On April 14, 1915, Zef Mala, publicist and political activist, was born in Shkodër. He finished his studies with excellent results at the college of the Jesuit order in the city of Shkodra. A year later, he started publishing the newspaper “Besa” in Tirana. In the period of the monarchy, he won a scholarship from King Zog at the University of Vienna, at the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1937, he founded the communist group of Shkodra in collaboration with Qemal Stafa, Vasil Shanto and Tuk Jakova. During this period he sought the overthrow of the monarchist system. For this reason, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and sent to the village of Mbreshtan in Berat. Later, taking advantage of the Italian occupation, he escaped on April 6, 1939 together with Vasil Shanto. He was caught by the fascist authorities and brought to Albania to be sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was released after the capitulation of fascist Italy, in September 1943. At the request of Enver Hoxha, he joined the Second Battalion in the Peza group. The special envoy of Belgrade, Miladin Popovich, was also in this group. In 1946, when he was working in the national library, he was suddenly arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The motive for the imprisonment was “for political stances against collaboration with the Yugoslav Communist Party. He served a two-year sentence; was released on January 19, 1949 through the amnesty for the change of attitude and cooperation with Yugoslavia, and considered a victim of Koci Xoxe. In 1950 he prepared a historical treatise for the Pedagogical Institute, “Mbi Shqipërinë e viteve 1912–1924” (“About Albania in the years 1912-1924”), which was later confiscated and lost. In 1955, he was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison with the motivation “suspected of links with exponents of the left in the West”. In the years 1961-1964 he was interned to Zvërnec in Vlora, where he found and formed a friendship with Kasëm Trebeshina. There he wrote a philosophical treatise of about 140 pages, which also disappeared. After his release, he was interned again by Enver Hoxha, in 1977, in Labovë, Gjirokastra. In 1978, he refused to participate in the elections and for this reason he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Ballsh, where he was completely blinded. (In the photo: Zef Mala)
Text: “House of Leaves” National Museum
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zef_Mala
Graphic processing: AHCF
