Gjon Serreqi, an ideologue and one of the founders of the Albanian National-Democratic Movement (LNDSH), was a fighter for liberation and national unity, who was shot in Prishtina. Born in Ferizaj in 1920, he initially headed the episcopal seminary in Prizren before beginning his higher studies in philosophy in Zagreb in 1941, which he continued in Pisa and Florence, Italy. In 1943, he was appointed mayor of Babush in Ferizaj. However, in May 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Prishtina camp, later being transferred to a camp in Vienna, from which he was released in May 1945. After returning from exile, Serreqi became a teacher at the Prishtina high school in June 1945. He opposed the return of Yugoslav power in Kosovo and the policies implemented by the Yugoslav government towards Albanians. By September 1945, he dedicated himself fully to the Albanian National-Democratic Movement, emerging as one of its central figures in the Plain of Kosovo, Anamorava, and Karadak. In April 1946, to avoid imprisonment, he went underground and joined the armed units operating in the field. He was instrumental in forming the Youth Committee of the Albanian National-Democratic Movement for the district of Ferizaj and was a key organizer of the 5th Congress of the LNDSH, held in Blinaje in Lipjan, known as the Lipovica Congress, on July 25, 1946. To evade persecution by the security forces of the Yugoslav state, he relocated to various villages in Ferizaj, Kopilakë, and Luboten, and later to the Anamorava region. In February 1947, he was arrested, sentenced to death by the District Court in Prishtina, and subsequently shot. (In the photo: Gjon Serreqi)
Text: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II, Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1495–1496.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjon_Serre%C3%A7i
Graphic processing: AHCF
