ZOG AND HIS PEOPLE

Evening Star, Issue 23702, 9 October 1940, Page 9

ZOG AND HIS PEOPLE

ALBANIA'S BRIEF NATIONALITY TEN YEARS; MONTHS: DAYS! The revolt of the Albanians against their ruthless Italian slave drivers gives a special interest to the authorised life V of the exiled King Zog and Queen Qeraldino of that romantic but unfortunate country (states a writer in ’ ’" 1 the Melbourne ‘ Age It is a fully illustrated and moving record of a Hungarian friend of the queen, Madame Antoinette do Szinyei- - Merse, who, on Geraldine’s marriage with King Zog, became lady-in-wait-ing and confidant of the beautiful girl who flung in her lot in 1938 with the imperious yet quite lovable ruler of ■■ one of the danger spots of Europe. The book is entitled ‘ Ten Years, Ten Months, Ten Hays,’ as this period covers the national life of the territory now under the iron heels of Mussolini and Count Ciano. WON BY A PHOTOGRAPH. The coming together of King Zog and his future bride reads like a novelette of the last century. He sees -a beautiful photograph of the lovely - Countess Geraldine Apponyi. He falls jn love with the picture, and induces his sisters to invite the countess to ■ visit the Albanian Court. The_ countess . is flattered, but wistfully cautious. She sends her best friend, Countess Katherine Teleki, to spy out the land. Katherine reports favourably. Geraldine goes, “ falls for ” her kingly lover, stays in Albania, and is wedded to Zog with the benisons of the leaders of . Europe, including those of Signor Mussolini’s special envoy. The kingly lover, as husband, gives his young wife and her relatives gifts and privileges which only a race with Eastern blood in its veins can fully gjipreciate. Almost a fairy story. But not quite. Albania’s fate and its King ruler soon obtrude themselves into the record, and from that stage onwards ' , the book becomes the revelation from •the standpoint of the Albanian Court ’• of grim chapters of European history. King Zog—for all his humorous name —occupies the centre of the stage. AN ORIENTAL WESTERNISED. Many pages are devoted by Madame Szinvei-Merse to the character, history, methods, habits, and husbandly qualities of this King. His hatred of duplicity ■ .and evasion in those around and under ■ „ him is shown in high relief, and his ready “ realism ” as he studied in his t travels what science, art, industry; and tolerance had done for other countries. But the totality of evidence cited will ; deceive vno intelligent reader or divert him from the conclusion that the .. . akilled King of Albania is as 3 public , man a ruthless Oriental, westernised only in the secular sense of that word. :■ The man’s achievements in his comparatively short life are, however, -amazing even in these days of totali- . tarian advancement. To most Al--1 banians the son of Djemal Pasha, the member of the Zogu clan who be-* . - came, first King of Albania, was the reincarnation of that legendary hero, Skander Beg, who in _ the fifteenth century waged war against the Turks, with the blessing, of Pope Pius 11., and the armed aid of the Italy of that era. Certainly by-Hie’time ho had completed that course of self-education, travel, and rapid opportunism in the promotion ef the joint interests of himself and Al- ■ oanian independence, he had acquired S halo of high patriotism which made him the hero ,of his subjects when the '■ crisis of April, 1939, came. From the time of the revolt of the Albanians against the tyranny and tardiness of the Young Turks in the , granting of self-government, Zog played for high stakes with skill and resource. In the early part of the World War of 1914-18, he fought _ against the Serbians and was held by the Austrians from 19115 to the end of hostilities, and at the age of 25, returned to Albania to take a post in a cabinet formed by the local Supreme Council, At 26 he. was commander in chief of the Albanian forces; at 27 he became Prime Minister, but was driven from office into exile by a revolution. la 1924 he was again in Albania, - wqp'over the army, and was elected President of what was politely described as a constitutional republic. After four years as president he and his advisers discovered that the Albanians needed a democratically minded King to give - stability to their national fife. So, President Zogu, on August 31, 1928, . became Zog the First, King of Albania —at the age of 33. The. story of the King’s fruitless efforts -to be friends with Italy and to maintain good relations with Turkey js . well fold. The King’s courageous steps to, mqdernise a medieval State are described, one of the most difficult being to disarm the civil population. Madame Antoinette, summarising his strenuous endeavours, says; “ His character was Oriental, but he had the earnest will to think and act in the Western way.” PEOPLE OF ALBANIA. Although our authoress has a deep respect for Albanians, whom she found “ very likeable, simple, human, and dear-thinking,”_ the picture she gives •of this seini-Oriental people is hardly likely. to raise their prestige in a rapidly mechanising world. “ Nobody,” she ’ the morning, and the streets were quite deserted. Albanians needed a great deal of sleep, although as a rule they r went to bed early; nor was there any opportunity for a ‘ night life ’ in the Western or Central European sense. Just before 9 in the morning, and after 8 in the evening, the streets of Tirana were almost empty. It was a rare thing to see a woman after 6 p.m. outside the houses. At about this hour the cafes and pastry shops, where coffee and sweets are consumed in immense quantities, also emptied. Hospitality is deep-rooted, and is stronger than vendetta. “ If,” we are told, “ someone kills your child in Albania and flees to your house to find , refuge . . . you must keep him as a most honoured guest for six weeks, provide him with all necessities and even luxuries. Then he will leave, because he, too, knows the rules of hospitality. Then, and only then, you may shoot him—in the back if you prefer—but not before he has left your house and is beyond tho borders of your hospitality.” Women may not do any work outside the family; that is why a female servant is almost unknown. Some gipsy women may be hired for tho lowest work; the rest of a house staff would be men or foreign women. »on adults possess a childlike confidence and a gullibility which makes them easily influenced by propaganda which aroimes emotion. This is why strife and civil war are repeated so often in tho people’s history. Nevertheless the westernising process goes on, and must in time educate, ■ stabilise, and energise the native population. Tirana’s modern quarter is a completely up-to-date town, with fine, wide boulevards; in the gardens of tho pretty villas whole groves of mimosa

flower. The State offices are attractive new structures, and tho hospitals are highly hygienic, with modern equipment. The problem of poverty and misery is no nioro cured by this people than by any other, but Madame Antoinette inclines to think that it is less acute among the Albanians than in more highly civilised and industrialised countries. Labourers and unskilled workers are mostly gispies. lleally hard work was, until King Zog stirred tho masses to action, beneath the dignity of the Albanian! THE ITALIAN BURGLARY. The closing chapters of tho book are devoted to tho crisis presented by Italy’s demand and the rapid course of events, culminating in the burglary byItaly of tho entire country on Good Friday last year, tho flight of Queen Geraldine and her infant child Alexander, and the retirement of both Geraldine and Zog into private life. We arc left iu no doubt about three things —(1) the deadly hatred of the native Albanians of their masters; (2) tho earnestness and tirelessness of Zog and his advisers to concede all that was reasonable short of national suicide; and (3) the enormous strides Italy had made in tho ‘‘ peaceful penetration ” of Albania by political and economic agreements and in the schools, hospitals, factories, clubs, and sports grounds in the Italian- colonics within Zog’s territory. The feverish demonstrations of the people outside the Royal residence at Tirana and the final duplicities and brutalities of the seizure and occupation of the country lose nothing by the simiplicity and candour of tho narrator. Tho parting of the Queen and her friend and lady-in-wait-nig in the hall of an hotel in a small Greek town ends a poignant presentation of pathetic history.

Madame Antoinette appends as a sort of postscript these words of an Albanian nobleman: ” This little country has lived through many wars and struggles. During the centuries it was often attacked and occupied by Turks, Serbs, Greeks, and other foreign people. But a day always came when she freed herself again. For we Albanians are a people of freedom. And freedom can bo crushed for a time by force —but never conquered in the end.”