By Tome Mrijaj, New York – USA
Memorie.al / Perhaps as a way to start talking about the outstanding nationalist and patriot Marije Shllaku, it must be said that her figure cannot be seen in isolation from other patriotic patriots, such as: Father Benard Llupi, Kolë Parubi, Gjergj Martini , Marsel Vuçaj and many others who make up the number of 27 convicts, accused by the Yugoslav Communist Party and the Albanian Bolsheviks of Albania, after having created the patriotic organization, with the meaningful name NDSH (National Democratic Albanian), continuing for 13 days with row of 1946, being sentenced to death, the first four and on November 25, 1946, the black squad of killers of the Slavic-communist regime, deprived them of their lives, precisely in the historic city of Prizren, where in 1878 it was became the “Albanian Connection of Prizren”.
The two co-authors Ramiz Kelmendi and Viktor Gashi, as if to commemorate the life and work of the prominent martyrs of the Albanian nation, placed a candle of light in commemoration of the great figure of Marija Shllaku and the comrades of the anti-Slavic-communist ideals in the former Yugoslavia. The prelude to this historical glory will be written in blood, in the golden book of the history of the martyred people of Kosovo and the true nationalists, who with stoicism, protected the national flag of Skenderbeu, Dede Gjo Luli, Isa Boletini and many others in the 20th century, following their example of Adem Jashari and other freedom fighters, who fought the Serbian fascist beast and the Albanian communist traitors, who blindly served the oppressive anti-Albanian regime.
Viktor Gashi, as a worthy son of Peja, digging from the memory of history, manuscripts, memories of contemporaries and his own, thanks to the sound legal culture, threw the perpetuation of the nationalist figure of Marije Shllak and her collaborators on the white card of freedom. Viktori, feeling the weight of the persecutions of the Slavic communists, touched on many historical truths, clarifying and raising in pride the portrait of Mary, left in oblivion for 50 years in a row, by the anti-Albanian Slavic communists.
He left his studies and began to take up the traditional craft of his relatives, the craft of jewelry, keeping deep in his memory every historical episode of the freedom fighters, since the first year of the Serbian invaders, he kept notes of people’s memories, he browsed the document, thus working in great silence, to finally donate this dignified book with historical and very serious values.
Victor is now very well known by patriotic circles in Kosovo and the diaspora, for his intense activity in many fields, and for several years, he is also a member and Chairman of the Benevolent Association, with the meaningful name of “Mother Teresa” in the city of Peja. As a careful researcher, he is working to donate a book on the jewelry craft in Kosovo. Such is the figure of the other co-author, a patriot and fellow citizen, from Kosova Kreshnik, Ramiz Kelmendi, as a very good connoisseur of the life and work of the ardent patriot Marije Shllaku, along with other nationalists.
Marije Shllaku with a painful but proud Albanian history
Today more than ever, researchers, analysts, historians, monographers, creators, have living historical material and evidence, as soon as they try to dig into the life and great work of Marije Shllak and many other patriots, who gave the most precious thing , their lives, to protect the mother tongue, our ethnic Albanian lands, the Albanian dignity, the early culture of our ancestors, the pride of being autochthonous in the lands of our ancestors, determined anti-communists and symbols of eagles who want to fly as much as possible free above, undaunted by the centuries-old Slavocommunist Serbian conquerors, who over the centuries have carried out massacres against the most prominent sons of the Kosovar martyr people.
But this name of this heroine is deeply engraved in the memory of the people of Kosovo, just as the brave sisters and mothers of Suliote are remembered, who agreed to jump from the steep rocks, just so that they would not fall into the hands of the Turkish invaders. This autochthonous Albanian name had taken deep roots in the hearts of those who knew her closely and the younger generation, who had heard of her heroics.
In addition to the words of the Albanian language, the deeds and customs of her ancestors, the courage and bravery of Hodo Sokol and Isa Boletini, in the odes smoked by the strong tobacco of the men of the assembly, she also received the nectar of the love of the Albanian lands, as wealth dear and sacred to every Albanian, in the long winters of the mountains in Kosovo, Marije Shllaku, had already grown up with the national flag on her chest, making her known to all generations as a fearless warrior.
In order to defeat the pride and bravery of a truly brave girl, the invaders and traitors of the country have used the most sophisticated forms and methods, but they always failed, just as the Montenegrins and Serbs failed against Shkurte Galica. E Marije Shllaku was a “Nora e Kelmendi” of Preke Cali, a Galician Shote of the Albanian tribes, who fought side by side with the prominent men of the nation against the centuries-old Serbian invaders and the communists of the Belgrade regime.
As compatriots, I felt it as an obligation through this symbolic writing, to put a fresh flower at the beginning of the 21st century, for the Kreshnik girl of all of our Kosovo, removing the great dust of oblivion towards this Kreshnik. Marije Shllaku, was carried during the conversations in the warm odes of the Albanian hearths, was sung through the strings of the couplet, by popular rhapsodes, who thus experienced her great name, the love that Kosovo and Albania kept and keep (Shkodra, her birthplace) for this immortal heroine, in the hearts of historians of our days.
No matter how much is written today about this heroine, a new page is opened for the well-deserved re-evaluation of this worthy crucifix of Albanian nationalism. At a young age, her name was experienced by the lute, taking place in the immortal mouth of rhapsodes, oral history to survive fresh even in our days.
With the name of this heroine, who at a young age was sacrificed so as not to be forgotten by the Albanian generations, in the city of Prizren, of that small two-story house that deeply preserves through the centuries the memory of a great event for the Albanian people, “The connection Albanians of Prizren” just as it was the connection for life or death, that Marije Shllaku made together with her fellow fighters of nationalist ideals, so that our Kosovar lands would be freed from the savage Serbo-Slavic communist occupation.In historical Prizren, our nationality was reborn, freedom, national pride, love for everything Albanian and inherited from our Illyrians, the pride of the generous, brave and smart Dardanians.
And the story about Mary speaks…!
From what we have been able to carefully and consistently research about the life of the heroic work of Marije Shllaku, we note that the first writings about this 26-year-old girl were seen in many long feuilletons up to 26 parts, where the head of the UDB wrote of Gojko Medenica, in the daily, almost entirely boulevard newspaper of Belgrade, entitled: “Večernje Novosti” with the title in Serbian “Poraz pod Pastriko” (Defeat in Pastrik). In order to divert the attention of the people and its readers, the author in question started his kycometric feuton on February 22 and closed it on March 19, 1965.
As if that wasn’t enough, the next pageant will come immediately, but in terms of length it was shorter than the first one and it is authored by Gojko Medenica, also in the Albanian newspaper “Rilindja”, for seven days in a row, from February 20, until February 27, 1965, with the title: “Nata e Frori”. What catches your eye, after carefully reading and re-reading each line and phrase written in the smoke, is that the denigrating authors seek to throw mud on the figure of the Albanian nun, Marije Shllaku, where the language of evil and absolute anathema, is very pronounced.
Of course, the perpetrators are only the executors of the orders of their Serbian masters, who pay them to carry out such massacres, through the slanderous and fictional feather, starting from the Turkish expression: “Slander, slander that something will remain”. Here we notice the vileness and vileness of the Yugoslav OZN, which was mobilized to capture a young Albanian girl by all means, this brave armed woman, who moved like a swift toad from one mountain to another, from one area to another, to make the people aware, to stand up against the barbaric Serbian invaders and the infidel communists, both in Yugoslavia and Albania.
Refined and very diabolical, was the cooperation between the Yugoslav Communist Party and the Albanian Communist Party, who, after having exiled the Albanian people in Albania, with the ideology of barren communism, wanted to eliminate any real nationalist effort that had been organized in Kosovo, too. to give values of patriotism to the people, displacing the deceptive communist ideology, which was increasingly sacrificing the best sons of our people. So that day the PKSH (Bolshevik) had thought of acting in this way, sending to Kosovo to talk to Marija, her most beloved man, who was her father, Mark Simon Shllaku, who came from the city of Shkodra, for to meet
But the eagle of the Kosovar mountains, Marije Shllaku, understanding the diabolical action of the Bolshevik communists of Tirana and Belgrade, refuses to give up her noble goals, the purest patriotic and nationalist ideals. Fortunately, the meeting between the young girl and her father ended unsuccessfully, and the father, seeing that her daughter had continued on the path he had shown her, was convinced that his brave daughter had not betrayed him. but like a brave woman, she flew free alongside the Albanian eagle, without the communist star of the partisans. He returned to Shkodër happy for his daughter, joy that people read in his eyes and he never betrayed his daughter, whom he loved as much as his eyes.
Mark Simon Shllaku returned to Shkodër, saying: “I didn’t have a chance to meet Marije”. In truth, Mark had seen Maria, flying like a mountain eagle and with her startled look, she was conveying messages of thanks to her father, that I, Marija, your beloved daughter, have never betrayed you and I am still the invincible one. , from the Serbs and Bolsheviks of red Tirana.
But the communist dictatorship in Albania, waiting for such a shameful end (because the communists wanted to destroy the old Albanian customs, where the Albanian accepts the Albanian in allegiance, moreover when it is father and daughter, my note T. Mrijaj), they immediately begin the terrible ordeal of the persecution of the Shllaku family. As the son of martyr Shkodra, who survived the brutal communist ordeal for 50 years, the Shllaku family was forced to experience all kinds of massacres and psychological, physical, economic pressures, deportations, for the sole “fault” that Marija loved Albania and Kosovo united, without Slavocommunists in Kosovo and Albania.
To save as much as possible from what is left of the Shllaku family (we remember that the family’s surname comes from the name of an area with patriotic traditions, customs, faith and bravery, where the great writer Prof. Martin Camaj was born, a staunch anti-communist), change their surname from Shllaku to Vercaku, after the dictator Enver Hoxha decided to exterminate them all as a family.
But the years will pass, taking with them many episodes from the life and patriotic activity of Marije Shllaku. The arrival of democracy in Albania, after the collapse of the great iron wall that had stuck Albania with Kosovo, had begun to fall. People began to move easily from one area to another, to meet their relatives, old friends, penetrating in this way, even the episodes of the painful history of Marije Shllaku.
Memories began to wake up and history speaks its truth, documents, manuscripts, facsimiles, photographs that are being published for the first time, harrowing evidence, from the time of the isolation of the country of eagles from the politics of Belgrade and the official red Tirana. The dust of oblivion began to leave the rays of the sun, which sought to penetrate as deeply as possible, into the labyrinths of truth, unraveling the deformations and scratches of communist historiography, in Kosovo and Albania…!
So on September 28, 1995, the first book “Albania of Marije Shllaku – the four Shkodra martyrs” was published, authored by Ramiz Kelmendi and Viktor Gashi. On the front of the book, a watercolor painting, carefully preserved for years, by the well-known painter Engjëll Berisha, named Nora, who was Marije Shllaku herself, stands out. This was kept in secret by the painter, so that it would never fall into the hands of the Serbian police agents, keeping this Albanian heroine deep in his heart and memory.
The book in question is a special tribute of respect and honor to the patriot Marije Shllaku and the other four Shkodra martyrs, written with dedication by both co-sufferers and co-convicts in the trial. When you read this very moving book, you immediately re-enter these events that make you cringe, from the very way the authors have brought them fresh today for readers all over Albania, all the “forgotten and unforgettable”, who gave their lives on the altar of the Motherland.
In many writings and memories of those who knew Mary closely, cooperated and fought for the same ardent ideals of patriotism, you see closely those scenes that at that time were ghastly, for all the accused in the dock, the trial which was completely assembled, to eliminate the nationalist elements. Above all, the main heroine of the book stands out for her determined resistance, although at a young age she gave many answers, as if she were a real lawyer, defending her ideals and those of the people, whom she loved and for whom she was ready to sacrifice everything, even the most precious thing for man, which is life.
The UDB became more and more angry when Marija, without batting an eye, rejected every slander and fabrication cooked up by the kitchen of Belgrade, denying everything she had written and said before, under the pressure of torture and in the wild investigation of organized against a brave girl, who subconsciously knew that certain death awaited her.
The writing begins with the highly respected author and professor Shefqet Kelmendi, who today lives in the city of Shkodra, where little Marija was born and raised from the cradle. Everyone knows Shefqeti in Shkodër, as does his son, the talented writer (winner of the “Silver Feather” for his books) Shpëtim Kelmendi. As a family, they were mistreated, exiled and exiled to Lushnje because of their anti-communist beliefs. Shefqeti was together with Marije, in the savage Slavocommunist prison. Today, he calmly traverses the streets of Shkodra and happy that the name and patriotic work of the ardent patriot Marije Shllaku, began to be revealed in the first place by the fellow sufferers in Kosovo and Albania.
Shefqeti wrote his verses full of compassion and respect for the sister of anti-communist and anti-Serbian ideals, Marijen, in the prison of Zejmen, in Lezhë, in 1986. Even in that state of suffering and deprivation of freedom, Shefqeti remembers the history of the years of youth, filled with war and pure ideals of patriotism and true democracy, without the communist hyenas who were making the Albanians suffer surrounded by barbed wire, in this giant prison of the state of Enver Hoxha’s dictatorship.
And Shkodra came to the fore with Skender’s flag. The author, worried about the black fate of his people, after the reconquest of the Albanian lands by the communist ideology, compares this darkness with black clouds and the country, that this black smoke is covering it, which would bring for many decades, but death, torture, ill-treatment, imprisonment, rope, farce trials, shootings, rapes, burning of houses and property.
And why will the land of the martyrs not stand out during this time, that perhaps even the next centuries, will not be able to whitewash the crimes and the great mountain of killed patriots and true Albanian nationalists. Shefqeti’s theme is the schoolgirl Marije Shllaku.
“You enemy of the people, – they told him in a hall, – talk about your sins”!
“For the lands of the ancestors, I fought as much as I could. I was just doing my job.”
“And you, do you know that for these crimes, the bullet is waiting for you”?
“My eye doesn’t scare me. I gave my life to Kosovo as a martyr. That’s why I am proud that the young people of this land will bring flowers to my grave”.
Shefqeti, being the son of martyred Kosovo, feels that Kosovo and Prizren itself will be grateful for everything she did for these lands, washed with the blood of brave men and women. This message of respect and permanent respect as gratitude is also emphasized in the following verse by the author Kelmendi, where, among other things, he verses like this.
Perhaps in the next issue for the fellow citizens of Shkodra and in particular for the younger generation, we will bring facts, testimonies and the heroism of this Kreshnik eagle, for which the Albanian and Serbian communists threw mud. Here in America and in Kosovo, Marije Shllaku is honored and respected with special honors, for all her great contribution, for bravery and patriotism. Memorie.al
