Adem Demaçi, an activist for the national cause in Kosova and for human rights, was born in Prishtina. He graduated from the Higher Pedagogical School in Skopje, continued his studies in legal sciences in Prishtina and in literature in Belgrade. In the 1950s, he worked in the newspaper “Rilindja” and in the publishing house “Rilindja”, where he published a number of journalistic articles, stories, poems and literary translations. He became known with the work “Gjarpijt e gjakut” (“Blood snakes”) (1958), which deals with the painful wound of blood feud. From a young age, he was involved in the national movement of Albanians of Kosova, raising his voice against displacements and national discrimination against them. In 1958 he was sentenced to 3 years in prison. After his release from prison (1961), he continued his activities illegally, creating the organization “Lëvizja revolucionare e bashkimit të Shqiptarëve” (“The revolutionary movement for the unification of Albanians”), which had as its objective the union of Kosova with Albania. For this activity he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment (1964). In court, he defended his views on the unification of the Albanian lands and this made him known to the people of Kosova. He was released from prison on June 8, 1974, but after a year he was arrested for the third time and sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. He was released on April 28, 1990. For his suffering during 28 years in prison, as a dissident in Yugoslavia, he was awarded the “Sakharov” prize in Strasbourg (1991). He continued his national activity and in 1998 became the political representative of the Kosova Liberation Army. He held this position until February 1999, when he resigned, after he did not agree with the participation of Albanians in the Rambouillet Conference (1999). After the placement of Kosova under the administration of the United Nations, Adem Demaçi held lectures in the journalism department at the University of Prishtina and exercised social activities for the protection of human rights in Kosova. (In the photo: Adem Demaçi; The petition of the “Kosova Albanian Youth in the Free World” organization, sent to Yugoslav officials in January 1985, for the release of the writer Demaçi.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 440.
Photo: © https://insajderi.com/profil-kush-ishte-adem-demaci/ & Central State Archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
