Xhafer Deva: Nationalism, Collaboration and Mass Murder in Pursuit of a ‘Greater Albanian’ State

Abstract

Xhafer Deva is one of the most notorious figures in the history of World War II in Kosovo and ‘Greater Albania’. As Minister of the Interior of the ‘Greater Albanian’ state and a Nazi collaborator, he was responsible for the assassination, deportation and expulsion of countless Serbs. At the same time, he fought for the integration of Kosovo into Albania. As such, notwithstanding the mass atrocities for which he is responsible, he is still revered in nationalist circles to this day. In this contribution, Xhafer Deva, a controversial public figure, will be examined and presented against the backdrop of the shifting empires and loyalties during the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century.