In Vlora, Catholic cleric Father Pjetër Mëshkalla passed away. Born in Shkodër in 1901, he completed his primary and secondary education in his hometown, while his higher studies took him to Linz (Austria), Gorizia in Slovenia, and the Faculty of Philosophy in Naples (Italy). In 1931, he was ordained as a priest of the Society of Jesus in Shkodër, where he taught literature, Albanian language, and philosophy at the Papal Seminary. In 1934, he founded the “Saint John Bosco” circle for youth education, and in 1937 continued with the “Saint Peter” circle in Tirana. In 1945, the communist regime sought his cooperation, but he not only refused, he openly denounced the regime during a ceremony for the death of Luigj Bumçi. For this, he was arrested in 1946. After a prolonged investigation, on April 18, 1947, the Tirana Garrison Military Court sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment and hard labor, along with a five-year loss of civil rights, for his role as a founder of the “National Union” organization and for agitation and propaganda. He served his sentence in various labor camps and in the Burrel prison, where he was released in 1961 but was prohibited from returning to his clerical duties. During the “Cultural Revolution” in Shkodër, he sent a letter to Mehmet Shehu, ending with: “In truth, not even the most enraged enemy of the government could have conducted a more hostile propaganda in 22 years than you have managed against yourselves.” Consequently, on April 29, 1967, a meeting was held at the Shkodër Pedagogical Institute to “expose” his activities. On July 19 of that year, with decision no. 44, the Shkodër Court sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment and confiscation of property for “agitation and propaganda.” After his release in 1978, he was exiled to a camp in Vlora. He is the first cleric to be honored as a “Torchbearer of Democracy” in 1992. (In the photo: Pjetër Mëshkalla)
Text: *Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Victims of Communist Terror*, Vol. V, Institute for the Study of Communist Crimes and Consequences, “WestPrint,” Tirana, 2016, p. 338.
Photo: https://albemigrant2011.wordpress.com/2022/09/09/ate-pjeter-meshkalla-sj-1901-1988/
Graphic Processing: AHCF
