The memory of ordinary, everyday intercultural or interreligious relationships, in brief 

A well-known ‘ecumenical’ Marian shrine, visited by thousands of Catholic pilgrims (Croat and Albanian), and before the war of the 1990s by local Muslim Albanians, Orthodox Serbs, and Gypsies. 

The context in which these relationships made a difference at the time

Letnica before the war was at the centre of a set of Catholic villages in a border area settled predominantly by Albanian-speaking Muslims, and governed by the municipality of Vitina nearby, which is majority Serbian. In 1999, a researcher who had done fieldwork in Letnica, G.HJ. Duijzings, observed that the sanctuary remained popular with local Muslim Gypsies, and to a lesser extent by Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Albanians.

Duijzings writes:

Listening to the stories of my informants, I realised Serbs and Croats had been on friendly terms with each other until quite recently. Often, Serbs would offer shelter and meals to those Croats from Letnica who possessed land near Vrbovac and Grncar, and who came here to work their land or to reap the harvest. Every year in the middle of August, many Serbs would visit Letnica, during the Assumption Day pilgrimage. Some of them would come here primarily for trading or to sell their agricultural surpluses. Others, especially women, would visit Letnica for religious reasons as well. Even Serbs from more remote places like Gnjilane (30 kilometres away) were eager to visit Letnica; particularly young people considered it one of the main opportunities for fun and courtship in this part of Kosovo. A young Serb politician from Gnjilane (member of Milosevic’s Socialist Party), told me with nostalgia in his voice how he —during one of his visits to Letnica— had fallen in love with a Catholic Croat girl. His passionate attempts to marry her failed since the parents of the girl disapproved of a marriage with a non-Catholic. Though mutual ties of marriage seem to have been an exception, the relation between Serbs and Croats was one of affinity and mutual support, since both were very much aware of their shared position as an ethnic and religious minority among a vast majority of Albanian Muslims. During my fieldwork in 1992, many Croats from Letnica told me that the relations with Serbs had deteriorated only the last two to three years.

What has happened since, which makes the memory valuable 

The insecurity of the Croatian-speaking minority increased from the beginning of the breakdown of Yugoslavia in 1990-91, and when it came, war ended the security of citizens here. The Catholic community left for Croatia, mostly in 1992-93. To understand more about the strength of relationships before and during this period would matter to anyone who seeks to understand what happened when communities faced outside pressure to separate – a theme Duijzings elaborates upon. 

Another point of interest for a wider International readership – this is the village where Mother Teresa of Calcutta is from.

How might the memory be used in bringing people together in practice now? 

The OSCE has sought to combine cultural heritage, tourism and peacebuilding work through activities in Letnica. To help the local community and the village in preserving their heritage, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, in co-operation with Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB), organized two-week youth camps on restoration and documentation as part of its cultural heritage and inter-faith dialogue portfolio. There remains a pilgrimage drawing thousands of people from many backgrounds in mid-August, and the OSCE-CHwB project encouraged locals and especially the municipality in Vitina to develop plans for tourism in other seasons as well. As G.H.J. Duijzings has shown, the intercultural and multireligious relationships in Letnica and in surrounding villages have a lot to offer anyone who seeks to understand the changing ways in which religion impacts on social and political relationships in our times. But more than that, inter-communal relationships gave locals here resources for practical cooperation when thy needed it, and resilience when politics imposed itself. The Memory Bank team welcome ideas and suggestions from anyone interested in the ways we understand what makes actions for the common good work in diverse communities such as this.

Additional context/Some additional reading

G.H.J. Duijzings, Religion And The Politics Of Identity In Kosovo, 1999. https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1513620/108592_UBA003000255.pdf