Macedonia in the Writings of Anton Kappus

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • vicsinad
    Senior Member
    • May 2011
    • 2337

    Macedonia in the Writings of Anton Kappus

    This is an interesting summation of Slovenian Anton Kappus' time in Macedonia in the early 1900s.


    MACEDONIA IN THE WRITINGS OF ANTON KAPPUS

    by Zmago Shmitek

    (I'm only including certain quotes)

    A proof that besides the political there was an emerging scientific
    interst on Macedonia was the project of the young Slovenian slavist and
    linguist Vatroslav Oblak, who in November 1891, with a stipendium of the
    Vienna University, arrived in Macedonia. His goal was to research
    Macedonian dialects and support the hypothesis of his professor Vatroslav
    Jagic, that Slavic dialects from the vicinity of Thessalonica from the middle of
    the 9th century, presented the base of the old church-Slavic language
    Before the First World War, there were many Macedonian workers
    involved during the construction of the railway in the province of Kranj (Sorč
    2006), while after the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia the conditions
    changed. Then, the Serbian authorities, due to assimilation and partly due to
    strategic intentions, have populated Macedonia (at the time “South Serbia”)
    with colonists from all parts of the state, among whom there were also
    Slovenians. Their most important settlement was the village of Bistrenci on
    the Vardar river, in which in the middle of 1932 there were 26 people living
    there, although their number continuously changed due to migration and the
    arrival of new settlers. Some of them even accepted Christian Orthodoxy, and
    changed their family names (Rusić, Novak 1973: 177–202). According to the
    census of 1931, there were 1493 Slovenians in the Vardar District, that were
    born in Dravska District,
    while all others were from other places in Slovenia,
    above all from the coast.
    In July 1923 [Anton Kappus] was moved to Skopje. He didn’t
    know much about Macedonia previously, while he had met “Macedonians”
    for the first time in Jesenice and Bohinj during the construction of the Bohinj
    railway. After a year living in the new environment he wrote: “I did not think
    (...) when I passed the threshold of the town of tsar Dushan, that I would so
    promptly get used to its Macedonian-Oriental meaning, to the chaotic streets,
    full of dust and mud, the unbearable heat and other similar inconveniences.
    What can curiosity for getting to know new situations, new places and the
    nature do! Although I have traveled worldwide since I was a boy, I was never
    scared by the first impression, as I was in Skopje” (Kappus 1924a: 336). On
    another occasion he added: “When I arrived in Skopje, luckily, I still had the
    Bosnian experience, so that the city did not seem as strange as I, in fact, have
    expected. But it was different with people. A different psychological profile, a
    different way of life, distrust towards the ‘stranger’ and many other things – all
    of this was hindering the establishing of a closer friendship”.
    In the same text he included a description of animals and the
    cultural features of the villages around Kachanik, as well as other economic,
    educational and folklore issues. He mentioned the irresponsible attitude of the
    local Albanian villagers towards the environment, for example the forest
    devastation and goats’ grassing through the forests
    An important part of his manuscripts are dedicated to geographical
    issues. Most important articles include: On Ljuboten, the highest pick of Shar
    Planina, On Solunska Glava, The Lake of Katlanovo, From the Ohrid Lake,
    On the Shepherds of Shara Mountain, On Drim river etc. (1928, 1929, 1934a,
    1934c, 1938, 1938b). The aim of these articles was, among other things, to
    increase the interest of the Slovenian tourists, hunters and mountaineers on
    Macedonia.
    Kappus disputed the efficiency of the
    regulation, so he wrote down that “almost every Macedonian villager has a
    hidden old or new pistol in his hut and sometimes wants game in his pot. The
    shepherds also regularly put traps for partridges and rock partridges, no matter
    if there is a ban in that area or not” (Kappus 1924b: 401)
Working...
X