Father Zef Pllumi, a Franciscan priest and writer, was born on Mount Renci (Lorenci) in Shengjin to a family originating from Shkreli. He was baptized with the name Prenke. At the age of five, in 1929, he became a student of German missionary Alfons Tracki in Velipoja, and in 1931, he entered the Franciscan College of Shkodra, where he completed his education until 1944. During 1943-1944, he collaborated with the magazine “Hylli i Dritës” (“Star of the Light“) and served as the personal secretary of Father Anton Harapi. However, on December 14, 1946, at just 22 years old, he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison, as the communists believed he possessed significant knowledge from which they could extract information. He served his sentence in the “Big Prison” of Shkodra and the camps of Beden in Myzeqe and Orman-Pojani in Maliq, Korça. After his release, he returned to the Franciscan Assembly and worked in numismatics as a technician at the Museum of Shkodra from 1949 to 1951. In 1956, he was ordained a priest and served in Dukagjin, based in Shosh, until September 14, 1958, when he left with Father Augustin Ashiku. In 1967, he was arrested again and spent 23 years in various prisons and camps, including Spaç, Reps, Skrofotina in Vlora, Ballsh, Zejmen-Shenkoll, and Tirana, before being released in 1989. A year later, he began teaching at the Shna Nou Church in Tirana, where he served until 1997. From 1993 to 1997, he republished the magazine “Star of the Light” and wrote the trilogy “Rrno vetëm për me tregue” (“Live Only to Tell”). In 2006, he was decorated with the “Honour of the Nation” order by the President of Albania and received the “Golden Feather” literary award from the Ministry of Culture for his trilogy of memoirs. Father Zef Pllumi passed away in September 2007 and was buried in Shkodër. (In the photo: Zef Pllumi)
Text: Encyclopedic dictionary of victims of communist terror – Vol. VI , Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism, “WestPrint“, Tirana, 2017, page 333-334.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zef_Pllumi
Graphic processing: AHCF
