Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown story of Abaz Omar, originally from Gjirokastra, whose mother was Enver Hoxha’s first cousin, as her father, Hysen Hoxha, was Enver’s uncle. The unknown story and tragic end of Abaz Omar, since childhood when he played with his cousin on the cobblestones of Gjirokastra, studies in France, coming to Albania, engaging with the nationalist organization, “Balli Kombëtar”, and extremely strained relations with his cousin his, Enver, who tried to physically eliminate him since 1943 in Fier, their incident at Bahri Omar’s house in Tirana, the arrest of Abazi and the refusal that Enver made to his sister, Feros, to spare his life, and until the shooting of Abazi in June 1945, where his head was macabrely cut off… ?!
Somewhere on the outskirts of Berat, in the summer of 1993, a group of family members managed to find the location of a mass grave, where in July 1945; five opponents of the communist regime were shot and buried. After the location of the tomb lost for half a century was found, excavations began and the bones of the five were being contoured little by little. But of the five skeletons found, one was missing a skull. The next day, from the other excavations, around the big pit, a few meters away from it, was found the skull that was missing. After the examinations made by the relevant forensic experts, as well as with the help of their relatives and family members, the exact identities were revealed and among them was that of Abaz Omar, the anti-communist exponent of the nationalist organization, “Balli Kombëtar”, i who was also the nephew of Enver Hoxha, as Abazi’s mother was the daughter of Enver’s uncle, Hysen Hoxha, or uncle Chen as he called her.
Who was Abaz Omari?
Abaz Omari was born in the city of Gjirokastra in 1906 and his childhood was spent at the Hoxha family, next to his maternal grandfather, Hysen Hoxha. In this big house, Abazi played with his friend and cousin, Enver Hoxha, who was only two years younger than him. Abazi first went to school, in his hometown together with Enver, to continue his studies in Lecce, Italy. After returning from Italy, Abazi was sent by his family to continue his studies at the French Lyceum in Korça and after graduating, he gained the right to study to pursue higher studies in France. After studying and graduating with a high degree in Law in Montpellier, in 1939, Abazi went to Paris where he studied and lectured in a long course in Art History, at the Academy of Fine Arts of this city. During those years of residence in Paris, Abazi came to the room where he lived, his cousin Enver Hoxha, who had been to study in Montpelje. In addition to the primary school in Gjirokastra, Abazi and Enver had studied together in Korça at the French Lyceum. The reason why Enver went to Abazi in Paris was because in Montpellier, where he had studied for six months, the Albanian government (Minister of Education, Mirash Ivanaj) had cut his scholarship, as he had not been able to pass any exam. Abazi kept Enver for a few months in his room, where the two lived only on the savings he had set aside, during those years he studied in Paris. In this regard, in his memoirs years later, among other things, Enver Hoxha would write: “After we had remained in a deplorable state, together with my cousin Abaz Omar, we went to Chinese restaurants in Paris and ate only pilaf.” Seeing the bad financial situation in which he had remained, Enver after the termination of the scholarship, Abazi to help him a little, intervened with Eqerem Libohova, (Ambassador of the Kingdom of Albania in France) who was a close friend of Bahri Omar. Albanian Ambassador Libohova arranged for Enver Hoxha, a student from Gjirokastra, to start working as the secretary of the Honorary Consul of Albania in Brussels, and the consul, who was a millionaire of Jewish origin, kept Enver at work for several months and then fired him left without any means of livelihood and in miserable condition, as he was left with nothing but to return to Albania.
Enver in Fier, to eliminate Abazi
In 1939, after Abaz Omari completed his studies and graduated in France, he returned to Albania where he began working as a Lawyer in the Ministry of Finance. After working for several months in Tirana, he returned to the city of Fier, where his family had settled after moving from Gjirokastra. Upon settling in this city, Abazi became associated with some of the well-known anti-fascist intellectuals who had begun to group to organize against the Italian invaders. In this regard, Veli Frashëri, the (English) translator of Mithat Frashëri, wrote in his memoirs, among other things: “In the house of Abaz Omar in Fier, we formed the resistance group against the Italian occupiers since 1939. In this group “Apart from Abazi, there were also Myzafer Trebeshina, Tefik Cfiri and others. Our resistance group had a social-democratic idea and program and later, we joined the Vlora group, led by Skënder Muço”. After the formation of the Resistance Group in the city of Fier, with the direct initiative of Abazi, the first anti-fascist detachment of Mallakastra was created, consisting of 7-8 people. Veli Frashëri, Abaz Omari and Nexhat Peshkëpia (Abaz’s sister’s husband) in 1942, connected with Skënder Muço in Vlora and formed a social-democratic group, which a year later in 1943, managed to crystallize as party. At that time they published in Fier and the first issues of their newspaper “Voice of Freedom”, which was run by the famous intellectual Musine Kokalari who was awarded in Rome for Philosophy and the main articles in that newspaper, were by prof. Jusuf Luzaj, Abaz Omari, Skënder Muço etc. The activity of Abaz Omar and the group he belonged to, would attract the attention of Enver Hoxha, during a trip he had undertaken from Tirana to Vlora. According to Enver Hoxha’s later memoirs, (When the Party Was Born, published in 1981) was: “the liquidation of the faction of the Pocket Blind” as he labeled it with the nicknames of the War, two of the main leaders of the Communist Group of of the Youth, Anastas Lula and Sadik Premten, who at that time dominated the Vlora party circle. During that trip to Vlora, Enver Hoxha stayed for several days in the city of Fier, taking refuge in the house of Llaz Suku. During those days that he stayed at home, Enver Hoxha was regularly informed about all the activities of Abaz Omar and the social-democratic group that operated in that city. According to some testimonies, it is claimed that since that time, there was a plan by Enver Hoxha to eliminate Abaz Omar. Regarding this, Abazi’s brother, Mërkur Omari, tells us, among other things: presented the plan to eliminate Abazi, telling her that ‘it was the message of the Party leadership’. In the evening of that day, while I was standing in front of the house, Rakip Kryeziu called me and told me to go to his house that he would give me an order for Abazi. I no doubt at all, followed him back and when we went to his room, he along with another who was there, told me that dinner, to leave the door of the house open without a key, as they would come to take Abazi , for a problem they had. “Let’s give the communist word that we are not doing anything to Abazi,” they told me. I was stunned and refused, while Rakipi threatened me with a revolver, which he had in his hand and told me that if I talked to someone about it, I was sentenced to death. I did not leave the gate open and out of fear that night, I did not say anything to Abazi. The next day I told him everything and he took measures to defend himself. After three days they realized that I had told Abazi and sent word to us, that we were both sentenced by the Party to death. After the failure of this plan, for the abduction and execution of Abazi, Enver Hoxha took measures to keep everything secret. The only person who could deconstruct that action, was Rakip Kryeziu, who in those days was surrounded in a house, on the outskirts of Fier by the ballistic forces of Bajrush Kosova, and was killed by them, as a reason for the abduction action of Abazi “, Mercury Omar recalled Enver’s first attempt to physically eliminate Abaz Omar
Incident with Abazi at Bahri Omar’s house
By the time Enver stayed in Fier, where he made the plan to eliminate Abazi, he had no contact with him, as he had severed ties since arriving from France. In fact, they last met in Tirana at Bahri Omar’s house, at the end of 1941. Regarding this meeting, in his book “When the foundations were laid”, Enver Hoxha testifies, among other things: “I am busy bad once with Abaz Omar, a cousin of Bahri from his father, but also ours, because my uncle Hysen Hoxha had a grandson (daughter’s) we knew each other as children, when we were young he often came to our house. had done the Lyceum of Korça and had gone to Paris, but after staying for about four years with the money of his father, who was a large landowner and a great merchant in Fier, he returned to Albania without a degree and for some time, practiced the craft of He later took a woman with a large dowry (wealth) and her money, returned to France, got a law degree and came and became a lawyer after the break I found him at my sister Fahrija.We kissed and hugged and congratulated her, and after the usual conversations, we started the political ones. I remembered that once Abazi emerged as an anti-feudal left-wing democrat. But what I saw, when I spoke about the war, about its necessity, it turned out that Abazi, from the left, had become our right, from a democrat, he had become a great defender of the rich, in a word, he had changed his skin . We quarreled and wondered how the quarrel would have ended, if my sister, Fahrija, had not intervened. I never saw this man again, who became a chain dog of Ali Bey (Këlcyra) and became a ballist and collaborator of the Germans. “But contrary to what he writes in his memoirs, after the ’90s, people close to Enver Hoxha, they give another version of that episode, which he writes, telling the whole story, the quarrel that took place between the two cousins; this was also confirmed by Mercury, Abazi’s brother. During the dinner, Enver started making communist propaganda and before he could finish his speech, Abazi turned to him angrily, saying: vagabonds that everywhere you go make Bolshevik propaganda. “Strongly moved by Abazi’s words, Enver gets angry and turns to him:” When Stalin wins, we communists will cut off the heads of you mutists. “The words that Enver said accompanied them with hand gestures.After that, Abazi took a plate and shot d rejt Enver, who turned his head and the plate broke on the wall. Dinner broke down and Nexhat Peshkëpia took Enver with him to his house to end the quarrel. This was also the last meeting that the two cousins had, who although they had grown up in a house, had taught in the same schools, had followed different directions due to their political beliefs.
Abazi’s speech at the “Kosova” Cinema
At the beginning of 1944, in a meeting that the nationalist organization “Balli Kombëtar” had organized with the intellectuals of Tirana in the “Kosova” Cinema, Abaz Omari had planned to speak. And so it happened, after Professor Abaz Ermenji, Abazi took the floor, where among other things he said: “If communism comes to our hearths, its merit will be misery and hunger for the people. People will be lined up, for a “I lived in France for many years. Books on communism remain on the streets there because no one reads them. Here people lied to by some adventurers are supporting the communists. They will remember Russian Siberia, with the concentration camps they will open.” And Abaz Omar’s prophecy would unfortunately come true, just a few months later. Thus, in the autumn of 1944, when the communists were close to triumph, as the Germans were withdrawing from Albania, many of the leaders of the two nationalist organizations, “Ballit Kombëtar” and Legalitet, gathered in Shijak and Preza, waiting to leave. , by sea from Albania. At a large meeting in Shijak, Abazi called on them not to leave, but to continue fighting until the end. A few days after that meeting, Abazi was arrested by the partisans in Shijak, together with his friend, Qazim Shehu, who were then brought to Tirana, to a house that had been turned into a prison near “Qemal Stafa” street.
Enver waits at home, Abazi’s sister
After being held for three months in that house-prison, on “Qemal Stafa” Street, Abazi was sent to Berat, to go to court, as Berat also had Fier under his jurisdiction, where Abaz Omari had his main activity, during War period. According to Mercury Omar’s testimony, a month after his arrest, his sister Ferro (Nexhat Peshkëpi’s wife) together with Mercury (younger brother), went and knocked on the house of Enver Hoxha (villa in the center of the Bloc), who after called on the phone, invited them in. After they entered the house, Enver, who was eating lunch, received them very coldly. Ferro and Mercury, seeing that situation, did not open the conversation of Abazi at all and Enver addressed Mercury seriously: “Hey ballist, how are you, as if I read his name in the newspaper…”?! Mercury was surprised. and did not know how to answer him, as in fact he had been a partisan. In those moments when he dared to say that to him, Nako Spiro entered the house and Enver left with him, without greeting the two After a few days, Ferro went to Enver’s house again, who cut him short: “We will punish Abazi, because your son may be killed tomorrow.” Ferro was stunned and left the house without realizing it never the meaning of those words, said by her cousin and at the same time, the Prime Minister of Albania, Colonel-General, Enver Hoxha, who had arrested his brother and was waiting to execute him.
Enver: Tell us about the execution of Abaz Omar with friends
According to the word she said to his cousin, Ferros, about her brother, on July 7, 1945, six months later, Enver Hoxha would keep his “promise”. In a radiogram, sent to the Military Court of the IV Corps in Berat, he wrote:
“In response to your letter No. 140. dated 7.VI.1945, the death sentence of Abaz Omar with friends is approved.
“Let us know the date of execution.”
Commander-in-Chief
Lieutenant-Colonel
Enver Hoxha
A few days later, the Military Court with Prosecutor M. Bllaci. And Judge M. Karafili, F. Bedeni and N. Lekdushi, by order of the Commander, performed the duty. After the shooting, a trained hand (Demir K. from Kallarati, Vlora), with a heavy ax, cut off your heads and buried them in a special pit a little further away from the bodies. Only 48 years later, that man would claim: “I had an order, if I did not wait for you, mine would go with their heads…” ./ Memorie.al
