Sejfulla Malëshova (Lame Kodra, 1900-1971), political activist, poet, translator and publicist, was born in Malëshova of Përmet. He attended the College of Saint Adrian in San Demetrio (Calabria) and studied medicine in Rome. After the victory of the Democratic Revolution in June 1924, he was appointed Secretary General of the government, headed by Fan S. Noli. With Ahmet Zogu’s return to power, he emigrated to France and the Soviet Union (1925). In Leningrad, he completed the Military-Political Academy (1926–1927). Became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1930–1932). In the summer of 1943 he returned to Albania. He was elected a member of the Political Bureau. In May 1944, he was appointed a member of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Committee in charge of Press, Propaganda, People’s Culture and Education; in the Democratic Government he was appointed Minister of Press, Propaganda and People’s Culture; then, Minister of Education (24.03.1946). He initiated the call for the founding Conference of the League of Albanian Writers (October 7, 1945) and was elected its chairman. Immediately after liberation, he expressed support for guaranteeing private property and private initiative and maintaining good relations with England and the United States. His liberal views met with opposition from the leadership of the Albanian Communist Party. In the V plenum of the Central Committee of the Albanian Communist Party (February 21, 1946) he was expelled from the Political Bureau and from the Central Committee, on the charge of opportunism and right-wing deviation. In 1947, he was also dismissed as Minister of Education. Until 1952, he worked at the Institute of Sciences, where he drafted the first Russian-Albanian dictionary (with Pashko Geci), published in Moscow (1954). After a three-year internment in Ballsh, where he worked as a warehouseman, he lived in seclusion in Fier; there he died in complete misery. (In the photo: Sejfulla Malëshova)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1605-1606.
Photo: © https://odeacademy.org/sejfulla-maleshova
Graphic processing: AHCF
