Gjon Serreqi was born in Ferizaj, an ideologue and one of the founders of the Albanian National Democratic Movement (ANDM), a fighter for liberation and national unity. He finished the episcopal seminary in Prizren, then began higher studies in philosophy in Zagreb (1941), which he continued in Pisa (1941) and Florence, Italy (1941–1943). In 1943, he was appointed mayor of Babush of Ferizaj. In May 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Prishtina camp, and then to a camp in Vienna, from where he was released in May 1945. After returning from exile, he was appointed a teacher at the Prishtina gymnasium (June 1945). He did not agree with the return of the power of Yugoslavia in Kosova, nor with the policy implemented by the Yugoslav government towards the Albanians. In September 1945, he fully dedicated himself to the Albanian National-Democratic Movement, becoming one of its central figures in the Plain of Kosova, Anamorava and Karadaku. In April 1946, to escape imprisonment, he was forced to go underground, joining armed units operating in the field. At his insistence, the Youth Committee of the Albanian National-Democratic Movement was formed for the district of Ferizaj. He was one of the organizers and initiators of the 5th Congress of the ANDM, which was held in Blinajë of Lipjan, known as the Lipovica Congress (July 25, 1946). Then, in order to escape the persecutions of the security departments of the Yugoslav state, he went to the villages of Ferizaj, Kopilakë, Luboten and then to the region of Anamorava. In February 1947 he was arrested, sentenced to death by the District Court in Prishtina and shot. (In the photo: Gjon Serreqi)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosova – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosova, Prishtina, 2018, page 1495–1496.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjon_Serre%C3%A7i
Graphic processing: AHCF
