1888 – Hysni Babameto was born in Gjirokastra. He was a patriot, mathematics teacher and Albanian educator, one of the first pioneers of twentieth century Albanian education whom he served with devotion for 52 years. Forced, for health reasons, to drop out of university studies at the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, he enthusiastically devoted himself to the sacred mission of the teacher in his homeland. He started his duty at a very young age, in 1910 and devoted himself to this noble career for more than half a century, starting in Gjirokastra, then continuing in Shkodra, Korca and finally since 1929 in Tirana. He left the school benches in 1962 at the age of 74. Distinguished as a Methodist in teaching mathematics, as an educator of generations and generations, but above all in his long career that crossed the borders of many different political systems of twentieth century Albania, Professor Babameto was distinguished for patriotism and his Albanianism. He is also the author of a series of mathematics textbooks. From a young age he became one of the first pioneers of education, who under the conditions of Ottoman occupation and the John-Turkish reaction, took the first steps full of hope. In 1947, he was allowed to return to Tirana. At first, for a period of time he served in the Gymnasium of Tirana and in the Polytechnic of Tirana. He later returned to Pedagogy, to his school where he served until the end in the shadows also because of his politically convicted son. He left the school benches only for health reasons in 1962 after serving the Albanian school for 52 years.
1908 – Born in Gjirokastra Enver Hoxha – dictator of Albania. Hoxha is included in the list compiled by the Institute for the Study of the Crimes and Consequences of Communism, which summarizes the participants who have direct responsibility for the crimes of the Albanian Communist Party and the National Liberation Army, being, according to law no. 41, members of political and military structures “who have inspired, organized, ordered, executed or assisted partisan forces in criminal acts”. His forty-year regime was characterized by the disappearance of political and intellectual opposition, continued political repression which included forced labor camps, extrajudicial shootings, and executions of targeted anti-communists. Sentences of his political opponents to death or long prison terms and the expulsion of their families from the homes where they lived and their internment in remote villages, where they were strictly controlled by the police and the State Security. The communist dictatorship was also characterized by Stalinist methods of exterminating his collaborators, which threatened his personal power. Most of this oppression was done through the State Security weapon.
1923 – Walt Disney, the famous American children’s animated film company, is founded in California. This company was created by two brothers Walt and Roy Disney. Throughout its 95 years of existence, this company would have produced some of the most famous animated films in the history of world cinema. Some of these are, Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, etc. The total assets of this company amount to $ 100 billion. This company has been proclaimed as one of the most successful of the XX century and the beginning of the XXI century.
1927 – Born in Gdansk, Poland. Famous German Nobel Laureate Gunther Grass. Grass would win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. During his 55-year literary career, he would stand out to the general public with his works, The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, Dog Years, Crabwalk, and What Must Be Said. Gunther Grass would belong to the dramatic genre in literature, and he, too, would describe quite well the current of magical realism. In his past Grass had served in Nazi army wards, for which he apologized years later.
1929 – Born in Gjirokastra Petro Zheji, was a teacher, translator and linguist. His brother, Gjergj Zheji has been a personality with his own weight in the field of letters. Study for Albanian language at the University of Tirana. He works at the publishing company “November 8”, where political and social books were published and as a regular translator at the publishing house “Naim Frashëri” in the capital. As one of the most elite translators, he has about 13 thousand translated translation pages. His first translation dates back to 1958 and was the first volume of Fedor Panferov’s novel “Bruski”. From the long list of translations are “The Sufferings of Boy Verter”, “The Wise Sojli”, “Ramon’s Nephew”, “Anger Villas”, “The Invisible Man”, etc.
1946 – World War II Nazi criminals are hanged in Nuremberg, Germany. Most notably, Hermann Goring, would commit suicide with a cyanide capsule minutes before execution. All those hanged would belong to the highest ranks of the Nazi dome, including ministers, marshals, generals, and people close to Hitler. This decision was later followed by several thousand executions of other Nazi war criminals across Europe.
1968 – At the 68th Mexico Olympics, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, are honored with the symbol of people of color during a medal ceremony on the podium. This symbol would consist of raising the arm upwards, gathering the hand in the shape of a fist. From this gesture they made, the International Olympic Committee, would permanently exclude them from competitions in this sporting event. Smith and Carlos, later stated that they did this action to honor the entire African-American community in the US.
2002 – The famous Alexandrina Library in Egypt is reopened thousands of years after its destruction. This library was restored by the Egyptian government and today is one of the largest cultural and literary centers in the entire Mediterranean. Works for its reconstruction cost $ 220 million. In addition to the digital library, there is also available to readers and scholars the old library which has millions of volumes of masterpieces in its collection.
2007 – Famous Macedonian singer Tose Proeski dies at the age of 26. Proeski would die during a car accident in Croatia. He will be considered one of the greatest Macedonian singers of all time. Also known as Elvis Presley of the Balkans, he would count a full 8 albums and 5 collaborations during his career. Proeski’s funeral will be remembered as one of the most magnificent in this place, as his tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage. He would represent Macedonia at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul.
