The “Exodus ’99” museum, a project produced by Reporting House that documents the experience of hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians forcibly expelled during the 1999 war, has opened at the Pristina Train Station.
The opening ceremony was attended by state officials, diplomats, scholars, civil society activists, artists and numerous citizens.
Located in the space from where the trains transporting refugees to North Macedonia departed in the spring of 1999, the museum brings to the forefront one of the most dramatic chapters in Kosovo’s recent history. Between March and June 1999, hundreds of thousands of Albanians were expelled from their homes along the Pristina–Han i Elezit railway line, in one of the largest forced displacements in Europe since World War II.
The exhibition includes 48 personal accounts of people who experienced the exodus, collected and told 27 years after the war. The stories are organized into four main themes: expulsion, life in refugee camps, staying with host families, and returning to Kosovo. In addition to the stories of refugees, the museum also presents testimonies of those who remained in Kosovo, hid during the war, or joined the armed resistance.
“Exodus ’99” aims to preserve the memory of the refugee experience and create a space for reflection for generations that did not experience the war. Through personal testimonies, the museum shifts the focus from statistics to the individual experiences of people who lost their homes, were separated from their families, and were forced to seek refuge outside of Kosovo.
The museum was produced by Jeta Xharra and curated by Gazmend Ejupi. It was founded by Reporting House, BIRN Kosova, and Prishtina Biennale.
“Exodus ’99” is located in the Prishtina Train Station and is open to visitors from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 18:00.