Letting Go of the Past

I did not realize the true depth of Albanian vs. Serbian animosity till I visited the Kosovar town of Skenderaj to see the UCK memorial dedicated to the killing of an entire 'militant' family (22 members) by the Serbian troops during the war in 1999. I have seen many war memorials before but not ones that have attempted to build an entire theme park around it (little more than a model and parking lot foundation have been built) and that have left the site as close to its original state as possible. As the story goes the head members of this family were all leaders in the UCK army that was fighting for Kosovo's independence. Serbian troops had tracked down their family compound and launched a 3 day assault with an extremely large number of troops and munitions against this one family, which stood strong. Men, women and children were all killed and their bodies have since been buried across the street with full time honor guards standing out in the cold and bitter winds. I never understood this logic anywhere but I am thankful that it is not I standing like a statue.

A visitor shed sells all types of propaganda surrounding the family, the fighting, the war, etc. in all language. The 3 homes of the compound have been left pretty much in tact from the days of the fighting. Matter of fact, a grotesque system of scaffolding has propped up most of the walls and provided support for a large tin roof to prevent too much decay of the structures. The point is very successfully made that an awesome amount of firepower was used to kill this family. Very hard to imagine what exactly happened during those 3 days as we walked and drove around the peaceful and pretty countryside that still shows obvious signs of neither forgiving or forgetting the atrocities of the past.