"Serbian Orthodox Diocese is shocked by absence of any attempt on the part of the German army to protect a single Orthodox Christian site in Prizren. While their colleagues in other contingents were risking their own lives Germans in Prizren let the mob burn the churches, destroy frescoes and loot the Church valuables. Regrettably, two Germans: KFOR Commander Holger Kammerhof and the chief of UNMIK police Stephan Feller (nicknamed Mr. Fehler) are among the most responsible international officials for such terrible outcome of the last week's pogrom and the Church will insist on their resignation and leaving of the German contingent from Kosovo completely."
"The Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija received painful and shocking news today from Abbot Herman Vucicevic and priest-monk Benedict Preradovic of Holy Archangels Monastery who met today with the German military commander in Prizren, Colonel Hintelmann. The monks asked Hintelman to enable their return to the ruins of Holy Archangels as soon as possible, saying they would stay under a tent at first and restore the monastery itself over time. Colonel Hintelmann categorically stated that return is impossible "for security reasons", adding that if the monks should try to return on their own "before a political agreement is reached, they will be stopped by force".
"The Archangels monks informed the Diocese that the behavior of German KFOR is unprecedented and that the ERP KIM Info Service will soon publish a detailed report how German soldiers observed indifferently as Albanian rioters set fire to Holy Archangels and danced on the very tomb of the Holy King Dusan."
"Fr. Sava Janjic, the editor in chief of the ERP KIM Info Service, personally spoke by phone today with Verica Grigorijevic, one of the 35-odd Serbs evacuated from Potkaljaje, the Serb quarter of Prizren completely burned by Albanian mob last week, who are presently lodged in a building on the German military base in Prizren. Mrs. Grigorijevic stated that many of the present Serbs are shaken and in a deep state of shock as a result of the terror they survived. Some of them were beaten by the Albanian crowd. Several of them are in very serious psychological condition. The Germans are giving them food and drink but people's minds are elsewhere, she said. Mrs.Grigorijevic informed Fr. Sava that today at about 15:30 a Roman Catholic priest arrived in the building where the Serbs are lodged without any invitation by them and told them he would SERVE MASS. Some Serbs asked why they did not allow their priests to come and serve them an Orthodox Christian service, but the Germans insisted that the R. Catholic mass should be served. The Serbs were asked to hold candles in their hands and at the end of the service the Catholic priest gave several of the elderly Serbs who are serious psychological condition Roman Catholic communion (wafers). Some of the Serbs refused to take this communion, horrified that they were being forcibly converted to a different faith, even though Orthodox monks and priest-monks from Holy Archangels are only five kilometers away from them but are being denied the right to visit their faithful people even though they have asked to do so. Weeping, Mrs. Grigorijevic reported this sad news with the request that Bishop Artemije and the Patriarchate in Belgrade be informed. The Diocese most strongly condemns this scandalous action of BLATANT PROSELYTISM on the part of the German military Roman Catholic priest and appeals for the evacuation of all remaining Orthodox Serbs from the base of the German soldiers whose behavior in the past and in this latest provocation have evoked the most difficult memories from World War II when Roman Catholic priests (in Croatia) took advantage of the suffering of the Serbs and pulled them out from under Ustashe Nazi knives in order to forcibly give their communion under the pretext of saving their lives. Forcible communion represents one of the most horrible examples of violence against religious freedom."
I will be certain to add here that two very Roman Catholic countries, Czechoslovakia and Italy, have been most honorable and shown great courage in protecting the Serbs. This is not an anti-Catholic post.
Deutsche Welle (03/19/04)....NATO Peacekeepers in Action in Kosovo
This was a week (3/19) ago. I'll do a little searching around to see if I can find something more detailed. Reading between the lines in the article above it seems like the familiar Russia-Serbia / Rest of the World standoff.
longjack
I found this commentary on the "Die Welt" site. I translated this, however, since the article is on a (free) members only page, you'll have to take my word on the fact that my translation mirrors the original German. Unless you're a (free) member, of course.
I found this commentary typical, somehow. Funny in a (real) sad way. I can actually visualize groups of people at the Stammtisch sanctimoniously parroting this same line.
After reading this you should understand the German perspective of the Kosovo situation, and that anything written previously about German behavior there is most likely accurate.
Here we go:
by Ulrich Clauss
Much speaks for the fact that the representatives of the United Nations in Kosovo are correct in their assessment that the murders of two UN policemen aren't directly connected with the most recent ethnic disturbances. Whoever is at the wrong place at the wrong time in Kosovo, even with an UN insignia on the hood, is just as less sure of his life as those on the Mitrovica Bridge where Serbian and Albanian hotheads went at each other to the hilt. Despite the still deep trenches between the ethnic parties in the region, devastated by three Balkan wars, the inhabitants have one thing is common, involvement in the rampant organized crime. The unresolved status of Kosovo, namely, has attracted every flavor of bandit and fortune hunter. With little fanfare the German Military has taken on the organized crime in Prizren with great skill. Their reports make your hair stand on end. Of course, as long as the European Union believes the question of Kosovo's status has to hang in the balance, little improvement, from a political order perspective, can be expected. Particularly, also, since one hears less about Kosovo as the hotbed of a European-wide network of organized crime than they do of the occasional flaring up of ethnic disturbances accompanied with a great deal of political bellowing. Drug pushers there are a danger for all of Southern Europe - and the terror-mafia there, as well.
As long as the status of Kosovo is not defined clearly, none of the problems there can be solved, because the authority questions are only provisionally in place and no tough security structures have been established. If Europe doesn't act soon, not only will the ethnic conflicts there increase again, but Kosovo and adjacent regions will definitely degenerate into the robbers' dens of South-eastern Europe, as well.
"Die Welt"..Commentary....Räuberhöhle
Membership login required (free)
Tranlated by longjack