Government Meeting
“The proposal of the Working Group, appointed by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo under Decision No. 14/14 dated June 7, 2023, for the establishment of the Genocide Museum and the Struggle for Freedom, has been approved,” is written in the first point of the decision approved at the 238th meeting of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo.
The approval of the proposal for the establishment of the “Genocide Museum and Struggle for Freedom” was one of the main points discussed at the Government meeting on Wednesday, but like several similar initiatives in the last decade, the decision to establish it is contradictory. The proposal has been approved, but it will initially be part of the National Museum of Kosovo. However, there is no law for the museum, and such an institution has already been “established” by previous governments. Now, according to the authorities, the museum also has a location. The Ministry of Culture will move from its current location to make room for the yet-to-be-established institution, which still only exists on paper.
The history of a potential genocide museum in Kosovo has been a game of words and paperwork. Under different names and ideas, a genocide museum for the Serbian forces in Kosovo has been discussed several times by institutions, with decisions being made. The most recent of these is from Wednesday’s meeting of the Government.
“The proposal of the Working Group, appointed by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo under Decision No. 14/14 dated June 7, 2023, for the establishment of the Genocide Museum and the Struggle for Freedom, has been approved,” reads the first point of the decision. This decision opens the way for the museum’s establishment. But as the Ministry of Culture usually plans, the situation is as follows: there is currently no law for museums, and consequently, there cannot be an independent institution yet. Initially, it will be a unit within the National Museum, and then a concept will be developed, a tender will be issued for the space, and a series of other processes will follow. All of this means that the institution, at least for now, is not even on the horizon.
Museum or Unit Within the National Museum?
The government’s decision itself fluctuates between calling it a museum or a unit within the National Museum of Kosovo. According to the decision, the museum will document and present the crimes of the former Yugoslavia and Serbia against Albanians and others in Kosovo. This decision obligates the Ministry of Culture to create “the museum, initially as a separate unit within the National Museum of Kosovo, as a cultural institution based on applicable legislation until the Law on Museums is approved, as an independent national-level museum institution.” The Ministry of Culture is also obligated to carry out the necessary procedures to locate the museum within the building where the Ministry is currently located.
The Ministry of Culture is further obligated to “prepare the project task for the museological and curatorial concept as well as for the architectural and spatial concept of the museum building.” Finally, the Ministry is responsible for carrying out procedures for the implementation of the project for the museological and curatorial concept, as well as the architectural and spatial design of the museum.
At the Government meeting, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said, “It has been more than a quarter of a century since the end of the war in Kosovo, but many wounds are still fresh, and the pain from the killings, massacres, and crimes committed by the police and military forces of Serbia, ordered and carried out by the Serbian state, in the framework of their genocidal project to exterminate our people, is still heavy.”
“In this quarter-century of freedom, an entire generation has been born and raised after the war. The new generations must have the opportunity to learn about our past, the desire to live in freedom, and the unwavering love for Kosovo, in the most difficult times and in the most dangerous conditions,” he added. According to him, all the evidence and testimonies of the crimes committed during the war by the Serbian state in Kosovo, collected by organizations and international courts, by academic or independent researchers, along with evidence and testimonies not yet collected, are now being gathered and brought to the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo to preserve and maintain collective memory by systematizing and categorizing them.
“After the establishment of the working group for the development of the concept of the Genocide Museum and the Struggle for Freedom, today at the Government meeting, we have the decision to establish this museum institution. Our country will have a dignified museum where the crimes of the former Yugoslavia and Serbia against our people will be displayed,” he said.
Čeku: “Perhaps the Most Important Museum Institution”
The Minister of Culture, Hajrulla Čeku, said at the Government meeting that the main objective is to create a public memorial and exhibition institution for the histories and experiences under the occupation of Serbia and the former Yugoslavia.
“The museum also aims at education, remembrance, and honoring generations, presenting the experiences of survivors so that their stories are not forgotten. It aims for sustainable peace, ensuring that the violent past is documented, remembered, and never repeated,” he said. He clarified that there are many procedures required to establish such a museum.
After the Government meeting, Minister Čeku told the media that, with the Government’s authorization, the Ministry of Culture would now begin all the necessary processes for developing the museological and curatorial concept, as well as the architectural and spatial project for the museum building.
“For this purpose, we have already secured the necessary budget,” he said.
However, in the Budget Law for next year, the Genocide Museum and Struggle for Freedom is not listed anywhere. There is a budget line titled “War Museum in Pristina” with 250,000 euros carried over from 2024.
Minister Čeku explained that the first step will be to prepare the project task, which will precede the international competition for the design of the project.
“Thus, the building exists, the project task will be prepared, and the competition for the design will be announced. Once we have the architecture studio contracted, the process of developing the project will begin, which is not only architectural but also includes the museological and curatorial components. At the end, the cost of implementation will be determined, which will then trigger the procedure for the project’s realization,” Minister Čeku explained. According to him, the government is currently in communication with several countries that have distinguished experience in museum creation and presenting the atrocious past and believes that in this regard, there will be international cooperation to ensure the necessary expertise. Like all of his other initiatives—none of which have been completed so far—he described this one as “perhaps the most important museum institution in our country.” He mentioned that there were five options for the location, but Pristina and the current building of the Ministry of Culture were selected. He added that there are several small museums across Kosovo documenting the crimes of Serbia from the past, and they believe the best approach is to integrate all of them into this new museum institution of Kosovo.
“The main pavilions will be here in Pristina, in the square, in the building where the Ministry of Culture is now, while for a complete experience and a full story of the events of at least the last century, the timeline of this museum covers many documented events. Some of the events can also be seen in the museums across Kosovo,” he said.
Rashiq Opposes the Naming of the Museum
However, the reaction from the Minister for Communities and Returns, Nenad Rashiq, was swift as he did not vote in favor of the proposal. He had similarly acted in June 2023 when the Working Group for developing the concept for the establishment of a museum to document and present the crimes of the former Yugoslavia and Serbia against Albanians in Kosovo was created.
On Wednesday, Minister Rashiq explained that he did not vote in favor because he believes that every crime has a name and should not be generalized as in this case.
“This means that the name of the museum is not appropriate – ‘The Genocide of Serbia and Yugoslavia,’” he said. He added that he is against the entire Serbian state being considered genocidal, especially when there have been several proposals for the institution’s name.
“For example, ‘War Genocide,’ ‘Genocide by War Criminals,’ ‘Genocides by Paramilitary Groups,’ ‘War Crimes,’ or some other expression that I might not be able to find due to the language, but not the whole state being used as if it were genocidal,” Rashiq said.
Minister Čeku responded to this by saying that they had discussed the issue earlier but never forgot the fact that both the former Yugoslavia and Serbia’s main goal was the extermination of the Albanian people.
“However, in that atrocious and genocidal enterprise, others suffered as well, the people of Kosovo in general, and this has already been reflected in the museum’s concept and in the decision made today by the Government,” Čeku said.
A New Unit in a Closed Museum
The National Museum of Kosovo, which according to the Government’s decision will have the Genocide Museum as a unit, is currently nonfunctional to the public. Since September, this institution has been closed for at least one year due to a major restoration project costing 3 million euros. In parallel, the entire museum collection is being treated, and all exhibits are being registered. It remains to be seen when the Government-mandated unit’s establishment will begin.
Vjollca Aliu, the Director of the National Museum of Kosovo, stated on Wednesday for Koha that the institution is currently in the restoration phase and is working on the treatment of exhibits.
“The museum is also working on organizing the workplaces and dealing with the ‘Prison of the Ideal,’” Aliu said. She took over as Director this month after nearly two years as the Deputy Director.
According to her, apart from these obligations, the institution will also work on the duties assigned by the Government for the Genocide Museum.
“For the Museum, this is a positive challenge, and the new museums and the Museum of Kosovo will help each other,” she added. Aliu believes that the Government’s decision holds great value in documenting the past and establishing a new and much-needed institution.
Sali Shoshi, the head of the foundation “Cultural Heritage without Borders” (CHwB Kosovo), also saw the Government’s decision as a necessary step for memorializing the past. He said that although he is not aware of the details, in principle, the approach to telling the story of the war should be strategic due to its complexity.
“The war took place across a vast geography, throughout the entire country. Each place has its own characteristics and should be curated based on these. Each area should have its own weight, and the concept for the museum should not be concentrated in one building but throughout the territory, just as the war testimonies are,” he said. According to Shoshi, if that is the idea, he would be very happy.
“But I don’t know what the idea is, how it has been discussed, or if there is consensus on it. I think Kosovo should be an open museum, and each place should have its own story. The story should not be confined within the walls of a building. There needs to be a holistic curation of all of Kosovo, integrated,” he said. Shoshi believes that this discussion has not yet reached a national level and that survivors, international experts, and many other stakeholders should be part of this debate.
Initiatives Over the Years for Genocide Memory
The history of documenting the genocide in Kosovo is a long-standing discussion. Attempts for museums dedicated to the exodus, the war, and peace date back at least a decade. Later, some of these efforts became official documents. In February 2019, the Government of Kosovo, then led by Ramush Haradinaj, made a decision to build a memorial center for the genocide against Albanians in “Bllacë 1999.” A month later, 100,000 euros were allocated for this project. On April 10 of that year, the “Wall of Remembrance” was inaugurated near the border with North Macedonia in Han i Elezit. Since then, several train carriages bearing the inscription “Bllaca 1999” have remained there. The plan was to have study visits to Israel to develop a model for a memorial museum for the genocide.
In May of the same year, then Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Kadri Veseli, proposed another initiative. On the afternoon of May 14, 2020, Veseli, the former Minister of Culture, Kujtim Gashi, former executive director of the Kosovo Privatization Agency, Valon Tolaj, and former chairman of the Agency’s Board, Bajram Zejnullahu, were seen walking for about 15 minutes through the premises of the former Tjegullore (a former facility) in Pristina.
At that time, as Veseli was at the height of a declarative war against Serbia’s crimes in Kosovo, the four toured the site, after which only Veseli spoke to the media. He stated that the Ministry of Culture would ensure that a budget would be allocated to transform the space into what he called the Museum of the Genocide of the Last War in Kosovo, and procedures for expropriation would begin. This issue was even included in the agenda of a plenary session of the Kosovo Assembly as part of a package that also proposed a tribunal for Serbia’s crimes and other initiatives. However, the proposal did not pass due to the need for additional amendments.
“For 2020, the budget was supposed to be allocated, and work was supposed to start,” said the then Minister of Culture, Kujtim Gashi, in September of that year. No work was carried out. How the new initiative will progress remains to be seen.
