Former UN Spokesperson Writes Novel About Kosovo Guerrilla

Mechthild Henneke. Photo: AKUD/Lars Reimann, courtesy of Mechthild Henneke.

Mechthild Henneke, a former spokesperson for the UN mission in Kosovo, has used her experiences in the country as material for her recently-published first novel, set during the late 1990s war, entitled ‘Ach, Mein Kosovo!’ (‘Oh, My Kosovo!’).

Henneke, who is now a freelance journalist and PR consultant in Berlin, initially went to Kosovo in 1999 as a volunteer for an NGO, and the became spokesperson for UNMIK after violent unrest erupted in Kosovo in 2004. She worked for the mission for four years.

Her book, which she said is “largely based on real events”, tells the story of a Kosovo Albanian medical student who leaves his life and job in Germany to join the newly-established guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998.

Based on a real character, it is a poignant chronicle of wartime violence and the dilemmas faced by the medic who decides to go to war.

The book is mainly based on a real character who worked for the Kosovo Protection Corps’ medical unit in the post-war period.

It examines how volunteer fighters in Kosovo had shared feelings of patriotic enthusiasm, but how many of them faced painful choices amid the brutality of the conflict.

“It’s their inner voice – ‘Your country needs you’ – that pushes them to make hard decisions,” Henneke explained.

She said that the narrative has some echoes of her own family’s past.

“My grandfather was killed by the Soviets during World War II and I have lived with his story. In some cases, I find many similarities between Kosovo and Germany, especially how the war affected the lives of people, especially victims,” she said.

Unlike many Kosovo war stories, the main character in Henneke’s book does not see himself and his comrades as superheroes.

“He pays a high price and he is not so proud at the end,” she said.

NOTE: This article was updated on December 21, 2021 to clarify that Henneke first went to Kosovo in 1999.