Bedri Pejani was born in Pejë (Kosovo), activist of the national issue, politician, lover of education, chairman of the Second League of Prizren. He was educated in his hometown and in Istanbul, where he studied history. After finishing his education, he worked in journalism. Later, he became a supporter of the ideas of the Albanian revivalists, for an independent Albania, which had to be declared as such as soon as possible through a revolutionary path, with Skopje as its capital. He was committed to the opening of Albanian schools in all Albanian provinces. He was a participant in the Second Congress of Bitola (1910) for the unification of the national alphabet, as well as the Skopje talks (1912) for the organization of the defense of the Albanian territories by the Balkan Alliance. Participated in the Declaration of Independence of Albania, on November 28, 1912, in Vlora. After the establishment of Ismail Qemali’s government, he deals with issues of education and Albanian youth. At one time he was a school director in Durrës; during the years 1914-1918 he worked in Kosovo for the opening of Albanian schools. He was a participant in the Congress of Lushnja (1920). He published about 500 articles and studies in various newspapers and magazines. He is the compiler of several petitions addressed to the League of Nations in Geneva (1923–1931). After the Uprising of Fier (1935) he was arrested, while after his release, in 1937, he settled in France. Upon returning from France, he cooperated with Koço Tashko to raise the people in an anti-fascist uprising in the province of Dibra. After the capitulation of Yugoslavia, in 1941, he returned to Kosovo to organize the educational and administrative framework in the Albanian language. Participated in the founding Congress of the Second League of Prizren. From January 17 to July 25, 1944, he was the chairman of the Second League of Prizren. After the entry of partisan forces into Kosovo, in November 1944, he settled in Shkodër. He remained free there until the government of Albania handed him over to the Yugoslavs in 1945. Until February 1946, he remained in Prizren prison and was sentenced to death in a judicial process. He was poisoned by agents of the Yugoslav Intelligence Service in the hospital. He passed away in the hospital of Prizren, in 1946. (In the photo: Bedri Pejani)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1266.
Photo: © http://www.albanianhistory.net/1944_Pejani/index.html
Graphic processing: AHCF
