VIEW FROM THE SPOT:
Tracks of Serbian history are being erased in Kosovo

Kosovan Albanians will stand guard over Serbian cloister. And everyone’s wondering how are they are going to guard them. We’ll better try to answer such questions as why would they do that and what for.

Our interlocutor is folklore specialist Irina Antanasievich, Doctor of Philological Science, aged 45. She and her husband have left the USSR in 1986 and came to Yugoslavia, to Croatian city of Split. On the 27th of June, 1991 (it is her birthday) she had to leave independent Croatia with her family. They moved to Kosovo. Irina has lectured Russian literature at the University of Pristina. On the 27th of June, 1999 she had to leave Kosovo as well. As she says, just in case, she hasn’t been celebrating her birthday since then. Now she is lecturing Russian literature at the philosophy department in Niš, Kosovska Mitrovica and at the philology department in Belgrade. She is a member of editorial stuff of Gradín Serbian literary, art magazine and university magazine Fakta Universitatis. She is an author of two books and lots of scientific works. Her publications in literary miscellany "Magic Mountain" and collected stories named "Night watch symptom" are well-known. She has a LiveJournal blog — iraan.livejournal.com. She also has two children.

— Irina, you are originally from Odessa. You have been living in Yugoslavia for 20 years now (we still can’t accept disappearing of this country — that was so dear to us — from the map), teaching Russian in Serbian universities. Who do you think you are now: Soviet person, inhabitant — cosmopolitan of Odessa, Russian, Ukrainian or Serbian?

— That’s the most difficult question for me. I was born in the USSR and moved to Yugoslavia. There is no country where I was born anymore; there is no country I moved to as well. This states perished almost simultaneously. Have I become Ukrainian just because my native Odessa is a part of the independent Ukraine? Of course, I haven’t. You can be Ukrainian according to the document, but you can be orc, elf or hobbit according to your documents as well. The SFRY gave me the right of residence in Croatia and that’s where the war — the first war — caught me. Then was Kosovo and the second war. Have I become Serbian after all? No, of course, I haven’t. You can fall in love with some city, you can grow in it, accept customs, study culture and language, but... if you are touched on the raw, it all will go away. Once I was called Serbian Russian being explained that there are Kosovan Serbs, Kosovan Albanians, while Irina is Kosovan Russian. It’s true, I love Kosovo, I have been living in the Balkans for a long time, I was born in the Ukraine (I mean territory but not the state), but I am Russian. Whether I (or somebody else) like it or not, that does not alter the particularity of the fact.

— When did you visit Odessa, the city of your childhood, last time? Do you want to walk along Odessa streets?

— It was long time ago — about ten years past. No, I actually don’t want to. Inhabitants of Odessa, no offence, but I really don’t want to do it. It is different city now. It is beautiful and nice, but it’s not mine.

— Your post in LiveJournal "Serbian folk song: the NATO is to come..." is very popular among bloggers. And now, some years after those events, did your opinion about Civilization missionary’ methods and their goals change?

— No, it didn’t. I saw them too close to afford myself an opportunity to idealize them. I drew too dolorous moral after meeting them...

— Do you want to investigate a state of Serbs’ societal identity in cooperation with our scientific school of archetypes? It would be interesting to compare progress in forming of postmodern-person identity in the Ukraine with the same one in Serbia.

— I think, there are some complexities with studies of the Ukrainian identity. There are some reasons. And there are some complexities with Serbs too, but in different way. There is something we may dub the Balkan specificity. This phenomenon must be investigated separately and using different methods. Then we will be able to explain recurrent Balkan fits.

— I want to ask you one more topical question. It is about shrines in Kosovo, which are going to be delivered to Albanian authorities. However, in spite of five-hundred-years supremacy of Ottoman Empire, traces of Serbian culture were impossible to wipe off. And one of such reasons is its number. For example, there were more than 1500 Orthodox Churches and cloisters in Kosovo, which made this area the biggest one in Europe and in the whole world, in terms of Christian spiritual monuments per square meter. Although during five-century Turkish yoke and Islamization of Serbians a lot of Serbian Churches and cloisters were destroyed or reduced into mosques. The majority of orthodox shrines were destroyed in the last decade of XX century. In percent ratio the greatest number of Christian spiritual shrines was destroyed during international protectorate. That’s why KFOR activity raises concerns, considering that this organization was designed to protect Serbian cultural monuments among the other things. 150 Orthodox religious objects were destroyed, burned and desecrated. This is the most serious cultural disaster in the world after the Second World War. What would happen with Kosovan shrines after passing them to the Albanian authority, if KFOR was unable to protect it?

— Kosovan Albanians will stand guard over Serbian cloister. And everyone’s wondering how are they are going to guard them. We’ll better try to answer such questions as why they would do that and what for. Because for many years Albanians have been saying that they remember their Christian origins modestly lowering their eyes and that the ash of the past is beating in their hearts. And those churches and cloisters are not only Serbian but Kosovan as well — they are the treasures of both Kosovan and Serbian peoples. And tomorrow gaping pilgrims will be brought to Serbian cloisters by Albanian guides. These guides will tell them about eternity and beauty. Pilgrims will learn Kosovan-Albanian history and will listen to it with pleasure. And only Kosovan monks will stand apart gloomily as shackled bears, which have to dance for kicks. But their gloominess will be written off to constant Serbian displeasure and intolerance.

— Irina, we’re very grateful for the interview.

Summing it up, here are some quotations from Irina’ post in her LJ about how do Serbians understand some Russian words today:

Russian way / ruski nacin — severe or difficult way.
Russian winter / Ruska zima — very cold winter.
Russian fairy-tales / Ruske bajke — something really joyful and idyllic.
Russian volunteer / Ruski dobrovoljac — a person, acting courageously and bravely in the dangerous situation.
Russian film / ruski film — tragedy.
Russian gas / ruski gas — any kind of inexpensive but useful help.
Bolje da ti rusi iskljuce gas, nego da ti švabe puste. It is better Russians turn the gas off than Germans lay the gas line.
Russian tractor / ruski traktor — something that can never be break down. Here’s a joke: Sta prvo crkne na ruskom traktoru? — Vozac... / what’s the first thing that can be broken in Russian tractor? Driver can...

Material was prepared by Sergey Sibiryakov