On April 29, 1932 , Trifon Xhagjika, poet, military and dissident, was born in Peshtan, Tepelena. He attended primary school in his native village and later at “Lidhja e Prizrenit”, in Tirana. Studied at the pedagogical school of Elbasan (1947). In 1951, he started working as editor-in-chief in the magazine “Pionieri”. In 1954, he graduated from the United School in the anti-aircraft artillery branch. He worked in the regulations’ branch at the Ministry of Defense. During the years that he served as an officer, Trifon Xhagjika published cycles of poems in the press of the time, in the magazine “Nëntori”, “Letrari i ri”, “Zëri i Rinisë”, etc. In 1959 he published his first book “Gjurmët” (“The Traces”). Trifon Xhagjika “rebelled” very quickly, because he wanted the freedom and poetry. He begins to fall into open conflict with the dictatorial regime and on December 6, 1963, he is sentenced for agitation and propaganda. The trial sentenced him to death, while Trifon recited his poem “Atdheu është lakuriq” (“The homeland is naked”) in the hall. Trifon Xhagjika was shot in December 1962, at the age of 31. After the fall of the dictatorship, his books “Atdheu është lakuriq” (1994) and a collection of poems (2002) were published. Also, Trifon Xhagjika has left the book “Stina mendimi” (“Seasons of thought”) in manuscript. The shot poet, Trifon Xhagjika, can be considered a meteor of light in the Albanian poetry. In 1994, Trifon Xhagjika was decorated by the President of the Republic with the high title “Martyr of Democracy” with this motivation: “Political and literary dissident, open opponent of the communist dictatorship, sentenced to death and shot by it”.
Text: Andrea Llukani, Biri i Peshtan Trifon Xhagjika , Tirana, 2018, pages 76-77.
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