Part Two
Memorie.al / To say Dibër, you cannot mention it without the epithet “Great” – not in the sense of the city of Great Dibër, of the Sheher (city), but for the contribution it has made to the Albanian national movement over the centuries. “To say Dibër = Albania. To say Dibër = the Albanian Nation. To say Dibër = the Albanian. To say Dibër = Macedonia, it is its heart, its nucleus.” Dibra’s contribution is great for the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire and for the entire world. Dibra is one of those regions that speak and write little but do a great deal. Their deeds are great. To say Dibër means History. Dibra made history, wrote history and remained in history. Rightly, the patriot Ismail Strazimiri – who is essentially a synonym of Albanianism – writes: “History is equal: Yesterday, Today and tomorrow.”
Continued from the previous issue
Here is what his friend Ismail Strazimiri says about him: “Hoxhë Vokri, whose real name was Said Efendi Najdeni, was a famous scholar with ample religious, scientific, philosophical and political culture, endowed with a strong character and high morals, a true idealist, an inseparable friend and collaborator of Ismail Qemali and of Rexhep Pashë Mati, who was the ruler of Tarabulus (Libya) and a protector of the idealists interned in Fezzan. With these qualities, Hoxhë Vokri pursued the noble goal of National Freedom, making every sacrifice and putting aside every personal and family interest. He opened the first school in Dibër…!”
It is known that Said Najdeni died in 1903, but his companions and friends, such as Ismail Strazimiri and Hamdi Ohri, etc., worked with flesh and spirit tirelessly for the opening of Albanian schools in the region of Dibra and beyond. Hoxha Said Najdeni, or also called Said Efendi Dibrani, as early as the beginning of 1901, carried out an intensive propaganda in Great Dibër for an autonomous Albania. Beside him was also Hamdi Ohri, his contemporary and close friend, another distinguished patriot, who also conducted a wide patriotic activity in favour of the national cause. He opened Albanian schools in Great Dibër in the years 1895–1899; he even taught the Albanian language to convicts in prison. For his patriotic activity, as expressed by Ismail Strazimiri, a friend of both, he was arrested and imprisoned several times by the Ottoman authorities.
From what we quoted above, it appears that in 1903 Said Najdeni took steps to connect with Albanian patriots such as Ismail Qemali, his close friend (who as early as 1900 had escaped from Turkey and was at that time in Italy), Rexhep Mati, etc., to revitalise the independence movement in the fight against the Ottoman Empire, which was now on its decline. For this purpose, Saidi, as a mandator for the vilayets of Kosovo and Monastir, set out for Tripoli in Libya to meet with Ismail Qemali and Rexhep Mati, the Albanian patriot governor of Tripolitania. The latter was poisoned in 1908 by the sultan in Istanbul as a suspect person.
Said Najdeni, this pioneer of national education, friend and respected collaborator of the Frashëri brothers and Ismail Qemali, Rexhep Mati, Dervish Hima, Hamdi Ohri, Sermedi Seit Toptani, Kristo Luarasi, Shahin Kolonja, Josif Bageri, P.N. Luarasi, Nikolla Naço, Ismail Strazimiri and many other Albanian patriots, remained a distinguished figure, beloved and honoured by the entire Albanian nation. Not for nothing, at the Congress of Dibër in 1909, all the delegates, gathered as a sign of respect, visited the grave of this “worthy” Albanian…! A separate epic is Strazimiri’s participation in the Congress of Dibër in 1909, which speaks of his refined patriotism. The presence of a few men like Ismail Strazimiri in this congress, although a minority in opposition, saved its organisers and the history of Albanian culture, which was very close to taking a step backwards, from disgrace.
There, Ismail, together with other patriots, spoke out against returning to the use of the alphabets of oriental languages and in favour of the Latin alphabet for Albanian. At this congress, delegates from all five vilayets participated: those of Shkodra, Skopje (Kosovo), Monastir, Ioannina and Thessaloniki. From what Ismail Strazimiri says in his memoirs, we understand that he is in the same current as Naim and Sami Frashëri, Abedin Dino, Mit’hat Frashëri, Kristo Luarasi and a number of other Rilindas (national revivalists) who, although officially accepted as the line of the Albanian national movement an Albania with four vilayets, were in fact partisans, adhering to an Albania with five vilayets, including the vilayet of Thessaloniki.
Was Ismail Strazimiri at the Declaration of Albanian Independence in Vlorë? Yes and no! Physically he was not there, but mentally and spiritually he was there. He was there through his companions and friends who represented Dibër, Struga and Ohrid, as well as through several other delegates of Dibran origin or who had worked in the region of Dibra and for Dibra. Let us look one by one at the Dibran delegates who took part in the patriotic gathering of Independence in Vlorë on 28 November 1912 and their connections with Ismail Strazimiri. First of all, with the old man of Vlorë; perhaps he did not know him directly, but his path in life was the same as that of Qemal Vlorë.
Noble family or origin, participation in the great Albanian national movements, such as the League of Peja “Besa‑Besën” of 1899, led by Haxhi Zeka; participation in the Young Turk movement “Union and Progress”; participation in the great Albanian uprisings of 1910, 1912, as well as in the organisation “Freedom and Accord”, created by Ismail Qemali and Riza Tefik Dibrani or Hasan Basri Beg Dukagjini, etc. Certainly, participation in these two progressive political organisations for the time at the imperial level, even in the region of Dibra, does honour to Ismail Strazimiri and is a positive signal for his personality with a broad vision, and deserves special research into his activity within them, alongside his companions and friends. It is also an indicator of his keen political nose.
When he saw that they began to lose their progressive character, he immediately withdrew from them. For him, at all times, the guiding “compass” was the interests of Albania and the Albanian nation in general. We note that he is in step with the old man of Vlorë, as well as with another activist who weighed heavily on Albanian independence, Aqif Pashë Elbasani, who on his own initiative appointed him sub‑prefect of Dibra, of Lower Dibra, or in other words, of Small Dibra, Peshkopia with its “nine mountains”.
Let us go further. A major figure of independence is Vehbi Agolli (Dibra), who was Ismail Qemali’s deputy and chairman of the Senate. Vehbi was the main representative of Dibra in the Assembly of Vlorë, the second major figure of the famous Assembly that declared Independence. He had close acquaintance with Vehbi Dibra; they were almost the same age. In his memoirs, Strazimiri mentions him in connection with the League of Peja, as a man who knew that League from within and its leader Haxhi Zeka; he mentions him at the Congress of Dibër in 1909, which he chaired in its proceedings; he mentions him at the head of the Paris of Great Dibër, in the 1912 uprising, regarding the decision for its outbreak. He refers to him on one occasion at the time of Prince Wied, when he himself (i.e. Ismail Strazimiri) addressed the Grand Mufti Vehbi Dibra in 1915 during the Serbian occupation with some reservation, and on another occasion.
Ismail Strazimiri’s opinion of this man of Dibra, who was the second figure after Ismail Qemali in Vlorë, was generally positive. It is understood that close relations existed between them in the name of the national cause, of which both were militants. The second delegate of Dibra in Vlorë was Hafiz Sherif Langu. He had a wide patriotic activity. He had close ties with Ismail Strazimiri. He was the grandson of Selim Rusi, one of the central figures of the national movement in Dibra, alongside Iljaz Pashë Çoku. Even under the shadow of his famous grandfather, proud, he grew up and became a man. He is one of the central figures of Dibra and of the all‑Albanian national movement, a friend of well‑known patriots such as Hamdi Ohri, Zyhdi Bej Ohri, Hajdar Blloshmi, a companion of Ibrahim Temo and Dervish Hima in Istanbul, in contact also with Hasan Prishtina, Nexhip Draga and Mehmet Pashë Dërralla, who left their mark on his life.
He participated in the Congress of Dibër of 1909, the Second Congress of Monastir in 1910, the uprising of 1910. For some time, at the request of the inhabitants of Dibra, he served as a teacher of the Albanian language. He was also involved in the anti‑Ottoman uprising of 1912, as a fighter and organiser in the surroundings of this region. Ismail Strazimiri writes: “At that time, together with us were Sadullah Strazimiri, Hafiz Sherif Langu, Shyqyri Bej – nephew of Iljaz Pasha, Eqerem Cami… and others from the city of Great Dibër.” In the vicissitudes of the events of the First World War and afterwards, the two were often side by side. Naturally, Ismail Strazimiri, in our opinion and as emerges from the facts, including his memoirs, was also in certain connections and relations with the other delegates of Struga and Ohrid, such as Zyhdi Bej Ohri, who had graduated from Robert College in Istanbul, Dr. H. Myrteza, Nuri Sojliu, Mustafa Baruti and Dervish Hima.
Likewise with the Dibran from Lurë, Dom Nikoll Kaçorri, who was a delegate of Durrës in the Great Assembly of Vlorë. Also, he had certain relationships with the delegate of Pogradec and Starovë, Hajdar Blloshmi, or with Shefqet Daiu, who in the years 1911–1912 worked as a teacher in Dibra. In Vlorë, Shefqet was a delegate of Elbasan. He was also in contact with Hamdi Ohri. In a letter sent to the latter in October 1911, he says: “Together with Vehbi Efendi, we are making efforts to secretly obtain the books that Josif Bageri of Rjeka has sent us from Sofia, but the Jönts (the Young Turks – L.B.) have exercised strict controls.” In his memoirs, Ismail Strazimiri also gives the appointment of the patriot Shefqet Daiu as a teacher of the Albanian language in the city of Great Dibër.
From this list of delegates, I would single out Hamdi Ohri, with whom Ismail Strazimiri had very good relations and whom he mentions several times in his memoirs, not only in the hot years before, during and after independence, but also later. He nourished a great respect and special reverence for Hamdi Ohri and his activity as the son of Allaman and grandson of Iljaz Pashë Dibra (Çoku). Ismail Strazimiri honoured, respected and collaborated with all the descendants of Iljaz Pashë Dibra, such as Shyqyri Çoku, Ramiz Çoku (Dibra), Hamdi Ohri (Çoku), etc., etc. His connections with the Çoku family (or Qoku, it is the same – L.B.) were extremely close; within this sphere is included Hamdi Ohri. He was the main organiser of the September 1913 uprising of Dibra, or as it is otherwise called, of Petrina, in which Ismail Strazimiri also actively participated.
After 1920, when Strazimiri settled in Tirana, for two decades the two were side by side, united by an old friendship that always remained as pure as crystal through all the vicissitudes of the times. Hamdi Ohri, as his niece Valbona, daughter of Mentor Çoku, recounts, was in Vlorë on the second day after the declaration of independence and signed its act. Ismail Qemali asked him: “Which ministry are you willing to take?” – “We left this job to the young men, Ismail Bej. Our finger has thickened from using the rifle; it is not suited for intellectual work.” Thus the distinguished Albanian patriot refused any of the ministerial portfolios.
Ismail Qemali’s question shows how much he esteemed Hamdi Ohri and what a personality and reputation he enjoyed as a patriot and as an intellectual, as a grandson of Iljaz Pashë Dibra, among those who declared Independence. He was a Rilindas of the third generation, a contemporary of Ismail Strazimiri. The fact that Ismail Strazimiri knew him, collaborated with him, had a friendship with him until this patriot closed his eyes on 24 November 1938 in Tirana, etc., speaks volumes about Strazimiri’s own stature and his multifaceted patriotic activity.
Ismail Strazimiri was an indefatigable worker of the National Renaissance. In the Uprising of 1910, he was one of its organisers in the area of Dibra. After its failure, he wisely says: “True, the uprising failed, but the Albanian national movement moved forward.” Proof of this was the Albanian uprisings of 1911 and 1912. In the latter, Dibra was the one that started it first and was the last to withdraw. Ismail Strazimiri, as one of the most prominent activists of this movement, played a very important role in its conduct. He was one of its organisers in the *Sheher* (city) in Great Dibër. After the raising of the flag in Skopje at the beginning of August 1912 and when Hasan Prishtina informed them of the fulfillment of the insurgents’ demands, the Dibrans lowered the flag of the uprising.
Thus Dibra started it first and ended the last uprising. After the barbaric decision of the London Conference of 1913, when two‑thirds of the Albanian territories remained outside the borders of the present Albanian state, the Dibrans again in September 1913 raised the flag of the uprising that was called the “Petrina” uprising and which encompassed Dibra, Struga and Ohrid. Ismail Strazimiri was one of its most active supporters. After the first defeats, the Serbian invaders brought large troops and crushed the September 1913 uprising of Dibra with fire and iron. And who more than Gjakova in Kosovo, Ulcinj in Montenegro, and Great Dibër in Macedonia had the right to be united with the mother state? What was done, especially against these three Albanian cities and hearths of Albanianism, was an unparalleled crime.
In these conditions, Ismail Strazimiri and the great Dibran families and Dibrans in general, facing Serbian brutality and houses bursting with flames and smoke after being ruthlessly plundered, held their breath as refugees (muhaxhirë) in Tirana and Elbasan.
Ismail Strazimiri again did not stay idle. At the time of independence he was appointed sub‑prefect of Small Dibra by Aqif Pashë Elbasani. Later he worked in the service of Prince Wied. During the Bulgarian and Austrian occupation of Dibra, he was again Sub‑Prefect and enjoyed a good reputation among the people as a regional figure. The people loved, respected and honoured him. That is why the foreigners who set foot in Dibra tried to exploit his influence. But with the Serbian occupier he had no relations.
Even when, forced by circumstances, he entered into contact with the Serbian occupying authorities, he manoeuvred cleverly and emphasised that: “Dibra and the Dibrans do not accept to come under anyone’s yoke.” In 1915, defeated by the Austro‑Hungarians, the Serbian horde passed through Albanian lands. The Dibrans, led by the duo Elez Isufi and Ismail Strazimiri and many others, together with the men of Lumë on the banks of the Black Drin, using the terrain and the bad weather, became the grave of 12,000 Serbian soldiers, avenging the massacres that the Serb‑expansionists had previously committed against the defenceless Albanian people of those regions. In the following years, we see Ismail Strazimiri with mind and heart beside his inseparable friend and companion, Elez Isufi, and his nephew Suf Xhelili, facing the Serbian army.
In his memoirs, the events described, the deeds, the wars and the efforts against the barbaric Serbian occupiers are endless. Only the people of Dibra know what sufferings they endured and what barbarity they faced on their shoulders. Dibra, with its war, not only took up arms against the Serbian invaders, but also sensitised domestic and foreign public opinion, diplomatic circles, until the Serbs, after the Dibran uprisings of 1920 and 1922, were expelled, willingly or unwillingly, to the borders of 1913. It was the incomparable heroism of the Dibrans, led by men such as Elez Isufi, “the general with *tirqe* (traditional trousers) without epaulettes”, and Ismail Strazimiri, the invisible and visible wise man, a man of Dibra with a strong character, that expelled the Serbs. Great Dibër, nevertheless, remained in that part which was called by the national leaders of the time “enslaved Albania”.
Ismail Strazimiri also actively participated in the June Revolution of 1924, armed, at the side of Bajram Curri and Elez Isufi; he painfully experienced the killing of the latter, his best friend, and never reconciled with the Zogist regime. When his country was occupied by the Italo‑German invaders in 1943, Ismail Strazimiri, a vigilant guardian of independence, gave his life with a weapon in his hand at the age of 75 – a rare occurrence even in world history. His “Memoirs” are a treasure for Dibra and the Dibrans; they are a hymn sung to Dibra. Somewhere in them he praises the Vlora War waged by the Albanian people in 1920. At the same time, he emphasises the great truth that behind it was the government emerging from the Congress of Lushnja, led by Sulejman Delvina, that it had its material and moral support with people, armaments and from other regions of the country.
Whereas the Dibran, with his wars against the Serbs, was almost alone and “cooked in his own fat”. This makes the Dibran war more heroic and more majestic. Precisely when the fate of the Homeland was “on the razor’s edge” and various intrigues were being played out at the expense of the people, to this situation, especially for Dibra, Ismail Strazimiri in his historical book refers thus:
Drin, o Wide River, elder of the highlands,
Will you leave Dibra to Serbia?
Dibra will be saved, the house of Kastrioti,
The honourable Dibran, as of old?
This slavery is never endured,
Dibra of Moisiu is Albania!
Arise, men, arise, all with besa‑besën,
Fight for Dibra, for the great hope!
Ismail Strazimiri came from legend as a descendant, as a scion of the Balsha princes; with his entire activity he became a living legend, and with his heroic death with a weapon in hand at an advanced age, he exalted his own name and his homeland, Dibra; he became a legendary hero, entered legend and remained in legend…! History has not only written, but writes and will write more in the future about such men of renown that the glorious region of Dibra has produced! / Memorie.al
