Early Photography in Albania
- Bajazid Elmaz Doda -

Robert Elsie

Who was Bajazid Elmaz Doda?

Book: Albanisches Bauernleben

The Doda Photo Collection
Macedonia 1907

Bajazid Elmaz Doda is the author of the book Albanisches Bauerleben im oberen Rekatal bei Dibra (Makedonien), [Albanian Peasant Life in the Upper Reka Valley near Dibra (Macedonia)], that he completed as a typescript in Vienna in April 1914 and that was finally published in Vienna in 2007. The original typescript and the 2007 edition are accompanied by photographs taken, according to the author, by Doda himself. They are probably from the year 1907. The pictures are primarily of the author's native village of Shtirovica and surroundings, though there are also two photos of Skopje. This photo material is of particular historical value because the village in question has disappeared - nothing remained but a grassy meadow and a few piles of stones. Its native Albanian inhabitants were expelled from the Reka valley by Bulgarian troops in about 1916.

We are grateful to the Photo Archives of the Austrian National Library (Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek) in Vienna for permission to present the Doda Collection for the first time, where it is preserved under the inventory numbers NB902060B to NB902076B.