Destruction of churches and church property on Kosovo in days of March Pogrom (March 17-19, 2004)

In the afternoon we could see from the monastery great clouds of smoke rising above the city located only a few kilometers to the north. We could not imagine that a pogrom of unprecedented proportions had already begun, and that the streets were already full of thousands of primarily young people who had already begun their crusade of destruction. According to information we later received, the Albanians first headed for Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, which was home to eight Serb refugees. Among them were two children, one pregnant woman and one bed-ridden elderly woman. First they hoisted the flag of the KLA; then, to the sound of incredible shrieking and screams, they began to set the fire. After burning the Seminary where, as we learned later, Serb Dragan Nedeljkovic (born 1955) lost his life, the wave of destruction swept on the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Great Martyr George, above the fountain. Father Myron, who was on duty in the Bishop's residence, informed us in a state of obvious excitement that a huge crowd of people was approaching the Bishop's residence and church with a lot of noise and shouting. The German soldiers were very frightened and disturbed. The Albanians had already begun to smash the windows of the Bishop's residence; some had already broken into the Church of St. George. Father Myron was quickly ordered to prepare to evacuate. With lightning speed, the Germans threw him into an armored transporter and transferred him to the German base. In the meanwhile, the Albanian mob had already broken into the Bishop's residence and set it on fire, while some were helping themselves to anything of value left in the building. A fire was also set in the church of St. George from which the Albanians, according to later testimony, were also removing precious objects. After it burned down, the church was also dynamited so that the entire roof with the dome collapsed. The mass howled in its destructive delirium.