COURAGE

povezivanje zbirki

Keçmezi-Basha has also collected and edited court documents. One that is considered to be a highlight of this collection provides information on the judicial proceedings against the Prizren League group in 1950. 

The historical Prizren League was an Albanian political organization officially founded on 10 of June 1878 in the historic center of Prizren, Kosovo. One of the main demands of the League was the unification of all claimed Albanian territories within the Ottoman Empire into one vilayet. In the second half of the twentieth century, illegal organizations in regions of Kosovo (including Dukagjini/Metohija) used this same name to demonstrate an association with the historical Prizren League of 1878. The modern Prizren League was guided by famous national figures and intellectuals of the period including Ymer Berisha, Halim Spahiu, Selman Riza, Gjon Serreqi, among others. 

It should be noted that this illegal organization’s program mainly aimed at the unification of what it considered “Albanian lands” into one state. In the eyes of the Yugoslav regime, the illegal group threatened the social order of SFRY, which was the main reason for their persecution.

According to documents of the District Court of Pristina, the Prizren League was established during the summer of 1949. The trial was held over 24–26 July 1950, at the same court. Dušan Stanić s head of the jury and Čedomir Ilić and Muharrem Agja as judges. This trial was based on the Public Prosecution's indictment number 79/50 from June 27, 1950, which was presented by Bora Stanojević. 
The judge declared the accused guilty and sentenced them according to Article 13 of Yugoslav criminal law. The accused were found guilty of "planning to violently challenge the social order of the SFRY, forcefully joining Albania and returning capitalist order in SFRY".

The following activists were found guilty and sentenced:

1. Shaban Dërguti, a student of agronomy from Rahovec/Orahovac, born 1924. For involvement in illegal activities, sentenced to 20 years in prison.

2. Mustafa Nixha, a clerk from Prizren, born in Gjakova/Đakovica in 1918. He was married and a father of one. Sentenced to 20 years in prison.

3. Shaban Mazreku, a farmer from Suharekë/Suva Reka, born in 1919. He was married. He was held in pre-trial detention since 19 February 1950. Sentenced to 101 years in prison.

4. Biter Dehalla, a craftsman from Prizren, born in 1929. Arrested on March 1, 1950. Sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Južania: The Miracle of Redemption (Anton and Jaroslav Fabian - Július Chalupa). MC, 1984. Several songs were authored by Marcel Šiškovič. Other authors wanted to remain anonymous. The songs for the recording were provided by Zuzka Veselovská, one of the singers on the recording. The album was recorded in a modern arrangement and funky style (slap bass guitar), with very progressive sound and rhythm for that time.

László Jámbor (1874-1963), a Jesuit monk, was the most significant pastor in the history of the first decades of the independent Hungarian Jesuit Province. In 1950, he was deported to Kisvárda by the Communist authorities. After his release from prison, he lived with his relatives and in the Social Home of Pannonhalma. His autobiography (“My Memories”) is an important source on the Hungarian ecclesiastical history of the 20th century. Volume I contains the story of his life from 1874 to 1926. He wrote in broad strokes about his life until he joined the order (1890), then the manuscript includes the story of his studies year by year until 1908, then the text becomes a diary-like memorial. Volume II recounts Jámbor's life from 1926 to 1943, and volume III is about the period between 1944 and 1954. There is a letter at the end of the manuscript from 1955. The material is in the Jesuit Archives, in the 1. box of the 26. department of the VI. fond.

Photographing the filming of the docu-fiction Gyuri Cséplő was a formative experience for István Jávor. While his relationship with the director, Pál Schiffer, was not particularly good and he was only a substitute for the photographer who originally had been chosen, the undertaking was one of the great moments of his life. Jávor had never seen such misery and poverty before he visited Németfalu, a village in Zala county. The experience deeply shocked him. As he recalled in 2010, “there was the Gypsy neighborhood, people living in unimaginable poverty, shanties, naked children, disease and death everywhere, and suddenly I was there.”. Along with the experience itself, the scientific and cultural milieu also had a strong effect on him: these people noticed and paid attention to the social problems. Among the pathbreakers was István Kemény, one of the prominent sociologists of the era and an occasional advisor to Schiffer. The photograph Jávor took of Kemény during the shooting, with the researcher staring into the camera, became iconic. The work photos of Gyuri Cséplő offer glimpses into Jávor’s experiences with the people of the village. According to him, he was surprised by how much he enjoyed their company, instead of feeling reluctance to mingle. Jávor considers this experience one that greatly affected of his later career.

The seals and stamps created by Józef Figiela are an interesting visual representation of the strikes in the Gdansk Shipyard of the August 1980. They are also a testimony of an incredible engagement and effort put in sharing the strike’s ideals by a person who used his artistic abilities for this purpose, as well as a talent and enthusiasm of his teenage daughter. 

Józef Figiela is both a sailor and an artist by profession, and he has alternately practiced both of them throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In August 1980 he had already been signed in for another cruise when the strike in the Gdansk Shipyard broke. His ship was stuck in the harbour and he used this opportunity to support the protesters. He became a member of the Inter-Factory Strike Committee as a delegate of the Association of the Polish Fine Artists of the Gdansk Region, and as a graphic artist he joined the fight for changes. On 20 August 1980 he created his first seal of the strike’s underground post. It shows a hand clenched into a fist (symbolising the fight), Gdansk’s coat of arms, and some nautical motifs (an anchor, sea waves), as well as a sign: “strike”. The original linocut is a part of the collection of Michał Guć, who is also in the possession of the authentic copies in the form of stamps on the envelopes.

The seals in the form of stamps were copied in the Polish national colours onto the envelopes and specially prepared postcards. During the strikes, Figiela prepared 4 linocuts, which as copies were disseminated among the strikers. Figiela’s seals stand out from other underground stamps with their precise execution and interesting graphic design. However, their content is quite typical for this type of philatelist: it refers to the Polish patriotic emblems, fight symbols, and the shipyard itself. There are also some religious (Catholic) motifs.

It is worth mentioning that with his activity Figiela inspired to action his daughter Dąbrówka, who as a just 15-year-old girl created her own seal, as well as she helped her father in creating copies. Every day Dąbrówka would cut out the postcards and glue on them the official state stamps, and in the evenings she would go to the post office, asking the workers to mark the papers with tomorrow’s date. Next, her father and her pressed their seals onto the envelopes, and the next day Figiela took them to the shipyard and shared them among the strikers. Thus, the materials have always had the current date.

The last seal Figiela created just before the end of the strike. It shows the Polish flag and a hand holding some flowers – it symbolised the peacefulness of the protests. The text says: “victory”.

Michał Guć estimates that altogether there were around 300-400 paper copies of Józef and Dąbrówka Figiela’s stamps disseminated in August 1980.  It is a relatively small number which was caused by the fact that making copies was a very time-consuming activity and that only two people were involved in their production. Low number of existing stamps makes every original copy a valuable item.

Source:

Stocznia Gdańska im. Lenina, Michał Guć, Gdynia 2017 (unpublished text, shared by the author in July 2017).