FEUILLETON: The foreign factor and the construction of the Albanian nation (6): Lajos Thalloczy, a key figure in the creation of the Albanian identity

Writing for Kosovo Online: Dragan Bisenic

The name of Lajos Thalloczy is known to historians dealing with Albania and the Albanians. However, little was known about his actual activities in this direction and what he achieved. The book by Austrian historian from Graz, Kurt Gostentschnigg, "Wissenschaft Im Spannungsfeld Von Politik Und Militär: Die Österreichisch-Ungarische Albanologie 1867-1918", provides a vivid summary of the current limited knowledge. According to Gostentschnigg, Talloczy was the father of Hungarian Balkanological research. Together with Czech Balkanologist Konstantin Jirecek and Croatian Albanologist Emilijan (Milan) Sufflay, he published the richest collection of medieval sources on Albania titled "Acta et diplomata res Albaniae mediae aetatis illustrantia" - Documents and diplomatic issues illustrating the Middle Ages in Albania, published in 1913 and 1918.

Lajos Thalloczy (1857–1916), secretary of the Vienna Imperial Archive, was a historian and the main executor of the Austro-Hungarian project to create "political nations". Before the First World War, Austria-Hungary was interested in Albania due to its political and military plans in the Balkans, and it sent its scholars to explore the region. Partly because of this interest, Thalloczy was employed in the Austro-Hungarian administration with the title of court advisor to create a work on the popular history of the Albanians and a textbook.

While some circles in Italy had plans to establish a closer connection between Montenegro and North Albanian Catholics under their leadership, Thalloczy was one of the promoters of Austria-Hungary's plans to strengthen ties with them and confront the Albanians and Slavs. The goal was to resist the advancement of Serbia and Montenegro on the Adriatic coast. In December 1897, Thalloczy stated that it was necessary to take action to prevent the migration of the Albanian population to Montenegro. According to Fan Noli (Fan Noli - Theophanus Stylianos Mavromatis), who was a bishop and leader of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Thalloczy declared that the beliefs about Skanderbeg's Serbian origin were pure legends.

Since 1885, conferences have been held where various so-called "Albanian action plans" were adopted. These conferences were mainly attended by officials from joint ministries and other Albanian experts and officials. The action plans always included a section dealing with cultural and educational issues. We know that Thalloczy participated in these meetings, but only recently has it been revealed that he played a significant role in developing the programs of these gatherings, as well as in formulating proposals. However, his role was not limited to planning but also extended to the implementation of his ideas. He conceptualized how the Albanian perspective on its own history was formed, when and how certain events were canonized, and what the true reasons for that were.

It has been proven that Thalloczy, after recognizing the significance of foreign Albanian colonies for the homeland, attempted to "create" Italo-Albanians within the Dual Monarchy to exert external influence on the Albanian national movement. One such village was Borgo Erizzo near Zadar in Dalmatia, founded and populated by Catholic Albanians, but by the end of the 19th century, it had become predominantly Croatian. Since 1882, Thalloczy systematically gathered all information about the history of the Albanians, which was closely followed by the then Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Kalnoky and Gołuchowski.

According to Albanian historians, the Hungarian historian made invaluable contributions to the study of Albanian history and in making Europe at the time more aware of this Western Balkan people. On the other hand, it is emphasized that his nationalist Hungarian approach was primarily motivated by Hungary's aspirations for dominance in the Balkans. Kurt Gostentschnigg, relying on monographs of political and economic history discussing the relationship of the Monarchy with Albania, showed that Austro-Hungarian scientific activity played a decisive role in the creation and international recognition of this discipline. This involved linguistics (Johann Georg von Hahn, Gjeorgj Pekmezi, Theodor Anton Ippen, Vatroslav Jagic), archaeology (Johann Georg von Hahn, Theodor Anton Ippen, Carl Patsch, Franz Nopcsa), geography (Franz Nopcsa), and history (Johann Georg von Hahn, Lajos Thalloczy, Konstantin Jirecek, Milan Sufflay).

Here, however, science was not at the forefront. According to this Austrian historian, the birth of Albanology was motivated by the interests of great powers, and political engagement left its mark on documents produced within the Monarchy until 1918. Historical research was mostly influenced by politics, primarily through joint subsidies from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, enabling research activities. This led to the establishment of the Balkanological Institute in 1908 in Sarajevo. According to Gostentschnigg's conclusion, although the positive role of the Monarchy in Balkan research is undisputed, it was evidently in the service of politics. The main exponents of this, regarding Albanology, were Theodor Ippen and two Hungarian scholars, Lajos Thalloczy and Franz Nopcsa.

The most important tool of the Monarchy in achieving its foreign policy goals was the book by Lajos Thalloczy, "History of Albania Written by a Geg Who Loves His Country," published in 1898. This book was the first to offer a systematic overview and create a new national identity.

The existence of this book in the Albanian language dealing with the history of Albania was discovered in 1987 by the German Armin Hetzer. Although the original manuscript was not available at that time, Hetzer realized that the work was originally written in German under the title "Popular History of the Albanians" – ("Populäre Geschichte der Albanesen").

After Theodor Ipoen came up with the idea of awakening historical awareness among the Albanians, he addressed the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gołuchowski in May 1897, requesting the publication of the people's history of Albania in Albanian with two goals: presenting the glorious Albanian national history, creating it to support a unified Albanian spelling and script. In his opinion, this was easily achievable because the director of the archive of the Joint Ministry of Finance, Ludwig Thalloczy, had been researching the history of the Balkan peoples and collecting material on it for years. Gołuchowski was willing to support the proposal until there was agitation against the Ottoman Empire and the Dual Monarchy officially had no connection with it. From Ippen's letter to Gołuchowski, it seems that Ippen had already discussed the possible content of the book with Thalloczy, as the letter contains numerous formulations about Albanian history that later became the canon of Albanian historiography. Two months later, after the project was approved at Balhausplatz, Thalloczy, in a confidential letter to Finance Minister Benjamin Kallay, presented views that Albanian historiography still holds today: the Albanians are an independent people with a strong tribal consciousness and a pronounced demand for autonomy, with a glorious history and, consequently, a political future. Thalloczy explained that their non-confessional nature must be emphasized so that every Albanian can identify with the book. There must also be illustrations that could help design common national symbols (coats of arms, flags, etc.).

Feuilleton: The creation of the Myth of Skanderbeg