Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some rare archival documents that are published for the first time and that have been extracted from the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, which belong to May 1944, where the Chief of General Staff of German troops in Albania, Major Schulz, in a letter sent to the then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vehbi Frashëri, informs them of a list of names of 21 communists sent to him by Enver Hoxha and Spiro Moisiu, who seeks to exchange them with German captives…
The agreement made by Enver Hoxha with the German command in Albania in October 1944 to exchange the three German women, Elsa Koch, Irmgrand Tennius and Erna Schubert, who had been captured by a partisan ambush on September 5 of that year while trying to were leaving Albania in a German convoy on the Kukës-Prizren road, an agreement which Enver never implemented and, as a result, led to the execution of 104 Albanian communists and partisans held in solitary confinement in the Prishtina Camp on October 23 of that year. that it was not the only agreement that Enver Hoxha, in his capacity of Commander-in-Chief of the National Liberation Army, had made with the command of German troops in Albania.
Among other things, this is made known by some archival documents that are found in the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that are published for the first time, exclusively for Memorie.al, where light is shed on another agreement that Enver Hoxha has made with the Germans, just four months before that for the exchange of three German women, which dates back to May 14 of that year.
As we will see from the documents in question (see the relevant facsimiles) on May 15, 1944, the Chief of Staff of the German Forces in Albania, Major Schoulz, on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief of the German troops in our country, sent a letter to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Albanian government, Vehbi Frashëri (son, of the former Prime Minister, Mehdi Frashëri), a letter in which the names of 21 Albanian communists are listed, sent to Enver Hoxha and Spiro by that command Moses, asking them to exchange them with German captives held by partisan forces.
The letter in question, (attached to the letter where is the list of 21 names of Albanian communists), dated 14.V.1944, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vehbi Frashëri, sent a day later to the Ministry of Internal Affairs , where he asks for more complete information about the names of these communists, if they are in prison and if they want to voluntarily declare that they are communists and agree to be exchanged, or those who refuse to be identified as such and who do not accept surrender and exchange with German captives.
As a start it should be said that this agreement was realized, so these communists were exchanged with German captives held hostage by Enver Hoxha’s partisan forces, as almost all of them lived even after the end of the War, even holding high positions in the party hierarchy. and state after 1944 and beyond. From what can be seen in the letter with the names of the 21 communists, which according to the chief of staff of the German troops, Major Schulz, is compiled by Enver Hoxha, almost most of them were very important people in the Communist Movement and the National Liberation Army Enver Hoxha and Spiro Mosiu, which forced Enver to seek their exchange with the German captives they held in isolation and to exchange them.
Without going into details about the duties and functions held by these members of this list of 21 people during the war, some of them were close friends with Enver, or had various connections with him, such as. .: Aqif Selfo, a close childhood friend of Enver Hoxha in the city of Gjirokastra where they had their houses very close and then in the Lyceum of Korça, but Enver shot some of his cousins, such as Syrja and Reiz Selfon, and others persecuted, Alo Dëshnica, brother of Esat Dëshnica, (Member of the People’s Assembly), who kept Enver with money during the war, was killed in the Prishtina Camp, Justina Sata, or Flora Dëshnica, Enver’s secretary at the General Staff and after the war , wife of Ymer Dishnica, etc.
From the list in question of 21 people, most of them after the end of the War held leading positions in the party and state hierarchy, while some of them, such as Skënder Kosova, Drit Çaushi, Ali Kubati, Flora Sata, etc. that would end prisons and internments. In addition to the archival documents with the list of 21 people that Enver Hoxha asked the German High Command in Albania and exchanged with the German captives, which we are publishing and the relevant facsimiles, we are noting some of the tasks that these senior exponents of the Communist Movement maintained and exercised after the end of the War, such as:
- Aqif Selfo, Chief of Education in Tirana, immediately after the War
- Drit Çaushi, secretary of the Executive Committee of Tirana
- Hatixhe Deliu, wife of Ramadan Çitaku, founder of the SNP
- QaziM Vaqarri, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of Tirana
- Sali Angoni, Deputy Minister of Construction for many years
- Ali Kubati, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of Tirana
- Qibrie Ciu, Deputy Minister of Education and later interned
- Qamil Poda, Colonel, Commander of the Navy
- Musa Agolli, (brother of Mahmut Agolli) with leading positions
- Liri Dodbiba, (sister of the minister, Pirro Dodbiba), in Education
- Alo Dëshnica, “martyr”, brother of Esat Dëshninca, MP
- Justina Sata, (Flora Dëshnica), secretary of Enver in the War
- Jani Thoma, candidate of the Central Committee of the ALP
K O N C E P T
ALBANIAN STATE
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Tirana, on 15 / V / 1944
No.63 / 1 Rez
Urgent
P T
MINISTER OF P.T. inner
T I R A N Ë
For knowledge and action. We send you, attached, the letter, dated 14 / V / 1944 of the General of the German Command, regarding the exchange of prisoners, with the request that we be given an answer, the next day, on the 16th of this.
DEPUTY MINISTER
Vehbi Frashëri
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Reserved
Mr. Deputy Minister, Vehbi Frashëri
Tirana
Regarding the telephone conversation that you, Mr. Deputy Minister, had with the commanding general, we present below the names of the communists requested by Enver Hoxha and Spiro Moisiu, for an exchange with the prisoners of the German war:
- Aqif Selfo
- Driti Çaushi
- Hatixhe Deliu
- Tefta Mano
- Qazim Vaqarri
- Sali Angoni
- Ali Kubati
- Zef Nikolla
- Cyprus Ciu
- Skënder Kosova
- Musa Agolli
- Astrit Leka
- Liri Dodbiba
- Hello Dëshnica
- Justina Sata
- Jani Thoma
- Qemal Emin
- Muzafer Kokobobo
- Qamil Poda
- Dragush Frashëri
- Bedri Karapici
Please let us know which communists are among the prisons available and who wish to surrender voluntarily, which communists are among the prisons who refuse surrender (exchange) and who are persons and why they cannot be transferred to hand.
For the commanding general
Chief of General Staff
I.A I.V
Schulz d.v. Major
