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Mechthild Henneke shows through an imaginary character how difficult and painful was the path of establishing the new state of Kosovo. Vjosa Çerkini talked to the author.
The book talks “Ah, my Kosovo” about a young man from Kosovo, who lives in Germany and joins the KLA from Germany. He studies medicine in Germany, has built a wonderful life for himself, but leaves everything because he says he can not see Kosovo hurt by Serbs and wants to fight himself. He joins the KLA and discovers in the first battle that killing is not so easy for him, but that he finds it easy to help people, help the wounded, take care of them and his talent is also recognized by The KLA and he becomes one of the few doctors on the ground within the KLA.
Mechthild Henneke says that history is based mainly on facts and shows “how capable people are in war. They really become heroes when they surpass themselves and at the same time pay a very high price in the sense that the hero, of course, sees so many people dying, sees so much suffering, sees what the war is doing and basically in “On the last day of the war, on which the book ends, he also feels very exhausted inside, he feels tired because the war has taken all the strength.”
DW: What are the connections between you and the character of the novel?
Henneke: Oh, a very close relationship. So I think I’m involved in all of my characters. So maybe that was one of the reasons I wrote it as a novel. I myself came to Kosovo with a lot of idealism and I found many aspects within Naim’s story that excited me a lot. I was not at war in Kosovo, but I still have the love for Kosovo and the fun in Kosovo. I managed to incorporate it into my characters. For example, there are wild guys who always show up quite a bit and it was kind of fun for me to write because this is an aspect of life for me too, just banging the table and making some weird jokes. I managed to get a little into it, into Naim’s character.
The title of the novel “Ah” is an exclamation point for suffering. Do you think so about Kosovo, or what is your relationship with Kosovo and your impression of the character?
Henneke: “Ah my Kosovo” can also be an expression of love, so we say it with emotion. But it is true, there is even a little of this pain that Kosovo does not have the simple and good life you want. And as it is today, I think that today we can actually say “Ah, my Kosovo”, because 20 or 23 years after the end of the war there are still many problems. I’m back here now and I see a lot of people telling me about problems, the health care system and jobs, traffic, there ‘s still a lot of issues, pensions and so on that need to be improved. There is still much to do. Some things probably did not turn out as those who fought then had dreamed, as far as they can still say this “ah”, “Ah, my Kosovo”, I wish you all the best, but there is still much to do.
The main character in your book and his friends are not superheroes, unlike many stories of the Kosovo war. However, the war has heroic motives. What is the statement in your book? Is there a fair fight?
Henneke: No war needed, I would say. It’s just too big for me as a word. But it was necessary for the people of Kosovo. They fought, resisted and entered their country. We can see that in Ukraine today, you can not allow your homeland to be destroyed. In Pristina, for example, I was behind the government building. In 1981 people were killed in demonstrations, there is also a small memorial there. Kosovo has experienced a lot of suffering, I fully understand why people said in the 1990s, let’s grab weapons. It is very difficult for me as a German to imagine something like this after World War II, but once I got here I realized, that this was the only way to stop the suffering and attract international attention. It’s a big topic, I know that.
Further in your novel you say that your character “pays a high price and in the end is no longer so proud”, what happened?
Henneke: I believe the hero represents many people who fought in the KLA. I think if you have not experienced something like this, you can not imagine what it is like to be physically and mentally exhausted in such a perpetually stressful situation, forever threatened with death and my hero was particularly exposed to what he was in constantly tried to save people from death. He fought not only for himself, he fought for many other people – civilians, but also soldiers. For example, in the conflict in Ukraine I have now met two women with whom I have become friends and who I try to help. Already only from their escape can I say that both have taken over, they are so mentally exhausted that they have very little energy, for example, to deal with the procedures of the German authorities. They need a lot of support. If I imagine being at war for a year, a year as a field doctor, constantly facing the impossibility of having an operation without medication and so on is extraordinary
Do you think that through your book there is much more to find out what happened in the ranks of the KLA before, during and after the war?
Henneke: I do not think I will discover in my book things that are not known, because it is just a novel anyway. I do not name and bring no facts to my novel. In fact I wanted to give the individual a scene with all its aspects. People see military or political successes, but the individual goes to war and is often forgotten in war. This was actually very important to me.
Who is your book for?
Henneke: When I wrote the book, I meant young readers. In fact, now regardless of nationality, young people are asking themselves questions about idealism, commitment, what they want to fight for in their lives. So these are the basic questions that every person needs to ask themselves at some point: what they actually want to use their life for. That’s why I have always had a few young readers in front of me, from the age of 18 to 30, but now I have noticed that the book is also read a lot by the elderly.
If through the book you want readers to be confronted with the truth of their past, can anything good come of it?
Henneke: Dealing with the past creates self-confidence and strength for the future. When I think of Germany, only through dealing with the past was it possible for the younger generation to develop something new, like the green movement and so on. It was very much related to the fact that the parents finally started telling us what had once happened. In this regard, this debate gives strength and energy to the future. You know what happened, you also know what went wrong and learn from it and it helps us cope well the next day.
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