In Erseka, due to poisoning, Petro Nini Luarasi, an activist of the National Renaissance and the Albanian school, publicist, and Teacher of the People, died. He was born in Luaras, Kolonje, in 1865 and received his first lessons in the Albanian language as a student at the school of Qestorati (Gjirokastër) from the patriotic teacher Koto Hoxhi. Luarasi worked as a teacher in the villages of Kolonje, where he secretly taught the Albanian language and prepared a group of friends for teaching. In 1887, he opened the first Albanian school in Erseka, and in 1892-1893, he established Albanian schools in the province of Kolonja. He served as the director and teacher of the First Albanian School of Korça (1893) and later for the school in Negovan (1909-1911). During his exile in America (1904-1908), he initiated the patriotic societies “Malli i mëmmedheut” (“Missing the Homeland”) and “Pellazgu” (“Pelasgian”) and was involved in the creation of secret committees “Për lirinë e Shqipërisë” (“For the Freedom of Albania”). He participated as a delegate in the Second Congress of Manastir (1910) and collaborated with publications such as “Union of the Nation” (Manastir, 1909-1910), where he was also an editor; “Drita” (Sofia, 1907-1908); “Kombi” (“The Nation”) (Boston, 1908); and “Iliria” (“Illyria”) (Thessaloniki, 1909-1910). In his work “Mallkimi i shkronjave shqipe dhe çpërfolja e shqiptarit” (“Curse of Albanian Letters and Slander of Albanians”) (Manastir, 1911), he defended the rights of the Albanian people to national culture, calling knowledge and culture “the soul of the motherland” and urging the enrichment of the Albanian language and nation with culture and civilization. Luarasi propagated and sought to unite the people in the fight for the freedom of Albania, stating that it was “for justice and prosperity.” For his patriotic, educational, social, and propaganda activities, he was persecuted by the Young Turks and the Patriarchate of Istanbul. (In the photo: Petro Nini Luarasi)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1539-1540.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro_Nini_Luarasi
Graphic processing: AHCF
