Tahsin Jonuzi as the recent history of Albanian archeology...

From: Bardhosh Gaçe

The name of the archaeologist Tahsin Jonuzi, and without learning more than that, evokes emotions, a kind of urgent need to know him even more, a sensation that informs you that you are approaching a strange man who has survived time due to an inviolability of his personality regardless of the times. Like many others, I sought to have a deep knowledge of Tahsin Jonuzi, who even nowadays does not come to us like many others, but comes like an expensive book that weighs a lot the more you browse it and how much read it more. He was the product of a difficult but very important time for the country and Europe, but precisely because of this time, his work and his character become more important, brighter and more reflective.

Tahsin Jonuzi was born and lived in Vlora. After higher studies at the "Leopoldina Franciscea" University of Innsbruck, he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy "Excellent" in 1932. In this same university, in 1937, after taking the post-graduate exams in "Knowledge of History and Albanology", he defended the degree " Doctor of Sciences in Philosophy". He worked as a teacher and then director of the Cold Water Commercial Institute, as well as director of the archaeological excavations of Apollonia. Together with the well-known Italian archaeologist Piro Marcone of Velça, Amantia, Kanina, Himara and Butrint, which constitute a rich archive of the Illyrian world. His internment in the Nazi concentration camp in Mat'hausen in August 1944, as an anti-fascist, created a deep pain in the residents of Vlora and his family. His wife, Lake Jonuzi, in the Central State Archive, has a letter of protest against the German Nazis, where she expresses her deep revolt about his martyrdom in the Nazi camps.

He was one of the outstanding people of Albanian knowledge, who in the constellation of pupils and students who studied and graduated abroad, as a small part of them, Tahsin Jonuzi left his mark, absorbed the knowledge, culture and concern of time, which he returned to work, but with a strong will, thanks to his intelligence, he imposed himself on her. But, unlike most of his generation, Jonuzi transcended himself, transcended the profession to touch the social, cultural, historical and philosophical reality of the time. He transformed his profession into a "medium" of communication, but also a literary - scientific and evidential source, since no one like him among the scholars of the time used his time, skills, profession and talent to the fullest extent to put country service. This makes his profile and biography specific, he dared all the time when he was given the opportunity to contribute.

Previously, I could not bring thoughts about the book of Tahsin Jonuz, entitled "Topography and network of roads of Shqipnis in the old times", which comes as a gift and a surprising revelation in the written contributions of Albanian archeology and culture, but and the author's rather fascinating scientific treatment. I think it is a wonderful and quite significant finding to come to light of this paper, which in itself is a scientific paper, genuine with a clear accuracy of the best knowledge of the time, really sustainable even in our day.

The arrival of this special and quite symbolic publication, well received by the publishing group for the Albanian reader, shows us the best profile of a man of knowledge over time, a complex work, from which there is a benefit to culture, science and specific fields of knowledge. It is a publication in which not only time, but also history plexes because of a point of view and a rational approach, that the doctor of sciences of the time, Tasin Jonuzi, has presented to the academic body and the knowledge of the time.

The book in question entitled "Topography and the network of roads of Albania in the old times" informs us of a personality of knowledge, a man with an extraordinary space of multi-faceted communication, with a superior formation of ancient cultural, scientific and historical knowledge, which voice from the early ancient authors to contemporary knowledge learned in different ways from him.

Tahsin Jonuzi was an archaeologist, one of the wonderful intellectuals of the time, who, in addition to being strongly connected to the passion and need of his education at home and abroad, an education on didactics and a clear Western profile, such as university studies in Vienna and elsewhere, he was also a patriot or an outstanding Albanian, the model of the Albanian boy, strongly connected to the fate of the homeland, outstanding as a man of freedom and national pride. Unfortunately, he was also one of the young Albanians, who at the peak of his work as a man of knowledge and a scientist with a secure future, was sacrificed and martyred in the Nazi camps, as was Mathausen.

Tahsin Jonuzi belonged to the constellation of Albania's university students, who were invested during this time to create a layer of educated people in the West, who would put the country at the service of their development and contemporary direction. This wonderful generation, part of which after the Second World War also created the strong base of studies and scientific institutions of the country, was from several fields of knowledge, in any case strategic for development, in which a complex and quite advanced formation appeared. necessary, a fact which we find strongly embodied in Tahsin Jonuzi, leaving an important legacy for the generations who value it even today.

And why late, prof. dr. Aleks Buda, an important personality of Albanian historical knowledge, in the 80s of the last century, sought to know the fate of Tahsin Jonuzi's family, and because of the consequences that Jonuzi's family had during this time, as a families with an inheritance of wealth and properties, which the totalitarian system had in its eyes not good. Aleks Buda could not help but remember and have the feeling of a learned man about fellow student Tahsin Jonuzi in university studies and dr. of sciences, who had obtained a doctorate and had defended with an excellent grade a difficult work, an important revelation, which expounded the early Albanian history in the best complex way, where history, topography, archeology, geography, culture intersected, mountains, rivers, demographics, tribes, wars, ebbs and flows of conquest.

As it is understood today, with the arrival of this wonderful publication, where the profile of a wonderful scientist of the time can be understood quite well, Tahsin Jonuzi left a rich family legacy. His son, Nestor Jonuzi (People's Painter), did not stop following in his father's footsteps, and after many efforts, managed to bring the copy of Tahsin Jonuzi's scientific dissertation from the University of Innsbruck, with which he has defended the degree "Doctor of Science".

In these circumstances and fortunate occasions, we will have to be grateful to the granddaughter of Tahsin Jonuzi, Aulona Jonuzi, who had a maximum commitment to prepare the publication of this book, just as our thanks cannot be missed and prof .dr. Advance to Kabo, who precedes and codifies in a broad picture the values ​​and how to understand and read the book entitled "Topography and the network of roads of Shqipnis in the old times", which is science, knowledge and culture at the same time. In the information that usually cannot be missing for such cases, pictures and books, our thanks cannot also be missing to Lake Jonuzin, who has preserved and has taken care to bring to our days the photographs, documents and numerous manuscripts, which he cared for until the end of his life.

The book entitled "Topography and the network of roads of Albania in the old times", is built on a platform of research, evidence and a diverse, even broad revelation. Seeking and fulfilling in this research a broad reference in space and in depth, the scientist Tahsin Jonuzi, has done our knowledge today a great service, as the broad references of the chapters (for the conditions of our opinion, it speaks of a BG book ) such as "Locations", "Rivers", "River Crossing", "Lakes", "Provinces", "Tribes", "Mountains, Islands and Plains" and finally "'Egnatia Road' and other road itineraries", create a density of information, historical and contemporary knowledge, his scientific interpretation, which makes the code of his death "Verstorben:15" painful. 12. 1944…Todesort: Gusen/ Mathhausen”.

In this case, I cannot sit without citing a short opinion of Mrs. Frida Vokopola Gjoka and Albert Gjoka, who enabled the professional translation of the book, among which they mark the elaboration of dr. Tahsin Janusit, as "An Albanian researcher who with his dissertation, with his research carried out in the country and with an extremely rich bibliography, makes a great contribution to the science of Albanianology".

In its entirety, a dissertation referred and defended in one of the largest university centers of the time (Austria), with about 70 referred authors and with over 1145 references constitute a solid and broad basis for research and many other researchers, especially in the field of Albanological studies and research, this important field of Albanian knowledge, whether in terms of history, anthropology, ethnology, linguistics, but also many other disciplines that combine within itself Albanology. I can't sit without quoting prof. dr. Progress Kabon, who through a communicative substrate, that "History continues for those who are not afraid of the light of reason..., others remain hostages of oblivion in history...", wonderfully expressing cohesion and the need to recognize him as a human being knowledge, as an Albanianologist, but also as a contributor to our national identity, Tahsin Jonuzin. The book that comes to the Albanian reader, translated from the German language, is the scientific dissertation for the degree "Doctor of Science", referred to in 1937, which is completed in the knowledge of History and Archaeology", but with an extraordinary relationship with many knowledge of others.

The book entitled "Topography and the network of roads of Shqipnis in the old times", published years after the life of Tahsin Janusi, is complex, while its reading is a little qualified, since throughout the verticality of the work there is a wide reference of knowledge of others, which are available to the author. Tahsin Janusi has known quite well the philosophy and its perimeter in the knowledge and interpretations that usually refer to geography and toponomastics. Spaces and settlements (villages, cities, provinces, states, etc.), connect the roads through which times, knowledge, cultures, alliances and conflicts move and move, through which development moves, the essence of studies and axioms of philosophy. Roads connect cultures and civilizations.

Penetrating through knowledge, studies and research in old authors, chronicles of wars and movements, the scientist Tahsin Jonuzi brings to attention and records in a scientific paper, which is protected in one of the most developed countries of the time, old names of toponymy of his homeland, that is Albania. This is very important for Albanian studies and Albanian historiographical conventions.

A very important treatment and mentioned with a strategic purpose by the scientist Jonuzi is the part that talks about roads. In the history of historical-scientific tracking of world knowledge, the researches and references that the roads bring are the most important and the most prosperous, as through them comes an inexhaustible source of information about the movements of peoples, cultures, armies, conquests, trade routes , development trends, etc. In this study, there is an important path-history binomial, a manifestation of history through names, geographical positions, a possibility of data on the genesis, through which it is possible to create a local, regional and global space. Time has proven that the homeland of Tahsin Jonuzi remained in the history of thought and belief as the "Line of Toedos", one of the historical developments, which created a clash, but also another new approach (1054) of thought and development. In this case, the consolidated opinion of knowledge and experience that "roads lead to the roads of history" is best fulfilled.

The researcher and dr. of science Tahsin Jonuzi had a strong foundation of formation and study, interpretation and visualization in his scientific work. The scientist predicts by relying on the arguments and the sense he has to penetrate the dark areas of the research field. In the history of mankind, which historical knowledge has reflected in encyclopedias and numerous scientific contributions, rivers constitute an important sense to research and go into the depths of time.

Tahsin Jonuzi reveals an important issue in his work on rivers, which are seen in a broad conception, from the designations (from the genesis to the state the author found, the evolution of the designation), the life that has been evidenced on the side of them and the vital resources that they have brought to the population, the relationships that the population has established with it, the settlements, from small units to cities near the rivers, which altogether constitute an important "delta" of communication and data on history, culture, Albanianology and place – perseverance. Exactly these traces inevitably lead to research and other evidence of the way and level of the social organism or institutions that were created in different times. Such a relationship and information lead to the data that the study of lakes, that is, water sources, which go back to the ancient Illyrian times to reach the scientific concern of dr. Janus.

In Jonuzi's doctoral thesis, there is also the issue of provinces, an issue that, as can be understood, has absorbed a great reflection of historical knowledge, but also ethnological and sociological laws. If these time and human spaces are like this, in this case for our early and present knowledge, the approach and research on the identity of this vital space is of great importance, which rightly prof. Cabo calls it "anthropological incest" otherwise referred to the holding of the bond as a human community that belongs to a natural bond such as family, kinship and tribe.

These early references, dialectically and philosophically, require a considerable number of answers to questions about communication, way of life, movements, relations with other peoples, circumstantial conditions, what remained and what was lost from that time and others. This trial has led to an important information about the structure of certain tribes, in the other research space by the author, which he has not avoided in any way, the relations of peoples - tribes with history, which has led him to take and refer not a few ancient authors.

Of course, the penetration into the history, mainly of the tribes, since such a social organization is stable in the histories of peoples in general, has created the opportunity to give the relationships, the structure of the organism, their extent, the boundaries, which in quite a few cases also exceed the state border, in which case the author has the opportunity to elaborate many sources and theses that he has raised on preferential facts and sources, but also other means of scientific knowledge.

Dr. Jonuzi has made good use of the broad historical, ethnological, anthropological, genetic and ethnocultural references and interpretations that come through the mountains, which occupy an important place in the history and memory of the Albanians (Illyrians). The geographical concept, but also in the relations with society and the history of social development are fundamental in the history of Tahsin Jonuzi's country, which has inevitably led to the historical identity, which withstands the changes on the surface, since these identities are similar to underground waters, which they cannot be undone.

In addition to these issues in the paper, there are other issues that are a scientific attribute, which fortunately reached our days, with rare ethnocultural value and importance. The book refers to issues that are strongly related to the ancient and historical truths of our people, to issues of national identity, to civilizations, to interstate communications. No one better than dr. Tahsin Jonuzin does not fulfill the definition that "The homeland must also be through science!"