Vraka

Not to be confused with breeches.

Vrakë or Vraka (Montenegrin and Serbian Cyrillic: Врака) is a minor region in Shkodër County in northern Albania. The region includes settlements located on the shore of Lake Scutari, some 7 km north of the city of Shkodër. This ethnographic region is inhabited by Serb-Montenegrins, Podgoriçani (Slavic Muslims) and Albanians; it is the centre of the Serb-Montenegrin community in Albania.

Settlements

History

Early history

The toponym is Slavic.[1]

[2]

Slavs were known to have inhabited northern Albanian since the early Middle Ages. Montenegrins and Serbs began migrating to Vraka in the late 17th century. According to Jovan Erdeljanović, in his book "Stara Crna Gora", all descendants of Jovan Martinović, who has been mentioned since 1687, have emigrated to Vraka. From confirmed documents, one of the first families to inhabit the area of Vraka was in 1705 were the Đurčevići from the village of Momče in Kuči. A certain Jerko Đurčević was the only one from his clan in Vraka to convert to Islam. His descendants later became known as the Jerkovići, who are found in the village of Štoj, near Ulcinj.

Modern history

Woman from Vrakë.

In 1909, the Eparchy of Raška–Prizren had 15 protopresbyteriates, the last of which was Skadar, in which the parishes of:[3]

In 1918, beside the Serbian Orthodox in Scutari, there were communities in different neighbouring villages such as Vraka, Vramenica, Derigniat, etc., as well as several thousands of Slavic Muslims of Montenegrin and Bosnia-Herzegovina origin.[4] In 1920, the following villages had Serbian majority or plurality: Brch, Basits, Vraka, Sterbets, Kadrum. Farming was the chief occupation of the villages.[5]

Vraka is known for having been the place where poet Millosh Gjergj Nikolla became teacher on 23 April 1933, and it was in this period that he started to write prose sketches and verses.[6] The village of Vraka was at the time entirely inhabited by Serb-Montenegrins. The Serb school in Vrake was destroyed in 1934.[7] Enver Hoxha decided to destroy the Serbian cemeteries and 2 of the Serb temples.[8]

A period of immigration existed between 1925 and 1934. This wave marked the migration of many Serb-Montenegrin families to Montenegro, Serbia proper and Kosovo, leaving their homes in Vraka behind.

In 1992, the Morača-Rozafa Association was established.[9]

During the Yugoslav Wars, there were incidents of violence against the Serb/Montenegrin minority in places like Boriç i Vogël and Boriç i Madh, where the Albanian government also tried to forcibly take land from them.[10] A large group of the Serbian Orthodox left the region in the 1990s, though some 600 of them later returned.[11]

Albanization

The surnames were forcibly changed by the Albanian government, from Slavic into Albanian ones, as part of Albanianization.[12]

Anthropology

The region serves as the centre of the Serb-Montenegrin minority in Albania (as listed in the census). The estimations of the total number of Serb-Montenegrins in the area vary from 1,000 to over 2,000. The community has retained their language, culture and religion. The minority association of the community, the "Morača-Rozafa", represents the interests of this minority in Shkodër.

Families

The surnames were forcibly changed by the Albanian government, from Slavic into Albanian ones, as part of Albanianization.[12] The changed surnames, in Serbo-Croatian transliteration, are indicated with (→)

Serb–Montenegrin families (Vračani)
Podgoriçani families
Albanian families

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ Zeitschrift für Balkanologie. R. Trofenik. 1992. Vrakë SH. Flowing into Lake Shkodër. Also village toponym Vrakë. Slavic toponym.
  2. ↑ Благоје В. Марковић (1990). "Врака и Врачани". Још од катастра 1416., без промјене до 1933. помињу се села: Раш и Куле [...] Јована рашког атарима села Раша и Пула око којих je и по броју и по врсти остало највише споменичких остатака: зидина, зараслих кућних темеља, земљаних хумки "главица", гробаља на неколико мјеста, стародревних стабала дрвећа. На једном од великих млинарских брестова атара села Куле Црногорци су 1912. поставили осматрачницу погледа на штојски фронт и ка Скадру.[14] О густини насељености положају ширем смислу, у старих Врачана забиљежио сам предање: "От старога Громира ("Громир кећ") преко Раша и св. Јована до Дришта (Дриваст) могла je мачка с куће на кућу да мине а да земљу не такне". [...] Арнаутско село "Раш Мали" - топоним, спуштен je на мјесто врачкога Раша, те, сада, древни Раш се назива "Раши вогељ". По неким вијестима наш Раш je срушен и планиран изнова, а св. Јован "Црквина", служи у друге сврхе. [...] Село Раш [...] Село Куле
  3. 1 2 3 4 Ljubomir Durković-Jakšić, Prilozi za istoriju Srpske pravoslavne crkve u Skadru i okolini
  4. ↑ André Radovitch; Radovan Boshković; Ivo Vukotić (1919). The Question of Scutari. Impr. "Graphique". p. 8.
  5. ↑ Great Britain. Admiralty (1920). A Handbook of Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Adjacent Parts of Greece. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 403.
    The following villages are in whole or part occupied by Orthodox Serbs — Brch, Borich, Basits, Vraka, Sterbets, Kadrum. Farming is the chief occupation.
  6. ↑ Robert Elsie (2005). Albanian Literature: A Short History. I.B.Tauris. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-1-84511-031-4.
  7. ↑ http://www.moraca-rozafa.org/onama/istorijat.html
  8. ↑ "Srbi u Albaniji jedna od najugroženih manjina u svetu" (in Serbian). Arhiva.srbija.gov.rs. 1998-09-17. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  9. ↑ http://www.srpskadijaspora.info/vest.asp?id=9082. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ Daily Report: East Europe, Issues 136-146. 1995.
  11. ↑ Carl Skutsch (7 November 2013). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-1-135-19388-1. One subgroup of Christian-Orthodox faith once lived in the area of Vrakë of the district of Shkodër in the north, until a large group thereof emigrated in early 1990 to the then-Yugoslav Federation, although about 600 later returned.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Šćepanović 1990.
  13. ↑ Tirana. Instituti lartë shtetëror i bujqësisë (1970). Buletin i Shkencave Bujqësore. Vasil Shanto» Vrakë të rrethit të Shkodrës
  14. ↑ Narodni muzej-Beograd (1994). Zbornik Narodnog muzeja 15. p. 13.
  15. ↑ Burovic, K. (2011-01-23), "Doprinos Srpsko-Crnogorske manjine u istoriji Albanskog naroda", Novinar Online, Sva Albanija posebno poznaje Perlata Redžepi, Branka Kadića i Jordana Misju, afirmirani kao Tri heroja Skadra (Tre heronjt e Shkodrës)9), koji su 22.VI.1942. godine poginuli sred Skadra, a boreći se u okruženju protiv italijanskih fašističkih okupatora. Sami su Albanci njihovu borbu do poslednje kapi krvi okarakterisali kao „epope legjendare, një nga epizodet më heroike të Luftës sonë Nacionalçlirimtare”(Legendarna epopeja, jedna od najherojskih epizoda naše Narodno-oslobodilačke borbe”)10), koju su opevali i u pesme. U toj veleslavnoj epopeji samo je Perlat Redžepi Albanac. Branko Kadić (1921-1942, posle rata progašen za Narodnog Heroja) i Jordan Misja su pripadnici srpsko-crnogorske nacionalne manjine.
  16. ↑ Sanja Lubardić. "Život Srba u Albaniji, Razgovor sa Pavlom Brajovićem, predsednikom Udruženja Srba u Albaniji" [Life of Serbs in Albania, Conversation with Pavle Brajović, President of the Association of Serbs in Albania]. Pravoslavlje, 996 (in Serbian).

Sources

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