By Roland Qafoku
Although 27 years have gone by since the overthrow of the communist regime, May 5 is one of the rare days which is commemorated in Albania with the same passion as in the past. During my time, it was a real shame for children of my generation not to know that on 5 May 1942, near a hospital of Tirana, Qemal Stafa was murdered and the martyrs of the war, which were officially considered to be 28 thousand, were commemorated in his honor.
Today, we Albanian people know that the fact that this day has been decided as the day of martyrs was one of the few things that that system got it right. But this is not all, because they lied to us through the teeth that the number of martyrs was in fact 6 thousand instead of 28 thousand. What’s more is that the word “martyr” must not necessarily symbolize those who gave their lives during those five years of invasion by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, by mixing and confusing the war for liberation with the communist movement. Even today, there are those who still mention the famous expression by Hysni Kapo that “they climbed the mountain as patriots and they descended it like communists”. But the heroism of those young men and women who were killed in the war was something different to communism.
Today, we can clearly understand why Enver Hoxha’s regime united and mixed nationalism and love for the fatherland with Bolshevik communism. But to mix this even today, 27 years later, is an almost criminal tendency. Very few believe today that the martyrs of World War II gave their life for the communist ideal, but there are many of them who believe that they gave their life for free Albania. The idealism of Qemal Stafa, Margarita and Kristaq Tutulani, Bule Naipi and Persefoni Kokedhima, Vasil Laçi and many other young people who were no more than 20 years old, amazes us even to this day. What also amazes us is the fact that hundreds of Albanian young people abandoned their studies in European universities and came back to their country to fight invaders and gave their life in this war.
However, Albania’s only heroes are not only those who gave their life from 7 April 1939 until 29 November 1944. The list of those who gave their life for this country is long and it has examples which once again amaze us. Among them there are also foreigners who made Albania their fatherland. It is the duty of our country and society to commemorate them each May 5 the same as the martyrs of World War II.
Was Hasan Riza Pasha, who was killed on a January day of 1913 to defend Shkoder, not a hero?
Was the Dutch colonel, Lodëijk Thomson, who was killed in 1914 by defending the Albanian government from rebels, not a hero?
Was Çerçiz Topulli not a hero? What about Mustafa Qulli who was killed by the Montenegrins in 1915?
Was Abdyl Ypi, the prefect of Durres, who was killed in 1920 by his opponents while organizing the Congress of Lushnja, not a hero?
Was captain Meleq Frasheri, killed in Tirana in 1922 protecting the state institutions from the attack of 3 thousand highlanders, while the government was ousted in Elbasan, not a hero?
Was the Italian general Enrico Telini who was killed in August 1923 as head of the Border Commission between Albania and Greece not a hero?
Was Azem Galica who was killed in the war by the Serbs in 1924 not a hero?
Was Llesh Topollaj who gave his life to defend king Ahmet Zogu in Vienna during the assassination attempt of 1931 not a hero?
Was general Leon Gilhardi, who was killed by government opposition forces during a coup d’etat in Fier in 1935 not a hero?
During the communist regime, we have not yet offered an answer as to who the heroes were, the people who defended the border or the saboteurs who wanted to topple the communist regime?
Symbolically, we still don’t know if Pale Melyshi who defended his country was a hero or Tahir Prençi for that matter, who was killed while trying to topple the communist regime of this country.
Heroes also include those who gave their life after the overthrow of the communist regime and truth be told, this list only includes police officers who have lost their life on duty. Besides Azem Hajdari, we must also include in the list people such as Josif Budo, Artan Lenja and Spartak Deliu who were killed during the protests of 1991 and even Artin Basha, who remained killed on the German embassy’s wall on 2 July 1990. And like him, there are many others and for some of them, we don’t even know their names.
Each May 5, we must not only honor the martyrs and heroes of World War II, but all the heroes and martyrs of the Albanian state. Today, we continue to have a date when we pay homage to those who were killed in those 5 years in the Martyrs of the Nation cemetery. We continue not to have a pantheon of the nation, a project that was first proposed by Eqrem bey Vlora in 1950, but 67 years later, it is still on paper, because the state has always been busy with other things. This is the only way we will honor everyone and this is the only way for this date not to be considered as a day which belongs to Qemal Stafa alone. Homage and veneration for all of them!
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Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy.
