Artan P쳮aska
apernaska@tiranatimes.com
The Netherlands and Albania remember
Monday, on the 20th of April a commemorative ceremony was held in the city of Durr쳬 to pay honor and respect to the memory of the Dutch Colonel Lodewijk W. J. K. Thomson, on his death anniversary.
Colonel Thomson, who was part of the first Dutch mission of peace in Albania after the First Balkan War, died in Durr쳠95 years ago.
Attending the ceremony, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Henk G. C. van den Dool, estimated Colonel Thomson’s example as “a beacon for the cooperation between the two countries”.
The mayor of Durr쳬 K. Pajuni, qualified Colonel Thomson as “the first international hero on Albanian soil.” Colonel Thomson was made an honorary citizen of Durr쳠in 2000 and was decorated posthumously with the Golden Eagle, receiving thus the country’s highest honors.
To honor his contribution, at the head of a group of sixteen Dutch officers, in the creation of the Albanian gendarmerie, the Junior Officers Academy of Tirana bears his name. In the tradition of the Dutch-Albanian military cooperation, five years ago this academy started cooperating with the Royal Military Academy in Weert, Netherlands.
The Thomson Foundation, in the Netherlands, perpetrates to this day the valorous memory of the Colonel. To this purpose, the foundation supports the trilingual internet pages on Colonel Thomson and Albania created by Harrie Teunissen, historian at Leiden, Netherlands.
Thomson – the man in history and in poetry
Lodewijk Willem John Karel Thomson (11.06.1869 – 15.06.1914), better known locally as Colonel Thomson, served as an international observer in the troubled times of the Balkan Wars, participated in the Dutch peace-keeping mission in Albania and assisted the nascent Albanian independent state. Born in Voorschoten, he died in Durr쳠95 years ago.
Colonel Thomson was reputed in the Netherlands as a military reformer and as a politician. He signed a white flag raised by the Ottoman army at the battle of Little Bizani (Balkan War), near Janina, as: “White flag risen by the Turks at little Bizani – 24.2.1913 (drapeau blanc hiss顰ar les Turcs au petit – Bizani / Thomson / Deput頭 Attach顭ilitaire des Pays-Bas / 24.2 – 1913)”.
Further to his mission in Albania in 1913, Colonel Thomson has left his contribution in a published document titled: Verslag Der Zending Albani묠Ingesteld Bij Kon. Besl. Van 22 October 1913 Nr. 16, Voorstudie Tot De Vorming Eener Gendarmerie. Vertrouwelijk. ‘S-Gravenhage- Algemeene Landsdrukkerij- 1914. Together with De Veer, Thomson had been charged with drafting a project for the creation of a gendarmerie for the new Albanian state.
At the head of a group of Dutch officers that joined him, Colonel Thomson was later charged with the organization of the Albanian gendarmerie and was in a sort of way one of the instigators of the creation of the Albanian armed forces.
Captain Duncan Heaton-Armstrong, private secretary to the Prince of Wied, first ruler of the Albanian state, gives first-hand testimony in his book The Six Months’ Kingdom- Albania 1914 (published by the Albanian Institute for International Studies, Tirana, 2001, p.82): “The loss of Colonel Thompson was more than deplorable, not only for his many friends, but for the whole of Albania; he had made a name for himself in the country Ţ
The renowned Albanian poet Fan Noli has immortalized the figure of the Dutch Colonel on a highly symbolic poem titled: Thompsoni dhe Ku覤ra (Thomson and the Dragon). The verses:
Dhe hovin ku覤r쳠ia preve, po re,
Kalor쳠i huaj, q롶diqe p철ne !
(You slashed the dragons’ rush, but fell on the ground / Foreign Knight, for us death-crowned) will always echo the memory of Colonel Lodewijk W. J. K. Thomson, Dutch military dead on the Albanian ground.
