page_title: Emin Xhinovci
section_title: Early life, emigration and guerrilla activity
hierarchical_section_title: Emin Xhinovci / Early life, emigration and guerrilla activity
caption_attribution_description: English: Charlie Chaplin from the film The Great Dictator (1940).
context_page_description: Emin Xhinovci is a retired Kosovo Liberation Army insurgent and restaurant owner from Mitrovica known for his striking resemblance to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
  He immigrated to Germany in 1993 and settled in Düsseldorf, where he started an import-export business. In 1997, he returned to Kosovo and later joined the KLA with the intention of helping separate the region from Yugoslavia. During his time as a guerrilla, he came to be known by the nickname "Hitler" because of his likeness to the Nazi leader. Following the Kosovo War, he settled in Mitrovica and opened a string of Nazi-themed restaurants that angered some NATO peacekeepers and were quickly closed. Xhinovci firmly believes that he is Hitler reincarnated and resorted to portraying the Nazi leader full-time in his public life, posing for pictures with locals, peacekeepers and tourists and charging between 20 and 80 euros per photograph. He is well known throughout Mitrovica, and his five daughters are referred to by locals as "Hitler's children". Xhinovci always carries a copy of Hitler's autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf with him and is frequently paid to attend events such as weddings and funerals.
context_section_description: A Kosovo Albanian, Emin Xhinovci was born in Kosovska Mitrovica in 1959, in what was then Yugoslavia. In 1993, he moved to the German city of Düsseldorf, where he started an import-export business. He left Germany in 1997 and returned to Kosovo to "fight for the motherland" as tensions between Albanians and Serbs increased.
  Xhinovci joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (Albanian: Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës; or KLA) in 1998, and fought against the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army (Serbian: Vojska Jugoslavije) with the goal of separating Kosovo from Yugoslavia. Xhinovci earned the reputation of a "fierce fighter" and commanded the respect of local Albanians. His comrades gave him the nickname "Hitler" due to his uncanny resemblance to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Xhinovci told journalist Una Hajdari: "People have called me Hitler since my army days. They say I look a lot like him—unlike the English guy who plays him in that movie," apparently a reference to Charlie Chaplin's role in The Great Dictator.
  Serbian police documents from 1998 indicate that he was suspected of participating in the kidnapping and execution of nine Serb mineworkers at the Belaćevac coal mine, near Obilić. In 1999, Xhinovci was wounded in battle and airlifted to Germany for treatment. While in hospital, he grew a toothbrush moustache which attracted the attention of hospital staff.
caption: "People have called me Hitler since my army days. They say I look a lot like him—unlike the English guy who plays him in that movie."
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