Vasil Shanto, an activist of the communist and anti-fascist movement, participant in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, and Hero of the People, was born in Shkodër. He moved to Tirana with his family in 1928 and became a member of the first communist cell in 1931, as well as a member of the Communist Group of Shkodra and chairman of the Regional Committee for Tirana of this group. Following the fascist aggression on April 7, 1939, he became one of the first organizers of popular resistance and the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War. He participated in the meeting of communist groups for the establishment of the Albanian Communist Party as a representative of the Communist Group of Shkodra. He was appointed a commissar to the anti-fascist detachment of Peza in 1941 and worked in various regions of the country to organize the National Liberation Anti-Fascist Movement and strengthen the organizations of the Albanian Communist Party. He was killed in the village of Gril in Shkodra while fighting against Nazi forces in 1944. (In the photo: Vasil Shanto)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2426.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasil_Shanto
Graphic processing: AHCF
