Memorie.al / A rich family and kinship genealogy of the Gashi family from Kotorr-Radishevë. See: “The Tree in the Genealogy of the Gashi Family” pg. 21 in the book: “Teacher Rrahim A. Gashi and the generations in the Albanian lands.” The first teacher in Drenica, authors Fazli Hajrizi and Dr. Ibrahim Rrahim Azem Gashi, Tiranë 2010. The well-known Gashi family, Kotorr-Radishevë, Skenderaj Municipality of heroic Drenica. The tribe’s genealogy begins with Hajriz Ibrahim Radisheva. He unites the genealogy of the Hajrizajs, Tahirajs, Ahmetajs, Selmanajs, Bekajs, and Selimajs, tracing back to the ancestor of the common lineage, Kolë Gashi, who’s Christian or Orthodox affiliation is unknown.
This family long ago joined the Movement for the liberation and reunification of Kosovo with Albania, throughout the years 1912-1915 and 1924–25. This movement was led by Azem and Shote Galica-Radisheva, Shaqir and Mujë Azem Hajrizi Gashi, who were the right-hand men of the Movement for the liberation and unification of Kosovo with Albania, headed by the brave people and the brave couple Azem and Shote Radisheva Galica, etc.
In the çeta (guerilla unit) of Azem Galica, Rrahim’s father Azem and his brothers participated, along with Rrok Çubreli, Emin Lati, Mursel Ahmeti, Azem and Shote Galica, Sadik Myftari, Shaban Prekiqi, and Beqir Azem Gashi. (See the photo on pg. 45 in the book: Monograph on: “Teacher Rrahim Azem Gashi, with the generations in the Albanian lands,” compiled by Fazli Hajrizi and Dr. Ibrahim Gashi, Tiranë 2010. Seated: Sadik Prekiqi, Ajet Kushutova, Adem Myftari, and Sinan Çitaku).
This same family, in the last War for the liberation and unification of Kosovo and its separation from occupying Serbia, gave twelve martyrs from Radisheva and Kotorr: Kapllan Ali Ahmetaj, Feriz Ramiz Selimi, Azem Beqir Hajrizi, Beqir Muj Hajrizi, Faik Beqir Hajrizi, Sabit Sadri Ahmetaj, Musa Shyqri Ahmetaj, Alban Muhamet Ahmetaj, Haxhi Imer Ahmetaj, Shyqri Azem Ahmetaj, Miradije Bislim Tahiri, Ramadan Halim Tahiri, martyrs from Radishevë, Kotorr, Mitrovica, etc., in 1998.
This is the testimony for the Gashi clan, from this side, which has responded for centuries in every war against every invader, starting from the time of Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg…! This is also evidenced by the loss of ten men and boys from Kotorr and Radishevë in the macabre Tragedy of Tivar (Bar), in 1944, by Serbian-Montenegrin Partisan-Chetniks.
Every war not only has its tragedy and tragic consequences during its development. With the suppression of the Movement and the death of Azem, many families from Drenica were forced to flee to Albania during the years 1924–25. Among them, Rrahim Gashi’s family, including Shota, settled in a state shelter in Durrës, then in Fushë-Krujë, in December 1925, completely dependent and at the mercy of King Zog…!
In 1941–43, Kosovo was occupied and divided under Italian, German, and Bulgarian protectorates. During this time, many families returned to Kosovo. After the War of Drenica led by Shaban Polluzha and Mehmet Gradica, in 1945, Drenica was re-occupied by Serbian-Chetnik detachments. An iron curfew was declared in Kosovo. Then followed the Ploja (tragedy), the well-known tragedy of Tivar, and the persecution of families who had supported the War in Drenica. Along with them, the Gashi family was forced to flee to Albania, as they held Albanian citizenship from 1925–28.
The late Ibrahim Rr. Gashi, with some young people, remained to continue his education at the Gymnasium in Mitrovica. He then continued his studies at the Faculty of Mathematical-Physical-Astronomical Sciences in Belgrade. As a student in Belgrade, from 1955–1959, he was imprisoned and brutally tortured, in the same year that Mr. Adem Demaçi was first imprisoned, along with many comrades. It was the first challenge that Ibrahim Gashi survived, trailed based on his family genealogy, since the years 1912-1915 and 1924.
At that time, he was a student with the group of students from Kosovo: Ibrahim Gashi (seated in the center) in Avala 1958, Halil Halilaj, Ejup Hamiti, Idriz Hyseni, Zekria Cana, Latif Berisha, Servete Rudi, Lilana Krueziu, Rifat Osmani, Muhamet Kërveshi, etc. (See photo on pg. 346 of the autobiographical book dedicated to: “Teacher Rrahim Gashi with the generations in the Albanian lands,” Tiranë 2010, authors Fazli Hajrizi and Dr. Ibrahim Gashi).
Surprisingly, the sacrifices for Ibrahim Rrahim Gashi continue even in Albania! The late Ibrahim Rr. Gashi would face the second sacrifice in Fushë-Krujë, being followed and monitored step-by-step by the State Security (Sigurimi)! Why? Because the deceased was interested in a modest museum for the heroine Shote A. Galica and for the fate of Drenica and Kosovo under the Tito-Ranković heel, for a more democratic Albania, for Kosovars who had fled and escaped Serbian violence for decades, even in socialist Albania…!
Dr. Ibrahim Gashi, a rare talent in science and humanitarianism, passed away on May 9, 2012. He left with a burning desire for Drenica, ethnic Kosovo, Albania, and the reunification of the Albanian nation. With the wish that the remains of the heroine Shote Galica be returned to her birthplace in Radishevë. With open eyes to lecture for at least a few semesters to the students of Kosovo, at the University of Prishtina!
His last wish was not fulfilled due to bureaucratic reasons, not even in free Kosovo! He left behind 11 works, published texts and scientific papers, a highly educated family, many friends, comrades, and well-wishers in Kosovo, Albania, and everywhere in the Albanian Diaspora, up to America.
The deceased’s publications belong to the sciences of astronomy, physics, and mathematics. The evolution of the deceased’s dense creative activity occurred when he moved from Fushë-Kruja to University-era Tirana. He was treated almost the same as Mr. Adem Demaçi and many other intellectuals since 1959 in Serbia. Ibrahim Rr. Gashi had worked with interest in this field even during his work and life as a mathematics-physics professor at the “Shote Galica” Gymnasium in Fushë-Krujë.
However, under what conditions could he diligently delve into the secrets of science in a province, without minimal conditions for exploratory-research work? With a modest physics-chemistry cabinet, and that, mostly equipped by the enthusiastic will of the professor, before, during, and after the “Cultural Revolution” 1965–66–1972, etc.
Why was this scientist not given the conditions for Albanians to have one more scientist in the academic circle, a scientist of the caliber of Prof. Dr. Rexhep Mejdani, former President of Albania? I know they met, communicated, etc., but this happened very late, after the deceased moved from Fushë-Kruja to Tirana in 1998. Death snatched him away at the peak of his scientific activity, on May 9, 2012.
Why was Dr. Ibrahim Gashi, son of the first teacher of Drenica, Rrahim A. Gashi, a family educated in Kosovo-Albania, who emigrated around 1924, first prevented from settling in Tirana, coming from Fushë-Kruja!? Was the late Dr. Ibrahim Gashi trailed by the State Security, for reasons of vital interest in Kosovo, especially Drenica and its people, under the tyrannical, racist Tito-Ranković heel, especially after the breakdown of “Albania-Yugoslavia relations”?
Did the former Yugoslav-Serbian Security at that time maintain ties with the Albanian State Security in Tirana and vice versa?! During our many meetings, since 1972, I learned many things. The facts speak for themselves: the deceased was trailed even after surrendering in Albania. When the Yugoslav-Serbian Security imprisoned him in Belgrade in 1959, and brought the graduating student Ibrahim Gashi, who had two exams left to complete at the Faculty of Natural-Mathematical Sciences, to an atrocious state during the interrogation, reducing Ibrahim to 35 kg in weight. Then they deported him to Albania at the end of 1959, under the pretext that he was involved in politics?!
Ibrahim Rr. Gashi, in the group of students coming from several republics and regions of the former Yugoslavia, was one of the most solid students. He had shown rare abilities in the fields of mathematics, physics, and algebra-geometry-astronomy; at the faculty where he studied (he was imprisoned with two subjects unfinished)! The imprisonment of Albanian students Adem Demaçi, Ibrahim Gashi, and others was not a coincidence.
The imprisonment of the deceased, at the time when Mr. Adem Demaçi was also imprisoned, was certainly not a coincidence! The proven abilities of the Albanian students aroused jealousy in the Serbian Security (UDB), a spirit of racism towards them. This also happened with Mr. Demaçi and many others, who would suffer imprisonment! From the tortures, Ibrahim Gashi was reduced to 35 kilograms, having been tortured in the most bizarre way.
Pretending that the Albanian students in Belgrade had founded an anti-Yugoslav organization, they demanded that Ibrahim Gashi betray his other comrades. But he was not disgraced and did not surrender to the OZN-a! Upon handing over Ibrahim at the border, the Serbo-Slavic OZN-a suggested to the Albanian State Security: “Be careful, this person is dangerous for you too”!
When Ibrahim Gashi took the initiative to build a modest museum dedicated to Shote Galica (since the heroine from Radishevë had a simple monument near where the deceased lived and taught. It was his birthplace). People of the PPSh and the Albanian State Security placed the deceased under rigorous surveillance. They gave him the penultimate warning: “It is not for a teacher to deal with matters that belong to the party and the state”!
Since the deceased did not want to give up the patriotic initiative for the heroine of his birthplace, the State Security threatened him with dismissal from work, and even imprisonment! This was perhaps not the beginning of the bizarre behavior. The late Gashi had been trailed by the State Security (now the Albanian one), ever since the OZN-a of Belgrade, with those of Podgorica, handed him over at the border, with a provocative, metaphorical instruction: “Beware of the student who left the faculty for politics”!?
On the way to Albania, they told Ibrahim Gashi: “Now we are handing you over to hell! You will see that they will take you by mule or donkey. When you arrive in Tirana, you won’t be able to graduate there, but you will go straight to prison!” “I, – as the deceased told me, – did not speak with those of the OZN-a, except here and there I provoked them, thinking that Albanian-Yugoslav relations were still in force! While they did not understand my provocations.
When I asked: ‘How many more seas, plains, and mountains are there to Han i Hotit’?! They cursed me, and the driver of the ‘Gaz’ occasionally stepped on my nose…! Something similar happened to Lahi, Ibrahim’s brother, who, after fleeing to Albania with four other comrades, was imprisoned and held in the prisons of the time for some time. The deceased had declared many times:
“I love Albania as the dearest and holiest thing in the world, but our enslaved Kosovo, part of the mother trunk, is equally dear and precious to me. I sacrificed a part of my youth for it, but it needs my work again, to educate the ‘little flowers’ and to fight the barbarians. May God grant that I can soon fulfill this obligation that I owe to the Arbërore lands?” (Lahi Rr. Gashi)
Dr. Ibrahim Gashi, Lahi’s brother, emphasized among other things: “The truth is, the escape from Kosovo to Albania, of people of any age or profession, especially young people, students, etc., was not positive, consequently neither was it to be supported. Because Kosovo had such a great need for spirit, teachers, students, and residents,” etc.
During our visit to Albania, with the educators of the “Fazli Greiçevci” Society from Hadja (Kosovo Mine) Kastriot, in a head-to-head meeting with the late Ibrahim Gashi, we discussed my desire that my wife, Zojë Pllana Mjekaj, and I should not return to Kosovo.
The deceased had told me: “Make a written request and discuss it with Nazmie and Muharrem Goci too, to see what they propose. But, do not forget, that for these comrades you have with you, and especially for the family in Kosovo, the consequences will be very dangerous.” Another time, I can explain what answer I received from the competent state and party organs of the Central Committee of the PPSh.
Why was the late Dr. Ibrahim Gashi trailed and obstructed as a scientist?!
Well, why was Mr. Ibrahim Gashi not allowed to unveil a modest museum with documents, photos, notes, and commemorations of the heroine Shote A. Galica in honor of an anniversary!? Why did the State Security take such an interest in trailing this patriotic man, a professor of mathematics and physics?
A teacher at the “Shote Galica” Gymnasium in Fushë-Krujë, and his entire family-educated and proven for patriotism, cultured and so loved and educated in the circles wherever they were in Central Albania, Durrës, Fushë-Krujë, Krujë, Milot, Laç, in Kurbin, etc. Why was a man with a professor’s diploma left to work in a secondary school, when the University in Tirana at that time had such a great need for such cadres?!
Why did the state and the Party of Labor, especially the Albanian State Security, obstruct Ibrahim’s arrival in Albania!? Why were the prosperity, abilities, and preparation of a scientist like Ibrahim Gashi obstructed, despite the possibilities the state and the university had? These and many other issues create a series of doubts that many Kosovars in Albania, especially a scientist like the honored Ibrahim Rr. Gashi, were obstructed with all kinds of intrigues! To reach the point where he was truly proven, as a scientist with a rare scientific talent!
He left behind 11 publications, mainly texts in the field of astronomy, physics, and mathematics. A rare opus of studies, reviews, and unpublished articles on the sciences of mathematics, physics, and astronomy. Why this was intellectual not offered teaching, at least in any Higher School, and why not in the relevant faculty of sciences?! He passed away on May 9, 2012, without waiting for the 100th anniversary of independence, and without revealing other secrets regarding democracy in Kosovo, Albania, and especially the events in Macedonia, Preševo, and Montenegro!
Although he worked in diplomacy at the Albanian embassy in Ljubljana, the deceased did not want to “drown in politics”! But he left a text of considerable political and diplomatic interest for the time he stayed in Slovenia: “Albanians, Slovenia and the Turbulent Balkans,” according to a diplomat, Tiranë 2007.
He always said: “Let’s protect what we have. Because, currently, Albania is wherever there are Albanians, where bread is called bread, water is called water, where Albanian is spoken and sung…”!
Dr. Ibrahim Rr. Gashi, a persecuted and obstructed scientist, was challenged by two Security services of the macabre time, the Serbo-Slavic and the Albanian one. He passed away at the age of 77 on May 9, 2012. He left behind an educated intellectual family, an opus of publications and writings of scientific research interest, friends, comrades, and many well-wishers everywhere. May the soil of the homeland be light for him, may he rest in peace! Memorie.al
