KATHLEEN AGENA
Letter from Albania
The Serbs in Old Serbia, in their national endeavor
to
correct
data in the ethnographical statistics that are not quite favorable
to them, are engaged quite simply in systematic extermination
of the Muslim population.
Leon Trotsky,
I9I2
I
N ALBANIA there is a natural spring known as the Dragon's Eye.
Centuries ago, according to legend, a dragon lived beneath its
waters. Once a year, the dragon would emerge and, if a virgin were
sacrificed to it, the country would be blessed with prosperity and well–
being. Today, all that remains at the actual site is an eerie, eye-shaped
reflection floating on the surface of a spring where dozens of iridescent
dragonflies flitter.
The Balkan region is rife with similar legends. "We are a people who live
in the past," Virgil Mujick, an official in Albania's Ministry of Culture,
observes as we stand beside the Dragon's Eye spring. The rationale for this
historical regression derives from decades of domination under totalitarian
regimes during which centuries-old blood feuds and ancient myths were
perpetuated as a way to retain a sense of cultural identity against the deper–
sonalizing effects of "socialist realism." While legends and myths nour–
ished the Balkan spirit under the grip of authoritarian governments, they
have also, at times, assumed a more pragmatic purpose. Leaders who
know how deeply such folklore resonates in the Balkan soul have used
them to manipulate popular sentiment for their own political objectives.
Like the ideology of totalitarianism, the rhetoric used by political figures
does not always correspond to the reality of the conditions being described.
Events that occurred long ago in the Balkans may become so distorted and
inflated over the years that they assume the dimensions of a Hollywood
extravaganza or, in some cases, an apotheosis.
Clearly, the latter has occurred with the Battle of Kosovo, where a
conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia in 1389 has become
equated with the Christian Passion in Serbian mythology with Kosovo
becoming Serbia's Jerusalem and the Serbian prince who was killed
