By Mejit Prençi
Memorie.al / The ‘Nine Mountains’ of Dibra have entered history as a symbol of wisdom, endurance, bravery and patriotism. Rhapsody sings: “Nine Mountains of Dibra/ mountains upon mountains, / nine songs of freedom/ of sorrows and troubles/ Nine sharp swords / nine lightnings / nine nests of eagles / nine cradles for the brave”. Reçi and Dardha were the First Mountain of the Nine Mountains of Dibra. The poorest province, but rich in generosity, faith and pride. The house of Troci, Doda, Mark, Prençi were among the most honorable, with brave men and popular warriors, in the steep and broken Reçi with their legs in the Black Drin and the body that rose up the slopes and slopes, towards the high mountains, and sharp peaks that seemed to touch the sky.
Troci, the first of the tribe, according to legend, cut off the head of the Black Arab of Shkodra in a duel, and for this he was honored and respected by the Nine Mountains of Dibra. In every environment where Troci was, the head of the country and the lamb’s head were reserved for him in feasts, joys or sorrows. Before Troci, no one dared to eat his head.
So said the legend. Reality proves it. From these mountains that the morning sun winks at from the top of Korab, brave idealists have emerged who have put their homeland and freedom, faith and honor above everything, for which they even give their lives. One of them is Tahir Prençi.
The shepherd’s fiddle from the hazelnut hills of Çakbardha, the slope of Mlleza, the Kaptina Mountains and the Rrasa Mountain, still sounds today conveying the melody of the song: “Tahir Prenç nuk ban ma nana/ N’dash per bes’, n’dash for be brave/…I promise to sell you, fairy! / “I accept death, not betrayal”.
The super-radioist defied the pressures, to force him to play a double game, to put himself in the service of the communists, to trap his nationalist comrades, and his ideals, to humiliate and strip him of the high morals of the patriot and freedom fighter. Tahir Prençi was born in 1921 and was the third child of Sulejmani, who was known as a brave man in these parts.
He grew up with the songs of valor and manly dances, with the fresh air of the mountains and the mountains, with the cold waters of the brooks, with the ancient legends and the stories of the exploits of the Recian warriors, in the bloody wars against the Skjau, led by the chief legendary, Elez Isufi.
After the genocidal massacre of Serbia in Bardhaj, the brave men of Reçedardha with Tahir’s father, Sulejman, who died, came down from their nests in the mountains and rushed like a storm on the Serbs, who, terrified, ran away in panic, and when the rifle went off stuck in the bushes while running away, they, without turning their heads back, shouted: “Aman, ore aman, it’s a messenger”! And disarmed they threw themselves into the Black Drin, half of which the roaring waves swallowed.
Her father married her at the age of 16. Tahiri gave birth to two children: Rifatin and Hiken. Two lucky children, who experienced violence, prison, exile and communist persecution from a young age. Thirty years under the dictatorship. Rifati, 22 years in prison, a political prison, like that of Burrell, who also spent time in Nazi prisons.
Until 1939, when Albania was occupied by Fascist Italy, Tahiri worked in agriculture. He was a good worker. The dog didn’t eat his stick, they said about him. Big body like his father, fit, strong and healthy. But also, of word and faith. With friends and good friends.
After the Black Day of April 7, 1939, when the occupying fascists recruited young people to educate them and put them at their service, from the first contingent, Tahiri was also called. As soon as the Italian officer saw him, he spoke in his own language, then shook his head, the translator pronounced: “You are going to Italy”.
So, the mountaineer of Rec, left for three years of military studies in Rome. There he specialized in radio communication. He was among the most brilliant students. Rare. Records in the Morse alphabet. Master as wrestler. With unprecedented will and courage. He returns to Albania as an officer.
Served in Macedonia for a while…! He hated fascism as much as he loved his homeland and freedom. Hate and love fed each other. The hatred for the Italian invaders increased the love for the motherland. Love for the homeland and freedom, increased hatred for the fascist invaders. Ziente inwardly….is connected with the anti-fascist forces.
First with Ramadan Kaloshi. He joins the partisan brigades, thinking that they were fighting for freedom and the homeland. He was horrified to see how the young sons of the families of ballistas, birders and wealthy classes were eliminated.
Ignorant partisan commanders made the law. The boy’s point was going, for “dog fat”. Tahir’s soul was hurt. The sense of justice, ideal, freedom and democracy rose within him. Before his eyes, 15-year-old Salë Bodi was shot.
The heroes of the war, Hasan and Hali Prifti, were arrested. In these tragic and fatal circumstances, Tahiri met and held a meeting with the men of mind and sword, Hasan Spata and Ymer Doda, honorable men of Çidhna and Reçi…
At one point he addresses them: “Brothers, this is not free Albania. Serbian firewood embers. Come, let’s leave Albania, to fight for its liberation from the communist occupation! Tomorrow will be late”! …In 1945, he escaped with a group of birders to Greece.
From there to Germany. In Munich he met General Abaz Kupin, Colonel Xhemal Laçin, etc. Laçi testified that Tahiri served in West Germany until 1950. He says he was brave, rare, smart, a first-class professional, as a radio operator.
His skill as a radio operator was considered exceptional. Prudence and composure, as virtues of Dibran, made his mouth never speak before his mind. His name would enter the pages of the press during the years of the Cold War. And in secret offices. Opponents would call him; “Tiger Dibran”.
Tahiri had already matured and prepared to go to war, against the communist-terrorists of Enver Hoxha. With the call made by Abaz Kupi in 1950, he becomes more active, works harder, takes greater heart and courage, to start the battle for the mobilization of the people in the most difficult war, for liberation from the communist occupation.
In 1952, he came to Albania illegally together with a group of anti-communist nationalists. They are located in the Bulqiza area. He was with Zenel Shehu. They carried out their patriotic activities in this area. In conversation with Zeneli, in the house where they were sheltered, Tahiri often told him some bad premonitions.
Terrible scenes, conjured by the hand of betrayal, flashed in his mind. He believed them, because he believed in God. And indeed, it happened. With the signals of the KGB, the infamous State Security of the tyrant Enver Hoxha had set up traps to catch the nationalists operating in this area…!
The English colonel Kim Philby had betrayed them. It was also connected with Moscow. He made a double play…! Placed at the service of Soviet Intelligence, it provided information to all the countries of the East to neutralize, capture and annihilate the nationalists who were trying to organize themselves in various forms, in the fight against communism and their power.
From the book “Silent Front”, excerpt: “According to the Kim Philby plan, this English colonel in the service of the Soviets, gave them the exact location of the Albanian nationalists who began to fall one by one into the traps of the State Security”.
Super-radio player Tahir Prençi also fell into their bloody and dirty black hands. In the document of the Legal Directorate of the Ministry of Order, no. 93/1, dt. 24.09.1992, among other things it is said: “At the time of his capture, Tahir Prenc was found: a quantity of gold, US dollars and propaganda materials from the National Committee “Free Albania”.
During his stay in prison, the most severe torture and various forms of violence were used on him, to force him to do it for himself, so that with all his skills as a professional, as an inimitable super-radio operator, they would put him in the service of the Security of the State, to play their game; but Tahiri never betrayed his friends, himself, his country, or his ideals.
Withstood all kinds of violence. He did not pass out. He did not submit. He didn’t give up. On the contrary, he always thought how to get out of this black hell and fly to freedom. No one knows exactly how he escaped from the isolation rooms of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Tirana, but it is known that on October 26, 1952, he was no longer in that “Hell”.
It is said that after a few days, he was killed by the Pursuit Forces. But the puzzle remains a puzzle. To this day, no one answers. No one talks about where his grave is. The son, Rifati, tried his best to learn the truth. He left no stone unturned, no office without knocking, to find the grave of his beloved father.
He also went through Europe. Even in America… to get a signal, a word, about the mystery of his father’s disappearance. But as the song says, only the whistling of the wind and the voice of the cuckoo are heard; where-were, where-where….! There is pain in the son who wants to know his father’s grave…! There is pain and sadness, daughter…!
The desolate woman died with sorrow in her soul, without learning the truth. It is a human right for the son to show him the place where he was slaughtered and buried, to exhume his father’s remains, to rebury them with honor, as every parent deserves, not just the honorable parent, as was Tahir Prençi.
Perhaps one day the grave and remains of the son of Reç of Dibra and Albania, Tahir Prençi, will be found; to the excellent super radio operator, the true nationalist, the pure and brave Albanian, who sacrificed his life in the war for the liberation of Albania from the communists…! It is the duty of the democratic state to find out where his remains are, and rebury them with honor, just as prominent figures of the nation are honored. Memorie.al
