Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown story of Major General Nexhip Vinçani, originally from Cologne, one of the most trained major soldiers in the Albanian Army, who after completing the Royal Military School for Officers during the period of the Zog Monarchy and gymnasium classic of the city of Shkodra, at 39, went to Italy to the Faculty of Law in Rome, where in 1941 he was expelled for his anti-fascist activity and was forced to return to Albania. His involvement in the Anti-Fascist Movement in the Korça Region together with four other brothers (Ali, Skënder and Saliun, Samiu), where as a result of his high military training and skills he showed in many fights, he was appointed as commander of the partisan headquarters of the Korça Region, commander of the IV Assault Brigade and deputy commander of the Operation in the Fight for the Liberation of Tirana led by Mehmet Shehu.
Testimonies of his brother, Colonel Skënder Vinçan, former Chief of Police of the Internal Affairs Branch of Shkodra Region), regarding the military career of Nexhip after the end of the War, where after being appointed commander of the Division of Bishopric and that of Korça, in 45 was sent for studies in the Soviet Union, graduating from the Voroshilov Military Academy in Moscow, and in ’48 returned to Albania, where he was appointed Director of Operations at the Ministry of Defense and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, and in “Provocations of August 1949”, he was sent to the front, where he led the fighting together with Major General Mehmet Shehu and Colonel Skënder Malindi.
Major General Nexhip Vincani’s conflict with Enver Hoxha since the First Congress of the Communist Party in 1949, where Enver began to strike at him, recalling that he and General Tahir Kadare had incited General Gjin Marku to speak out against Koci Xoxe in so that Koci could make Enver an accomplice, for all the crimes that had been committed up to that time by the Ministry of Interior under the leadership of the SNP, which caused him to start the “witch hunt” to degrade him more after leaving the Army and appointing him as the director of a construction company in the district of Fier, where he lived alone in a hut, after the intrigues of the State Security, he was forced to separate from his wife and his arrest in 1957, accusing him of “being an enemy of the people.” Vinçan’s second arrest in 1982, where after 11 months of intensive investigation under torture he claimed that Mehmet Shehu had been a polyagent and subsequent internment in one of the most remote villages of Gramsh, where he lived all alone in a dog hut until the overthrow of the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, whom he himself had served with devotion and idealism
It was the end of 1957 when in the Internal Affairs Branch of Shkodra, where I was the Chief of the District Police, I was informed that Minister Kadri Hazbiu was urgently looking for me in Tirana. I took the car of the Branch President, Major General Hilmi Seiti and left immediately for Tirana. Before entering the minister’s office, I met Teki Kolonec, then Director of the Border Directorate, and asked him if he knew anything about why I had been called to the ministry so urgently. Meanwhile, before the speech was over, I was called to the minister’s office where Kadri Hazbiu was waiting for me on foot. After we met, he said to me: ‘Skënder, I called you to go urgently to Durrës, because we will arrest your brother, Nexhip, with all his wife Memka, and you will stay with the small children, because there is no who keeps them. The order for the arrest of General Vinçan was issued by the Minister of Defense, Beqir Balluku, and we will implement it immediately ‘. “I left quickly for Durrës and when I got there I did not find Nexhip at home, because he and his wife had been arrested.”
This is how he remembered the arrest of his brother, Nexhip, Skënder Vinçani, a former partisan and colonel of the Ministry of Interior, who told us the whole story of his brother, Major General Nexhip Vinçani, former commander of the IV Partisan Assault Brigade. the deputy commander who led the Operation for the liberation of Tirana and Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Albanian Army until 1957. But who was Nexhip Vinçani, what was his past and why was he imprisoned and tortured in the most inhuman way Hero of the Partisan War and the famous general who had studied law in Rome and graduated from the “Voroshilov” Academy of the Soviet Union? Were the accusations made against General Vincani at the 5th Plenum of the Central Committee of the ALP, where it was stated that: “in cooperation with the other two generals, Gjin Marku and Tahir Kadare, they wanted to overthrow him through the conspiracy, The Chief of Staff of the Albanian Army, Major General Beqir Ballukun? Why did the rift between Enver Hoxha and General Vinçan start and when did the contradictions between them start? What was the trap organized by the Minister of Interior, Kadri Hazbiu, which led to the arrest of Vinçan and his wife, Memka, and was it true that the arrest warrant was given by Minister Balluku? Why did investigator Shkelzen Bajraktari, when he arrested Vincan in 1982, accuse him of being an “agent of the English”?! What did he say to the Albanian government about the Kosovo problem, and what was the response given to investigators at Burrel Prison by former General Gjin Marku, who was serving his sentence there, when asked about Vincan? Why the famous general who had led the fighting in the ‘Provocations of August 1949’ and who was considered one of the most talented soldiers of the Albanian Army, ended up in the reclamation canals of Myzeqe and was interned in the most remote village of Gramsh, where he lived alone in a dog kennel until 1987? Regarding these and other events from his life and military career, his brother, the colonel in person, Skënder Vinçani, told us shortly before he passed away.
Continued from the previous issue
He is accused of plotting against Balluk
But Enver was not satisfied with not electing Nexhip as a member of the Central Committee, because then in the 5th Plenum of K.Q. held in 1950 he dismissed him from the post of Deputy Chief of Staff and that of Central Committee candidate. After that, Nexhip was taken as Chief of the Military Branch in Elbasan and Commander of the Division in Tirana, and later as Commander of the Coast Guard in Durrës. He remained in these positions until January 1958 when he was completely released from the Army and then at the end of that year, he was arrested. But what was the real cause of Nexhip’s beating and how did his arrest come about? In this regard, his brother, Colonel Skënder Vinçani recalled: “For the dismissal of Nexhip from the post of Deputy Chief of Staff and his dismissal as a candidate for the Central Committee, then it was said that it came after the accusations made against him, as if he, in collaboration with the other two generals, Gjin Markun and Tahir Kadare, had tried to plot to overthrow the leadership of the Ministry of National Defense, Lieutenant General Beqir Balluku, and take over the leadership of that ministry. This came after during a dinner at the “Dajti” hotel, Nexhipi had secretly asked Mehmet Shehu if it was true that he would be appointed Chief of Staff instead of Balluk. This question was used by Enver to raise the accusation, as if Nexhipi had wanted to plot to overthrow Balluku and take over the Ministry of Defense, but the real reason for Nexhipi’s elimination had nothing to do with the conspiracy against Balluku, because that thing n uk was real. Nexhip had a close friend Balluku and did not even think about it. Enver fired and hit Nexhip, only for the fact that at the First Congress of the Communist Party of Albania, and then, he did not go to criticize Gjin Marku, when he asked Koci Xoxes to deepen his self-criticism. Balluku said this to our brother, Sami, in 1956, when he went to meet him, after Nexhipi was arrested and Kadri Hazbiu told us that Beqir Balluku had ordered that. That was not true because the order had come from Enver and Balluku cried when he heard the news of Nexhip’s arrest. Enver had had contradictions with Nexhip since the war, which is also confirmed by the testimony of Dr. Ymer Dishnica, who told us: ‘Enver started the attack on Nexhip by calling him an enemy of the party and the people for some reason. One of the most important was that of jealousy, because until the mid-50s, in the whole region of Korça, there was talk with an extraordinary sympathy only for Nexhip and not at all for Enver. And the second was that Nexhip and I were very close to each other, which infuriated Enver Hoxha at all “, recalled Skënder Vinçani, the testimony of Dr. Dishnica, regarding Nexhip’s strained relations with Enver Hoxha, as a cause of his jealousy.
The arrest of Major General Vincan in 1958
Regarding the arrest of the famous general Nexhip Vinçani, his brother Skënderi recalled: “In 1956, when the Tirana Conference was held, Enver wanted to implicate Nexhip with the group of those delegates who raised problems against the senior leadership of the ALP. Although Nexhipi was not a delegate at all, because he was on duty in Durrës at that time, as the Coast Guard Commander, during the sessions of the Conference, Enver addressed Colonel Iljaz Ahmeti, saying: ‘Without Iljaz, tell us What did Nexhip Vinçani say to him about his fellow leaders? ‘Iljaz Ahmeti not only did not speak out against Nexhip, but on the contrary he defended him. What Enver could not achieve in 1956 at the Tirana Conference, he did. about two years later, at the end of 1957, when I was in charge of the Shkodra District Police, I was informed that Minister Kadri Hazbiu was urgently looking for me in Tirana. general Hi lmi Seitit, I left immediately according to the order given to me and when I came to the Ministry, I asked Teki Kolonec who was then the Director of the Border, if he knew anything why I had been called so urgently. Meanwhile, before I could finish my speech, I was asked in the Minister’s office, where Kadri Hazbiu was waiting for me on foot. After we said goodbye, he said to me: ‘Skënder, I called you to go urgently to Durrës, because according to the order issued by the Minister of Defense, today we will arrest your brother, Nexhip, with all his wife Memka, because she he got more food from the store than he deserved and you have to be there as there is no one to take care of the four little girls and you should not move out of that house without taking orders from me ‘. I immediately left for Durrës and when I went there, I did not find Nexhip, as he and his wife had been arrested. Minister Balluku did not issue an order for Nexhipi’s arrest, but it was done after a plan by Kadri Hazbiu, who apparently received an order from Enver Hoxha, because the arrest of a general could never have been done without the Commander’s order. general. Kadri Hazbi’s plan was hatched as follows: As Nexhip’s wife had gone shopping, the seller, who had been ordered by the State Security, told her to buy some more food as the triskas would be removed. So, she bought them and then was denounced for abuse and arrested. The purpose of the Security was to separate Nexhip from the woman and then pressure her to speak and accuse Nexhip on the charges they would need. Security succeeded in separating Nexhip from the woman, but Memka never agreed to speak against her husband, on the contrary, she defended him in the investigator, saying that Nexhip was not at fault. During the investigation, Nexhip was asked about the “conspiracy” he wanted to do to overthrow the Minister of Defense, Beqir Balluku. “After a month, Nexhip and his wife were released from the investigation and Nexhip was removed from Tirana and sent to Fier, leaving him to live alone in a hut, after being forced to separate from his wife,” Skënderi recalled. used by the State Security, instigated by Enver Hoxha, against his brother General Nexhip Vinçani
Second arrest in ‘82 and torture on investigator
But what happened next to the famous general Nexhip Vinçani and how did his life go there in the city of Fier? In this regard, Skëndri recalled: “Although Nexhipi was considered one of the most talented soldiers since the war, what they mobilized and left for many years in the fields of Myzeqe, dealing with the opening of reclamation canals. There he worked until he retired and during that time was regularly monitored by the State Security. Although he had been one of the main cadres of the War, he was never given the 100 lek pension that the former partisans received. Nexhipi’s second arrest took place in 1982, shortly after the assassination of Mehmet Shehu, and this was done in order for Nexhipi to admit during the investigation that Prime Minister Shehu had been a polyagent, so after December 1981, he was followed at every step and when he came to me in In Tirana, a man who knew him informed him that the Security was pursuing him to arrest him, because in Lushnje, where his daughter lived, the house was surrounded by police, and that is exactly what happened. Nexhip was arrested at his house in the city tin of Fier, where investigator Shkëlzen Bajraktari, went with a large number of police officers, investigators and Security officers and in order to make a lot of noise, he was demonstratively arrested in front of all residents of the neighborhood. Investigator Shkëlzen Bajraktari. after entering his house by force, he shouted at them, calling him ‘the general of the dead army’. Nexhip was held for 11 months by the investigator, accusing him of ‘agitation and propaganda’, where he was subjected to the most inhuman tortures, so much so that several times he was forced to be hospitalized in Tirana, to be treated for beatings. Investigators asked him why he had said that: the Albanian government had done nothing for Kosovo and what connection it had with agent Mehmet Shehu and Xhevdet Mustafa’s gang, who had then landed in the area around Fier. He was also accused of being an ‘agent of the British’ after a search of his home turned up a photograph of him with some British Mission soldiers during the war. Nexhipi began to mock the investigators, telling them that: he was an agent of the British, Italians, French and even the Japanese. From this the investigators became furious and tortured him so much that he was almost left in his hands and was mentioned only when he was taken to the prison hospital in Tirana. During the time they kept him in custody, the State Security asked and questioned dozens of people in several districts to agree to testify against him. In Fier alone, the Security asked over 60 people. Investigators and State Security also went to Burrell Prison, where Nexhip’s closest friend, former General Gjin Marku, was serving his sentence, and asked him to talk about Nexhip. As soon as the questions started, Gjin Marku realized that Nexhip had also been arrested and was told: ‘Shame on you and those who sent you, because Nexhip Vinçani is the purest man’. After that Gjini was beaten so much that he did not get up from the mattress for a long time. “After 11 months of investigation, since they could not find witnesses to convict him, the Security was forced to release Nexhip, communicating to him as if he had benefited from an amnesty, which was not true at all”, recalled Skënder Vinçani, regarding the arrest and the tortures inflicted on his brother Nexhip.
He was interned for 5 years in Gramsh where he lived in a dog hut
What happened to Nexhip Vincani after he was released from the investigation where he was tortured for 11 months in a row? Skënderi told us about this: “On the day they released him from the Fier investigation, Nexhipi, who was in his seventies, was informed of his deportation to the village of Grabovë in Gramsh, after he had previously been deported and his second wife in the village of Shtyllas. The village of Grabovo was 8 hours away from Gramsh and he was assigned to live in a hut that the cooperative guards had used to hold the dog, which was so cramped that it could not even push a bed to sleep and everyone the rain was falling in. He lived there all alone in inhumane conditions for five years, until 1988, keeping his breath alive with something the villagers forgave him, that fell in his way from there. the offices of the People’s Council and did not even allow him to go to visit the town of Gramsh. Once they allowed him after three months of prayer, as soon as they saw him in the town, they ordered him to leave immediately for the village, as he would come there for visit a leadership fellow n to Tirana. He set off on foot in the cold, and on the way at night the peasant dogs ate him. “Since he could not return to his house that night, the People’s Council of the village remembered that he had fled and was summoned, raising the alarm of all the volunteer detachments of the surrounding villages”, Skënderi recalled the sufferings and endless vicissitudes of his brother his, the famous general Nexhip Vinçani, considered one of the heroes of the Anti-Fascist War in Albania, who passed away on March 6, 1997, in the city of Tirana, from where Enver Hoxha had removed him 40 years ago, accused as “enemy of the party and the people” ./ Memorie.al
