..
I think is important to underline that there was no Albanian identity before XIX century and there was no Albanian state before. It was the most backward society with enormous illiteracy and feudal structure of power linked to the clan identity rather to the national identity. You can't build the nation without a written language being widespread. Secundo, Albania become selfproclaimed Kingdom with Zog as usurper since coup detat he sucessfuly launched but majority of royal european dynasties didnt acknowledge him as legitimate King. What bothers me is that the authoritarian/fascist nature of the state is missing from the narrative. Z symbolism, Albanian salute , shutdown on freedom of press etc. were the key elements of his regime. To sum up i think that fully developed Albanian national identity appeared in Hoxa regime. Only then the reforms within society were implemented such as women's suffrage, mass education, industrialization so on.
Here in the Balkans we identify ourselves by our native language and religion, not by the state where we live. If your native language is albanian, you are an Albanian , never mind where you live. If your mother is an albanian, and your father is a greek, you will have to choose your identity through you can speak both languages fluently.
@@tatqnadelcheva5509 "The language of the Albanians is unformed and adulterated. In many areas Italian elements have been incorporated into the language, in others Greek and in others Slavonic. Therefore Albanians who live fifty or sixty miles apart do not understand each other. In addition, there are racial differences between the Gegs who live in the wild north and the Tosks in the less rugged south. One would say that they belong to different ethnicities. And indeed this is the case. It would be easy to prove that the Albanians are not one people but half a dozen peoples."
Sir John Foster Fraser, "Pictures from the Balkans", CHAPTER XXIV. THE ALBANIANS, p. 257-258)
I am not an Albanian, so I can not answer you precisely. But I have had contacts with different Albanians from Kosovo, North Macedonia and proper Albania and they considered themselves one nation with their own common albanian language. Some people in London do speak Cockney, which other people can not understand, but this doesn't mean that they are Not English or British. At the end if you consider yourself an Albanian you ought to be an Albanian. Have a pleasant time of the day according to your location!
The preface to Gjon Buzuku’s “Meshari” proves you wrong. A gheg Albanian priest, that refers to a clear albanian identity. And this goes back to the kingdom of Arbanon. What youre saying is delusional anti-albanian propaganda.
ILLIRYA kingdom 250 bc ruler agron Kingdom of arbanon arbèria 12 centuries ruler Karl tropoja league of lezhe kastrioti skanderbeg 14 centurie Isa boletini league of prizren 1878 and you say we had no own state 😂don’t steal my wallet polish thief 😂
Thanks for mentioning this. Massacres and ethnic cleansing that Albanian collaborationists commited against Serbs in Kosovo is almost forgotten in history.
There are many forgotten aspects of WW2, this is one of them.
Serbs were massacring albanians since albanians welcomed serbs in balkans. They even did it in 1998, imagine what serbs have done through history…
Amazing video
👍
In October 1944 it was withdrawn from Greece to the Yugoslav Front and was reinforced in early 1945 by the addition of other Arabs from an Arab volunteer battalion disbanded before its full formation. He ended the war near Zagreb as part of the 104th Fighter Division of the Wehrmacht. The 1st and 2nd battalions of the Free Arab Legion which were not part of the Deutsche-Arabische Lehr Abteilung were used on 2 May 1943 to replace losses and rebuild Grenadier Regiment 92 with a company of light artillery and light pioneers , which was later renamed "Grenadier Regiment 92 (MOT)" on June 5, 1944. The regiment moved to Yugoslavia to fight against the Yugoslav Partisans and became part of Army Group F. The regiment suffered heavy losses during of the Belgrade Offensive in October 1944 and its remnants were integrated into the 2nd Panzer Army, where they were reconstituted as Panzergrenadier Brigade 92 in January 1945. The entire army capitulated to Nazi Austria in May 1945.
Those Iraqi soliders never returned to Iraq 💀 red army superior
Another informative and wonderful historical coverage video about Skanderbeg Waffen SS divisions in Albania 🇦🇱 during WW2. By German invaders... thank you an excellent ( History Hustle) channel and 🙏 Sir Stefan for sharing this incredible video about Albania 🇦🇱
Thanks for replying once else.
There is a reason why Germans found support from Kosovo Albanians. Due to the opression suffered at the hands of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia(Serbians mainly), the Kosovo Albanians saw the Germans as liberators not invaders. As for the killings it was revenge for the over 200.000 albanians massacred during the Balkan Wars(1912-1913).
The massacre of Albanians is misinformation.
@@mildew1sure buddy, go read some reports from eyewitnesses of that time for a change
@@arlindasllani3828 the number that you're mentioning is gross exaggeration. Learn some history
@@mildew1 the numbers are between 150.000-250.000 massacred. Even Serbian opposition politicians of the time give numbers up to 150.000. Only the Serbian Government gives low numbers, but ofcourse they would, the were the ones who committed genocide. I know the history of my people my friend and much more.
But sure you can give your numbers.
@@arlindasllani3828 this number is incorrect
Can you make a video about the SS-Sandschak?
Never heard of that one.
to nepostoji
@@HistoryHustlesandzak were Albanians ss
The "Albanese Clan" is one of the oldest and powerful Sicilian family, but their methods are infamous. Other families "look down" on them.
I did try some of their products/fruits preserve and were almost 99% natural !!! And this is back in the 70's when they were under Soviet rule.
What has to be remembered is that in what was albania before the nazis that same area saw no Holocaust of my jewish people.There was no betrayal of jews and no deportation of jews as such from Albania to nazi death camps.From kosova sadly yes that happened but not from Albania.Part of my own relatives were albanian jews all of them like all the rest of our community there were hidden by fellow Albanian non jews.Albania is the only country in nazi occupied europe where there were actually more jews at the end of The Holocaust than at the begining.
Yes my grandfather's brother hid a large group of jews in his house basement and he really risked his own life for that but fortunately they were all saved. No jew was handed to germans because the albanian people gave their besa and protected them, I'm talking about Albania.
As a Briton, I always find the obsession with borders and territory that countries and people have when they’re located on continents. As an islander, borders are defined naturally and so politics are more simple. I believe it manifests itself with an obsession with race and belonging, and people in places as diverse as Norway and Hungary people are proud of their ethnic history more than islanders in some ways. You hear Norwegians whose family have occupied the same house for centuries, and that is across Scandinavia. I know a young Hungarian woman whose paternal grandfather was German and she claims to be German, not Hungarian. Considering they were all part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire (not all of Germany I know) I can’t really understand why this detail should be so important, but it is. Blood and soil are not to be ignored it seems, even in our EU inclined, pan-European modern world.
Britain committed numerous crimes around the world (starting on the neighboring island of Ireland) it outright theft and massacres of indigenous people will forever be a stain on the history of that septic country. Britain never contributed anything worthwhile to the countries they invaded and one by one they were force to leave. Incidentally Ireland was the first country and within 30 years the British empire was consigned to the dust bin of history where it rightly belongs.
In modern time Britain is a pariah state within Europe because of the stupidity of Brexit 😂😂😂
What programme do you use for making videos?
Adobe Premiere
@@HistoryHustle Thx. What effect did you use for picture at [14:50]?
Interesting Kosovo information. Nice video 👌
Thanks for watching!
Image in the thumbnail is the 28th regiment of handschar, not skanderbeg.
Is it?
@@HistoryHustle yep, they had an Albanian regiment. It’s really interesting
can you please explain how the border between Kosovo and Albania was decided? How did it happen that Albania didn't end up in Yugoslavia, or that Kosovo didn't end up in Albania?
(- This SS Skënderbeu seems to be one reason why comunist Albania wouldn't want them nazis and why Serbs had a very harsh and crude relation with kosovars after taking Kosovo.)
.. sepse gabelo-shkito-avaro-srpët shkelën Marrëveshjen e mbajtur në Bujan në 31 dhjetor 1943 - 1, 2 janar 1944 në të cilen ishte vendosur që pas L2B viset shqiptare të gllabëruara padrejtësisht, nëpërmes terrori, masakrimeve e dëbimeve nga trupat agresioniste e kriminale të Beligradit (korrik 1913) të ribashkoheshin në 1 shtet shqiptar. 👋🏻
Albania Scopia Bulgaria Romania Croatia Slovenia even Turkey they cooperated with Nazism and Fascism against Greece and Serbia
Weer een heel leerzame video Stefan! Dank je wel!
👍👍👍
The Albanians did the same to the Germans, as the afghans to the Americans; they scammed them. They scammed a much larger empire out of weapons, food and pay, by pretending to be their allies. Never underestimate these mountain people who managed to live on the same land for thousands of years; they know how to survive.
Germans besides of taking the area under their political control had exact 0 interests to do anything in the Albanian mountains, they could ever care less about local conflicts so they were never interested in the territorial aspects of this. If they had interests like they had in occupied Yugoslavia Albania as you know it today would be a way different territory. Comparing Afghanistan retreat with overall German retreat from the Balkans is totally different universe. Also majority Kosovo Albanians did not "pretend" they were real Nazi collaborators and Kosovo Albanians never chase Germans since they look them as a friends who give them open card policy for prosecution the local Serbs and others who not agreed with them. Members of this so called SS division were often robbers, criminals and uneducated villagers while there were some exceptions when famous Albanian families in Kosovo who had relations with Serbs for centuries reject to join such group of bandits.
@rogyn8484 Kosovo Albanians regarded the Germans as allies and if Germans would have won ww2 , Kosovo would have joined Albania and Serbia would be out of the map.
Simple as that.
Yes most SS Skanderbeg division was made.of middle aged men.
Real Albanian warriors were in the Vullnetari formations.
@MrPolinikis they survived, while others disappeared - how is that the wrong side of history?
@MrPolinikis Germans were Allied of Albanians.
Their victory in ww1 and ww2 would mean a larger Albania and extinction of servs.
Simple as that.
Greece is also a nation created by Albanians.
@@rogyn8484read Fischer and Malkolm, the above commenter has a good point, Albanians did not care about Nazi policies. World war 1 memories were still fresh and Albanians knew that if they did not compromise, they would end up in the midst of fire from both ends...whether the nazis would win or not, we would survive. We always do. Trying to make Albanians look bad to cover the athrocities serbs commited throughout the centuries toward Albanians, speaks for itself. There is no justification for the genocide of Albanians in Nish all the way to Lume in proper Albania...an episode which is known as Albanian Golgoda is also published by Austrian authors, how 100k Albanians were massacred in few weeks in 1912.
Ww2 was known as "three days of freedom" for Albanians under Yugoslav yoke, because for first time in history after ottoman 500 years of invasion & 30 years of yugoslav oppression, albanian schools were opened, national flag was allowed and institutions were to be utilized by the locals. Ss Skanderbeg had no links to BK and local patriots. It was a more of a mercenary unit where different nationals served, hence the ss division. Germans recruited from all over Europe and Asia to fill in their ss ranks.
Albania was collaborating with Italy. It was not conquered in reality...
It was.
@@HistoryHustleItalian invasion 1939 king zog flee the country
@@HistoryHustleYes.But after King Zogu,New albanian government was pro nazzi colaborators.
@@zoranninkovic697serbia was the first nation to brag about being juden free in europe. I don't know what type of nazi collaborators like the albanians would have more jews after the war than before 🤔
Balli kombëtar fought for the independence against every invader, it was composed of highly educated leaders that had studied in the best European universities...a threat for the communists that started a civil war destroying every other political faction...
my albanian greatgrandfather was part of Balli Kombtar. the man who created the militia party was from my village
Thanks for sharing.
Good article. Albanian iridentialism over the now independent state of Kosovo sometimes gets a occasional news article on the net.
Thanks for watching.
Both Germans and Albanians benefit from this regiment Germans had ss Albanians to protect south Europe from communist serbs while Albanians had back their land and nice German weapons
True.
Although the Albanian SS was very ineffective.
A serbian assassinated the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, that kicked off the most darkest times where tens of millions of people have been killed. Austria-Hungary empire descends from the Holy-Roman Empire, which descended from the Habsburg Dynasty, that hold the claim to be the descendants of the Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great, whose father was an ethnic Illyrian Roman officer. Which Serbians/Slavic people have even wrote books trying to claim Albania's national hero Skenderbey, was actually Serbian. One of Skenderbey's biggest allies and supporters during his 2 decade war against the Ottman Empire was the Habsburg dynasty. The holy roman empire's flag during their reign, was a black double headed eagle with a yellow backdrop. The Albanian flag first raised by Skenderbey and still used today is a black double headed eagle with a red backdrop. Religious texts and theology prophesied of tribes coming from the caucus mountains in Russia that would reign terror and try to claim the holy land.
First day after Germans occupied Greece, started do business with local state related intelligencia.
Your point?
The regions were not inhabited by "large amount of Albanian people". Be honest in your videos. Every area included in that "greater Albania" had an Albanian majority.
yes .in reality all the autonomous Albanian pashaliks were inhabited by an Albanian majority even before the birth of Serbia which was created through genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population ...supported by Russia
"Greek Thesprotia was not included amongst the territories annexed to Albania and remained under the control of the High Command of Athens because of the German reaction. It seems that, amongst other factors which worked against such an annexation was the fact that, in contrast to Kosovo, the inhabitants of Epirus were by a VAST MAJORITY GREEKS, which could not justify any administrative reorganization in that region."
Manta. The Cams of Albania. 2009. p. 7:
You forget to me mention that serbs came in tribes from russia and Ukraine to Illyrian peninsula.
Not relevant regarding the topic of this video.
@@HistoryHustle and what side the serbosllavian chetniks were??? 😂😂
@@tonisula7626 Autist.
Illyrians were not Albanian
@@mildew1 you're right Albanians are illyrians
Long Live Albania & Albanians (muslim, catholic, orthodox, atheist) 🇦🇱👐 🇽🇰
it would good to make a video about poulos verband
Who?
Georgios Poulos (Greek: Γεώργιος Πούλος; 1889, Romania - 11 June 1949) was a Greek Army colonel and Nazi collaborator during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II.
He was born in 1889 in Romania, hailing from Platanos, Aetolia-Acarnania. He seems to have participated in the Greco-Turkish War, while he participated in the 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt as a lieutenant colonel, leaving the army after its failure.
A longtime ultra-nationalist, Colonel Poulos was fanatically anti-monarchist and anti-communist. In 1943, he organised and led the Poulos Verband, the most feared collaborationist death squad in occupied-Greece. During 1944, his forces were reinforced by the Jagdkommando Schubert, a paramilitary unit raised in Crete by the notorious Friedrich Schubert.@@HistoryHustle
After the Byzantines, Serbs, Ottomans, Italians, Austro-Hungarians and Germans, the Albanians will one day say that they were actually the biggest thorn in the side of the US and NATO in the Balkans, as in all previous cases. Mark my words
Ok.
You are wrong because in all the previous cases Albanians were invaded without asking or deserving it. You expect albanians to comply with their invaders? We just want to be free and we owe US & NATO a lot, our freedom.
@@albarmy1 One question but answer honestly. Can Albania and Kosovo decide something that the US would oppose?
@@herzog1857.. përse u dashka ta kundërshtojnë ???!!!
Italians tried to blame Albanians for the setbacks in the Greco-Italian war. This is not true, it was because Italy simply didn’t properly prepare for a war in mountainous terrain just before winter.
It should be noted that the reason the Albanians committed atrocities against the Serbs is because for many many years Serbs committed atrocities against Albanians. In the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 over 25,000 Albanian civilians were massacred and in the 1990’s there was of Genocide of Albanians committed by the Serbs in Kosovo. And that’s just the tip of the ice berg.
Siege of Kruje 1450:
ruclips.net/video/657FHezjQlc/видео.html
You conveniently "forgot" to mention that albanians who were not indigenous to Kosovo but settled there by the turks after a failed uprise of Serbians around 1600 , using the ancient albanian recipe of affiliating to the superpower of each era (romans, venitians, turks, germans in WW2) in order to loot, kill and rape unpunished, did terrible things to Serbs for three centuries and stole their most emblematic and ancestral piece of Serbia. This of course doesn't legalize what they did later to albanians , but my friend history is not "black and white" and all "details" should be mentioned, no matter who much they hurt.....
Three centuries? Please don't make stuff up, that's beyond silly. Also Albanians didn't steal no 'ancestral piece' of Serbia. Serbs are descendants of the Sclaveni people who were 7th century settlers to the Balkans. On the other hand, DNA testing, linguists, and historians all agree Albanians are Paleo-Balkan people. What's more ironic is that a majority of linguists agree that it looks like the South Serbia, Kosovo, and North Macedonia is *PRECISELY* where the language evolved. None of these scholars are Albanians.@@odysseasntalias5950
@@eurech I will not debate you about modern albanians being palaio-balcans (Illyrians yes -modern albanians probably not) but originally they didn't live in Kosovo. Slavs (serbs) lived there from the 7th century and they suffered from the albanians from the moment turks settled them there after an unfortunate uprise against the sultan. This is a historical fact. So I am exact when I say that they suffered for three centuries. I don't want to insult you -in case you are albanian- but albanians have been recorded in the collective memory of all balcan nations as intruders , looters and killers , long before fake news and trolls were invented. Is true or not that Albanians always joined the local superpower of the area (romans, venitians, turks ) in order to , violently settle , attack and steal unpunished??. Even in WW2 they joined the germans , even formed SS regiments of very small fighting ability and terrorised the balkans once more....
which one rebelled against the SS?
Countries who joined the dreaded SS are Albania, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Ingushen, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Jordan,Turkey, Turkistan, France, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium, Belarussia, British, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Iran, Iraq, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Romania, Hungry, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, etc. Mostly were actually used as a show which never fought the bloodiest battles for Nazi Germany regime itself. Number were actually too few like the Czechs only one hundred. Poland itself never had Polish SS but yet ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Germans living in Poland served with the SS.
Not Serbia. Serbians represented the most massive resistance movement against the Nazis in whole Europe and they paid enormous price.
Serbs or Jugoslav corps in Kingdom of Jugoslavia were first on "continent" with resistant units earlier than franch and polish.
Also Jugoslav Corps are Highly recognised in NZ, AUS, CAN, UK and US
It is pronounced "skander-beg" not "skanderbezh"
Ok.
You’re the best history RUclipsr I swear 👏🫡
Many thanks for your comment.
@danditto6145 Gavrilo Princip was ethnicly Bosnian Serb but he was Austrohungarian Citizen! He was not born in Serbia and he never had Serbian citizenship.Clame that Serbia and Serbs are guilty for Sarajevo asssassination is similar clame Britain is started war against USA Iff American with english or scottish origin kill someone in USA.
Thanks for sharing.
But at the WW2 VE celebration in France,, Germans and Albanians in front rows. Thats the new world order!
Please explain.
Im albanian and i didnt even know the division existed,thanks for teaching us. Also you pronounced skanderbeg wrong the right pronounciation is skënderbeu or if you say skanderbeg you pronounce the letters as they are
Thanks for replying.
It seems some1 is proud of sick genocidal ideas and division
@@user-irj1nxa3cof2z Cool information but why did you comment it?
"Instructor"...you "continue" to "uphold" the "bar"....in the " presentation"of...."military history""!!!
Thanks Michael!
Respect to our man here not only for the video cotent and quality but also for having the patience to reply to each and every butthurted Albanian in the comments section.
We salute you sir!!🤣
It happens when you make videos about Balkan countries.
In political view Italy came to Albania 🇦🇱 to protect Albanians. So did germany to protect Albanian borders from serbs and russian communist but they failed cause they lost the war. Anyway that failure was regained in 1998 when nato freed kosova Albanians from serbian killers.
Italy wanted to conquer Albania not protect it 😂
Recently someone posted average IQ levels within Europe. Netherlands 100. Albania was around 80 according to those stats.
?
@@kevinlleshi3129 I wonder how much smart people were removed.
not possible 🙄
@@DT-wp4hkI mean they haven't a great education system
@@talpark8796 look it up at yt. Europe + IQ. For Asia and Africa there is also one. I did find it interesting.
And yet they helped so many Jews escape from the Nazis
Collaborators not but others yes. That is not what this video is about.
@@HistoryHustle So what are you trying to say with this video?
@@HistoryHustlethe collaborators(the government of the time) gave them Albanian passports and identity and use their collaboration and a little authority they had to say "NO" to the request of Nazis to give to them the list of the Jews in the country. In many occasions,they gave money and gold to "buy" the life of some Jews. The majors of cities transported Jews from a location to another safer location. They were collaborators,because they had to think for their own people too. Albanians outside today Albania were being massacred since the end of the 19th century,something that was not happening anymore during ww2. If there was no collaborators,it would be not possible to save so many Jews. Don't take things so superfically,just naming them collaborators and building your own logic without bases and historical facts.
Don't ever forget that every contry conquered by germany at that time has a SS foreign division......... It's not just those idiots..... We Albanians kept a whole Juwe comunity during the whole war and no one was killed or gived to the germans.
Exactly. There are documents and photos of this where all countries had the SS.
Perhaps check my channel and know I already covered practicallt every other country's collaborators.
@@HistoryHustle yes i saw that, but not everybody did. I wanted to write it down 🇦🇱
@@flopz_31naahhh... That is too good to be said about us.
Waiting for a video about Italian SS
Not anytime soon: lack of imagary.
@@HistoryHustle Unfortunately you're right, most of the material probably got destroyed at the end of the war
Nice but how did Kosovo (predominantly inhabited by Albanians long before the WW2) ended up under the pre-WW2 serb state in the first place?
Check your history. Kosovo was predominantly populated by Serbs before and after WWII.
@@lenp00 After all, even if it were true that Kosovo was predominantly populated by serbs before and after the WW2 (which no credible non-serb sources support), do you really think Kosovo was totally empty (no people there) when serbs arrived in the Balkans in as part of the wild barbaric slavic hordes around 6th century AD?
So, when do we start counting the history?
Where is Kosovo?! Wasn't part of Albanian! Serbs must be informed
Perhaps watch the full video first.
Many nations collaborated with the NAZIS. Just ask which nations handed their Jewish population over to the NAZIS. Albania and Yugoslavia were the only two who didn't. The presenter of this video is totally biased. When the Albanian King went into self exile it created a power vacuum. Political parties split in 3 factions all vying for control.
This video is about Albanian collaboration. On my channel other nations collaborators is widely covered.
You fail to explain by I am biased.
@@HistoryHustle you mentioned the term Albanian irredentismis it is an inappropriate term ...Maybe you don't know but Kosovo was taken away from the Albanians at the London Conference in 1913...The Albanian population has suffered horrific massacres and ethnic cleansing not only in those years but even before
@@HistoryHustle have you ever heard of cubrilovic's plan??
@@HistoryHustle or about the Massacres of Albanians civilians in the Balkan Wars??is estimated to be at least 120,000 Albanian civilians ...the Scanderbeg division is a very small fraction of the story not only in the history between Serbs and Albanians but in Albanian history itself that division has a tiny role
@@HistoryHustle and then you didn't even mention that the musolini soldiers were transformed into partisans in Albania forced to fight on behalf of the Albanians until the total liberation of Albania
Very convenient for you to spread propaganda …. and great timing for sure! Albanians protected jewish people because of our code of honour BESA, but what do you know, you read a book and make a documentary about it as its the absolute truth!
Care to explain or you just wanted to shout in the comments.
Can you make german Text ?
Subtitles or speech? In both cases no, I dont have the time for that.
@@HistoryHustle subtitel
Du kannst die Videos automatisch übersetzen
@@Enno9nur auf englisch leider
@@Ballist88 drück auf Englische Untertitel. Dann geh nochmal auf Untertitel und dort steht dann als Option: Automatisch übersetzen und dort drückst auf Deutsch.
Who's Moozzlini?
lol