Lajos Thallóczy und die Historiographie Albaniens
Lajos Thallóczy and the Historiography of Albania

Summary/Abstract: This essay by Fatos Kongoli, a literary man from Tirana, presents clearly the most important elements of Albanian historical self-perception and the social criticism they received at the turn of the millennium. Phase shift is characteristic of the Albanian historiography as it fought with a serious deficiency of modernity at the time of its birth. The institution network of Albania was built up only after the Second World War following Yugoslavian and Soviet examples. The creation of the Albanian self-perception was traditionally connected by historiography to Aleks Buda. The historical science in Albania follows Buda’s schemes and concepts even until today. According to our earlier knowledge he created a historical tradition which had not existed at all before him. During their researches, Armin Hetzers, Nathalie Clayers and recently Raim Belulis discovered a book which was written in 1896. According to this book it is very probable that the intellectual antecedents of Buda’s conception date back not only to the time of Rilindja but they were also inspired by a Hungarian historian, Lajos Thallóczy. “The History of Albania from a Gheg who loves his country” is actually his work, and the book might be the source of the most important historical myths in the Albanian Balkans. The primary aim of this article is not to present the influence this book had on the formation of the Albanian self-perception. This study wants to call attention to the fact that the book of Thallóczy was written from such a point of view which is suitable for helping the society of the Albanian historians reconsider their

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