The “Delvina Movement” erupted, a movement to overthrow the monarchy. Ethem Toto, Minister of Internal Affairs, organized it in Mehdi Frashëri’s liberal government. The Delvina Movement included patriotic and democratic circles with republican tendencies. Leading the Delvina gendarmerie forces, Ethem Toto established control in the city, then in Gjirokastër and Tepelenë. In Gjirokastër, the gendarmerie district commander joined the insurgents, and prisoners were released from prison. Afterward, the insurgents set off for Vlorë, aiming to expand their ranks there and march toward Tirana. They reached Sevaster (Vlorë), where government forces met them with arms at the Ploçë pass, and after hours of fighting, they were scattered. Ethem Toto, surrounded, took his own life, while others were captured. Among them was Ismet Toto, his brother, who was later hanged. Ismet Toto was one of the main inspirations of the movement, and its ideology. He wrote in the liberal newspapers of the time that he was against the oriental beys and for the creation of a government of educated people, for an “enlightened dictatorship,” which he desired and tried to bring to life. The government, after suppressing the uprising, through the Special Court for Political Crimes, judged, arrested, and imprisoned many participants. (In 3 photographs: Decision of the Special Court for Political Offenses, on June 26, 1937,)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1494.
Photo: © Central State Archives
Graphic processing: AHCF
