Albanophilia Explained
Albanophilia is a non-Albanian person's expression of a strong interest in or appreciation for the Albanian language, Albanian culture, Albanian literature, Albanian history or the Albanian people.
Albanophilia in Europe outside of the Balkans
Sweden
Johann Erich Thunmann in the 18th century supported the theory of the autochthony of the Albanians[1] and also presented the Illyrian origin theory.[2] [3] Later on Gustav Meyer proved that Albanian language was part of the Indo-European family.[4]
Germany
In 2001 during the Insurgency in Macedonia the German foreign minister Joschka Fischer declared, that the Albanian question in the Balkans is not solved. Around 1912 Germany and Austria supported an Independent Albania, including cities like Parga, Tetovo and Prishtina.[5]
Albanophilia in Balkans
Montenegro
The Montenegrin Federalist Party was the only party in Montenegro which promoted common Illyrian theory with Albanians. The party's theoretician, Sekula Drljević, promoted ideas of a separate Montenegrin ethnicity (ideas that become more extreme throughout the 1930s), arguing that the Montenegrins were Illyrian.[6] He wrote:
Races are communities of blood, whereas people are creatures of history. With their language, the Montenegrin people belong to the Slavic linguistic community. By their blood, however, they belong [to the Dinaric peoples]. According to the contemporary science of European races, [Dinaric] peoples are descended from the Illyrians. Hence, not just the kinship, but the identity of certain cultural forms among the Dinaric peoples, all the way from Albanians to South Tyroleans, who are Germanized Illyrians.[7]
Notable Albanophiles
Notes and References
- Book: Elsie, Robert. Robert Elsie. Historical Dictionary of Albania. 19 March 2010. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-7380-3. 159. Johann Erich Thunmann (1746–1778) of the University of Halle first disseminated the theory of the autochthony of the Albanians.
- Book: Schwandner-Sievers. Stephanie. Fischer. Bernd Jürgen. Bernd Jürgen Fischer. Albanian Identities: Myth and History. 2002. Indiana University Press. 0-253-34189-2. 75. Although the first major exposition of the Illyrian theory, published by the German scholar Johann Thunmann in 1774....
- Book: Stipčević, Aleksandar. Aleksandar Stipčević. The Illyrians: history and culture. 1977. Noyes Press. 978-0-8155-5052-5. 73. The first one who clearly formulated the thesis of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians, was the German historian Johannes Thunmann in the eighteenth century..
- Book: Philip Baldi. Philip Baldi. An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages. 1983. SIU Press. 978-0-8093-1091-3. 87–88. In fact, Albanian was not established definitively Indo-European until the latter part of the nineteenth century, when certain structural and lexical correspondences that demonstrated the Indo-European character of the language were noted (especially by Gustav Meyer).
- Web site: deutschland-und-die-albanische-frage. blaetter. 17 October 2018.
- Book: Morrison, Kenneth. Montenegro: A Modern History. 2009. I.B. Tauris. 978-1845117108. 47–49.
- Book: Banac, Ivo. Ivo Banac. 1984. The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York. 978-0-8014-9493-2. 290.
- Book: Péter. László. Rady. Martyn C.. Studies. University of London. School of Slavonic and East European. British-Hungarian relations since 1848. 1 January 2004. Hungarian Cultural Centre. 978-0-903425-73-5. 170. Edith Durham, the noted Albanophile, comes here to mind..
