Qazim Kokoshi, revivalist, patriot, signer of Independence, was born in Vlora. In his hometown, he received his first lessons in the Turkish school of the city, to continue further in the well-known “Zosimea” high school of Ioannina. He returned to his hometown, where he started his political activity, being one of the founders of the patriotic club “Labëria“. Because of this activity against the Ottoman Empire, he was sentenced to death by the administration. He managed to escape to Corfu and then to Italy. During the Declaration of Independence, Qazim Kokoshi headed the organizational work for holding the Assembly in Vlora, where delegates from all Albanian-speaking areas were welcomed. He participated as a delegate of Vlora and as one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence Act. Delegate of Vlora in the Congress of Lushnja (1920) and one of the leaders of the War of Vlora. He made important contributions to the consolidation of the independent Albanian state, as well as participated in political and parliamentary life in the 1920s. Supported the June Movement (1924). For this reason, he escaped after the return of Ahmet Zog, to come back to Albania thanks to an amnesty in 1928. He participated in the “Secret Organization of Vlora”, a group against the monarchist regime. He was sentenced to death, but due to the patriotic reaction of the city of Vlora, the sentence was changed to 4 years of imprisonment. During the anti-fascist war, he was arrested by the Gestapo and exiled to Bergamo, Italy. In 1945, he returned to Albania, and, paradoxically, with the establishment of the communist dictatorship, he was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment. He was considered reactionary, and many other members of his family were imprisoned. He died in prison by torture in 1947 and his body was not given to his family. (In the photo: Qazim Kokoshi)
Text: National Museum “House with leaves”, Tirana
Graphic processing: AHCF
