Avni Rustemi, activist of the democratic movement, Hero of the People, was born in Libohova. In March 1908, he stopped his studies at the Ioannina Madrasa and joined the Çerçiz Topulli squad. He then attended the “Normal” school in Elbasan (1909-1910) and the French college in Lausanne (1912-1913), where he founded the patriotic association of Albanian students “Burimi“ (“Source”). He worked as a teacher in Libohova, in Tragjas, in Tepelena and in Vlora, where he founded the Vlora youth association “Djalëria e Vlorës“ (“The boyhood of Vlora”). On November 28, 1918, he organized the demonstration of the people of Vlora against the Italian occupation troops. Attended the arboretum college of Saint Adrian in Saint-Mitre (1919), where he founded the patriotic organization “Lidhja e Rinisë Shqiptare“ (“Albanian youth union”). He began higher studies in pedagogy at the University of Rome (1919). At the time of the Vlora War (1920) and the government’s punitive operation against the Esadist rebel gangs that had surrounded Tirana, Avni Rustemi, on June 13, 1920, assassinated Esad Toptani in Paris. Under the pressure of progressive opinion, the French court acquitted him. At the end of 1920, he returned to Albania and immediately started the establishment of professional organizations of teachers; united all the country’s democratic societies in the “Atdheu” (“Homeland”) federation (Vlora, 1921). After the merger of the federation “Atdheu” (August 1922), he founded the society “Bashkimi” (“Unity”) (13.10.1922). In September 1923, he resumed his studies at the University of Rome, but interrupted them after he was elected deputy of the Prefecture of Kosovo (Lumë and Has provinces) in the Constitutional Assembly (December 27, 1923). In this assembly and in the periodical press, Avni Rustemi presented his views on the solution of the economic, political and social problems of the country. After an assassination attempt on him in Tirana, he died in 1924. At his funeral in Vlora with a large participation of the people, passionate speeches were made by the representatives of the democratic forces. This event brought the June Democratic Revolution (1924) closer. (In the photo: Avni Rustemi)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2269-2270.
Graphic processing: AHCF
