By Eugen SHEHU
Memorie.al / For hundreds of thousands of Albanians who were left defeated, killed, and slaughtered by fascism, the “victory” in November 1944 seemed to herald a great day. They filled the streets and sidewalks of cities, embracing and greeting the National Liberation fighters, dedicating the liberation war precisely to them. But this victory would be bitter, perhaps like that of Pyrrhus thousands of years ago, which had led to tragedy. Parallel to this enthusiasm, which did not last more than the month of November 1944, the black cloud of the red dictatorship descended upon the Albanian lands? It was certainly an unfortunate fate for Albanians, the tumultuous victory of Slavic Bolshevism, a victory that would give the “victors” the right to divide the spoils. The infamous Yalta meeting (like the infamous Treaty of San Stefano or that of London) tasked Stalin with playing the dominant role in the fate of the Balkan peoples, in which case Albania would inevitably “dance” to the Russian melodies that came from the steppes of the Urals.
The Tirana clique, at that time living its “honeymoon” with Tito, began efforts to crush any popular revolt with fire and iron, as if they were organized by “Ballist and reactionaries.” The truth is that with the war against “reaction,” the communists of Tirana, trained in the school of the Dushans and Miladins, began to terrorize, kill, and burn all those houses in Northern Albania that had not supported the National Liberation Movement.
This Bolshevik-style revenge was not at all accidental, as communist scribes later tried to present it, but a clear political action planned and conceived in the offices of Tirana and Belgrade. At the head of this adventurous and macabre military action, the Tirana clique appointed Mehmet Shehu, who had also distinguished himself in structuring such criminal acts during the years 1942-1944.
At the head of this operation, in the capacity of the commander of the largest unit of the partisan formations and with the rank of general-colonel, Mehmet Shehu filled the ranks of the National Liberation fighters with young boys from Southern Albania, armed them to the teeth, and propagated that they would fight tooth and nail with the gangs of “reaction.” In fact, the orders he had issued had nothing to do with “reaction” but with the people themselves, who were now falling from the frying pan into the fire. In one of these orders, the terrorism of the communist clique of Tirana is clearly revealed, in the so-called action for the collection of weapons. Albanians from the northern regions were required to surrender their weapons at all costs, an honor they had cherished for ages, having it hanging on the walls of their towers since the time of Skanderbeg.
In this way, the much-valued dignity of the Albanian was hit head-on. Here’s what Mehmet Shehu’s order, sent to the commanders of the National Liberation brigades operating in Northern Albania, said more specifically, a Bolshevik determined for fratricidal war: “If someone hides a weapon, or instead of two weapons, hands over only one, extreme measures should be taken against them, including execution without trial. Reactionaries caught with or without weapons should be immediately executed without trial.
Deserters in the ranks of the National Anti-fascist Liberation War should be warned to return to the formations they were in, with a short deadline. Afterwards, they should be caught and executed on the spot without trial. The reaction, without exception, must be physically annihilated. The people must be forcibly mobilized.” (Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense-Tirana. Fund of the Third Army Corps, Year 1945, File 10, page 19).
After this and other orders, the Albanians of these northern regions understood that they were not dealing with their blood brothers, but with a pack of wolves that sought only blood. Thus, revolts would break out one after another, and more or less, they would show that the martyr people would fight against communism just as they had fought against fascism a little earlier. This was and always remained in the cold logic of the Albanians who, since fighting with Skanderbeg, had dreamed of being on the side of the people of civilized Western Europe.
In November 1944, revolts began in Mat and Mirdita. This was because the National Liberation fighters, in their attempts to establish their power through people’s councils, summarily executed hundreds of nationalists or sympathizers of the Monarchy. Wave after wave, these revolts went up to Shkodra and Peshkopi, now led by the distinguished men of those regions. The Shkodra Highlands had long given the alarm, and the nationalist guerrilla detachments were filling up with young boys and men who did not want to hear even the name of communism. Tamara was the first place of anti-communist revolts. Afterwards, several battles flared up in Vukël, eventually reaching the Kelmend highlands.
Here it must be said that the Kelmends had set up their fighting positions very well to face the “National Liberation fighters” of Mehmet Shehu. They called on the brave Prek Cali to lead them, a man who had fought for years against the Serbian hordes and had been wounded twice in battle with them. “Prek Cali went there with a handful of his brave men and saw the positions. But the man thought deeply, smoking his pipe. He never wanted this war, brother against brother for the sake of ideas.”
Furthermore, two or three times he had been called by the communists who had promised him plenty of military ranks and hierarchy if he would serve the National Liberation fighters. But Prek Cali did not accept this offer. He had gone to his tower, and now that the Kelmend highlanders called him, he could not stand by. But he told his comrades-in-arms; “We will fight the communists if they come with the Russian flag.”
Mehmet Shehu, wanting to win over as many highlanders as possible, gave the order not to march with the star flag, because he knew the character of the Kelmends. He was able to get a National Liberation brigade into the deep forests of Kelmend, because the patriot Preng Cali had ordered that fire not be opened against blood brothers.
Certainly, Mehmet Shehu understood this Albanian pledge of honor and invited the hero Prek Cali to the partisan headquarters in Rrafsh i Hotit. Rebuttals erupted between them and the brave and generous highlander. When Shehu saw that the conversation was futile, he ended with the words: “Oh Preng Cali, the day had come for you to close your history with golden letters, if you had joined us. Why did you do this?” “Sir,” Preng Cali replied, “the fault lies with you, because you became an ally of our centuries-old enemy, the Serb.” (Gazeta “Rilindja Demokratike”, 7-IX-1995).
From that moment, Prek Cali did not put his rifle down. His detachment now reached up to 300 armed highlanders, determined to fight against communism to the end. Prek Cali collaborated with Muharrem Bajaraktari, Mark Gjonmarka, Mark Luka, Kol Gjon Bajaraktari, and Gjok Marashi. He would be not only a capable organizer but also a rare brave man. In some sporadic battles against the National Liberation fighters, he would take the most dangerous position for himself, being very close to death. But the bullet did not catch him. This was the reason that the High Command of the National Liberation Army had for a long time put about 200-300 partisans who followed the actions of Prek Cali.
But because he knew the terrain well, Preka had escaped the blows. Furthermore, Enver Hoxha himself (incited by Belgrade, of course) signed an order with his own hand, where among other things he said: “The forces of Preng Cali must be immediately and completely annihilated, and every resistance of the people of Vermosh and the surrounding areas must be met with all our forces.” (Central Army Archive – Tirana. Fund of the General Command, File No. 1, p. 13, date 18-1-1945).
The execution of Prek Cali by the communists a few months later did not diminish the anti-communist popular revolt of the northern Albanian regions, which would later reach the martyred Postriba. The truth is that the anti-communist uprising of Postriba (4-5 kilometers northeast of the city of Shkodra) was initiated by nationalist intellectuals of this city. Archival sources inform us that the patriots Jup Kazazi, Riza Dani, Muzafer Pipa, Gjergj Vata, Paulin Pali, had long been organized to lead the anti-communist popular revolts. Furthermore, many of these nationalists had also prepared a concrete platform for anti-communist activity.
Even though in 1945, thousands of National Liberation fighters rushed into Shkodra and its surroundings, the martyred population of Northern Albania did not bow their heads to accept the whims of fate. Over twenty armed detachments of Albanian anti-communist groups were operating at the beginning of 1946, and almost 8,000 National Liberation fighters were put in the fight against them. It is a well-known fact that with the help of Koçi Xoxe (said to be a Yugoslav agent), at the key points of the Albanian State Security of that time, the advisers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Yugoslavia were legally operating. Although they acted in a very secretive manner, they were certainly the main instigators of the violence against Northern Albania, which had always been in a state of war with Serbia.
In early July 1946, some Shkodra patriots, seeing that communism could not be fought only with slogans and secret meetings, and even more disappointed with the cold attitudes of the Anglo-Americans, decided to organize an armed uprising against communism. The truth is that the meeting of these nationalists was held in a very secretive manner, in Cin Serreqi’s house. But the initiative belonged to the distinguished Shkodra patriot Riza Dani. This wise and brave man was elected as a deputy of Shkodra at that time. But he was quickly disappointed by the Albanian parliament when he saw that in that sacred temple of faith, no one thought about the good of the people, but on the contrary, for the Slavic ideology which every day more and more, fell unjustly on the backs of the people.
Riza Dani had given several harsh speeches in the Albanian parliament filled with Bolsheviks. No one had listened to him; on the contrary, they had begun to see him as a reactionary who “defended the interests of the Albanian bourgeoisie.” In Cin Serreqi’s house, at a rally of dozens of men, Riza Dani called for an uprising in Shkodra, in which case the revolt could include all of the north and further, all of Albania. In addition to nationalist intellectuals, several Catholic priests, determined in their anti-communist convictions, also participated in this rally. They were in complete agreement with the plan of the insurgents. It was decided right there, unanimously, that the date of the uprising would be September 16.
Certainly, the summer of 1946 could not have been so beautiful for the people of Shkodra and its surroundings. In the city center, where the Franciscan Assembly’s See was once located, Mehmet Shehu placed the prison and the investigation unit together. Then, when the large rooms of the See were filled with prisoners, some military units were also taken from the State Security forces. Shkodra lived every night with the fear of whose door would be knocked on for an arrest, and then many of them would never return to their homes. At the end of July 1946, the Command of the Shkodra District requested the mobilization of the boys of the suburbs of Shkodra, in which case they would go to perform service by building roads or draining swamps.
Facing this situation, the organizers of the uprising, Jup Kazazi, Riza Dani, Rasim Gjyrezi, Abdulla Kazazi, Gjon Serreqi, etc., thought to speed up the preparation, because they would need those boys to fill the ranks of the anti-communist insurgents. For this, in a place called Kodër – Boks, in Postriba, another rally was organized.
“On the afternoon of September 8, 1946, in Kodër-Boks, near the old airfield, at Bajram Rexhepi’s kratul, the leaders of Postriba, Osman Haxhia, Abaz Sulejmani, Zyber Cafi, Kasëm Rakipi from Boks, Jemin Zyberi, Selim Raci, Dervish Nuzi and Ismail Duli from Dragoci, Abdulla Zeiti, Jakup Dani, Muho Fetahi from Kullaj, Myrto Dani, Ali Brahimi, Metush Halili, Ram Fari from Drishti, Muho Dyli, Sul Osja from Muselimi, Haxhi Tahiri and Idriz Tahiri from Vorfa and Rrapshi, as well as 150 other insurgents, gathered and after a long assembly led by the chieftain Osman Haxhia, they decided that the attack would take place the next day at dawn on September 9, with the participation of all the men of the province.” (Uran Butka – “Rilindja”, page 135).
Certainly, before organizing this rally, the chieftain Osman Haxhia had talked at length with Jup Kazasi, who was living underground, and had received his word to attack on the same day, on the opposite side of the city, to confuse the National Liberation fighters as much as possible. Likewise, he had also spoken with the other guerrilla leaders, such as Pjetër Luli from Hoti and Tish Pashku from Rragam i Gurit të Zi. The nine villages of Gur i Zi were led by the brave Martin Sheldia.
The dawn of September 9, 1946, found the anti-communist fighters in their final preparations. Their first goal was to powerfully attack the government forces near the military barracks, and then to attack the city prison, where the best boys of Shkodra were in the hands of the communist criminals. In this way, the insurgent forces were divided into two groups, to take advantage of surprise as an important element of such battles. At 2 in the morning of this date, the rifles of the Albanian anti-communists fired the first salvos against the forces of the communist regime. In fact, the great act of this revolt may have been the first in all of communist Eastern Europe. The message given was clear: the Albanians did not want communism; they would fight it until their most sublime sacrifice.
The response of the National Liberation military command was immediate. Sensing the danger, they were able for a short time to block all the crossroads that led to the interior of the city of Shkodra and reinforced the city’s prison with heavy weapons. All the so-called forces of the Division for the Defense of the People, armed to the teeth, were unleashed on the formations of the anti-communist guerrillas, even with shouts and all kinds of insults. The forces of the Albanian secret services, which had been terrorizing Shkodra for months, also came to their aid. In the first moments of the battle, the anti-communist forces managed to penetrate almost 1-1.5 kilometers from the city of Shkodra. Trained in so many battles against Serbs, Montenegrins, they were able to advance even though the Albanian land was being covered with the blood of its sons.
Among the brave men who forced the National Liberation fighters to withdraw and hide in the basements of houses, it is worth mentioning: Haxhi Tahiri, Idriz Tahiri, Tom Gjini, Zyber Hyseni, Gjeto Zyberi, Jakup Dani, Ymer Beqiri, Abdulla Seiti, Pjetër Luli, Smaijl Duli, Brahim Aliaj, Selim Rraci, etc. By shouting and shooting against the forces of the regime, in fact, these men were shooting against Bolshevic communism itself, for which they had sworn that they would never let it enter their homes. When the fighting had started for two hours, other government forces, which were not far from the city, were urgently sent in the direction of Shkodra. Among other things, they were able to block the bridge at Zall i Kiri, thus preventing the arrival of other guerrillas from Guri i Zi. Even when they saw that nationalist formations were approaching the bridge, they poured fire and iron on them, also using the muzzles of artillery guns.
The seizure of the bridge at Zall i Kiri by the communist forces would greatly weaken the leaders of the anti-communist guerrillas on the other side, as they were now caught between a powerful fire. But those men had given their word once and would not be able to turn back. Even though they were very close to the city, even though the government forces were shooting from the basements and windows of these houses, the Albanian guerrillas never shot against the innocent population who lived with the fear of the nationalists. Furthermore, when they saw that they were being surrounded, these guerrillas did not rush into the city to hide, as it was known what would be exercised on the innocent citizens of Shkodra afterward. Even through the torrents of bullets, the guerrilla leaders, the chieftains, gave the order to retreat, while they themselves remained in the first fighting positions.
Albanian historiography owes a lot to these leaders who fell on the field of honor without an eyelash trembling, then relieved that they had shot orthodox Russian communism with their own weapons in their homeland. Rasim Koksi and Murat Haxhia saw that their retreat was impossible. They ordered their comrades-in-arms to leave in secret and did not leave their positions until the last moment. Jup Kazazi, when he saw that his friends were being surrounded, at the head of 10 men, went in front of hundreds of government forces, and only their withdrawal made them live for a few more days. The patriot Osman Hyseni is wounded in the chest and the bullets come out of his shoulder. When his friends run to carry him on their shoulders, he lovingly embraces them and shows them where they should go.
Furthermore, for half an hour, he held 10-12 people from the government forces pinned down. When he ran out of all his bullets, he felt 3-4 National Liberation fighters jump on him. To terrorize the people, they took the body of Osman Hyseni, who was still alive, tied him to a military vehicle and dragged him to Postriba. Even though he died on the way, they left him in the center of Postriba for 3-4 days, unburied. In one of the telegrams that the military commander of the Shkodra District, Musa Daci, sent to official Tirana that day, it was said among other things; “Today, September 9, 1945, at 2:15 a.m., some criminal forces coming from the direction of Shllak, hit the regiment’s guard at the barracks. Another line hit the regiment’s guard on the Shkodra – Pukë road. On our side, one guard candidate was killed and two people from the regiment were wounded. On their side, two were killed…!” (Archive of the Ministry of Order – Tirana, File “Postriba”, page 64).
In the afternoon of the same date, seeing that it was impossible to break through the iron hand of the government forces, the leaders of the anti-communist guerrilla ordered the withdrawal towards the surrounding villages. They were followed for several kilometers by the National Liberation fighters, in which case dozens of other fighters also lost their lives. This is how this Albanian tragedy, one of the many in its history, closed. The anti-communist uprising of Postriba, in the mother state, was suppressed with fire and iron. The communist clique of Tirana, although they called this battle a great victory in those days, understood in themselves that it would not be easy to rule the north of Albania with its deceptive communism. Immediately after this, unprecedented terror and violence began on the innocent population of Shkodra and its surroundings.
But this macabre violence would begin with the insurgents. Urgently from Tirana, Major Zoi Themeli, known for the iron fists he had given to the “reactionaries” and Ballists, those who did not love the bloody Albanian communist regime, arrived in Shkodra on the same day. At the head of hundreds of so-called Special Forces, Zoi Themeli immediately blocked the escape routes of the Albanian anti-communist guerrilla. The next day, on September 10, 1946, at noon, they were able to capture 12 young boys, who, after running out of ammunition, surrendered alive. By order of Zoi Themeli, these young and brave boys were taken to Fushë e Shtoi (near the city) and were publicly executed without trial, within 2 minutes. After the murder, they dug a collective grave, threw the bodies there, and left them uncovered, at the same time ordering the citizens of Shkodra that no one should approach them.
Through the gurgling blood, with torn limbs, they went towards immortality: Halil Dauti, Ymer Zeneli, Elez Bajrami, Metush Alia, Muhi Fetahu, Brahim Selimi and Qazim Roji. Only after 48 hours, the generous people of Shkodra went to Fushë e Stojit and buried the brave men, according to their custom. “The next day, September 11 and onwards, for weeks and months the terror in the villages of Postriba did not stop. The commander of the operation, Zoi Themeli, with a free hand from the chief executioner Enver Hoxha, established a center of investigation and torture in every village of this region!” (Gazeta “Balli i Kombit”, September 7, 1995).
The brave Albanian guerrilla, Ymer Beqiri, from the village of Boks, was captured by government forces after a resistance of almost two hours. The leader was tied with a rope and 70 National Liberation fighters accompanied him to Kodër-Boks. They could have easily executed him, as they had executed hundreds of other men, but their massacre had to be as complete as possible. Ymer Beqiri was executed inside the mosque courtyard, in which case Zoi Themeli and other criminals violated this sacred place, to show the Albanians what horrors they could expect from Slavic orthodoxy. Pjetër Shan Deda, (whose father had represented Shkodra in the Albanian League of Prizren) went into the mountains on September 9. His wife, Maria, had foreseen the drama, and one evening, she herself would go to the mountain, to the base where Peter was. She wanted to be close to him, even in the last moment.
In the mountains of Mazrek, on a gloomy November morning in 1946, they saw themselves surrounded by hundreds of communist government forces. At the head of the small detachment, Pjetër Shan Deda started the fight, and after several hours of fighting, his blood, along with that of his wife, Maria, honestly soaked the Albanian land. In the place called Zalli i Kirit, at the entrance of the city of Shkodra, they were executed in that month of national mourning and shame: Cin Serreqi, Kel Çoba, Abdulla Kazazi, Murat Haxhia, Nuh Oroshi, Paulin Pali, Gasper Simoni, Rifat Kopliku, Caf Dragusha and dozens of other martyrs. No one judged them, no one defended them, the trials, according to Zoi Themeli and the communist Tirana clique, were “superfluous” for the “reactionaries.” What a state of chaos and terror Shkodra lived in during the autumn and winter of 1945, is also learned from the honest confessions of the former cipher clerk of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Albania.
Regarding the events of Postriba, among other things, he declared that; “Zoi Themeli, Niko Çeta and many others were ordered by the Central Committee of the Party to execute various citizens. This made me understand that these orders were given by the Party and not by the competent courts…! It happened that the day after the execution order was given, another order was given that canceled the first one, but in the meantime, the victim may have been executed. This happened often during the period I worked in this position.” (J. Kadesha, confession in the newspaper “Rilindja”, on December 13, 1995).
The magnificent oak of nationalism had its branches cut during the years 1943-1945. Now, the communist clique of Tirana was hitting the trunk hard with an axe to lay that giant on the ground. And in fact, the oak swayed and swayed from the storms. But it never fell because it had deep roots in the souls of the Albanian anti-communists. Postriba fully proved this. Memorie.al
