Haki Stërmilli, a patriotic and democratic writer, was born in Dibra e Madhe. He attended Turkish high school in Manastir. In the years 1920–1924, he joined the democratic movement and became one of the leaders of the society “Bashkimi” (Unity). After the failure of the June Revolution of 1924, he lived as a political exile in Italy, Austria, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and elsewhere, continuing his fight against the Zog regime by collaborating with the newspapers “Liria kombëtare” and “Federacioni Ballkanik.” In 1930, the Yugoslav police handed Haki Stërmilli over to the authorities of Ahmet Zog, who sentenced him to imprisonment. Haki Stërmilli participated in the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War; he was a member of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council and a deputy of the People’s Assembly from 1945 to 1953. He took his first steps in literature in the early 1920s with the plays “Dibranja e mjerueshme” (The Miserable Dibrane) 1923, “Dashuni e besnikri” (Love and Loyalty) 1923, etc., echoing the resistance of the Dibran people against Serbian chauvinists. His most famous work is the novel “Sikur this djalë” (If I Was a Boy) (1936), where he harshly criticizes the despotic family tyranny and the dominating moral norms that oppress the personality of Albanian women. The novel was well received by readers and quickly became one of the most widely read works of the time. In 1967, the novel ” Kalorësi i Skënderbeut” was published. In both of these works, the author made efforts for a truthful portrayal of life but did not escape a sentimentalist tone. During the war, he kept a diary, published under the title “Paths of Freedom” (1966), with both informative and literary value. In it, the author recounts significant events of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War in the years 1943–1944 and the patriotism and heroism of the people. The literary work of Haki Stërmilli is compiled in three volumes (1982–1983). (In the photo: Haki Stërmilli)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2397-2398.
Photo: © Xhoxhi L., personal archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
