Drač County
Драчки округ
county of Kingdom of Serbia
1912–1913
Coat of arms of Durrës County
Coat of arms
CapitalDrač (Durrës)
History 
29 November 1912
• Disestablished
April 1913
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Ottoman Empire
Independent Albania
Today part ofAlbania

Drač County (Serbian: Драчки округ/Drački okrug) was one of the counties of the Kingdom of Serbia established on 29 November 1912 on the part of the territory of Albania taken from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War. Drač County had four districts (Serbian: срез/Srez): Drač (Durrës), Lješ (Lezhë), Elbasan and Tirana.[1][2] The army of the Kingdom of Serbia retreated from Durrës in April 1913.

Establishment

Territorial expansion of the Kingdom of Serbia in 1913.

The Royal Serbian Army captured city of Durazzo (Albanian: Durrës) on 29 November 1912 without facing opposition.[3] Orthodox Christian metropolitan of Durrës Jakob gave a particularly warm welcome to the new authorities. He also secured friendly relations with the Serbian authorities in the region. As such he successfully intervened to them and several Albanian guerrilla units were saved and avoided execution.[3]

The Kingdom of Serbia established district offices and appointed the governor of the county, mayor of the city, and commander of the military garrison.[4] The first military governor of the city of Durrës, captain Branislav Milosavljević (commander of vanguard of Šumadijan unit), appointed the first city council which included Petar Djurasković (chairman), Hristo Spiro, Mehmed Efendi and others.[5]

Ivan Ivanić, the first governor of Durrës County

The first governor of Drač County was Ivan Ivanić, a Serbian diplomat. His wife Delfa, one of the founders of the Circle of Serbian Sisters, chaired the city hospital.[6][7] The first mayor of Durrës was Petar Đurašković, a member of a family from this city, while members of the city council were Hristos Spiro, Imam Husein Efendi and Filip Serić.[8] When the army of Kingdom of Serbia occupied Albania in 1912, Dragutin Anastasijević was engaged as a translator for the Greek language and, after a while, he was appointed as governor of Drač County[9] instead of Ivan Ivanić.

Serbia's most important goal of the Balkan Wars was access to the open sea.[10]

Persecution of Locals

During occupation, the Serbian army killed and brutalized numerous Albanian civilians. Reported by impartial observers were instances of mass murder of Muslim and even Christian civilians.[11] Many of the victims were woman, children, and the elderly.[12] Beatings of Albanian civilians and looting were also commonplace.[13][12]

Locals were also subjected to forced mass conversions to Orthodox Christianity. Catholic Albanians would regularly be imprisoned without trial.[14] There were also multiple instances of razing and plundering of civilian areas.[15] Other atrocities took place outside of Drač, including areas in Kosovo and Macedonia, which saw greater violence.[12]

Disestablishment

Front page of Politika of November 29, 1912 with information about establishing of Durrës County

The army of the Kingdom of Serbia retreated from Durrës in April 1913 under pressure of the naval fleet of Great Powers, but it remained in other parts of Albania for the next two months.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Bogdanović, Dimitrije; Radovan Samardžić (1990). Knjiga o Kosovu: razgovori o Kosovu. Književne novine. p. 208. ISBN 9788639101947. Retrieved August 2, 2011. На освојеном подручју су одмах успостављене грађанске власти и албанска територија је Де Факто анектирана Србији : 29. новембра је основан драчки округ са четири среза (Драч, Љеш, Елбасан, Тирана)....On conquered territory of Albania was established civil government and territory of Albania was de facto annexed by Serbia: On November 29 was established Durres County with four srez (Durres, Lezha, Elbasan, and Tirana)
  2. ↑ Petrović, Dragoljub S. (1990). "Heterogenost stanovništva determinanta složenosti rešenja političkog statusa albanskog prostora (Heterogeneity of the population as determinant of the complexity of solving the political status of the Albania)" (in Serbian). pp. 237–271. OCLC 439985244. Potom, 29. novembra 1912. formiran je Drački okrug u okviru kojeg su srezovi - Drač, Tirana, Elbasan i Lješ. ... On November 29, 1912 the Durres County was established and in it there were established the following districts - Durres, Tirana, Elbasan and Lezhe
  3. 1 2 Petros-Emmanouil, Oikonomopoulos; Πέτρος-Εμμανουήλ, Οικονομόπουλος (2016). Ο Μητροπολίτης Μυτιλήνης Ιάκωβος ο από Δυρραχίου: από την Εθναρχούσα Εκκλησία στην Εθνική (Thesis) (in Greek). Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης (ΑΠΘ). Σχολή Θεολογική. Τμήμα Θεολογίας. Τομέας Εκκλησιαστικής Ιστορίας, Χριστιανικής Γραμματείας Αρχαιολογίας και Τέχνης. p. 80. hdl:10442/hedi/42197. "Ο στρατός του Βασιλείου της Σερβίας κατέλαβε το Δυρράχιο στις 19 Νοεμβρίου 1912 χωρίς αντίσταση." The army of the Kingdom of Serbia captured Durrës at November 29, 1912, without resistance.
  4. ↑ Popović, Bogdan; Jovan Skerlić (1924). Srpski književni glasnik, Volume 11. p. 275. Retrieved August 6, 2011. 16. novembra odred je stigao u Drač gde je oduševljeno dočekan od hrišćanskog stanovništva. Odmah su postavljene naše policijske vlasti (načelstvo okruga dračkog, upravnik varoši, predsednik opštine i načelnik vojne stanice) i potom je bilo preduzeto utvrđivanje Drača... [transl.: 'On November 16 (i.e. Gregorian November 29) the army units arrived in Durrës, where they were welcomed warmly by the Christian population. They immediately began to organize our police authorities (the county of Durrës, a city major, a president of the town and commander of the military station) and then set up further fortification of Durrës.']
  5. ↑ See Balkanski rat, 30 June 1913, 346.
  6. ↑ Antić, Čedomir (January 2, 2010). "Kratko slavlje u Draču" [Short celebration in Durres]. Večernje novosti (in Serbian). Retrieved August 5, 2011. U Drač je ubrzo doputovao prvi načelnik okruga – Ivan Ivanić. Njegova supruga Delfa, jedna od utemeljiteljki Kola srpskih sestara, vodila je bolnicu u Draču. ...The first governor of the county soon came to Durrës – Ivan Ivanić. His wife Delfa, one of the founders of the Circle of Serbian Sisters (Serbian: Коло Српских Сестара), governed the hospital in Durrës.
  7. ↑ Stojančević, Vladimir (1991). Prvi balkanski rat: okrugli sto povodom 75. godišnjice 1912–1987, 28. i 29. oktobar 1987, Volume 19. Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti. p. 134. ISBN 9788670251427. Retrieved August 7, 2011. Када јој је муж Иван Иванић, као окружни начелник, премештен у Драч, тамо прелази и она. Тако сазнајемо да је у Драчу било 12 болница и да су се сви болесници хранили „из опште кујне"
  8. ↑ Dinić, Dragoljub M. (1922). "Prvi put kroz Albaniju sa Šumadijskim albanskim odredom 1912 : Prizren—Drač (First time with Šumadija-Albania division in 1912: Prizen – Durrës" (in Serbo-Croatian). Kragujevac: Šumadija. OCLC 555240022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ↑ Zbornik Matice srpske za književnost i jezik, Књига 36. Novi Sad, Serbia: Matica srpska. 1988. p. 227. Retrieved August 6, 2011. a kada je srpska vojska okupirala Albaniju, Anastasijević je isprva bio postavljen za tumača za Grčki jezik, a posle je postao i načelnik Dračkog okruga
  10. ↑ Antić 2010.
  11. ↑ Treadway, John D. (1998). The Falcon and the Eagle: Montenegro and Austria-Hungary, 1908-1914. Purdue University Press. p. 162. ISBN 9781557531469.
  12. 1 2 3 Leo Freundlich: Albania's Golgotha Archived 31 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Udovicki, Jasminka; Ridgeway, James (2000). Burn This House: The Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia. Duke University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8223-8091-7. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  14. ↑ Archbishop Lazër Mjeda: Report on the Serb Invasion of Kosova and Macedonia Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "Westfälischer Merkur - Montag, 22.09.1913 - Deutsches Zeitungsportal". www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de. 1913.
  16. ↑ Antić 2010: VeĆ u aprilu 1913. postalo je izvesno da je kraj "albanske operacije" blizu. Pod pritiskom flote velikih sila srpska vojska je napustila jadransko primorje. U Albaniji je, međutim, ostala još dva meseca... In April 1913 it was obvious that end of "Albanian operation" was close and army of Serbia retreated from Adriatic coast remaining in Albania for two more months.

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