Categories

Igor Vukadinović, PhD
Institute for Balkan Studies SASA, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

 

MIGRATION OF SERBS FROM KOSOVO AND METOHIJA DURING THE YUGOSLAV COMMUNIST REGIME 1958–1981: SCALE AND CAUSES

Vol. XLIV, 1/2026, pp. 207–230
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2026.1.vuk.207-230

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME:

The po­li­ti­cally dri­ven mi­gra­ti­on of Serbs from Ko­so­vo be­gan in the la­te 1950s, when the Yugo­slav com­mu­nist le­a­ders­hip in­tro­du­ced se­lec­ti­ve po­li­ti­cal and economic sup­port for the Al­ba­ni­an na­ti­o­nal mi­no­rity and the Au­to­no­mo­us Ko­so­vo-Me­to­hi­ja Re­gi­on. A po­licy that lo­cal en­ter­pri­ses sho­uld re­flect the eth­nic com­po­si­ti­on of the po­pu­la­ti­on so­on pro­du­ced pres­su­res on the Serb com­mu­nity, re­por­ted by se­cu­rity and po­li­ce ser­vi­ces as early as the early 1960s. De­spi­te war­nings that this was be­co­ming a se­ri­o­us po­li­ti­cal pro­blem, Ser­bi­an com­mu­nists lac­ked the de­ter­mi­na­ti­on to op­po­se the na­ti­o­na­lity po­licy pro­mo­ted by the fe­de­ral le­a­ders­hip. The Bri­o­ni Ple­num mar­ked a tur­ning po­int, ena­bling Ko­so­vo’s le­a­ders­hip to un­der­ta­ke pur­ges and struc­tu­ral chan­ges un­der the ban­ner of “im­ple­men­ting Bri­o­ni’s de­ci­si­ons.” By the la­te 1960s, Serb mi­gra­ti­on had be­co­me a vi­si­ble pro­blem, but the Yugo­slav aut­ho­ri­ti­es – abo­ve all Ti­to – re­ma­i­ned si­lent. Let­ters to Ti­to from con­cer­ned of­fi­ci­als were mo­ti­va­ted by the be­li­ef that even a sin­gle sta­te­ment from him co­uld com­pel the aut­ho­ri­ti­es to act; yet his de­li­be­ra­te re­fu­sal to ad­dress the is­sue pro­ved de­ci­si­ve the un­hin­de­red con­ti­nu­a­ti­on of the mi­gra­ti­on process. Between 1961 and 1981, the out­flow of Serbs from Ko­so­vo re­ac­hed ne­arly half of tho­se who re­ma­i­ned. The ca­se il­lu­stra­tes that gran­ting ter­ri­to­ri­al au­to­nomy to one na­ti­o­nal gro­up can cre­a­te a new, vul­ne­ra­ble mi­no­rity wit­hin it. In Ko­so­vo, Serbs be­ca­me such a mi­no­rity, unprotec­ted by sta­te me­a­su­res, which fuelled the­ir lar­ge-sca­le mi­gra­ti­on.

 

KEYWORDS: com­mu­nism, eth­nic mi­gra­ti­ons, Ko­so­vo, na­ti­o­nal mi­no­ri­ti­es, ter­ri­to­ri­al au­to­nomy, Yugo­sla­via

 

REFERENCES:

  • Ba­ta­ko­vić, Du­šan. Ko­so­vo i Me­to­hi­ja: Isto­ri­ja i ide­o­lo­gi­ja. Be­o­grad: Či­go­ja, 2007.
  • Bla­go­je­vić, Ma­ri­na. „Ise­lja­va­nje Sr­ba sa Ko­so­va: tra­u­ma i /ili ka­tar­za.“ U: Srp­ska stra­na ra­ta: Tra­u­ma i ka­tar­za u isto­rij­skom pam­će­nju. Pri­re­dio Ne­boj­ša Po­pov, 232–264. Be­o­grad: Republi­ka, 1996.
  • Bo­jo­vić, Bo­ško. Ko­so­vo i Za­pad­ni Bal­kan: Pi­ta­nje re­gi­o­nal­ne sta­bil­no­sti i evrop­ske bezbednosti, Be­o­grad: Od­bra­na, 2014.
  • Buxho­fi, Ju­suf. Ko­so­va. Vo­lu­me 3: From Oc­cu­pa­ti­on to In­ter­na­ti­o­nal Pro­tec­to­ra­te. Ho­u­ston: Ja­li­fat Pu­blis­hing, 2017.
  • Ca­lic, Ma­rie-Ja­ni­ne. A Hi­story of Yugo­sla­via. West La­fayet­te, In­di­a­na, US: Pur­due Uni­ver­sity Press, 2019.
  • Ča­lić, Ma­ri-Ža­nin. Isto­ri­ja Ju­go­sla­vi­je u 20. ve­ku. Be­o­grad: Clio, 2010.
  • Çeku, Et­hem. Ko­so­vo and Di­plo­macy Sin­ce World War II: Yugo­sla­via, Al­ba­nia and the Path to Ko­so­van In­de­pen­den­ce. Lon­don – New York: IB Ta­u­rus 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9780755621750
  • Ćo­sić, Do­bri­ca. Lič­na isto­ri­ja jed­nog do­ba. Knj. 1: Vre­me is­ku­še­nja 1951–1968. Be­o­grad: Slu­žbe­ni gla­snik, 2009.
  • Ču­pić, Mir­ko. Ote­ta ze­mlja. Ko­so­vo i Me­to­hi­ja: Zlo­či­ni, pro­go­ni, ot­po­ri. Be­o­grad: No­lit, 2006.
  • Di­mić, Lju­bo­drag. Isto­ri­ja srp­ske dr­žav­no­sti: Sr­bi­ja u Ju­go­sla­vi­ji. Be­o­grad: SANU, 2001.
  • Di­mi­tri­je­vić, Du­ško. „Za­hte­vi pri­pad­ni­ka ne­ka­da­šnje ne­mač­ke ma­nji­ne za re­sti­tu­ci­ju imo­vi­ne u Sr­bi­ji“. Me­đu­na­rod­ni pro­ble­mi, br. 1, (2011), 126–159.
  • Đo­ko­vić, Mi­lo­rad. Ko­smet­ski do­si­je. Be­o­grad: AIZ Do­si­je, 1990.
  • Drag­nić, Alek­sa and Slav­ko To­do­ro­vić. The Sa­ga of Ko­so­vo: Fo­cus on Ser­bi­an-Al­ba­ni­an relati­ons. New York: Co­lum­bia Uni­ver­sity Press, 1984.
  • Ga­ta­lo­vić, Mi­o­mir. „Pri­lo­zi za pro­u­ča­va­nje ise­lja­va­nja Sr­ba i Cr­no­go­ra­ca sa Ko­so­va i Me­to­hi­je pod vla­šću Jo­si­pa Bro­za Ti­ta“. Istorija 20. veka, br. 1, (2024), 199–220. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2024.1.gat.199-220
  • Ga­ta­lo­vić, Mi­o­mir. Bur­na vre­me­na: Ko­so­vo i Me­to­hi­ja u dr­žav­noj po­li­ti­ci Ju­go­sla­vi­je (1966–1969). Be­o­grad: In­sti­tut za sa­vre­me­nu isto­ri­ju, 2018.
  • Ga­ta­lo­vić, Mi­o­mir. Ko­so­vo i Me­to­hi­ja u dr­žav­noj po­li­ti­ci Ju­go­sla­vi­je 1958–1965. Be­o­grad: In­sti­tut za sa­vre­me­nu isto­ri­ju, 2016.
  • Gra­belj­šek, Dra­ga­na et al. Na­ci­o­nal­ni sa­stav sta­nov­ni­štva SFR Ju­go­sla­vi­je. Knj. 1: Po­da­ci po na­se­lji­ma i op­šti­na­ma. Be­o­grad: Sa­ve­zni za­vod za sta­ti­sti­ku,
  • Gu­zi­na, De­jan. „Ko­so­vo or Ko­so­va – Co­uld It Be Both? The Ca­se of In­ter­loc­king Ser­bi­an and Al­ba­ni­an Na­ti­o­na­li­sms”. In: Un­der­stan­ding the War in Ko­so­vo. Edit by Flo­ri­an Bi­e­ber and Ži­das Da­ska­lov­ski, 31–52. Lon­don–Por­tland: Frank Cass, 2003.
  • Hor­vat, Bran­ko. Ko­sov­sko pi­ta­nje. Za­greb: Glo­bus, 1989.
  • Hu­de­list, Dar­ko. Ko­so­vo – bit­ka bez ilu­zi­ja. Za­greb: Cen­tar za in­for­ma­ci­je i pu­bli­ci­tet, 1989.
  • Jev­tić, Ata­na­si­je. „Hro­ni­ka stra­da­nja Sr­ba na Ko­so­vu i Me­to­hi­ji (1941–1989)“. Bo­go­slo­vlje, XXXIII, br. 1–2, (1989), 55–79.
  • Jev­tić, Ata­na­si­je. Stra­da­nja Sr­ba na Ko­so­vu i Me­to­hi­ji od 1941. do 1990. Pri­šti­na: Je­din­stvo, 1990.
  • Jo­vić, De­jan. Ju­go­sla­vi­ja: dr­ža­va ko­ja je od­u­mr­la: uspon, kri­za i pad Kar­de­lje­ve Ju­go­sla­vi­je (1974-1990). Za­greb: Pro­me­tej, 2003.
  • Ju­dah, Tim. Ko­so­vo: What Everyone Ne­eds to Know. Oxford: Uni­ver­sity Press, 2006.
  • Kor­dić, Mi­le. Oj Ko­so­vo. Be­o­grad: Struč­na knji­ga, 1988.
  • Kr­stić, Bra­ni­slav. Ko­so­vo – uz­ro­ci su­ko­ba, po­mi­re­nje pra­va. Be­o­grad: Li­ber-press, 2002.
  • Li­tri­čin, Mir­ja­na (Ed). Al­ba­ni­an ge­no­ci­de of the Serbs in the twen­ti­eth cen­tury: Do­cu­ments of the Arc­hi­ves of the Di­o­ce­se of Ras-Pri­zren and Ko­so­vo-Me­to­hi­ja. Bel­gra­de: Ža­gor, 2011.
  • Ma­cu­ra, Mi­loš. „Pre­mo­der­ne mi­gra­ci­je u sa­vre­me­nom ju­go­slo­ven­skom dru­štvu“. U: Mi­gra­ci­je i Bo­sna i Her­ce­go­vi­na. Ured­nik Nu­sret Še­hić, 461–469. Sa­ra­je­vo: In­sti­tut za isto­ri­ju u Sarajevu, 1990.
  • Mal­colm, No­el. Ko­so­vo: A Short Hi­story. New York: Uni­ver­sity Press, 1998.
  • Me­mo­ran­dum o Ko­so­vu i Me­to­hi­ji Sve­tog ar­hi­je­rej­skog sa­bo­ra Srp­ske Pra­vo­slav­ne Cr­kve. Beo­grad: Sve­ti ar­hi­je­rej­ski si­nod SPC, 2003.
  • Mi­ke­tić, Uroš. Ise­lja­va­nje Sr­ba i Cr­no­go­ra­ca sa Ko­so­va i Me­to­hi­je 1966–1981. go­di­ne: uz­ro­ci, tok i po­sle­di­ce. Doc­to­ral dis­ser­ta­ti­on, Uni­ver­sity of Pri­sti­na, Fa­culty of Phi­lo­sophy, De­part­ment of Hi­story, 2024.
  • Mi­šo­vić, Mi­loš. Ko je tra­žio re­pu­bli­ku: Ko­so­vo 1945–1985. Be­o­grad: Na­rod­na knji­ga, 1987.
  • Ni­el­sen, Chri­sti­an Axboe. Yugo­sla­via and po­li­ti­cal as­sas­si­na­ti­ons: the hi­story and le­gacy of Ti­to’s cam­pa­ign aga­inst the émigrés. Lon­don: I.B. Ta­u­ris, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781788316880
  • Ni­ko­lić Ko­sta and Srđan Cvet­ko­vić. Sr­bi i Al­ban­ci na Ko­so­vu i Me­to­hi­ji u 20. ve­ku. Be­o­grad: In­sti­tut za sa­vre­me­nu isto­ri­ju, 2014
  • Pa­tri­jarh Pa­vle. Ko­sov­ska is­ku­še­nja. Be­o­grad: Knji­ga ko­merc, 2018.
  • Pa­vlo­vić, Mom­či­lo at. al. Ko­so­vo i Me­to­hi­ja: Vek va­žnih do­ga­đa­ja. Ba­nja­lu­ka: Aka­de­mi­ja nauka i umet­no­sti Re­pu­bli­ke Srp­ske, 2014.
  • Pa­vlowitch, Ste­van. “St Guy’s and the Ba­stil­le.” In: The Ko­so­vo col­lec­ti­on, Sydney: Svetosavlje, 1989.
  • Pe­li­kan, Jan. No­vim pu­te­vi­ma. Ko­so­vo 1958–1969. Be­o­grad: Slu­žbe­ni gla­snik, 2022.
  • Pe­tra­no­vić, Bran­ko and Mom­či­lo Ze­če­vić. Ago­ni­ja dve Ju­go­sla­vi­je. Ša­bac: Za­slon, 1991.
  • Pe­tro­vić, Ru­ža, and Ma­ri­na Bla­go­je­vić. Se­o­be Sr­ba i Cr­no­go­ra­ca sa Ko­so­va i Me­to­hi­je: Re­zul­ta­ti an­ke­te spro­ve­de­ne 1985–1986. go­di­ne. Be­o­grad: SANU, 1989.
  • Pri­vred­ni i dru­štve­ni ra­zvoj SAP Ko­so­va 1947–1972. Pri­šti­na: Po­kra­jin­ski za­vod za sta­ti­sti­ku SAP Ko­so­va, 1974.
  • Ra­jo­vić, Ra­do­šin. Au­to­no­mi­ja Ko­so­va: Isto­rij­sko-prav­na stu­di­ja. Be­o­grad: Eko­no­mi­ka, 1985.
  • Ri­sta­no­vić, Pe­tar. Ko­sov­sko pi­ta­nje. No­vi Sad: Pro­me­tej, 2019.
  • Sch­mitt, Oli­ver Jens. Ko­so­vo: kur­ze Ge­schich­te ei­ner zen­tral­bal­ka­ni­schen Land­schaft. Wien: Böhlau, 2008.
  • Slav­ko­vić Mi­rić, Bo­ži­ca. „Po­gled u no­vi­ju isto­ri­o­gra­fi­ju o Ko­so­vu i Me­to­hi­ji i na­stan­ku albanskog na­ci­o­na­li­zma“, Tokovi istorije, br. 3, (2023), 227–258. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31212/tokovi.2023.3.sla.227-258
  • Smith, Da­vid, “Mi­no­rity ter­ri­to­ri­al and non-ter­ri­to­ri­al au­to­nomy in Eu­ro­pe: the­o­re­ti­cal perspecti­ves and prac­ti­cal chal­len­ges”. In: Au­to­no­mi­es in Eu­ro­pe: So­lu­ti­ons and Chal­len­ges. Edi­ted by Zoltán Kántor, 15–23. Bu­da­pest: Re­se­arch In­sti­tu­te for Hun­ga­ri­an Com­mu­ni­ti­es Abro­ad, 2014.
  • So­je­va, Ka­dri and Sa­ni­je Uka (eds). De­mo­graf­ske pro­me­ne Ko­so­va u pe­ri­o­du 1948–2006. Prišti­na: Za­vod za sta­ti­sti­ku Ko­so­va, 2008.
  • Ter­zić, Sla­ven­ko. Sta­ra Sr­bi­ja (XIX–XX vek): Dra­ma jed­ne ci­vi­li­za­ci­je. Be­o­grad: Isto­rij­ski insti­tut, 2012.
  • Traj­ko­vić, Mom­či­lo. Ko­so­vo: Jo­vo Šo­tra – jed­na po­li­tič­ka sud­bi­na. Gra­ča­ni­ca: Dom kul­tu­re, 2022.
  • Troch, Pi­e­ter. “So­ci­al dyna­mics and na­ti­on­ho­od in em­ployment po­li­tics in the Trepça mi­ning com­plex in So­ci­a­list Ko­so­vo (1960s)”. La­bor Hi­story 60, no. 3, (2019), 217–234. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2019.1533747
  • Vic­kers, Mi­ran­da. Between Serb and Al­ba­ni­an: A Hi­story of Ko­so­vo. New York: Co­lum­bia Uni­ver­sity Press, 1998.
  • Vi­da­čić, Raj­ko. O ko­re­ni­ma se­pa­ra­ti­zma i te­ro­ri­zma na Ko­so­vu. Be­o­grad: Slu­žbe­ni list SRJ, 2000.
  • Vu­ka­di­no­vić, Igor. „Stro­go po­ver­lji­vi iz­ve­šta­ji mi­ni­stra spolj­nih po­slo­va Al­ba­ni­je o si­tu­a­ci­ji u Ju­go­sla­vi­ji i na Ko­so­vu i Me­to­hi­ji“. Istorija 20. veka, br. 1, (2023), 159–176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2023.1.vuk.159-176
  • Vu­ka­di­no­vić. Igor. Au­to­no­mi­ja Ko­so­va i Me­to­hi­je u Sr­bi­ji (1945–1969). Be­o­grad: Balkanološki in­sti­tut SANU, 2021.
  • Vu­ko­vić, Zo­ran. Od de­for­ma­ci­ja SDB do Ma­spo­ka i li­be­ra­li­zma. Be­o­grad: Na­rod­na knji­ga, 1989.