Riza Cerova, activist of the national, democratic, and communist movement, Hero of the People, was born in the village of Cerovë in Skrapar. He completed primary and secondary school in Thessaloniki and Istanbul. In 1911, he returned to his homeland. He started his patriotic activity as a volunteer in the detachments that fought against the Greek andarts’ gangs in South Albania (in the years 1913-1914). In January 1920, he participated in the forces that defended the proceedings of the Congress of Lushnja (1920) and in June, he participated in the attack to liberate Tepelena and Vlora from the Italian invaders. In the years 1921–1924, he aligned himself with the democratic movement. He was among the main activists in the June 1924 Democratic Revolution and supported the implementation of Fan S. Noli’s democratic government program. In December 1924, he fought to stop the return of Ahmet Zog. After the suppression of the Revolution, he emigrated abroad and became one of the main activists of the National Revolutionary Committee organization and then the National Liberation Committee in Vienna and Geneva, becoming part of the communist faction of this organization. In the newspaper “Liria Kombëtare” (“National freedom”), in 1925-1935, he wrote articles against the monarchist regime in Albania, imperialism and fascism and in defense of the idea of a popular revolution. In April 1935, Riza Cerova returned to Albania to fight against the power of Ahmet Zogu. Helped organize the Fier Uprising of 1935, as one of its main leaders. At the head of his fellow villagers, he faced the government forces, until he fell in the clash in Mokra. (In the photo: Riza Cerova)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 361-362.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riza_Cerova
Graphic processing: AHCF
