In the war against the German invaders in Gradishtë of Hekal (Mallakastra), Dino Kalenja, a participant in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War and Hero of the People, was killed. He was born in Kalenjë, Mallakastra. As a student at the Korça Lyceum, he participated in the Bread Demonstration (1936). With the establishment of the Albanian Communist Party, he worked energetically for the realization of its political platform. In the years 1942-1943, he developed anti-fascist activities in Tirana. Working in the Ministry of the Interior, he provided important information and helped in the illegal activities of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Movement; was closely connected with the guerrilla units of Tirana and together with them organized the escape of political prisoners from the prison and from the prison hospital. He became a member of the Communist Party of Albania in the summer of 1943. Partisan in the Peza detachment (1943) and then commander of the country command in Mallakastra and commissar of the “Ismail Klosi” battalion (1943). He took part in a number of actions and battles and showed leadership skills. (In the photo: Dino Kalenja)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1094.
Photo: © Xhoxhi L., personal archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
