1886 – Born in Korça, Dhimitër Berati, who was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence of Albania, Albanian politician and diplomat. In 1937 he was the leader of the group that published the two-volume book “Albania in 1937”, while his two-volume work “Albania” remained in manuscript. He completed his higher studies at the Faculty of Political and Administrative Sciences and at the Faculty of Law in Bucharest. He returned to his homeland in 1907 and worked as an Albanian language teacher and director of a night school. In November 1912 he organized the meeting in Bucharest, where he was elected delegate of the colony in the Assembly of Vlora and joined the group of Ismail Qemali. Later he was the director of the newspaper “Përlindja e Shqipniës” and the secretary of the diplomatic mission of Ismail Qemali. In the years 1913 – 1914 he was the chief administrator of the hospitals of Albania. In 1914 he emigrated again to Romania. In 1924 – 1925 he was appointed Consul General in Sofia and in 1926 he returned to the post of secretary of the legation. In 1929 – 1932 he was reappointed head of the Political Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1932-34 general secretary of the ministry, in 1934 – 1936 Minister of National Economy and Deputy Minister of Education. In 1936-37 he returned as general secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from 1937 to 1939 he was the minister of Albania in Rome. Remains then on the lists of the Liquidation Office. On the eve of the complete establishment of the communist regime, he left Albania and settled in Rome, where he wrote many articles in the magazine “Shejzat” directed by Ernest Koliqi. He passed away on September 8, 1970.
1940 – Executed by Franco’s nationalist troops, President of the Province of Catalonia Lluis Companys. Compnys, was elected by unanimous vote by the Parliament of Catalonia as its leader in 1933. He would manage to declare a referendum on the independence of the province from official Spain. At the same time Lluis Companys would support the political left spectrum during the Civil War in this country. After Francisco Franco’s triumph in 1939, he would be arrested and shot at Montjuic Castle in Barcelona.
1944 – Born in Viçidol, Sali Berisha, an Albanian cardiologist and politician who served as Albania’s second president from 1992-1997, and the first president elected by a parliament to emerge from free democratic elections after the fall of the communist regime. Berisha was also the Prime Minister of Albania from 2005 to 2013. He was the chairman of the Democratic Party twice, in the period 1991-1992 and again from 1997 to 2013. Passionate about literature and history, in 1963 he began his medical studies at the University of Tirana, where he graduated in 1967. In 1978 he won a nine-month scholarship from UNESCO for advanced studies and training in Paris. After successfully completing his advanced studies in Paris, he ran a research program on hemodynamics. In the 1970s he was appointed professor at the University of Tirana. During the years 1980 – 1990 he published study books, university textbooks and scientific articles in the field of cardiology at home and abroad. In 1986 he was elected a member of the Copenhagen-based European Committee for Medical Research for Medical Research. In 1989 he was awarded the title of Professor at the University of Tirana. On April 23, 1996 he was awarded the Cavaliere di Gran Croce decoration decorato di Gran Cordone dell’Ordine, by the President of the Italian Republic. In 2009 the University of Prishtina awarded PM Berisha the title Doctor honoris causa.
1945 – French Prime Minister Pierre Laval is executed for high treason. Shortly after the liberation of this country by the resistance forces in cooperation with those allied, Laval was arrested, tried and shot in the Fresne prison on the outskirts of Paris. During the German occupation, he led the government of Vichy, where he had ordered the shooting of Jews and French partisans. He would be the first French collaborationist politician to be executed, after Marshall Petten was pardoned on the last day turning his death sentence into life imprisonment.
1968 – Born in Bayonne, France, one of the country’s greatest footballers and coaches, Didier Deschamps. During his sporting career, Deschamps has made his debut for Marseille, Bordeaux, Juventus, and Chelsea. He would also be proclaimed World Champion in 1998 and Europe in 2000 with the French national team. At the same time in 2016 he would declare France World Champion again, but this time as coach. He has won 35 national and international sports awards.
1986 – Metush Krasniqi dies, a patriot who enjoyed great authority among the school and university youth in Kosovo in Macedonia, he had formed a wide circle of loyal friends, were: Hasan Dermaku, Rexhep Mala and Skënder Kastrati, Njazi Korça from Gëmica, Kadri Zeka from Poliçka, Ethem and Fehmi Bajrami from Malisheva of Gjilan; Rexhep Elmazi and Rafet Bajrami from Gjilan; Jusuf Gërvalla, Zeqir Gërvalla and Sabri Novosella in Prishtina, Shefqet Jashari and many others. In 1976 Metush Krasniqi, became the head of the Organization “National Liberation Movement of Kosovo and other Albanian Territories in Yugoslavia” LNÇKVSHJ. During those years they made efforts to unite all the illegal groups into one powerful organization. Metush Krasniqi during the 80’s worked in deep illegality, but still UDB through Albanian informants, knew about Metush’s activity and on November 4, 1981 he was imprisoned again, severely tortured by the udbashi of Anamorava Selim Brosha and many others. After four months he is released in serious condition. On November 4, 1985, Metush Krasniqi was imprisoned again and during the seven months and fifteen days he was held in the prisons of Prishtina and Mitrovica, he was beaten and tortured in the most cruel ways. After being crushed to death, the UDB released him from prison on June 16, 1986, and on October 15, 1986, this pious patriot died without a cure. His burial took place in his native village of Dajkoc.
1990 – The President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, would be honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Gorbachev, after coming to power in 1985, would announce the creation of two liberal socio-economic programs. Called Glasnost and Perestroika, these programs rapidly transformed the Soviet Union from a country with a centralized economy to a country with a free market economy. These in themselves led to the collapse of communism and the peaceful dissolution of the USSR.
2013 – In the Philippines of Southeast Asia a magnitude 7.2 earthquake with a magnitude of Richter and Mercalli combined would fall. After these tremors, there would be some mini-tsunamis. The damage from this earthquake would be great as, 222 people would lose their lives and over 1000 others would be injured. About 25,000 would be left homeless. Material damage would be estimated at several hundred million dollars. This would be one of the worst earthquakes in the history of this country.
