On April 4, 1944, Qeriba Derri (1905–1944), participant of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, People’s Heroine, was shot by the German Nazis. She was born in Smokthinë, Vlora. She emigrated to France with her family in 1919. She became a liaison between the revolutionary Albanian immigrants in France and the progressive youth inside Albania, a collaborator of Halim Xhelo and Ali Kelmendi. She has been an activist and propagandist of the idea of national liberation in the ranks of Albanian immigrant workers in France. Participated in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War. Member of the Albanian Communist Party since 1943. I worked in the Vlora district, especially with women, for their involvement in the war for the liberation of the homeland. She was in charge of the women’s organization in the liberated area of Mesaplik. She was arrested, tortured and shot in 1944. (In the photo: Qeriba Derri)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 452.
Photo: © Xhoxhi L., personal archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
