In the liberated city of Përmet, the “First National Liberation Antifascist Congress” took place. It was convened based on the decision taken by the Presidency of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist Committee on April 15, 1944. 186 delegates, elected by the people in the country’s liberated areas, in areas under enemy control and in the departments of National Liberation Army. The Congress represents one of the major events of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War. The report and decisions of the congress reflected the line of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist Front for the unification of the people regardless of political and ideological beliefs, class, religious and regional affiliations, for its organization in the armed struggle, for the development of this struggle until the liberation of the country and the establishment of democratic order in Albania, for the strengthening of cooperation with the allied countries of the Anti-Fascist Coalition: England, the USSR and the United States of America, as well as with the countries participating in the European Anti-Fascist Resistance, in particular with the neighboring countries of the Balkans, involved in this resistance. The Congress elected the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council (KANÇ) consisting of 121 members, and defined its duties as the highest organ of the state, as its main legislative and executive body, as the sole representative of the people’s sovereignty. The Council also elected the Anti-Fascist Committee, with the attributes of a provisional government; its chairman and at the same time Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces was appointed Enver Hoxha. The General Anti-Fascist Council made a series of decisions: to build the new democratic popular Albania according to the will of the people, to ban the entry of Ahmet Zogut into Albania, since the form of the political regime would be decided after the liberation by the people themselves with their free will; not to recognize any other government created inside or outside the country, contrary to the will of the Albanian people; to resolutely continue the fight against the German Nazi occupier. The Congress approved the line followed by the General National Liberation Council and its directives, as well as the instructions issued by the General Staff of the National Liberation Army. Based on the orientations of the congress, KANÇ, declaring itself the main legislative and executive body, took the relevant decisions on these issues, giving them legal form. (Pictured: Decision of the First National Liberation Anti-Fascist Congress, 1944.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1259-1260.
Photo: © Central State Archives
Graphic processing: AHCF
