Xhelal Koprencka, organizer and leader of the movement for national independence in Skrapar, passed away. He was born in Koprenckë (Skrapar), in 1876. During the Ottoman rule, he worked hard to spread the teaching and writing of the Albanian language in the province of Skrapar. He was the initiator for the opening of Albanian schools in 1908 in Koprenckë, Çorovodë and Gostënckë, as well as for the opening of evening courses to teach adults to read and write in the Albanian language. Keeping in touch with numerous Albanian clubs and societies inside and outside the country, he helped equip them with Albanian primers and books, secure funds and develop the national cultural movement in the province. He was Skrapar’s delegate in the Assembly of Vlora for the Declaration of Independence in November 1912; there he was elected a member of the Eldership. He was in the leadership of the people of Skrapar against the massacres of the Greek Andarts in Albania (1913-1914), as well as in the anti-Esadist uprising in 1915, in Skrapar and Berat. He was Skrapar’s delegate at the Congress of Durrës (1918). (In the photo: Xelal Koprencka)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1277.
Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhelal_Kopr%C3%ABncka
Graphic processing: AHCF
